Faculty of Science: Deferred Examination Petitions FAQs

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Learn what to expect when petitioning to defer a Faculty of Science exam including eligibility, documentation, and decision timelines.

Before You Submit a Petition: Eligibility

Under what circumstances would a student submit a deferred examination petition?

Students are expected to write the final examination for a course as scheduled by the Examinations Office. A scheduled final examination represents a formal academic deadline for learning and applying their knowledge of the course content within the term. Students are expected to meet their academic responsibilities, even if they are not experiencing optimal physical or mental wellness. Most students complete a degree without ever deferring a final examination. Should a student: 1) not be available to write the examination at the scheduled time due to documentable, extraordinary circumstances known in advance, or 2) miss a final examination due to documentable unforeseen extraordinary circumstances, the student must petition for deferred examination privileges.

Deferred examinations will be granted for legitimate, documentable, extraordinary circumstances only, such as serious incapacitating illness or extraordinary personal or family circumstances (e.g., death of a close family member). You are required to provide a detailed description of the personal extenuating circumstances that prevented you from writing your final examination as scheduled. Accurate and complete disclosure of relevant information, provided in or to support a petition submission, is a fundamental expectation of the petition process. Misleading information, including the omission of relevant facts or circumstances, that could influence the assessment of a petition is considered a serious matter and may be treated as academic misconduct.

Is there a deadline for submitting a deferred examination petition?

Students who are aware of a conflict in advance are expected to submit a deferred final examination petition at the earliest opportunity and at least seven calendar days before the last day of classes in the term. Where a conflict arises after this deadline, the petition must be submitted as soon as possible and prior to the scheduled examination. A decision before the scheduled examination date is not guaranteed if the petition is submitted close to the examination date.

For unforeseen circumstances on the day of the examination, petitions should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than three business days after the scheduled date of the examination. 

Failure to submit a petition in a timely manner may result in the petition being denied.

I think that I may be unwell at the scheduled time of my upcoming examination. How soon in advance can I submit the deferral form?

Students are expected to meet their academic responsibilities, even if they are not experiencing optimal physical or mental wellness. Deferral petitions based on medical grounds will not be accepted prior to the scheduled time of the examination, as a student cannot be certain that they will be medically incapacitated at the scheduled time of the examination. We are unable to provide verbal or written assurances prior to the scheduled time of the examination that your deferral petition will be granted as the form will take multiple days to be processed. If you are medically incapacitated at the time of the scheduled examination, not just experiencing minor symptoms, it is presumed that you cannot attend the scheduled examination. If an examination is missed due to medical grounds, the deferral petition must be submitted no later than three business days after the scheduled date of the examination.

Is there a limit to the number of deferrals permitted during the completion of a degree?

Most students complete a degree without ever deferring a final examination. Each deferral will count towards the maximum of five examination deferrals permitted during the completion of a degree. This is not to be interpreted that every deferral petition that is filed by a student will be granted up until the maximum is reached. Each petition decision is based on established policies and regulations. For more information, please refer to the Deferred Examination Policy in the academic calendar.

How Deferring an Exam May Affect Your Studies

Will deferring a final examination influence my course registrations for the following term or my program progression?

A student who has not earned credit in a course by end of the term due to deferring the final examination, may be de-registered from any course in the following term for which the incomplete course is a pre-requisite, at the discretion of the department offering the course. For example, a student who defers the final examination in CP104, will be de-registered from CP164 in the following term. Deferring a final examination may also delay a progression decision for continuing in your program or graduation for a student in their last term of study. 

A petition for a deferred examination (for unforeseen circumstances) must be submitted no later than three business days after the scheduled date of the examination.

Submitting Your Deferred Exam Petition

To whom would a student submit a deferred examination petition?

Deferred examination petitions are submitted to the Faculty offering the course. Courses are offered by the Faculty of Science on the Waterloo Campus, Brantford campus (BR sections) and Milton Campus (MC, MV), including Virtual (VA, VH, VS) sections. Faculty of Science offerings include the following course codes: AS, BI, CH, CP, CLIM, DATA, ES, GESC, GG, GL, HE, HN, KP, MA, PARA, PC, *PS, SC, ST, UU150, WASC. Deferral petitions for courses with these codes are submitted to the Faculty of Science Academic Advising Office through the Faculty of Science Final Deferred Examination Petition Form. *Exception: Deferral petitions for Psychology (PS) courses offered at the Brantford campus (BR sections) are submitted to the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences.

How would a student submit a deferred examination petition to another Waterloo campus Faculty (Arts, Music, Lazaridis School of Business and Economics)?

The online forms for courses offered by other Faculties are available on the deferred examination webpage.

I am a Waterloo campus student registered in a Brantford campus-based course (Faculty of Human and Social Sciences or Faculty of Liberal Arts). To whom would I submit a deferred examination petition?

A student submits a petition for a deferred examination to the Faculty offering the course. The Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (Brantford Campus) manages multiple Waterloo campus and virtual courses including those with the following codes: CC, HS, OL, PD. The Faculty of Liberal Arts (Brantford Campus) manages multiple Waterloo campus and virtual courses including those with the following codes: HR, ID, SOJE, UX, YC. Any course with a “BR” section is also offered by a Brantford campus Faculty. The petition forms for courses offered by Brantford campus Faculties are available online on the Deferred Exams webpage.

Most students complete a degree without ever deferring a final examination.

Scheduling Concerns

My examinations are scheduled close together. Is it possible to defer one, or more, to a later date?

Based on university regulations, students are not normally required to fully complete more than two final examinations within a 24-hour period. To receive relief under this regulation, the third "offending" examination must start and finish within 24 hours of the beginning of the first examination. For example, you will not receive relief under this regulation when your examinations begin at 3:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on one day, and 3:30 p.m. on the following day.

If the second course in the sequence of exams is a Faculty of Science course, submit a petition for a deferred exam through the Faculty of Science Three Final Examinations Scheduled Within 24 Hours Petition Form.

The deadline to submit the form is at least 7 calendar days before the final day of classes of the term.  No other examination scheduling/load concerns will be favourably considered by the Faculty of Science.

I am a Laurier student who is cross-registered for a course at UW and their course examination conflicts with one of my Laurier examinations. How do I re-schedule one of these examinations?

Examination scheduling conflicts involving cross-registered courses will be resolved at Laurier (i.e., the home university). The student must contact the Examinations Office directly (finalexams@wlu.ca) to have one of the examinations re-scheduled.

I am cross-registered for a course at UW and I need to petition for a deferred examination for documentable extraordinary circumstances. How do I defer the examination?

Petitions for deferred examination privileges must be submitted to UW (i.e., the host university).

I am living in another time zone. Am I expected to write the final examination for a virtual (VA, VH, VS sections) course in the middle of the night based on my local time?

Students will not be required to complete a Faculty of Science examination for a virtual course that extends into the period of 12:00 midnight to 5:30 a.m. for their local time zone. To receive relief under this policy, the problematic examination must start or finish within this period. In the explanation, you must specify the country / time zone in which you are residing. If this information does not match your home address on record with Enrolment Services, you may be asked for documentation to support your petition. Students completing both in-person and virtual courses do not qualify for this relief. If you are electing to defer an examination under this policy, you should submit your petition as soon as possible, and no later than seven calendar days before the scheduled examination. The deferred examination will be written during the regularly scheduled deferred exam period.

Fees & Documentation

Is there a fee for a deferred examination?

The standard non-refundable deferred examination fee (approximately $74) will be charged to your Laurier student account for each deferred examination. This fee is subject to change without notice. Deferrals on the grounds of religious observance may be exempt from the deferral fee.

What is supporting documentation? Do I need to submit documentation with my form?

Supporting documentation consists of a document or letter from an official source that supports the explanation and timeline presented in your petition. The expected documentation is described online for each type of common extraordinary personal circumstance.

Supporting documentation, specific to the scheduled date of the deferred examination, is required for all extraordinary personal circumstances, except medical grounds. However, the student may elect to submit medical documentation to support their petition. A medical document dated after the scheduled date of the examination, in which a student reports to the physician that they were medically unfit to write an examination, does not provide support to the petition.

If you have documentation on file with Accessible Learning for a relevant chronic condition, you may contact your disability consultant and request that a copy of the documentation be forwarded to the Faculty of Science to support your petition for a deferred examination.

The re-deferral of a final examination is infrequently granted. A student is expected to write a granted deferred examination as scheduled. Robust supporting documentation from an official source, specific to the scheduled date of the deferred examination, is required for this type of petition, including petitions on medical grounds.

What formats are acceptable for supporting documentation?

All relevant documentation should be scanned and uploaded to the form for a complete petition package. There are free scanning apps available for you to use. It is important to ensure that an uploaded document is not password protected. Photos or screenshots will not be accepted as supporting documents. Submitting a document in an unacceptable, or unreadable, format will delay consideration of the petition as the student will be requested to re-submit the entire form with a scanned supporting document.

Failure to provide satisfactory documentation, where applicable, may result in the petition decision being delayed, denied, or the petition being closed.

All supporting documentation must be complete and authentic, and is subject to verification. You should keep the original document(s) for the duration of the petition process as they may be requested. Submitting documentation that is intentionally cropped, has information obscured, or is otherwise modified is a serious academic offense because the original content cannot be fully assessed or authenticated.

Any supporting documentation that is fabricated will be treated as academic misconduct. Allegations of academic misconduct will also be considered by the Associate Dean: Student Experience & Academic Support, for possible further penalties.

What information should medical documentation include?

The Laurier Verification of Illness form outlines the information that should be included in medical documentation. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that all expected information is included on their submitted Laurier Verification of Illness form/medical document.

Medical certificates for acute medical circumstances should be signed and dated by the physician/medical professional on the day of the final examination. For cases of lengthier serious medical conditions (e.g., mononucleosis, pneumonia, concussion) or surgery, the stated recovery time on the medical certificate must be inclusive of the date of the scheduled examination.

A medical document dated after the scheduled date of the examination, in which a student reports to the physician that they were medically unfit to write an examination on a previous date, does not provide support to the petition.

Deferred examination petitions based on medical grounds will not receive favourable consideration by the Science Petitions & Regulations Committee if a student writes another examination within 12 hours of the examination identified in the petition, unless adequately explained in the petition.

What kind of documentation is not considered appropriate?

Photos or screenshots will not be accepted as supporting documents. Examples of documentation that are generally not considered to be appropriate for a petition are screenshots of a partial text message or email conversation, photographs of medical conditions/injuries suffered by yourself or another person, photographs of a car accident, photographs of prescription bottles, financial documents (e.g., banking or credit card statements). Documentation containing the personal information of another person should not be submitted without their permission.

Deferral petitions based on medical grounds will not be accepted prior to the scheduled time of the examination.

After Your Petition Submission: Decisions & Next Steps

How will I be notified of the petition decision?

The petition decision, and any other related correspondence from the Faculty of Science, will be conveyed via your mylaurier.ca e-mail account only. You must regularly check your mylaurier.ca e-mail account for important correspondence.

Who is involved in granting or denying the petition?

The Chair of the Faculty of Science Petitions & Regulations Committee (Associate Dean: Student Experience & Academic Support) oversees the deferral petition procedures on behalf of the Faculty of Science Petitions & Regulations Committee. Precedent has been established by previous Petitions & Regulations Committee rulings for various types of deferrals such that a decision by a delegate may occur. Each petition will be considered on individual merit, and a decision will be made based on the student’s unique academic or personal extraordinary circumstances. 

How long can I expect to wait for the decision correspondence?

The time required to process the deferral petition will vary from 2 to 20 business days (or more depending on the number of petitions received), after the form and official supporting documentation (if applicable) is received. Examination deferral petitions will be processed as quickly as possible, typically in the order that they are received. Failure to provide all requested information and appropriate supporting documentation (if applicable) with form submission, or in a timely manner following a request for information / documentation, will delay the decision.

Do not submit a second petition form, or inquire as to the status of your petition, unless a minimum of 20 business days has passed since the form was submitted.

When will I write my deferred exam?

If granted, most students will write the Faculty of Science examination during the next scheduled period for deferred final examinations. The Fall 2026 Deferred Final Examination period is Jan. 24 - 30, 2027. Students are advised to not to make commitments during this time (i.e., travel, work). Note that the posted Deferred Examination Schedule is different from the regular examination schedule.

The Faculty of Science has one “Slip Day” reserved for deferred examinations for students who have petitioned for religious accommodations. Religious accommodations must be submitted by the regulation deadline (seven calendar days before the final day of classes of the term).

Deferrals will not be scheduled prior to the original date of an examination to suit a student’s preference or personal circumstances.

Questions?

If you have a general question regarding the Faculty of Science final examination deferral
process, submit a Faculty of Science Academic Advising Inquiry form to initiate a request for information.