Managing Overwhelming Workloads: Tips for College Students

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Professors often assign a heavy workload simultaneously, leading to overwhelming situations for students. In one instance, a student faces multiple tests and assignments due within a short timeframe, prompting a discussion about the feasibility of requesting extensions. It is suggested that while asking for an extension is reasonable, students should prepare for a potential denial. The advice includes working diligently as if the request will be denied, ensuring that progress is made on assignments regardless. The importance of prioritizing tasks is emphasized, with lab reports being seen as less critical than tests in terms of overall grade impact. Late submissions for lab reports may incur point deductions, but the risk is considered manageable compared to the weight of exams.
leright
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times where your professors all dump a ridiculous amount of work on your all at once and you know you'll never be able to complete it all? I seriously have a test on monday, a test on wednesday, two take home tests due on wednesday (both of which are a bit too much work, imo), two lab reports to write, both due monday and some other stuff I can't remember. Seriously, with all of this work, I am going to go insane.

Do you think it would be reasonable to request an extension for one of the take homes, perhaps?
 
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Do you think it would be reasonable to request an extension for one of the take homes, perhaps?

It sounds like it would be unreasonable not to.
 
Seriously, this is the worst jam I have ever been in.
 
You can ask, but prepare to be told no. I think that if you work as if your prof already said no (all through the night if you have to) and then ask on monday, you'd be the safest. If you relax a bit this weekend and then your prof says no, you're in deep crap. I would guess that your prof will let you off the hook, but I wouldn't stop working/studying at all this weekend if I were you. :P
 
Good luck with the extension if you choose to ask.
 
try to get as much as you can done before requesting it though
 
I've been in similar situations before and sometimes you just have to sacrifice a grade in one area to make sure you save a more important grade.

If your classes are like mine usually are, the labs make up 10% to 30% of your final grade in the class. Most TA's will accept a late lab report and deduct some points, 30% to 50%. If you have 5 labs for a class, you really aren’t risking too much by losing a few points on the labs. Compare that to a test which is usually 30% to 50% of your final grade.
 

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