diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/CHANGELOG.md b/opentelemetry-api/CHANGELOG.md
index 3f4ed4f0298..80549373127 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Add optional parameter to `record_exception` method ([#1314](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/1314))
+
 ## Version 0.15b0
 
 Released 2020-11-02
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/CHANGELOG.md b/opentelemetry-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
index fc635bc2392..f1790c0a584 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Add optional parameter to `record_exception` method ([#1314](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/1314))
+
 ## Version 0.15b0
 
 Released 2020-11-02
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
index ab90c9316cd..6b99888a461 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
@@ -694,14 +694,15 @@ def record_exception(
             # an AttributeError if the __context__ on
             # an exception is None
             stacktrace = "Exception occurred on stacktrace formatting"
-
+        _attributes = {
+            "exception.type": exception.__class__.__name__,
+            "exception.message": str(exception),
+            "exception.stacktrace": stacktrace,
+        }
+        if attributes:
+            _attributes.update(attributes)
         self.add_event(
-            name="exception",
-            attributes={
-                "exception.type": exception.__class__.__name__,
-                "exception.message": str(exception),
-                "exception.stacktrace": stacktrace,
-            },
+            name="exception", attributes=_attributes, timestamp=timestamp
         )
 
 
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
index d08e12dee26..521bde00c8c 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
@@ -874,6 +874,85 @@ def test_record_exception(self):
             exception_event.attributes["exception.stacktrace"],
         )
 
+    def test_record_exception_with_attributes(self):
+        span = trace._Span("name", mock.Mock(spec=trace_api.SpanContext))
+        try:
+            raise RuntimeError("error")
+        except RuntimeError as err:
+            attributes = {"has_additional_attributes": True}
+            span.record_exception(err, attributes)
+        exception_event = span.events[0]
+        self.assertEqual("exception", exception_event.name)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            "error", exception_event.attributes["exception.message"]
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            "RuntimeError", exception_event.attributes["exception.type"]
+        )
+        self.assertIn(
+            "RuntimeError: error",
+            exception_event.attributes["exception.stacktrace"],
+        )
+        self.assertIn(
+            "has_additional_attributes", exception_event.attributes,
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            True, exception_event.attributes["has_additional_attributes"],
+        )
+
+    def test_record_exception_with_timestamp(self):
+        span = trace._Span("name", mock.Mock(spec=trace_api.SpanContext))
+        try:
+            raise RuntimeError("error")
+        except RuntimeError as err:
+            timestamp = 1604238587112021089
+            span.record_exception(err, timestamp=timestamp)
+        exception_event = span.events[0]
+        self.assertEqual("exception", exception_event.name)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            "error", exception_event.attributes["exception.message"]
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            "RuntimeError", exception_event.attributes["exception.type"]
+        )
+        self.assertIn(
+            "RuntimeError: error",
+            exception_event.attributes["exception.stacktrace"],
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            1604238587112021089, exception_event.timestamp,
+        )
+
+    def test_record_exception_with_attributes_and_timestamp(self):
+        span = trace._Span("name", mock.Mock(spec=trace_api.SpanContext))
+        try:
+            raise RuntimeError("error")
+        except RuntimeError as err:
+            attributes = {"has_additional_attributes": True}
+            timestamp = 1604238587112021089
+            span.record_exception(err, attributes, timestamp)
+        exception_event = span.events[0]
+        self.assertEqual("exception", exception_event.name)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            "error", exception_event.attributes["exception.message"]
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            "RuntimeError", exception_event.attributes["exception.type"]
+        )
+        self.assertIn(
+            "RuntimeError: error",
+            exception_event.attributes["exception.stacktrace"],
+        )
+        self.assertIn(
+            "has_additional_attributes", exception_event.attributes,
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            True, exception_event.attributes["has_additional_attributes"],
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            1604238587112021089, exception_event.timestamp,
+        )
+
     def test_record_exception_context_manager(self):
         try:
             with self.tracer.start_as_current_span("span") as span: