Did I screw over my classmates?

[animenagai]

Here's what happened. As some of you may know, I'm a philosophy major. The thing about our philosophy department is that they're very easygoing. Our lecturers literally tells us that we can hand in our assignments on exam day without any penalties (apart from lack of comments, but they usually give you some anyways). On top of that, for some of our classes, we are given our EXACT exam questions in our study guide, so we can plan our exam answers weeks or months before our exam. I have no problems with that system as it all gets graded anyways and our lecturers say 'you need time to be philosophically sound'.

The issue is this, we had an exam on the morning of the 9th. Since I am eternally disorganized, I thought my first exam was on the 11th. I didn't hand in my second assignment prior to that because I was still trying to find some good quotes and stuff to put in my essay and I planned to hand it in on the 10th. Around 5 o'clock pm on the 9th, I finally decided to check my timetable again just to make sure I got it right. Lo and behold, i realized that i missed an exam and my world came crashing down. I emailed my lecturer asking him what I could do about it and he replied saying he'll give things a shot. He put in a good word with the department of philosophy, history and classics (one department) saying that I am a good student who just isn't very organized (and I am, I like to learn about my major and I always discuss/debate the topics in class). The people in the department gave me a call and said they'll give me a 2nd chance. If I could hand in my assignment on that day and sit the exam the next day, they'll pretend nothing's happened. So, that's exactly what I did.

Given that all the exams are graded, did I just cause all my classmates a huge injustice? I had an extra day to study, an exam room to myself and really no penalties on missing the exam. I wonder if they'll mark my B down to a straight pass or something. Thoughts?

 

[Elbow Cancer]

I think "screw over" is a bit harsh. The real question is whether your treatment was unfair to your classmates or not.

You'd then have to answer the question within context. Frankly, for those who would have done poorly on the exam due to a complete lack of understanding, the extra day or two wouldn't have helped them much. For those who had a clear understanding of class material, it is safe to assume that forming more sophisticated answers (I'm assuming this isn't more time to memorize multiple choice) would take more than an extra day or two, just because of the diminished returns of effort.

It would be unfair to a student who might have been able to use the time to prepare because of time constraints, however. Then again, if you'd have performed just as well on the 11th than on the 9th, who really cares? This is a point you can just privately ponder, and move on.

The professors have more power over grades and tests than they'll ever admit to most students at the end of the day, thus their word is final. Just be happy the powers that be decided not to try to teach you a lesson in organization by punishing you - perhaps having the faith that a close call would suffice rather than causing you grief. I went through your exact scenario, by the way, early on in college. The professor was just as merciful, and I never forgot the date of a final exam ever again.

 

[Niraj]

I don't really see how your classmates should even be a concern. I would just be glad that you were able to take the exam after missing it. So you get an extra day...labeling that as an "injustice" to your classmates seems somewhat harsh. You made an error and you were fortunate enough to have it rectified at no penalty. Just be glad you have such a good rapport with your lecturers, chalk it up to good fortune, and don't worry about it. That's how I'd handle it personally.

 

[gaudetjaja]

You didn't harm your co students in any way with this. Think about it like this: if they would've missed their exam, they would have got the same treatment as you would have. And even if they wouldn't get that same treatment, it wouldn't be your fault but the fault of the head of the department.

 

[DM]

I look at this as karma. You've been a devoted, hard-working student all along, to the point where your professor noticed it. You made an honest mistake, they realized it and gave you another chance. Don't worry about it.

But DON'T expect to ever have this happen again. Definitely a one-time deal.

 

[Big Bayou]

On the night before my Art History exam there was a massive storm and my alarms were reset.

Now this exam was taking place at a different college about 2 miles away, which is why I was flipping out when I saw that I had woken up 1 hour into the test. I sprinted in my pajamas to my bike, crashed down the hill (through a morning snowstorm), slid on ice and fucked up myself and the bike chain, abandoned the bike and proceeded to sprint the last mile, and finally burst into the room exhausted from the trek, hair/pajamas covered in snow and eyelashes completely iced. The class was like O_O, but needless to say I got a good time extension on the exam.

Point being, if you somehow demonstrate that you care exceptionally about a class and/or have proven yourself to be a responsible and committed student, it's a waste in the eyes of a teacher to hinder your ability to perform on an exam just because of some bad luck. But even so, like DM said, don't count on getting the same leeway again.

PS-My abandoned bike was stolen.

 

[CaptKirby]

No one should care because, for the most part, people would not plan to study any extra with that extra day and would merely put off studying an extra day, or, were they really that hard working of students, would already be near saturation limit most likely and barely get a tangible benefit. Either way, it really does not fucking matter; people assume too much importance in everything, and school is one of the most overly exaggerated in importance - it is just one test in one class.