This is why all-nighters are bad

[Deleted]

Dear Dr. Peppers,
I'm so sorry for coming in over 2 hours late to the exam. We thought my friend got a concussion the day before so we were out all day getting him to the hospital. Then I was up until 5:30 AM studying and completely slept through my alarms. I know that's no real excuse, and I totally understand if there's nothing you can do to help me. It was generous of you already to let me come in late to take the test, but is there anything you could possibly do?
Flaky McFlakerson

Sigh.

[Deleted]

I'm kind of LOL at "we thought my friend got a concussion the day before so we were out all day getting him to the hospital".

They're not very good friends if it took them ALL day to get him to hospital...

[Deleted]

May 3, 2013 9:39:17 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

I'm kind of LOL at "we thought my friend got a concussion the day before so we were out all day getting him to the hospital".

They're not very good friends if it took them ALL day to get him to hospital...

This is the second time in a week that a student has requested special consideration for an assignment because they were at the hospital with a friend. WTF are all these kids doing to get themselves into the hospital?? I'm thinking this is the new "my great-aunt died."

[otowngirl]

What more could you "possibly do?" I guess he didn't finish the test?

LOL at "Flaky McFlakerson"

[Kore]

Wait--so you let the student take the exam 2 hours late. What more does he/she want you to do when asking if there's anything else you can possibly do?

[Deleted]

May 3, 2013 9:42:24 GMT -5 Kore said:

Wait--so you let the student take the exam 2 hours late. What more does he/she want you to do when asking if there's anything else you can possibly do?

Well, she showed up at 11:15 for an exam scheduled from 9-12. I made her stop at 12.

I cut off the rest of the e-mail where she made specific suggestions, such as only grading the sections she got to.  :-#

[greekypie]

That's hard.

What are you going to do?

[Deleted]

Lol.

I once got "I did the assignment (he did 1/3 of it) but I didn't know I had to hand it in."

[morgie44]

I stayed up until 2 studying for an exam once, then over slept the 11 am start time. I showed up about 1.5 hours in, and thankfully the professor still let me take it. I am a super fast test taker, so I was able to finish in the hour or so that was left, and there were kids that were there persumably at the start, that still hadn't finished when I had. I never said anything to the professor about it besides sorry when I showed up. Was he not able to finish?

[Deleted]

May 3, 2013 9:45:09 GMT -5 morgie44 said:

I stayed up until 2 studying for an exam once, then over slept the 11 am start time. I showed up about 1.5 hours in, and thankfully the professor still let me take it. I am a super fast test taker, so I was able to finish in the hour or so that was left, and there were kids that were there persumably at the start, that still hadn't finished when I had. I never said anything to the professor about it besides sorry when I showed up. Was he not able to finish?

No, 45 minutes was definitely not long enough for this exam. She barely got half of it done.

I told her that I will take her e-mail in to consideration if her final grade falls on the border (she's got a C right now). Way to be vague, right? 

[Deleted]

May 3, 2013 9:45:34 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

May 3, 2013 9:42:24 GMT -5 Kore said:

Wait--so you let the student take the exam 2 hours late. What more does he/she want you to do when asking if there's anything else you can possibly do?

From rbp's post yesterday I believe it was a multi-hour exam and this kid showed up two hours into it so he probably didn't finish.

I think I'd ask for hospital paperwork as proof they were actually there.  Smells fishy to me and it shouldn't take all day to get someone to the hospital.

No way I'm getting involved with this hospital BS. I'm also not quite sure how being at the hospital the DAY BEFORE my exam is relevant to the situation.

[otowngirl]

May 3, 2013 9:46:21 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

May 3, 2013 9:45:09 GMT -5 morgie44 said:

I stayed up until 2 studying for an exam once, then over slept the 11 am start time. I showed up about 1.5 hours in, and thankfully the professor still let me take it. I am a super fast test taker, so I was able to finish in the hour or so that was left, and there were kids that were there persumably at the start, that still hadn't finished when I had. I never said anything to the professor about it besides sorry when I showed up. Was he not able to finish?

No, 45 minutes was definitely not long enough for this exam. She barely got half of it done.

I told her that I will take her e-mail in to consideration if her final grade falls on the border (she's got a C right now). Way to be vague, right? 

:Y:

[helgamelga]

Being vague is the best way to go. In situations like that I give the student an all essay exam. The student gets the opportunity to take a full exam but most likely they aren't going to do very well unless they really did study. Also, my concern is that if they came in to the exam that late someone could have finished it already and passed info about the exam on to them.

[Kore]

Screw that. Y'all know I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world, but it's entirely her fault for waiting til the day before the exam to cram, forcing her to stay up all night when her friend's possible concussion derails her day-before study plans.

[Deleted]

Eh, her excuse is not a good one. I like your response.

[HoneySpider]

May 3, 2013 9:44:58 GMT -5 @mrschicken said:

Lol.

I once got "I did the assignment (he did 1/3 of it) but I didn't know I had to hand it in."

LOL!

Kids these days! 

[Deleted]

May 3, 2013 10:17:58 GMT -5 Kore said:

Screw that. Y'all know I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world, but it's entirely her fault for waiting til the day before the exam to cram, forcing her to stay up all night when her friend's possible concussion derails her day-before study plans.

I agree.

early in college I had one professor explain to us that we should not bother asking for accommodations. she told us that we need to do our best and make it work. it stuck with me, and it's served me really well so far.

if you're a responsible student, you will never be in a position where you have nothing to show for you work. even days before a paper is due, you should have an outline and at least your first draft completed. if something completely awful happens the day before where you literally cannot work on your paper, you turn in what you have with an explanation and an apology so your professor understands why the quality of your work is lower than expected. but you take the grade you get. you don't ask for special consideration. 

the same thing happens for tests - if something happens the day before an exam that prevents you from studying, you already should have a strong foundation from previous study sessions to at least pass the test. planning to cram is the real problem here, not the little emergencies life throws our way.

signed, 23-year-old student who did not miss a single assignment despite having three papers due the week she underwent emergency open-abdominal surgery. I also made it to my Dysphagia exam 9 days post-op when I was supposed to be on bed rest taking narcotics 4x a day. 

[Deleted]

I am very sensitive to the fact that life gets in the way. I let a student reschedule her final exam last semester because she had strep throat, and I let a student skip his final exam and take the grade he had before the final because his dad passed away. But both of these were extenuating circumstances that were explained to me PRIOR to the event, not showing up two hours late for no good reason and THEN asking for accommodations.

I feel like I'm being a huge bitch here, but the alternative is being a stupid doormat. I need to quit internalizing students' flakiness so much.

[sunshine608]

I personally only consider exceptions involving family members and emergencies. Friends don't meet the cutoff because it just gets too out of hand. I've been burned in the past.

[Deleted]

RBP, you are absolutely not being a huge bitch. Some of the best lessons a student can learn is when a professor says tough shit.

The other instances you outlined seem perfectly acceptable--I am also often very willing to bend over backwards to help a student with extenuating circumstances who is responsible enough to make prior arrangements if possible.

Signed, Really tired of students coming in begging for hours/extra credit because they blew off lab hours/ attendance requirements Jan -April 25.

[Deleted]

I think your response was good. Her request makes me laugh. She is basically saying, "How about we only count the questions I got right and go ahead and ignore the wrong ones. Kay? Thanks. *high-five*"

[catbus]

May 3, 2013 10:34:44 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Lol. I love her suggestion of only counting the sections she completed.

I think it's a great plan! She could get 100% for completing nothing. LOL. 

[Deleted]

May 3, 2013 10:34:44 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Lol. I love her suggestion of only counting the sections she completed.

I think that a lot of kids today have had the notion "it never hurts to ask" drilled into them.

This strategy doesn't work when your request is absurd.

[Deleted]

Did I just use the phrase "kids today?"   Time for me to buy a Buick and start shopping at Boden.

[jennistarr1]

I once--no twice--used the wrong exam schedule (it changed every semester, I looked at the previous semesters) and completely missed final exams and I was a really good student but just completely messed up. One professor found me in the hallway with my head against the wall sobbing...both let me retake it on the spot.

[kathybela]

May 3, 2013 10:43:31 GMT -5 @mrschicken said:

RBP, you are absolutely not being a huge bitch. Some of the best lessons a student can learn is when a professor says tough shit.

The other instances you outlined seem perfectly acceptable--I am also often very willing to bend over backwards to help a student with extenuating circumstances who is responsible enough to make prior arrangements if possible.

Signed, Really tired of students coming in begging for hours/extra credit because they blew off lab hours/ attendance requirements Jan -April 25.

I agree with this, especially the bolded part - a boss is not going to accept crap excuses if you miss a work deadline and you can't be young enough to learn this lesson.

[Deleted]

May 3, 2013 10:46:34 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

Did I just use the phrase "kids today?"   Time for me to buy a Buick and start shopping at Boden.

I think you are officially ready to be a parent.

[explorer2001]

Yeah sometimes you have to learn to deal with the fact that life impacts school/work. The only accounting class I ever got a B in was one where if I had gotten two more questions right on the final I would have gotten an A. I had spent the night before the test in the ER with second and third degree burns. I wasn't even taking the pain meds because I would have slept through the test if I had. Guess what I got a B. Sucked sure but that's life. I did ask for extra time if I needed it but I was in too much pain to stay and use the extra time. Oh and I had the hospital paperwork but the professor didn't ask for it since the bandages were so obvious.

Kids seem to have turned in entitled pansies.

[keweenawlove]

May 3, 2013 10:33:15 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

I am very sensitive to the fact that life gets in the way. I let a student reschedule her final exam last semester because she had strep throat, and I let a student skip his final exam and take the grade he had before the final because his dad passed away. But both of these were extenuating circumstances that were explained to me PRIOR to the event, not showing up two hours late for no good reason and THEN asking for accommodations.

Totally different than what this girl did which was pretty much put off studying for too long. I like your vague response. I agree with pretty much everything tacom said. If you've prepared all semester, what happens the day before the test shouldn't completely derail you.

Oversleeping an alarm/screwing up a final time was always a huge paranoia of mine. Thankfully I made it through all my classes without it happening. That included a 7:30 a.m. example in grad school which I still think is way too early to every hold a final.

[soozy87]

May 3, 2013 10:45:50 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

May 3, 2013 10:34:44 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Lol. I love her suggestion of only counting the sections she completed.

I think that a lot of kids today have had the notion "it never hurts to ask" drilled into them.

This strategy doesn't work when your request is absurd.

Did she do well on the parts that she completed?