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At UCN students are required to alert the invigilator when they want to take a rest break and again when they are ready to re-start work. This can be discounted and added at the end of the exam, up to a maximum of the agreed allocation (which may be more variable than your allowance). All students who have 'discounted breaks' take their exams in the same small group room, where the invigilators are alert to this. A few years ago we had a problem where one or two students tried to continue writing during their 'break' so the Exams office now sends them all instructions in advance as to what is/is not permitted and what to do when they need a break. Clare Davies -----Original Message----- From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pauline McInnes Sent: 06 July 2005 16:03 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Rest Breaks in Exams Dear All, I wonder if anyone has come up with a practical solution for the above. WE quite often recommend to the exams unit on the basis of medical evidence etc that students should have rest breaks in exams and we usually say ten minutes an hour, but of course it could be longer than that. However, our exams assistants are having trouble policing this. By rest breaks we mean, pens down and rest. It could be they just sit there, they could lie down or walk around the room. It's the ones that just sit and rest that the exams assistants are having most difficulty with. For example, we don't want to state that students will have rest breaks every hour on the hour as this may well interrupt their flow of thought and this doesn't seem fair. So how do the exams assistants know when the students are taking their rest breaks or when they are just sitting there thinking about the next thing to write? Once again, where a student has a reader or writer its fairly obvious as they will communicate that they are taking a break. It's more for the students who are just having the rest breaks. Has anyone thought out a good way to manage this adjustment for students? Kind regards Pauline Pauline McInnes Disability Co-ordinator Disability Team Student Services St Mary's Road Ealing London W5 5RF Tel: 0208 231 2058