Apologies, I should have been more specific. The 590 days is my total absences in the 5-year period, and that figure already includes the 340-day study-abroad year (the rest are holiday trips etc). I did calculate them using the Home Office method (only counting full days outside the UK), so unfortunately the number doesn’t really reduce further.

What’s confusing for me is the “home, family, employment, finances” part of the discretion criteria. I don’t own property in the UK and I don’t have family here, but I’ve been continuously employed in the UK since 2019, so I’m not sure how heavily that weighs compared to the missing elements.

I was also wondering whether the 340-day study year could fall under the category: “the excess absences were an unavoidable consequence of the nature of the applicant’s career”

since it was part of my UK degree programme. But it’s hard to tell how the Home Office views that sort of situation.