How come he didn't need a doctor's note?

[LifeIsGoodish]

A D&V bug has swept through my family this week. Ds (Y10) woke on Thursday morning feeling queasy and gut-churny, but determined to sit his GCSE Chemistry exam. I informed the school, Ds sat his exam and asked to go home afterwards. When I collected him he was genuinely ill - had not vomited, but I know my boy.

I have since had a message from the school that they will ask for special consideration for Ds.

I have no objection to this, even though Ds is confident that he managed to do a good paper, but I'm puzzled: how come they did not need medical confirmation of his illness? It may not have been obvious that he was ill to someone who didn't know Ds. Is that not a recipe for chancers? Or is Ds reaping the benefit of a good reputation?

Requests are sent off to the exam board ASAP - some are granted immediately whilst they may request further evidence (such as Dr's notes etc) for others. The 'severity' of the issue dictates how generously the board view the result - a minor inconvenience such as a tummy bug may be a couple of marks, whereas a major upheaval (God forbid, the death of a parent, for example) may add significantly more. It may be that in a couple of weeks' time you're asked to send a letter confirming that he had a stomach bug.

Hope DS is feeling better now!

You need to look online for the exam regulations for your child's exam board .

I'm fairly sure that ours require a medical note and this would have to be obtained before the exam. While I'm sure your son is completely genuine ( as are the school ) , you will understand that lots of pupils come out of an exam thinking they have done badly and then say that they feel unwell .

Other boards look at the difference between their predicted and actual Mark and only reconsider if there is more than a set difference between the two.

They can ask for it but it doesn;t' mean he will get it. My dd sat a physics exam a couple of years ago feeling sick and because the exam was so short didn't find it impacted her performance at all. After all, a lot of children will feel like this from pure nerves!

It would be virtually impossible to get a dr's note for D&V!

No, illness doesn't always need a doctor's note for special consideration if the centre can write a letter supporting the application.

I have a child in Y11, we have been informed that they only need a doctor's note if they are too ill to actually sit the exam.
Special consideration is only a very small adjustment even for something very serious as outlined by flutterworc, there is a limit to the number of marks that can be added on. It only really makes a difference if a candidate is very close to a grade boundary.