From the BBC News, the following item, with thanks to Cronaca for the link. Students get extra points if they have suffered personal trauma near the exam day:

A system giving students extra marks if they have suffered personal trauma is being defended by an exams authority.
GCSE and A-level pupils in England are given 5% more if a parent dies close to exam day or 4% for a distant relative.

They get 2% more if a pet dies or 1% if they get a headache. Critics say the system panders to an "excuse for everything" attitude.

But the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) says taking such events into consideration is "nothing new".

The guidelines are set out by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents England's three main exam authorities, including the AQA.

I have never heard of such a thing before, and I am totally amazed. Extra marks?? I can understand rescheduling the exam under such circumstances, even giving the exam privately in the case of a death in the family. But not extra marks. They have not been earned in any way. Would you then have to give extra points to the person traumatized by poor exam results? or by the other person's marks being enhanced?

In our system, candidates are given extra credit for long time service (10 years or more) which I think makes sense, and also for having served in the active military (which I think is unfair, but arguably earned by their service).

Would someone be so cold blooded as to adopt a pet from a shelter so they could kill it and then claim pet loss trauma? How do you prove someone has a migraine? Do you require a death certificate and proof of blood relationship? Why discriminate against those who love friends like family ("aunties" and such) and whose deaths would cause severe grief? Oh, the list goes on....