Occasionally, a student may become ill, have a personal/family emergency, or religious observance which requires them to ask for special consideration for an alternate date to write their final exam or submit their outstanding coursework beyond the last day of classes. Students in these situations may request deferred standing.

A deferred standing is a formal arrangement with the course director, requiring supporting documentation where applicable. Students must formally apply using the Final Exam/Assignment Deferred Standing Form.

For course-work, the agreement will set an alternate date for submission beyond the end of the term, at the discretion of the course director.

For final examinations, the agreement will approve you to write at another date. Note that make-up dates may be pre-determined and procedures will vary by department. This information is normally available on course outlines.

If you cannot write a formally-scheduled final examination on its scheduled date because of religious commitment, then refer to the Religious Observance Policy and Accommodation Guidelines.

Students who are registered with Student Accessibility Services should refer to instructions on how to reschedule a test or exam on the Alternate Exam/Test Scheduling site.

You must formally request deferred standing. The deadline to submit this form is no later than one week after the missed examination or the last day of classes.

Most instructors will provide procedures and information about deferred standing in course outlines. Refer to those procedures for instructions specific to the course.

To apply:

1. Download and complete the Final Exam/Assignment Deferred Standing Agreement.
2. Gather any relevant supporting documentation. Health issues* will require an Attending Physician's Statement. (*Note: Between January 1 – August 31, 2025, an Attending Physician’s Statement is only required for petitions to defer a final examination)
3. Contact your instructor to review the form and receive approval for deferred standing. If the instructor does not approve the form, you may choose to submit an academic petition. Note that petitions may not be successful.
4. Submit the signed, approved deferred standing form to the academic department that offers the course. The course outline may provide specific procedures for submission. Please ensure you keep a copy for yourself.
5. Work towards completing the course work and/or writing the exam as per the agreed timeline on the signed form.

Once approved by the course director and submitted, a "DEF" or "Deferred" will appear on your transcript and grade report. The grade qualifier "DEF" will remain until the course director submits the final grade as per the agreement.

If the Final Exam/Assignment Deferred Standing Form has:

• not been submitted by the deadline;
• was denied by the course director/; or,
• the due date of the agreement has passed,

then the course grade will be calculated without the missing assignments or exams.

Each academic term has specific deadlines to submit deferred final grades to the Registrar’s Office. The Final Exam/Assignment Deferred Standing Agreement form asks the course director to specify the date on which the deferred examination must be written or by which the outstanding course work must be submitted. These deferral dates must give enough time for the submitted work to be graded and a final course grade to be calculated and submitted to the Registrar's Office.

The submission deadlines below are firm, and reflect the absolute deadline for academic departments/schools/units to submit deferred final grades to the Registrar’s Office.

Note: If you have applied to graduate, please note that the timelines below do not align with the deadline to meet your program requirements. If your grade is not submitted by the program requirements deadline, you will need to apply for a future convocation. To review the program requirements deadlines for each convocation cycle, visit the Apply to Graduate website.