Special Provisions (1 Viewer)

[Shiloh]

Originally posted by Gemstone
Yeah I know it's irritating though. I'm trying to get them to at least give me a yr. 11 ancient student as they'll at least know how to spell most of it, but I can't have a yr.11 for trials i don't think cos they have preliminary's soon after.

Yeah and I know it's sometimes really hard to get special provisions off BOS. I think there so tight with it cos they don't want to give them out to just anyone. The problem is when someone has a ligitimate reason and they make life difficult. I got so annoyed because they wouldn't send out the forms until i'd started my christmas holidays last year, and it took me like a month or so to get in to have my medical report done.

Gems

We had the same problem with getting the forms. It then even took longer because my doctor, like anyone in the medicinal field is a really busy person, so for her to fill out the forms took a little while longer. then, I found out I was entitled to provisions in Year 11...If i'd found that out sooner, my yr 11 yr wouldnt have been s stressful...

 

[aim54x]

does any1 know if i can apply for consideration 4 disruption in studyin pattern due 2 pyhsio that i need because i had an ACL reconstrucion???

 

[Gemstone]

We had the same problem with getting the forms. It then even took longer because my doctor, like anyone in the medicinal field is a really busy person, so for her to fill out the forms took a little while longer. then, I found out I was entitled to provisions in Year 11...If i'd found that out sooner, my yr 11 yr wouldnt have been s stressful...

Yep I got it since year 10 but it's annoying because my condition doesn't change and is life long so it's just a pain to go have all the tests done just for them to write the same thing out.

I'm kindda annoyed though because I do Japanese and cos I have to write that myself I only get 2.5 minutes/half hour as opposed to the 5/half hour. I don't like it because I didn't get a choice in the matter I have to write it myself. But oh well no use complaining about it if there not gonna do anything.

Gems

 

[strappleberry]

yes, you can definately use epilepsy, however im not sure of the specific circumstances around that. a cousin of mine did her hsc in 2000, she had been diagnosed about three months earlier and was told to wait until after her exams to go on the medication, as it was most likely going to mess her head up quite badly until she became used to it. the problem was that until then she could still have seizures-which she did, in the middle of one exam. so she was very lucky to have not been in the hall with the other students.

 

[mizz_smee]

i know someone who is visually impared and they get an extra 4 to 5 UAI points which i think is worng because there vision does not have that much effect on what you do especially when you have a reader for the exam you are already advantaged and get benifits y get more...

 

[twiddla]

Special provisions - I get 5 mins per half hour extra time plus 5 mins per half hour rest time cos I had a brain tumour and the meds i'm on(anti-convulsives) slows my reflexs and reaction speed - we get put in the library and everyone else barred from it for our sp.

As to what grounds you can get them on - i kno you can get them for a long term illness or the effects of a resulting med so for glycerine u shld at least get seperate supervision and if ur on anti-convulsives extra time and maybe rest time.

The extra UAI pts thing is called access - this can be for long term illness or finacial disability and a few othe things - if u get it u get up to 5 UAI pts leeway - so they still give u a normal UAI just u can get into a course a couple of pts higher.

The other form of sp provisions is illness and misadventure , this means that if something strikes u down or say family members die the school if u prove suitably can choose to moderate your rank for the exams affected, this may also apply for the actual hsc exams tho i'm not sure

 

[Gemstone]

Well I don't know what the UAI points thing is about. Special Provisions are supposed to put you at the level of everyone else so that your not disadvantaged in the exam. If this guy has bad eye sight shouldn't he just get a writter. Anyway yeah I don't understand the whole extra UAI points thing but hey.

 

[twiddla]

The extra UAI pts thing - Special Considerations or Access

Those who have been significiantly disadvantaged inl

• long term illness
• financial difficulty

and a few other things (i'm not exactly sure)


can apply for access. If u happen to get it you are given leeway pts between 0 and 5 meaning you can get into a course with a UAI that many pts higher than what you got. They do not change your actual uai

As an example, say i got access fir 4 uai points and my uai was 93.00 then i could get into any course that solely depends on uai that was below 97. So if i wanted to get into say physio at Sydney which was 95.6 last year i could even tho my uai was only 93

 

[Callistogenic]

I have the ability to use a computer for all HSC exams, excluding Japanese written and Maths. (I could use it for maths, but it's pointless) I also have an additional 5 minutes per hour of 'writing' time. (Due to distrophy affecting fine/gross motor skills.) I've used these provisions for the 2002 SC and I haven't had any problems. The supervisor just sits there reading a novel or two, and I've never been accused of spell-checking (remember, that agreement you have to sign...) so I'm happy.

 

[emmo]

For my exams and any assessment tasks i am put in a small seperate room from the rest of the students because in exam situations i get panic attacks. If i am in a full room of girls doing an exam it freaks me out and i get dizzy an shit... sounds werid i know.. but its horrible. Being in a separate room helps out a bit cause im not stressing about everyone around me. But not matter what i still hate exams, as much as i study its still hard to fully concentrate. I seem to go alot better with hand in assessments.

 

[Melody]

I'm awaiting confirmation for special provisions, REALLY slow writer but I've gotten away with it until now because of my smarts. But then I failed almost all of my writing reliant exams in my trials and they realised it wasnt a matter of "you'll just have to write faster"; "be more legible" etc. I've applied to use a laptop but I won't know whether I was granted it until I get back to school. Kind of adds to stresses.....

Plus English will be my first exam using it, I'm kind of lost when it comes to organisational stuff (ie what spacing, what font, little stupid things stress me out), I'm worried that my typing won't be fast enough or that my accuracy will decrease due to anxiety... But then a writer has too many unknowns and I will stress even more when i go into the exam...........

It will be weird being in a room practically by myself, won't have the usual vague idea from others of where I should be up to.... Plus different lighting, glare etc..... I got to stop thinking about all of this and study!!!

I applied for EAS, writing has severely affected my marks in English and to smaller extent other subjects, I want to do teaching so chances are I won't need it but it's there if I want to do some of the higher courses and then do a diped or Grad.dip later....

 

[Emily.]

I'm awaiting confirmation for special provisions, REALLY slow writer but I've gotten away with it until now because of my smarts. But then I failed almost all of my writing reliant exams in my trials and they realised it wasnt a matter of "you'll just have to write faster"; "be more legible" etc. I've applied to use a laptop but I won't know whether I was granted it until I get back to school. Kind of adds to stresses.....

Plus English will be my first exam using it, I'm kind of lost when it comes to organisational stuff (ie what spacing, what font, little stupid things stress me out), I'm worried that my typing won't be fast enough or that my accuracy will decrease due to anxiety... But then a writer has too many unknowns and I will stress even more when i go into the exam...........

It will be weird being in a room practically by myself, won't have the usual vague idea from others of where I should be up to.... Plus different lighting, glare etc..... I got to stop thinking about all of this and study!!!

I applied for EAS, writing has severely affected my marks in English and to smaller extent other subjects, I want to do teaching so chances are I won't need it but it's there if I want to do some of the higher courses and then do a diped or Grad.dip later....

i think that kinda thing is more about discipline
if u have no medical reason, then u should be able to make urself write faster
no offence but i think itd b a bit unfair if u got it
for a lot of us our writing speed brings us down to, but theres no medical reason so theres no excuse

 

[funniboi]

my school gives out laptops.

 

[Melody]

i think that kinda thing is more about discipline
if u have no medical reason, then u should be able to make urself write faster
no offence but i think itd b a bit unfair if u got it
for a lot of us our writing speed brings us down to, but theres no medical reason so theres no excuse

I don't take offence that easily
But what you have to consider is that there are many factors that contribute to writing, mentally and physically. Just because there's no black and white explanation does not mean that the problem is less valid.

The "discipline" arguement is probably what prevented me from seeking help in the first place. The common conception is that if one is "disciplined enough" to sit down and write for long periods over a period of time that writing output will increase, which is true in most cases. But, if we look at the flipside of this argument, those who do not improve are simply not "disciplined" ie lazy. I relearned to write relatively late in the piece, in Year 9, I gradually learnt how to hold a pencil properly, graduating onto a pen, making myself legible, relaxing my grip, gaining slope for the first time (I'm left handed and nobody had ever taught me to slope my paper nor to some extent most of the other stuff I learnt). This took discipline, a LOT of it. I've spent the past eighteen months quietly trying to improve my speed. But I can write as much now as I could at the beginning of Yr 10, no amount of discipline is going to change that considerably.

It all hinges on what you consider to be a slow writing speed "for a lot of us". It was not a simple process to apply for, I had to see a Hand therapist and a hand surgeon to get my documentation, not simply a matter of "I'm not writing as much as others so I'm going to apply for provisions". They came up with no clear answers, more questions than anything. What they did find was that I had a severe writing impediment, no clear diagnosis but that much was clear. My writing speed is in the bottom percentile for my age, as much of a disadvantage in exams as most who have provisions for trouble reading or writing in general.

That's not a "medical reason", but it is a reason, never an excuse.

A lot of people who receive special provisions have the same problem with people judging their provisions when the reasons behind it are not as obvious. Leave it to the powers that be to decide, they at least have all the facts

 

[Emily.]

well if you went to a hand surgeon and therapist then i consider that a medical reason, you have had approval by a "doctor" of sorts. i thought that you had just said "oh i cant write fast enough, can i have a computer?" if that was the case its incredibly unfair, but i do now inderstand why you get it. sorry to sound as tho i was attacking you

 

[Melody]

well if you went to a hand surgeon and therapist then i consider that a medical reason, you have had approval by a "doctor" of sorts. i thought that you had just said "oh i cant write fast enough, can i have a computer?" if that was the case its incredibly unfair, but i do now inderstand why you get it. sorry to sound as tho i was attacking you

Lol, tis okay, was just pointing out that to get special provisions you have to have sufficient evidence to warrant them