Evidence and adjustments
Accountancy, law, healthcare training, industry qualifications, postgraduate professional courses and regulated examinations all have their own rules. There is no single national system for professional exams, so the answer to 'what evidence do I need?' always begins with the organisation setting the exam.
The key principle
Adults often assume professional examinations work like GCSEs, or like university. They usually do not. Each professional body, awarding organisation and training provider sets its own policy, its own deadlines and its own view of what evidence is acceptable.
People sitting accountancy, legal, healthcare, industry, vocational, regulated or postgraduate professional examinations, and anyone whose training involves timed written assessment.
Policies change frequently. A page claiming to know what a particular professional body requires today would be misleading within months. Their own current guidance is the only reliable source.
You are normally expected to request adjustments in advance, by a stated deadline, and to supply evidence describing current impact rather than simply a label.
Before you arrange anything
Look for 'reasonable adjustments', 'access arrangements' or 'special consideration' on the organisation's website, and note the deadline for requests.
In writing where possible. Ask what the report must contain, who may write it, and whether there is any requirement about how recent it must be.
Check the date, your age at the time, the assessments used, standardised scores, the diagnostic conclusion and the recommendations.
If the evidence you hold meets what they described, submit it. If they have said in writing that it does not, you now know precisely what is needed.
Common questions
Most professional and awarding bodies have a published policy on adjustments, sometimes called reasonable adjustments, special arrangements or access arrangements. The process, deadlines and evidence they accept are set by that organisation, so their own guidance is the place to start.
It varies. Some bodies accept an existing diagnostic report of any age. Some ask for a report from a specified type of professional. Some ask for evidence written after a certain age, most commonly a post-16 assessment. Some ask for a letter describing current impact rather than a full report. Ask them what they require before assuming.
A dyslexic profile does not expire. It is a lifelong way of processing written language. What can change is whether a particular organisation regards a particular document as current enough for its own purposes. Those are two different things, and it is worth using precise language when you ask.
Often it is. Look at what your report contains: the date, your age at assessment, the tests used, standardised scores, the diagnostic conclusion and the recommendations. Then compare that with what the organisation has asked for. If it matches, send it and see what they say before spending money.
Ask them to confirm the requirement in writing, including what the report must contain and who it must be written by. That written answer is what determines whether further assessment is genuinely necessary, and it is also what an assessor needs to see in order to advise you sensibly.
No, and you should be wary of anyone who does. Mark is a specialist assessor holding an Assessment Practising Certificate, and reports are written to professional standards, but acceptance is always the decision of the organisation concerned.
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