Why neurodivergent young people struggle with exam papers (when they know the subject)

Your daughter knows this. She can talk about it for an hour. Then she sits the paper and comes out with a grade that says otherwise. If that sounds familiar, the problem may not be what she knows. It may be the way the question is asked, the way it is marked, and the room she sits it in.

Here’s what we’d like exam boards to know, and what you can do now.

The wording of the question

Many autistic young people read a question exactly as it is written. If the wording is loose, they answer the question on the page, not the one the examiner had in mind, and lose marks for being accurate.

Command words blur together. “Explain”, “describe”, “discuss”, “evaluate” and “to what extent” mean different things in a mark scheme. Most students pick that up through years of unspoken exam technique. Neurodivergent students often need it spelled out, and it rarely is.
Ambiguity creates doubt. Vague words like “briefly” or “in detail”, double negatives and unstated assumptions can stop a young person in her tracks.
Figurative language turns up in the question itself, not just in the texts being studied.

Too much going on

A maths question wrapped in a story about a school trip adds reading, distracting detail and social assumptions, without testing any more maths. Multi-part questions, information spread across pages and flipping between an insert and an answer booklet all put pressure on working memory. Many neurodivergent young people process accurately but slowly. Long, dense questions end up testing speed, not understanding.

Questions that test social guessing, not the subject

“How does the writer make the reader feel?” asks a student to predict a typical emotional response. Plenty of autistic young people can analyse language brilliantly and still find it hard to guess what an imaginary reader is meant to feel. In addition, some neurodivergent learners will be alexithymic, which means they have real difficulty identifying and talking about emotions in real life context, let alone in a fictional exam paper.
Writing prompts that assume a social life. Parties, friendship groups, family holidays, or “write about a time when…”. For a young person who has been isolated or out of school, these can be hard to access and upsetting.
“Evaluate” questions can reward a balanced, expected conclusion over a clear, well-argued single view.

How answers are marked

Mark schemes that reward “perceptive” or “sophisticated” answers can favour a conventional reading over an accurate, literal, detailed one. Correct answers that don’t use the expected phrasing can be missed. And young people who think deeply about one thing at a time may go into real depth on a single point, when the mark scheme rewards covering several (without explicitly saying so).

The hidden tasks in every paper

Planning time, judging how much to write for the marks available, and switching between unrelated topics every few minutes are all executive function tasks, sitting on top of the subject knowledge. Getting stuck on one uncertain question and being unable to move on is common, especially for young people who are afraid of getting it wrong. In a lesson, she could ask what a question means. In an exam, there is no one to ask.

The page and the room

Dense pages, small print, cluttered diagrams and inconsistent layouts all add load. Answer spaces that don’t match the length of answer expected can confuse a young person who reads the space as an instruction.

Then there is the exam hall. For young people who have faced Barriers to Attendance, it is exactly the kind of environment that became impossible: a big room, strict rules, unfamiliar adults, noise and sensory overload. Masking all day and then sitting an exam draws on energy that is already running low.

Why access arrangements often miss the mark

Access arrangements are set by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) and put in place by schools. They have to reflect a young person’s “normal way of working”, which means the need has to show up in lessons, tests and mocks first. That is where many autistic young people fall through. If she masks all day, or has been out of school, there may be no record of need for the school to draw on, however real it is.

For autistic young people, JCQ asks schools to consider supervised rest breaks before applying for 25% extra time. Rest breaks help some young people a great deal, but the standard arrangements don’t map neatly onto anxiety, sensory overwhelm, situational mutism or shutdown. Modified papers are usually thought of for visual or hearing impairment, and an oral language modifier, who can clarify the wording of a question, is often overlooked for autistic students.

What you can do now

If your young person has exams coming up, raise these with school early. For the summer 2027 exams, schools must order modified papers by 31 January 2027 and apply for other access arrangements by 21 March 2027, so autumn is the time to start.

Talk to the SENCo now, not in spring. Ask what arrangements are being considered and how need will be evidenced. Because arrangements must reflect her normal way of working, she needs to be using them in lessons and mocks well before the real thing.
A diagnosis is not always required. What matters is evidence that her needs have a substantial and long-term effect on her, and that the arrangement helps. If she is still waiting for an assessment, ask the school what evidence they can gather in the meantime.
Ask about supervised rest breaks. JCQ specifically names these as often suiting autistic and ADHD candidates, and schools are asked to consider them before 25% extra time. If rest breaks aren’t enough, extra time can still be applied for.
Ask about the room. Sitting in a smaller room away from the main hall is something schools can often arrange. Ask what the options are and whether she can see the room beforehand.
Ask about an oral language modifier. This is someone who can clarify the wording of a question when she asks, without helping with the answer. It is not allowed in every paper, but where it is, it can make a real difference to a young person who reads questions literally.
Ask whether a modified paper would help, and check the ordering deadline with the exams officer. Each exam board sets its own criteria for who is eligible.
Ask for command words to be taught explicitly, with worked examples of what each one looks like in a mark scheme.
Share what you know. A short one-page profile of how she processes questions, what overwhelms her and what helps gives the SENCo something concrete to work with.
If you think something has been missed, raise it with the SENCo first. If she is sitting exams as a private candidate, the exam centre that accepts her is responsible for her access arrangements, so contact them early. If there is a need for remote or home invigilation, these are often booked up by the end of the Summer.

For schools, exams officers and SENCos

Most of the barriers on this page are about design, which means most of them can be changed. These are the changes we ask exam boards to consider:

Plain, consistent command words, defined and used identically across every paper.
Remove context that is not being assessed.
Clear, uncluttered layouts, with modified-style design as the default rather than an add-on.
Mark schemes that explicitly credit accurate, literal and in-depth answers.
Neurodivergent educators and young people reviewing papers before they are finalised.
Creative prompts that don’t rely on personal disclosure or assumed social experiences.

Our training for schools covers how to recognise autistic girls who are masking, and how to put support in place that actually fits.

You don’t have to work this out alone

Our free family workshops and our Facebook community are full of parents who have been through exam season with a neurodivergent young person. If your young person is out of school or has missed exams altogether, The Haven offers specialist online learning, including GCSE pathways, at a pace that works for her.

If exam pressure has left your young person, or you, really struggling right now, please reach out. Young people can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or text SHOUT to 85258. Our community is here for you too.