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How to sit exams or resits abroad

Under certain circumstances, some students may be able to take their exams or resits overseas. Check the eligibility section of this page to see if this applies to you.

You won’t need to apply to sit exams overseas if your assessments are online. Find more information on the online time-limited assessments page.

If you’re unsure about the format of your assessment, contact your teaching school.

Exchange, Erasmus and study abroad students

If you’re a study abroad or exchange student, you might have clashes between University of Leeds on-campus exams and your home institution’s teaching patterns.

If this happens, contact your University of Leeds school as soon as possible.

Sitting January exams at your home university

Under certain circumstances, University of Leeds January exams might clash with the start of semester 2 at your home university. When this happens, you can usually take your University of Leeds January exams at your home university. Sometimes the assessment format means you must take your exams in Leeds.

Applying to sit exams at your home university

To apply to take your January exams at your home university, follow these steps: 

  1. Get approval from your home university to take your Leeds on-campus exams on site.
  2. Get an official letter from your home university to confirm there’s a clash between the University of Leeds exam timetable and their teaching timetable.
  3. Check with your University of Leeds teaching school for each of your modules that you can take the assessment away from Leeds.
  4. Ask your University of Leeds teaching school whether each module assessment is a sit-down exam that needs external arrangements for you to sit it abroad. Get an email from your University of Leeds school confirming this.
  5. Complete the request to take resit exams abroad form.

You may need to pay a fee to your home university for their services – contact them for further information.

Semester 1 and 2 exams or August resits abroad

Eligibility

Semester 1 and 2 exams

You may be eligible to take your semester 1 and 2 on-campus exams or external resits abroad if any of the following apply: 

  • your permanent home address is outside the UK and you are registered as an external student.
  • you’re a University of Leeds student working or studying abroad as part of your programme.  
  • you’re an exchange/Erasmus/study abroad student at the University of Leeds who has already returned home to complete your studies.
  • you’re a semester 1 exchange student and the University of Leeds examination period in January clashes with your home institution’s teaching patterns.

Taking resit exams in August

You may be eligible to take your on-campus resit (or approved further first attempt) examinations abroad if any of the following apply: 

  • your permanent home address is outside the UK and you are registered as an overseas rated student
  • you are a University of Leeds student working or studying abroad as part of your programme
  • you are an exchange/study abroad student at the University of Leeds who has already returned home

Where you can take the exam

If you live outside the UK, the location where you take your exam must be in your home country.

If you’re working or studying abroad as part of your programme, the location where you resit must be in the country where you are working or studying.

The assessment must be suitable for you to take outside the University.

The place where you take the exam must be a suitable environment, for example, the British Council or your home/study abroad university.

How to apply to take exams/resits abroad

You must apply for your resits before applying to take your exams/resits abroad.

To apply to resit your exams abroad, follow these steps: 

  1. Apply to resit on the results and resit application page on Minerva when final results are released. Find out when results publication dates are released.
  2. Complete the request to take resit exams abroad form.

Criteria depending on different circumstances:

  1. You only need to make an overseas application if your reassessment is for written on-campus examinations. 
  2. For coursework only or an online assessment, you only need to indicate your intention to resit on Minerva.

If you need help with applying for overseas exam arrangements or with any general questions, please contact the Overseas Exams Team. 

Deadlines to apply to sit exams abroad

The deadlines for each exam period to apply to resit overseas in 2027 are:  

  • Semester 1 exams: 25 November 2026

  • Semester 2 exams: 12 March 2027

  • August resits: 15 July 2027

What happens if you miss the deadline?

If you miss the application deadline it may not be possible for us to arrange for you to take exams overseas.

You’ll get an email to let you know if it isn’t possible to make arrangements. The email will inform you that you must return to the University of Leeds for your exams.

For August resits, the application form will be closed from the deadline and no further requests will be accepted.

Resit fees

The University of Leeds no longer charges students resit fees.

However, if you resit examinations abroad, you may need to pay a fee for the services of the hosting institution, for example, the British Council or University. You should contact your hosting institution for information about any fees and how to pay.

Please contact the Student Information Service if you have any queries about resit fees. You can speak to someone face-to-face at a Student Information point on campus.

Exam timetables

Individual timetables for your exams will be published on Minerva. We usually release exam timetables around the same time each year.

If your application to take exams abroad has been successful, please ignore the on-campus exams on this timetable. You’ll receive an email with your new timetable and arrangements that replace the timetable you’ll see on Minerva.

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