<p>Has anyone asked their profs to grade a lil easier when they’re terribly sick? I’ve been sick for the past 2 days, with throat hurting, coughing, fatigue, and runny nose. It usually takes me about a week and a half to get better when I’m sick, even when on meds. My finals start on Monday, but I’ve found it ever so hard to concentrate on studying. I accidentally fell asleep twice for 7 hours while studying in the past 2 days. The only classes I’m worried about are my engineering classes. I have a pretty good chance of making A’s in them, but I fear that I won’t be able to focus 100%. I’ve been doing problem sets, but I blank out on a few even though they’re not that hard.</p>
<p>Has anyone had experience with this? Would it be fair if I talked to my profs and asked them to go a tad bit easier on grading, or should I just suck it up? (Finals will consist of fill in the blank workout type problems)</p>
<p>It’s not fair for them to grade you easier. While you’re going to take the finals under less than ideal conditions, many other students in the class will be, as well. For example, just this past semester, I had one student get in a car accident, one student arrested, one student broke two arms, one student impregnated his girlfriend (resulting in a shotgun wedding the weekend before finals), one student was impregnated and got married the weekend before finals, one has his mother in surgery, and one was on heavy duty pain medication. 90% of the rest of the class had no idea about any of these other situations. In addition, there were probably some students with issues of which I wasn’t aware. </p>
<p>So if the professor grades more lenient for you, he/she has to grade more lenient for everyone else with a “situation”. Then the professor has to define a threshold inconvenience that results in lenient grading (otherwise those with hangnails will request an accommodation), and the professor then has to poll all students to determine if they meet the definition. In short, it doesn’t make sense. </p>
<p>What you can do if the situation is very severe is get a doctor’s note and take it to the Registrar or Dean or whoever deals with this in your school. You can usually get a deferral or incomplete to take your exams later.</p>
<p>Wow G.P., my sickness is so minor compared to what some of your students have been through. I guess I kind of knew that I have to suck it up, just wanted someone else to tell that to me.</p>
<p>Orsche-
You should go to your school infirmary ASAP. The bigger issue is that you could possibly have the swine flu, and it is essential to you and to those around you that you get this checked out.</p>
<p>My son went to his freshman chem final with food poisoning (sweating, nauseous and throwing up). He couldn’t contact his professor and didn’t want to take a chance on whether he would be permitted to make it up.</p>
<p>If you can contact your prof, I would do that.</p>
<p>In that situation, his first visit should be to a doctor. Every college I know of has a policy for violently ill students - no one expects a student to take an exam between trips to the bathroom.</p>
<p>The issue is that many students will get a stomach ache then exaggerate the situation to make it sound like the bubonic plague. But if you can go to a doctor or student health services and get a note saying that you’re violently ill or contagious, you’ll get an accommodation from the professor or college (usually to take the exam at a later date).</p>
<p>"one student impregnated his girlfriend (resulting in a shotgun wedding the weekend before finals), one student was impregnated and got married the weekend before finals, "</p>
<p>The funny thing is, I usually notice when certain students sit together, come to office hours together, etc (I use that to separate them during exams and check their home works for copying). I hadn’t notice the two together until he stopped by my office to tell me why they both missed several classes. I got a really strange vibe from her - like it was a fling that turned out the wrong way. Not that it really matters to me - I just send them to counseling.</p>
<p>I once had to take a final a day after I had a heat stroke from studying in the library. UCDavis’ main library has an atrium for an entrance in which you can study, and where I liked to study because there was a constant flow of students, white noise, and this kept me awake. Unfortunately, I had just shaved my head due to a bad hair cut getting worse. I didn’t realize that I got burned really bad and dehydrated because of this. I spent the next 12 hours dry heaving and rehydrating. I never thought of asking for an extension or to be graded differently. Thus is life.</p>
<p>This. Most schools will allow you to defer a final exam with permission of a dean or something like that. I mean, sometimes there are situations where people simply cannot take the final (e.g. because they’re having emergency surgery - I knew someone to whom this happened).</p>
<p>That said, it depends on your situation. In some cases you’re better off just going ahead and getting the thing over with. We don’t know over the Internet how severe your symptoms are, so this is really up to you, your doctor, and the relevant deans and profs.</p>
<p>Yes, under certain circumstances you can take an alternate exam. You should talk with your professor and tell them the situation. Sounds like you’re a good student so they might let you reschedule.</p>
<p>I think you are better off to take it if you can. Even if you could get permission to take it later, it might be a lot harder. I have had teachers give oral make-up exams or (yikes) solve-it-on-the-spot-while-I-am-watching-you exams. Not a fun choice.</p>
<p>Get a doctor’s note. Last semester I was sick two-three days before the exam. I got the note and told the teacher that I may be too sick to attend the exam and I had the dr’s note. The teacher said that I could take the alternate exam…I ended up being well enough for the exam though so everything worked out.</p>
<p>at the end of the past fall semester i got the flu on finals week. all my classes were tues-thurs classes. i got the flu on wednesday, i was at work in the morning and i went home early. to make things worse, all 4 of my classes had their final on the following thurs.</p>
<p>i had to throw up b4 and after classes but other then that taking the tests were alright</p>