What is a DC?
A DC (Discontinue Not to Count as Fail) indicates that you were enrolled in a Unit of Study, but some time after the census date, were unable to complete the unit because of illness, injury, or misadventure, that was unexpected, and outside of your control. DCs do not count towards your WAM or academic progression.
 
Why couldn’t you discontinue before census date?
You must be able to demonstrate that you were engaged in your subject, attending classes, and completing assessments, before you became affected by illness, injury, or misadventure. You should have applied for special consideration for any assessments that you missed. If you did not, you will need to explain why.

Do you have supporting documentation?
DC applications must have formal, third party supporting documentation from a relevant medical practitioner, counsellor, or similar professional. Sometimes it may be appropriate to get a statutory declaration from a family member or friend or provide a student declaration yourself, however, use this as a last resort as it is often not considered sufficient. Your documentation needs to clearly state the period and how severely you were impacted, ideally “very severely affected”. The period you were impacted should start after the census date and should continue until the date you are applying.

Did you pass any units?
If you passed any units in the semester you will need to explain why you were able to successfully complete them, but not the ones you are seeking a DC for. An event may have happened after you had completed the assessment for one unit but not the other; or perhaps the content or types of assessments were different in those units. Note that you will need to have this explanation on your supporting documents as well. Without this statement from your practitioner (doctor, counsellor, etc) it is unlikely your application will be successful.

My application was declined, is there anything I can do?
You can request a formal review of the decision, where you need to respond to any reasons they provided for declining your DC application and provide appropriate, new documentation. This is your last chance to appeal so talk to a Caseworker to ensure you are putting your best case forward.