Hello everyone:

Sometimes, the end of the semester comes before the end of your work. Now, if you are just poorly organized, you can’t really expect the professor to cut you a break.

On the other hand, if your computer woke you up with the black screen of death, your father had a stroke, your son got a broken arm, and your daughter just had quintuplets, then you might have a solid foundation for asking for a little more time. Ask the professor, nicely, if you can get an incomplete and finish in a couple of weeks.

One the other hand, if your husband’s birthday required that you bake him a cake and you still haven’t recovered your stride for the past two weeks, then, I am not motivated to give you an extension. (Yes, I have heard that excuse. I didn’t buy it because, the way I looked at it, she knew her hubby’s birthday was coming, he wasn’t a three or four year old, and I doubt that it really took her two weeks to recover from …baking a cake???)

Now, the thing about getting the incomplete is that you need to do the work to turn it into a complete grade. Let’s say you had an eight week course. You got behind and only did work for the first three weeks. You managed, by the grace of God and the kindness of your professor, to get a three week extension. This means you now have three weeks to complete five weeks worth of work.

The amazing thing is that some folks will then proceed to do either (a) nothing at all and still end up with an F or (b) do the assignments so poorly that they fail anyway. The third option (c) is that they do the work wonderfully and end up with an A. Please note that, in my thirteen years of teaching college classes, option c has never happened. Not once. Most of the time, option a is preferred but, every once in a while, I see an option b.

So, what should you do? Get busy, like the title of this blog posting says. Right now. Don’t wait till the cake cools or you get it iced and eaten. Do the work now, turn it in as quickly as you can (making sure that you are submitted quality work), and finish the course successfully.

Best,

Dr. Sheri