turn in homework late

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Turning It In Should Be the Easy Part of Homework, Right?

Even when they complete their homework, students with adhd don’t always remember to turn in assignments on time — or at all. help your kid get credit for all her hard work by setting up these fool-proof organization systems at school and home..

The problem: The student with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) consistently neglects turning in homework or long-term projects, even though she claims to have completed the work.

The reason: Children with ADHD  have difficulty keeping track of bits of information and paperwork. This problem is likely related to underactive frontal lobes — the area of the brain that controls memory and processing. It’s because of this difference in brain activity that children with ADHD have a hard time focusing on more than one thing at a time.

The obstacles: Children with ADHD often want to complete their work and turn it in on time, but often lack the organizational skills or the memory capacity of other youngsters their age. These students may forget something that just happened as their focus shifts from one task to another or from one class to another. When completing an assignment, for example, students have to work their way through many tasks — including listening to and recording what needs to be done, doing the assignment, and turning it in. It’s very easy for children with ADHD to get interrupted along the way and forget where they are in the process.

Parents and teachers will often find this ADHD behavior puzzling because we assume that, if someone can do something one day, they should have the skill to do it the next day. But mental disorganization causes these children to be inconsistent, leading adults to believe the lapse is intentional. When teachers respond by giving zeroes or bad grades, it only discourages the child and doesn’t solve the problem.

Solutions in the Classroom

Children with ADHD need a high degree of supervision and structure in the classroom. A monitoring system that provides students with cues and reminders can help.

[ Free Parenting Resource: Solve Your Child’s Homework Problems ]

• Provide copies of assignments. Give students written copies of homework assignments whenever possible. This will ensure they have the complete assignment.
• Have parents sign off. Create a homework assignment sheet that must be initialed by both the parent and teacher for oversight and support.
• Break up big assignments. For long-term assignments, plan to track the child’s progress at different points in the process rather than only at the end.
• Create a homework folder. Designate a folder that your child keeps in his binder to help him remember to bring finished homework back to school. Use it as a receptacle for all assignments once they are finished.
• Give feedback. Correct and return the child’s homework as soon as possible. Corrections should be positive and instructive.
• Discuss accommodations. Talk to the child and parent about the accommodations and supports they think might help. No one plan is effective for all students.

[ Free Webinar Replay: Stress-Free Homework: Tips, Tools, and Solutions to Lower the Household Stress Level ]

Solutions at Home

Children with ADHD need parents to help them set up a system to get from the beginning of a project to the end.

• Organize tasks. Help your child create a checklist of required tasks to help her keep track of where she is in the assignment process. Make copies of the checklist to keep in her binder and post in her room.
• Label and color-code books, binders, and folders. All subjects should use the same color to keep paperwork organized .
• Establish routines. Set up a routine specifically for getting assignments back to the teacher (for example, as soon as it’s finished, it goes into a folder next to the front door).
• Don’t let your child procrastinate. He will likely need your help to get started on a task and see it through.

Some children desire more independence. Tell yours that she can earn the right to monitor her own work after demonstrating success for a few weeks.

[ 9 Secrets to a Super Effective School Planner ]

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How to Remember to Turn in Homework

Last Updated: November 29, 2021

This article was co-authored by Emily Listmann, MA . Emily Listmann is a Private Tutor and Life Coach in Santa Cruz, California. In 2018, she founded Mindful & Well, a natural healing and wellness coaching service. She has worked as a Social Studies Teacher, Curriculum Coordinator, and an SAT Prep Teacher. She received her MA in Education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education in 2014. Emily also received her Wellness Coach Certificate from Cornell University and completed the Mindfulness Training by Mindful Schools. This article has been viewed 50,651 times.

You’ve had enough of that soul-crushing stare your teachers hit you with when they find out you forgot your homework again. They silently shake their head as you tell them you finished it, and even enjoyed working on the assignment, but simply left it at home. Even worse, you get home and realize you had brought your homework to class but forgot to turn it in! Again! Fortunately, there are proven steps you can take to help you remember to turn in your homework.

Organizing to Boost Your Productivity

• There is the classic two pocket, a side-folding folder in any color you can imagine, or adorned with the comic book hero, cartoon character, or sports team of your choice. One option is to get a few of these and use one for each of your classes.
• If you have separate folders for each class, keep all of them with you throughout the school day, perhaps in a three-ring binder.
• Alternatively, get yourself an accordion folder. These multi-pocketed wonders, usually equipped with a flap or other mechanism to ensure your materials stay where you put them, can immediately improve your organization. [1] X Research source
• Take time twice a week to organize all your folders or online files. This way they’re kept clean on a regular basis.

• Put any notes, handouts, worksheets, or assignment materials into the proper folder location as soon as you receive them, and keep them there whenever you’re not using them.
• Keep your organizing materials with you. Bring your binder or accordion with you to every single class. This ensures you always have all of your assignments with you for every class.
• For some extra tips, check out How to Be Organized in School.

• Before school every morning, triple check your bag! There’s nothing worse than simply forgetting completed homework at home. Make sure you have your organizing materials with you, and that you placed you completed assignments in them.

Developing Strategies to Remember Your Homework

• As soon as you sit down, take your completed assignment out of its folder and place in on your desk in front of you. Keep it there until you are able to turn it in.
• Get an extra folder exclusively for completed assignments and keep it in the very front of your binder. This way, you’ll be reminded of your completed assignments whenever you access any of your class materials.

• Always write down all of your homework assignments as soon as you are made aware of them. Be extremely detailed with the information you include. For example, jot down the chapters or page numbers of the textbooks or other materials associated with each assignment.
• If your class has a syllabus or course schedule, enter all of the included due dates into your personal planner.
• Include information regarding time slots you will not be able to work on homework, such as music or sports team practices, a babysitting gig, or family meals.

• Tangible planners are easier to update with quick additions or edits.
• It’s always satisfying to cross a completed assignment off with an actual writing utensil.
• Day planners are more appropriate for in-class use. Since you’ll often be assigned homework in class, and want to enter new assignments immediately, this is a particularly important factor.

• Another great source of reminders is your teacher. If you struggle to remember to bring your homework to class, talk to your teacher about it. Your teachers will likely have some helpful advice, and can even remind you the day before homework assignments are due.
• Your teachers will likely remind the whole class if you ask them to start reminding you, which may help your classmates remember their homework too!
• Alternatively, find a friend who will be sure to hold you accountable and remind you what needs to be done.

Using Your Time More Efficiently

• Think about how long it will take you to complete assignments and plan accordingly.
• Schedule specific portions of larger projects separately.
• If you struggle with finding large enough time slots to complete your homework, recognize that you need to make the time to do so. For instance, if you spend a good portion of each evening socializing with friends (online or in person), do all of your homework before you go out or get online.

• Kick starting your day will increase your productivity generally and prepare you for more efficient homework sessions. [2] X Research source
• Stick with it. If you get in the habit of getting up a bit earlier, you’ll likely start going to bed earlier as well.
• Don’t fall into the trap of staying up late working on homework, as your focus and productivity is greatly diminished late at night.
• Don’t procrastinate your homework and try to finish it when you wake up in the morning. It will make your day more stressful and ruin your previous night’s sleep.

• Wear headphones and sit facing a wall if you’re prone to visual distraction.
• Remind yourself that getting your homework done during school hours allows you to do whatever you want in your free time, including hang out with friends.

• If you are ever unsure of an assignment, ask your teacher about it as soon as you have a question.
• Get a jumpstart on weekend homework on Thursday or Friday. If you know you’re going to need to do some homework over the weekend, try to get it done earlier so you can relax and enjoy yourself over the weekend as well.
• Do not leave all of your weekend homework for Sunday.
• Try to plan weekend social activities for Saturday, and dedicate at least a few hours of Friday evening to schoolwork. If you do end up with plans on a Friday night, make sure you set aside a few hours on Saturday to work on homework.

Staying Focused on Your Homework

• Try studying in different environments to find the one that allows you to focus the best.
• Avoid screens, especially TVs. This includes your phone. Put your phone in your bag and leave it there. Only check it during scheduled breaks.
• Wear headphones (or earplugs). Whether in a library or coffee shop, headphones will help reduce the frequency of auditory distractions. Choose music that does not have lyrics, and is more ambient than bass-driven. Think “background music” when you’re making your selection, but know that you can still listen to music you enjoy.
• If you’re studying at home, try to use a room in which you won’t be interrupted by family members or roommates. Let others know you intend to work on homework for a certain amount of time, and ask them to let you be.

• The company of a friend can keep you from wondering what everybody else is up to, and can even make doing your homework feel like hanging out.
• Avoid studying with friends who tend to interrupt a lot, or who have trouble focusing themselves. You can hang with whoever you want once your work is done!

• Include a healthy snack, as well as a water bottle. Not having to get up for sustenance will keep you grinding through your homework for a longer period of time.
• Don’t forget sticky notes. They’re weirdly helpful. Use them as visual reminders of important things to remember, and to keep pages in books you’re studying or otherwise referencing frequently.

• Computers can also help you organize. Familiarize yourself with web-based storage systems like Google Drive and Dropbox. These will allow you to save and access files from anywhere you have internet access. [3] X Research source
• Use a flash drive too. Save all electronic files to both a web-based storage system and a thumb drive. Keep the drive with you at all times. (Get a thumb drive with a keychain attachment!) This way, even if you forget your hard copy, you can print another at school and eliminate the unfortunate “I forgot my homework” scenario.

• Try a 10 minute break after every 50 minutes of focused work.
• Use these breaks to go for a short walk, use the washroom, do a brief physical exercise (like stretching, push-ups, or jumping jacks), or to get a simple chore out of the way.
• Do not allow yourself to get distracted by activities that will prevent you from going back to work or will get your mind out of study mode. For instance, don’t call someone you haven’t spoken with in a while or sit down with friends who are hanging out but not studying.
• Reward yourself when completing assignments – but not before. If you’ve been itching for a bowl of ice cream, don’t dive into the freezer during a break. Instead, enjoy the ice cream once your homework is done for the evening and you can focus all of your attention – or none at all – on every bite.

Community Q&A

• If you’re doing your best to organize, plan, and focus on your homework, but are still struggling to get it all done, talk to a school counselor or your parents. School counselors, in particular, are trained to help students, and they will be happy to work with you on strategies and options to improve your ability to succeed in school. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1

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A Few Ideas for Dealing with Late Work

August 4, 2019

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Most of my 9-week grading periods ended the same way: Me and one or two students, sitting in my quiet, empty classroom together, with me sitting at the computer, the students nearby in desks, methodically working through piles of make-up assignments. They would be focused, more focused than I’d seen them in months, and the speed with which they got through the piles was stunning. 

As they finished each assignment I took it, checked it for accuracy, then entered their scores—taking 50 percent off for being late—into my grading program. With every entry, I’d watch as their class grade went up and up: from a 37 percent to a 41, then to 45, then to 51, and eventually to something in the 60s or even low 70s, a number that constituted passing, at which point the process would end and we’d part ways, full of resolve that next marking period would be different.

And the whole time I thought to myself, This is pointless . They aren’t learning anything at all. But I wasn’t sure what else to do.

For as long as teachers have assigned tasks in exchange for grades, late work has been a problem. What do we do when a student turns in work late? Do we give some kind of consequence or accept assignments at any time with no penalty? Do we set up some kind of system that keeps students motivated while still holding them accountable? Is there a way to manage all of this without driving ourselves crazy?

To find answers, I went to Twitter and asked teachers to share what works for them. What follows is a summary of their responses. I wish I could give individual credit to each person who offered ideas, but that would take way too long, and I really want you to get these suggestions now! If you’ve been unsatisfied with your own approach to late work, you should find some fresh ideas here.

First, a Few Questions About Your Grades

Before we get into the ways teachers manage late work, let’s back up a bit and consider whether your overall program of assignments and grading is in a healthy place. Here are some questions to think about:  

• What do your grades represent? How much of your grades are truly based on academic growth, and how much are based mostly on compliance? If they lean more toward compliance, then what you’re doing when you try to manage late work is basically a lot of administrative paper pushing, rather than teaching your content. Although it’s important for kids to learn how to manage deadlines, do you really want an A in your course to primarily reflect the ability to follow instructions? If your grades are too compliance-based, consider how you might shift things so they more accurately represent learning. (For a deeper discussion of this issue, read How Accurate Are Your Grades? )
• Are you grading too many things? If you spend a lot of time chasing down missing assignments in order to get more scores in your gradebook, it could be that you’re grading too much. Some teachers only enter grades for major, summative tasks, like projects, major writing assignments, or exams. Everything else is considered formative and is either ungraded or given a very low point value for completion, not graded for accuracy; it’s practice . For teachers who are used to collecting lots of grades over a marking period, this will be a big shift, and if you work in a school where you’re expected to enter grades into your system frequently, that shift will be even more difficult. Convincing your students that ungraded practice is worthwhile because it will help their performance on the big things will be another hurdle. With all of that said, reducing the number of scored items will make your grades more meaningful and cut way down on the time you spend grading and managing late work.
• What assumptions do you make when students don’t turn in work? I’m embarrassed to admit that when I first started teaching, I assumed most students with missing work were just unmotivated. Although this might be true for a small portion of students, I no longer see this as the most likely reason. Students may have issues with executive function and could use some help developing systems for managing their time and responsibilities. They may struggle with anxiety. Or they may not have the resources—like time, space, and technology—to consistently complete work at home. More attention has been paid lately to the fact that homework is an equity issue , and our policies around homework should reflect an understanding that all students don’t have access to the same resources once they leave school for the day. Punitive policies that are meant to “motivate” students don’t take any of these other issues into consideration, so if your late work penalties don’t seem to be working, it’s likely that the root cause is something other than a lack of motivation.
• What kind of grading system is realistic for you ? Any system you put in place requires YOU to stay on top of grading. It would be much harder to assign penalties, send home reminders, or track lateness if you are behind on marking papers by a week, two weeks, even a month. So whatever you do, create a plan that you can actually keep up with.

Possible Solutions

1. penalties.

Many teachers give some sort of penalty to students for late work. The thinking behind this is that without some sort of negative consequence, too many students would wait until the end of the marking period to turn work in, or in some cases, not turn it in at all. When work is turned in weeks or even months late, it can lose its value as a learning opportunity because it is no longer aligned with what’s happening in class. On top of that, teachers can end up with massive piles of assignments to grade in the last few days of a marking period. This not only places a heavy burden on teachers, it is far from an ideal condition for giving students the good quality feedback they should be getting on these assignments.

Several types of penalties are most common:

Point Deductions In many cases, teachers simply reduce the grade as a result of the lateness. Some teachers will take off a certain number of points per day until they reach a cutoff date after which the work will no longer be accepted. One teacher who responded said he takes off 10 percent for up to three days late, then 30 percent for work submitted up to a week late; he says most students turn their work in before the first three days are over. Others have a standard amount that comes off for any late work (like 10 percent), regardless of when it is turned in. This policy still rewards students for on-time work without completely de-motivating those who are late, builds in some accountability for lateness, and prevents the teacher from having to do a lot of mathematical juggling with a more complex system. 

Parent Contact Some teachers keep track of late work and contact parents if it is not turned in. This treats the late work as more of a conduct issue; the parent contact may be in addition to or instead of taking points away. 

No Feedback, No Re-Dos The real value of homework and other smaller assignments should be the opportunity for feedback: Students do an assignment, they get timely teacher feedback, and they use that feedback to improve. In many cases, teachers allow students to re-do and resubmit assignments based on that feedback. So a logical consequence of late work could be the loss of that opportunity: Several teachers mentioned that their policy is to accept late work for full credit, but only students who submit work on time will receive feedback or the chance to re-do it for a higher grade. Those who hand in late work must accept whatever score they get the first time around. 

2. A Separate Work Habits Grade

In a lot of schools, especially those that use standards-based grading, a student’s grade on an assignment is a pure representation of their academic mastery; it does not reflect compliance in any way. So in these classrooms, if a student turns in good work, it’s going to get a good grade even if it’s handed in a month late. 

But students still need to learn how to manage their time. For that reason, many schools assign a separate grade for work habits. This might measure factors like adherence to deadlines, neatness, and following non-academic guidelines like font sizes or using the correct heading on a paper. 

• Although most teachers whose schools use this type of system will admit that students and parents don’t take the work habits grade as seriously as the academic grade, they report being satisfied that student grades only reflect mastery of the content.
• One school calls their work habits grade a “behavior” grade, and although it doesn’t impact GPA, students who don’t have a certain behavior grade can’t make honor roll, despite their actual GPA.
• Several teachers mentioned looking for patterns and using the separate grade as a basis for conferences with parents, counselors, or other stakeholders. For most students, there’s probably a strong correlation between work habits and academic achievement, so separating the two could help students see that connection.
• Some learning management systems will flag assignments as late without necessarily taking points off. Although this does not automatically translate to a work habits grade, it indicates the lateness to students and parents without misrepresenting the academic achievement.

3. Homework Passes

Because things happen in real life that can throw anyone off course every now and then, some teachers offer passes students can use to replace a missed assignment.

• Most teachers only offer these passes to replace low-point assignments, not major ones, and they generally only offer 1 to 3 passes per marking period. Homework passes can usually only recover 5 to 10 percent of a student’s overall course grade. 
• Other teachers have a policy of allowing students to drop one or two of their lowest scores in the gradebook. Again, this is typically done for smaller assignments and has the same net effect as a homework pass by allowing everyone to have a bad day or two.
• One teacher gives “Next Class Passes” which allow students one extra day to turn in work. At the end of every marking period she gives extra credit points to students who still have unused passes. She says that since she started doing this, she has had the lowest rate ever of late work. 

4. Extension Requests

Quite a few teachers require students to submit a written request for a deadline extension rather than taking points off. With a system like this, every student turns something in on the due date, whether it’s the assignment itself or an extension request.

• Most extension requests ask students to explain why they were unable to complete the assignment on time. This not only gives the students a chance to reflect on their habits, it also invites the teacher to help students solve larger problems that might be getting in the way of their academic success. 
• Having students submit their requests via Google Forms reduces the need for paper and routes all requests to a single spreadsheet, which makes it easier for teachers to keep track of work that is late or needs to be regraded.  
• Other teachers use a similar system for times when students want to resubmit work for a new grade. 

5. Floating Deadlines

Rather than choosing a single deadline for an assignment, some teachers assign a range of dates for students to submit work. This flexibility allows students to plan their work around other life activities and responsibilities.

• Some teachers offer an incentive to turn in work in the early part of the time frame, such as extra credit or faster feedback, and this helps to spread out the submissions more evenly. 
• Another variation on this approach is to assign a batch of work for a whole week and ask students to get it in by Friday. This way, students get to manage when they get it done. 
• Other names mentioned for this strategy were flexible deadlines , soft deadlines , and due windows .

6. Let Students Submit Work in Progress

Some digital platforms, like Google Classroom, allow students to “submit” assignments while they are still working on them. This allows teachers to see how far the student has gotten and address any problems that might be coming up. If your classroom is mostly paper-based, it’s certainly possible to do this kind of thing with paper as well, letting students turn in partially completed work to demonstrate that an effort has been made and show you where they might be stuck.

7. Give Late Work Full Credit

Some teachers accept all late work with no penalty. Most of them agree that if the work is important, and if we want students to do it, we should let them hand it in whenever they get it done. 

• Some teachers fear this approach will cause more students to stop doing the work or delay submission until the end of a marking period, but teachers who like this approach say they were surprised by how little things changed when they stopped giving penalties: Most students continued to turn work in more or less on time, and the same ones who were late under the old system were still late under the new one. The big difference was that the teacher no longer had to spend time calculating deductions or determining whether students had valid excuses; the work was simply graded for mastery.
• To give students an incentive to actually turn the work in before the marking period is over, some teachers will put a temporary zero in the gradebook as a placeholder until the assignment is turned in, at which point the zero is replaced with a grade.
• Here’s a twist on the “no penalty” option: Some teachers don’t take points off for late work, but they limit the time frame when students can turn it in. Some will not accept late work after they have graded and returned an assignment; at that point it would be too easy for students to copy off of the returned papers. Others will only accept late work up until the assessment for the unit, because the work leading up to that is meant to prepare for that assessment. 

8. Other Preventative Measures

These strategies aren’t necessarily a way to manage late work as much as they are meant to prevent it in the first place.

• Include students in setting deadlines. When it comes to major assignments, have students help you determine due dates. They may have a better idea than you do about other big events that are happening and assignments that have been given in other classes.
• Stop assigning homework. Some teachers have stopped assigning homework entirely, recognizing that disparities at home make it an unfair measurement of academic mastery. Instead, all meaningful work is done in class, where the teacher can monitor progress and give feedback as needed. Long-term projects are done in class as well, so the teacher is aware of which students need more time and why. 
• Make homework optional or self-selected. Not all students need the same amount of practice. You may be able to get your students to assess their own need for additional practice and assign that practice to themselves. Although this may sound far-fetched, in some classes, like this self-paced classroom , it actually works, because students know they will be graded on a final assessment, they get good at determining when they need extra practice.

With so many different approaches to late work, what’s clear is that there are a lot of different schools of thought on grading and assessment, so it’s not a surprise that we don’t always land on the best solution on the first try. Experiment with different systems, talk to your colleagues, and be willing to try something new until you find something that works for you. 

Further Reading

20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half This free e-book is full of ideas that can help with grading in general.

On Your Mark: Challenging the Conventions of Grading and Reporting Thomas R. Guskey This book came highly recommended by a number of teachers.

Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School Starr Sackstein

Come back for more. Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You’ll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half , the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined—come on in.

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Categories: Classroom Management , Instruction , Podcast

Tags: assessment , organization

53 Comments

I teach high school science (mine is a course that does not have an “end of course” test so the stakes are not as high) and I teach mostly juniors and seniors. Last year I decided not to accept any late work whatsoever unless a student is absent the day it is assigned or due (or if they have an accomodation in a 504 or IEP – and I may have had one or two students with real/documented emergencies that I let turn in late.) This makes it so much easier on me because I don’t have to keep up with how many days/points to deduct – that’s a nightmare. It also forces them to be more responsible. They usually have had time to do it in class so there’s no reason for it to be late. Also, I was very frustrated with homework not being completed and I hated having to grade it and keep up with absent work. So I don’t “require” homework (and rarely assign it any more) but if students do ALL (no partial credit) of it they get a 100% (small point value grade), if they are absent or they don’t do it they are exempt. So it ends up being a sort of extra credit grade but it does not really penalize students who don’t do it. When students ask me for extra credit (which I don’t usually give), the first thing I ask is if they’ve done all the homework assigned. That usually shuts down any further discussion. I’ve decided I’m not going to spend tons of time chasing and calculating grades on small point values that do not make a big difference in an overall grade. 🙂

Do I understand correctly….

Homework is not required. If a student fully completes the HW, they will earn full points. If the student is absent or doesn’t do it, they are excused. Students who do complete the HW will benefit a little bit in their overall grade, but students who don’t compete the work will not be penalized. Did I understand it correctly?

Do you stipulate that a student must earn a certain % on the assignment to get the full points? What about a student who completed an assignment but completes the entire thing incorrectly? Still full credit? Or an opportunity to re-do?

Thank you in advance.

From reading this blog post I was thinking the same thing. When not penalizing students for homework do you have students who do turn it in getting extra points in class?

From what I have seen, if there is a benefit for turning in homework and students see this benefit more will try to accomplish what the homework is asking. So avoid penalization is okay, but make sure the ones turning it in are getting rewarded in some way.

The other question regarding what to do with students who may not be completing the assignments correctly, you could use this almost as a formative assessment. You could still give them the credit but use this as a time for you to focus on that student a little more and see where he/she isn’t understanding the content.

Our school has a system called Catch Up Cafe. Students with missing work report to a specific teacher during the first 15 minutes of lunch to work on missing work. Students upgrade to a Wednesday after school time if they have accumulated 4 or more missing assignments on any Monday. They do not have to serve if they can clear ALL missing work by the end of the day Wednesday. Since work is not dragging out for a long period of time, most teachers do not take off points.

How do you manage the logistics of who has missing and how many assignments are needed to be completed-to make sure they are attending the Catch up Cafe or Wednesday after school? How do you manage the communication with parents?

When a student has missing work it can be very difficult to see what he/she is missing. I always keep a running record of all of their assignments that quarter and if they miss that assigement I keep it blank to remind myself there was never a submission. Once I know that this student is missing this assignment I give them their own copy and write at the top late. So once they do turn it in I know that it’s late and makes grading it easier.

There are a lot of different programs that schools use but I’ve always kept a paper copy so I have a back-up.

I find that the worst part of tracking make-up work is keeping tabs on who was absent for a school activity, illness or other excused absence, and who just didn’t turn in the assignment. I obviously have to accept work turned in “late” due to an excused absence, but I can handle the truly late work however I wish. Any advice on simplifying tracking for this?

I tell my students to simply write “Absent (day/s)” at the top of the paper. I remind them of this fairly regularly. That way, if they were absent, it’s their responsibility to notify me, and it’s all together. If you create your own worksheets, etc., you could add a line to the top as an additional reminder.

It might be worth checking out Evernote .

In order to keep track of what type of missing assignments, I put a 0 in as a grade so students and parents know an assignment was never submitted. If a student was here on the due date and day assignment was given then it is a 0 in the grade book. If a student was absent the day the assignment was given or when it was due, I put a 00 in the grade book. This way I know if it was because of an absence or actual no work completed.

This is exactly what I do. Homework can only count 10% in our district. Claims that kids fail due to zeros for homework are specious.

This is SUCH a difficult issue and I have tried a few of the suggested ways in years past. My questions is… how do we properly prepare kids for college while still being mindful of the inequities at home? We need to be sure that we are giving kids opportunity, resources, and support, but at the same time if we don’t introduce them to some of the challenges they will be faced with in college (hours of studying and research and writing regardless of the hours you might have to spend working to pay that tuition), are we truly preparing them? I get the idea of mastery of content without penalty for late work and honestly that is typically what I go with, but I constantly struggle with this and now that I will be moving from middle to high school, I worry even more about the right way to handle late work and homework. I don’t want to hold students back in my class by being too much of a stickler about seemingly little things, but I don’t want to send them to college unprepared to experience a slap in the face, either. I don’t want to provide extra hurdles, but how do I best help them learn how to push through the hurdles and rigor if they aren’t held accountable? I always provide extra time after school, at lunch, etc., and have also experienced that end of term box checking of assignments in place of a true learning experience, but how do we teach them the importance of using resources, asking for help, allowing for mistakes while holding them to standards and learning work habits that will be helpful to them when they will be on their own? I just don’t know where the line is between helping students learn the value of good work habits and keeping them from experiencing certain challenges they need to understand in order to truly get ahead.

Thanks for sharing – I can tell how much you care for your students, wanting them to be confident independent learners. What I think I’m hearing is perhaps the struggle between that fine line of enabling and supporting. When supporting kids, whether academically or behaviorally, we’re doing something that assists or facilitates their growth. So, for example, a student that has anxiety or who doesn’t have the resources at home to complete an assignment, we can assist by giving that student extra time or an alternative place to complete the assignment. This doesn’t lower expectations, it just offers support to help them succeed.

Enabling on the other hand, puts systems in place that don’t involve consequences, which in turn allow the behaviors to continue. It involves excuses and solving problems for others. It may be about lowering expectations and letting people get by with patterns of behavior.

Late work is tricky. The article does mention the importance of time management, which is why separating academic grades from work habits is something a lot of schools are doing. Sometimes real life happens and kids need a “pass.” If whatever you’re doing seems to be helping to support a student rather than enabling patterns, then that might help you distinguish between that fine line. Hope this helps!

Thank you again for such a great post. Always high-quality, relevant, and helpful. I so appreciate you and the work you do!

So glad to hear you enjoyed the post, Liz! I’ll make sure Jenn sees this.

I thought that these points brought up about receiving late work were extremely helpful and I hope that every classroom understands how beneficial these strategies could be.

When reading the penalties section under point deductions it brought up the idea of taking points off slowly as time goes by. Currently in my classroom the only point deduction I take off is 30% of the total grade after it is received late. No matter how much time has gone by in that grading period it will have 30% off the total.

I’m curious if changing this technique to something that would increase the percentage off as time goes by will make students turn in their work on time.

My question to everyone is which grading technique would be more beneficial for the students? Do you believe that just taking off 30% for late work would help students more when turning in their work or do you think that as time goes by penalizing their final score will have students turn in their work more?

If anyone has any answers it would be extremely beneficial.

Thank you, Kirby

When I was in school my school did 1/3 of a grade each day it was like. So 1 day late A >A-. Two days late: A->>B+ so on and so forth. This worked really well for me because I knew that I could still receive a good grade if I worked hard on an assignment, even if it was a day or two late.

I dread it when I have missing work or unsubmitted work. I would try to get a last-minute effort to chase those needed pieces of work which could be done from those students housed in dorms on campus. It is better than not failing them for lacking to turn in graded submissions or taking scheduled quizzes. I dread this not for the students, sadly, but for likely call to explain why I did not keep physical evidence of students’ supposed learning. In my part of the globe, we have a yearly “quality assurance” audit by the country’s educational authorities or their representatives.

I am a pre-service teacher and I am in the process of developing my personal philosophies in education, including the topic of late work. I will be certified as a secondary social studies teacher and would like to teach in a high school. Your post brought my attention to some important insights about the subject. For example, before this post I had not thought to use feedback as a way to incentivize homework submission on time. This action coupled with the ability to re-do assignments is a great way to emphasize the importance of turning work in on time. I do have a follow-up question, how do you adequately manage grading re-do’s and feedback on all assignments? What kinds of organizational and time-management strategies do you use as a teacher? Further, how much homework do you assign when providing this as an option?

Additionally, have you administered or seen the no penalty and homework acceptance time limit in practice (for example, all homework must be turned in by the unit test)? I was curious if providing a deadline to accept all homework until the unit test may result in an access of papers I need to grade. From your experience, what practice(s) have you seen work well in the classroom?

My goal is to prepare students for life beyond high school and to support their intellectual, social, and emotional development during their high school learning experience. Similar to a previous commenter (Kate), I am also trying to define a balance between holding students accountable in order to best prepare them for their future lives and providing opportunities to raise their grade if they are willing to do the work.

Hey Jessica, you have some great questions. I’d recommend checking out the following blog posts from Jenn that will help you learn more about keeping track of assessments, differentiation, and other aspects of grading: Kiddom: Standards-based Grading Made Wonderful , Could You Teach Without Grades , Boost Your Assessment Power with GradeCam , and Four Research-Based Strategies Every Teacher Should be Using . I hope this helps you find answers to your questions!

Overall I found this article extremely helpful and it actually reinforced many ideas I already had about homework and deadlines. One of my favorite teachers I had in high school was always asking for our input on when we felt assignments should be due based on what extra curricular activities were taking place in a given time period. We were all extremely grateful for his consideration and worked that much harder on the given assignments.

While it is important to think about our own well-being when grading papers, I think it is just as important (if not more) to be conscious of how much work students might have in other classes or what students schedules are like outside of school. If we really want students to do their best work, we need to give them enough time to do the work. This will in turn, help them care more about the subject matter and help them dive deeper. Obviously there still needs to be deadlines, but it does not hurt to give students some autonomy and say in the classroom.

Thanks for your comment Zach. I appreciate your point about considering students’ involvement in extracurricular activities and other responsibilities they may have outside the school day. It’s definitely an important consideration. The only homework my son seemed to have in 8th grade was for his history class. I agree that there’s a need for teachers to maintain more of a balance across classes when it comes to the amount of homework they give to students.

Thank you for an important, thought-provoking post! As a veteran teacher of 20+ years, I have some strong opinions about this topic. I have always questioned the model of ‘taking points off’ for late work. I do not see how this presents an accurate picture of what the student knows or can do. Shouldn’t he be able to prove his knowledge regardless of WHEN? Why does WHEN he shows you what he knows determine WHAT he knows?

Putting kids up against a common calendar with due dates and timelines, regardless of their ability to learn the material at the same rate is perhaps not fair. There are so many different situations facing our students – some students have challenges and difficulty with deadlines for a plethora of potential reasons, and some have nothing but support, structure, and time. When it comes to deadlines – Some students need more time. Other students may need less time. Shouldn’t all students have a chance to learn at a pace that is right for them? Shouldn’t we measure student success by demonstrations of learning instead of how much time it takes to turn in work? Shouldn’t students feel comfortable when it is time to show me what they’ve learned, and when they can demonstrate they’ve learned it, I want their grade to reflect that.

Of course we want to teach students how to manage their time. I am not advocating for a lax wishy-washy system that allows for students to ‘get to it when they get to it’. I do believe in promoting work-study habits, and using a separate system to assign a grade for responsibility, respect, management, etc is a potential solution. I understand that when introducing this type of system, it may be tough to get buy-in from parents and older students who have traditionally only looked at an academic grade because it is the only piece of the puzzle that impacts GPA. Adopting a separate work-study grading system would involve encouraging the entire school community – starting at the youngest level – to see its value. It would be crucial for the school to promote the importance of high level work-study habits right along side academic grades.

I teach a specials course to inner city middle schoolers at a charter school. All students have to take my class since it is one of the core pillars of the school’s culture and mission. Therefore it is a double edge sword. Some students and parents think it is irrelevant like an art or music class but will get upset to find out it isn’t just an easy A class. Other students and parents love it because they come to our charter school just to be in this class that isn’t offered anywhere else in the state, except at the college level.

As you may have already guessed, I see a lot of students who don’t do the work. So much that I no longer assign homework, which the majority would not be able to do independently anyways or may develop the wrong way of learning the material, due to the nature of the subject. So everything is done in the classroom together as a class. And then we grade together to reinforce the learning. This is why I absolutely do not accept missing work and there is no reason for late work. Absent students make up the work by staying after school upon their return or they can print it off of Google classroom at home and turn in by the end of the day of their return. Late and missing work is a big issue at our school. I’ve had whole classrooms not do the work even as I implemented the new routine. Students will sit there and mark their papers as we do it in the classroom but by the end they are not handing it in because they claim not to have anything to hand in. Or when they do it appears they were doing very little. I’d have to micromanage all 32 students every 5 minutes to make sure they were actually doing the work, which I believe core teachers do. But that sets a very bad precedent because I noticed our students expect to be handheld every minute or they claim they can’t do the work. I know this to be the case since before this class I was teaching a computer class and the students expected me to sit right next to them and give them step-by-step instructions of where to click on the screen. They simply could not follow along as I demonstrated on the Aquos board. So I do think part of the problem is the administrators’ encouraging poor work ethics. They’re too focused on meeting proficient standard to the point they want teachers to handhold students. They also want teachers to accept late and missing work all the way until the end of each quarter. Well that’s easy if you only have a few students but when you have classrooms full of them, that means trying to grade 300+ students multiplied by “x” amount of late/missing work the week before report card rolls out – to which we still have to write comments for C- or below students. Some of us teach all the grade levels 6-8th. And that has actually had negative effects because students no longer hold themselves accountable.

To be honest, I really do think this is why there is such a high turnover rate and teachers who started giving busy work only. In the inner city, administrators only care about putting out the illusion of proficiency while students and parents don’t want any accountability for their performance. As soon as a student fails because they have to actually try to learn (which is a risk for failing), the parent comes in screaming.

Yea, being an Art teacher you lost me at “ irrelevant like an art or music .”

I teach middle school in the inner city where missing and late work is a chronic issue so the suggestions and ideas above do not work. Students and parents have become complacent with failing grades so penalizing work isn’t going to motivate them to do better the next time. The secret to teaching in the inner city is to give them a way out without it becoming massive work for you. Because trust me, if you give them an inch they will always want a mile at your expense. Depending on which subject you teach, it might be easier to just do everything in class. That way it becomes an all or nothing grade. They either did or didn’t do the work. No excuses, no chasing down half the school through number of calls to disconnected phone numbers and out of date emails, no explaining to parents why Johnny has to stay after school to finish assignments when mom needs him home to babysit or because she works second shift and can’t pick him up, etc. Students have no reason for late work or for missing work when they were supposed to do it right there in class. Absent students can catch up with work when they return.

Milton, I agree with all of what you are saying and have experienced. Not to say that that is for all students I have had, but it is a slow progression as to what is happening with students and parents as years go by. I understand that there are areas outside of the classroom we cannot control and some students do not have certain necessities needed to help them but they need to start learning what can they do to help themselves. I make sure the students know they can come and talk to me if needing help or extra time, tutor after school and even a phone number to contact along with email if needing to ask questions or get help. But parents and students do not use these opportunities given until the week before school ends and are now wanting their student to pass and what can be done. It is frustrating and sad. I let students and parents know my expectation up front and if they do not take the opportunity to talk to me then the grade they earned is the result.

I am a special education resource teacher and late work/missing work happens quite a lot. After reading this article, I want to try a few different things to help minimize this issue. However, I am not the one making the grades or putting the grades in. I am just giving the work to the students in small group settings and giving them more access to the resources they need to help them be successful on these assignments based on their current IEP. I use a make-up folder, and usually I will pull these students to work on their work during a different time than when I regularly pull them. That way they do not miss the delivery of instruction they get from me and it does not punish my other students either if there is make-up work that needs to be completed. I try to give my students ample time to complete their work, so there is no excuse for them not to complete it. If they are absent, then I pull them at a time that they can make it up.

I too agree with that there’s a need for teachers to maintain more of a balance across classes when it comes to the amount of homework they give to students.

I had a few teachers who were willing to tolerate lateness in favor of getting it/understanding the material. Lastly, my favorite teacher was the one who gave me many chances to do rewrites of a ‘bad essay’ and gave me as much time as needed (of course still within like the semester or even month but I never took more than two weeks) because he wanted me to do well. I ended up with a 4 in AP exam though so that’s good.

Late work has a whole new meaning with virtual learning. I am drowning in late work (via Google Classroom). I don’t want to penalize students for late work as every home situation is different. I grade and provide feedback timely (to those who submitted on time). However, I am being penalized every weekend and evening as I try to grade and provide feedback during this time. I would love some ideas.

Hi Susan! I’m in the same place–I have students who (after numerous reminders) still haven’t submitted work due days…weeks ago, and I’m either taking time to remind them again or give feedback on “old” work over my nights and weekends. So, while it’s not specific to online learning, Jenn’s A Few Ideas for Dealing with Late Work is a post I’ve been trying to put into practice the last few days. I hope this helps!

Graded assignment flexibility is essential to the process of learning in general but especially in our new world of digital divide

It is difficult to determine who is doing the work at home. Follow up videos on seesaw help to see if the student has gained the knowledge or is being given the answers.

This is some good information. This is a difficult subject.

I love the idea of a catch-up cafe! I think I will try to implement this in my school. It’s in the same place every day, yes? And the teachers take turns monitoring? I’m just trying to get a handle on the logistics – I know those will be the first questions I get.

I really enjoyed this post. I think it provides a lot of perspective on a topic that teachers get way too strict about. I just wonder: wouldn’t it be inevitable for students to become lazy and care less about their understanding if there wasn’t any homework (or even if it was optional)? I know students don’t like it, and it can get redundant if they understand the content, but it truly is good practice.

Hi Shannon,

Glad the post helped! Homework is one of those hot educational topics, but I can’t say I’ve personally come across a situation or found any research where kids become lazy or unmotivated if not assigned homework. In fact, research indicates that homework doesn’t really have much impact on learning until high school. I just think that if homework is going to be assigned, it needs to be intentional and purposeful. (If students have already mastered a skill, I’m not sure how homework would provide them much benefit.) Here’s an article that I think is worth checking out. See what you think.

I like how you brought up how homework needs to be given with the understanding that not all kids have the same resources at home. Some kids don’t have computers or their parents won’t let them use it. There is no way of knowing this so teachers should give homework that requires barely any utensils or technology.

I think having students help determine the due dates for major assignments is a great idea. This works well with online schools too. Remote jobs are the future so helping students learn how to set their own due dates and to get homework done from home will prepare them for the future.

This year I am trying something new. After reading this article, I noticed that I have used a combination of some of these strategies to combat late work and encourage students to turn work in on time. I only record a letter grade in the grade book: A, B, C, D, F. If a student turns in an assignment late, I flag it as late, but it does not affect their “grade”.

If a student wants to redo an assignment, they must turn something in. If they miss the due date, they can still turn it in, but lose the opportunity to redo the assignment. Students will meet with me one last time before they turn it in to get final feedback.

At the end of the grading period, I conference with the student about their final grade, looking at how many times they have handed work in on-time or late. This will determine if the student has earned an A or an A+ .

I really appreciate how your post incorporates a lot of suggestions for the way that teachers can think about and grade homework. Thank you for mentioning how different students have different resources available as well. As teachers, we need to be aware of the different resources our students have and tailor our approach to homework to match. I like the idea of grading homework based on completion and accepting late work for full credit at any time (substituting a zero in the grade book until it is turned in). This is definitely a strategy that I’ll be using!

So glad the article was helpful for you! I will be sure to pass on your comments to Jenn.

I also have been teaching for a long time and I have found that providing an END OF WEEK (Friday at 11:59) due date for assignments allows students to get the work completed by that time. It helps with athletes, and others involved in extra curricular activities. I feel this is fair. I give my tests/quizzes on the days assigned and the supplemental work on Fridays.

I personally, as a special education teach, would allow my SPED students extra time to complete the work they have missed. This is in alignment with their IEP accommodations. I would work with each one independently and have remediation with the content that they are having difficulty. This setting would be in a small group and separate classroom.

I really like the idea of a work habits grade. I struggle with students who turn things in late regularly earning the same grade as those who always turn things in on time. A work habits grade could really motivate some learners.

I’ve been in education for 37 years and in all manner of positions. I share this only to also say that things have changed quite a bit. When I started teaching I only had one, maybe two students in a class of 34 elementary students that would not have homework or classwork finished. Now, I have two classes of about 15 each. One group is often half the class on a regular basis not having homework or not finishing classwork on a regular basis- so far. Additionally parents will pull students out to go to amusement parks, etc and expect all work to be made up and at full credit. I believe that the idea of homework is clearly twofold- to teach accountability and to reengage a learner. Classwork is critical to working with the content and, learning objective. We can all grade various ways; however, at some point, the learner has to step up. Learning is not passive, nor is it all on the teacher. I have been called “mean” because I make students do their work in class, refocusing them, etc. I find that is my duty. Late work should be simply dealt with consistently and with understanding to circumstance IMO. You were out or it was late because mom and dad were upset, ok versus we went to Disney for three days and I was too tired. hmm- used to be easy with excused/unexcused absences, now there is no difference. Late with no absence? That can be a problem and I reach out to home and handle it individually at my level.

Hi Jennifer! I really like your sharing about this topic! Late work is a problem that every teacher encounters. Thank you for your consideration of this issue and the many wise ideas you have provided. Your ideas also remind me to reflect on whether my overall program of assignments and grading is in a healthy place. I was inspired by the preventative measures you listed in this post. I want to try to include my students in setting deadlines, especially for some big projects. Students will feel respected by teachers and will be more willing to complete the assignments before deadlines! As you mentioned, some teachers have made homework optional or self-selected, or even stopped assigning homework. I partially agree with that opinion. I indeed try to reduce the amount of students’ homework or even stop assigning homework sometime, but doing related practice in class instead. I believe that the purpose of homework is to aid pupils in mastering the knowledge; it is not a necessary thing.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Yang. Jenn will be glad to know that you found the post inspiring!

Thanks so much for all your insights on giving assignments or homework. All are very helpful as I prepare to return to work after an extended medical leave. It is good to refresh! Anything we require of our students should be purposeful and meaningful to them, so they will give their best to meet whatever deadlines we set. I also like asking our students when is the best time they can turn work in; this is meeting them halfway. And if one strategy does not work, there are more to try; just read this post. Thanks a bunch!!

Jenn will be glad to know the post was helpful for you, Jo!

My colleagues and I at Sand Creek International in Colorado Springs, Colorado, enjoyed reading your post “A Few Ideas for Dealing with Late Work.” It gave us a lot to think about. We are the middle school teachers in a K-8 school and our district policy has been to accept late work all the way to the end of each quarter with no more than a 10% penalty for being late. We decided to examine this policy and discuss the pros and cons of it. Spending the time discussing these pros and cons really helped us examine our own philosophies on the point of student work and ultimately led to some changes we are empowered to make as well as a request for a change only our district level personnel can approve.

Pros of a Lenient Late Work Policy -More students eventually complete the work we want all students to complete This led us to be more intentional about work we are assigning for a grade and being more selective about what is counted towards a student’s grade. As was mentioned in your post, this was about a shift from “compliance” to “student growth” in what we were choosing to grade. -More students passing classes Students heading into high school don’t need to already be labeled as “failing” students and adopting a view of themselves that sets them up for struggle in high school. Students playing a sport also have the pressure of remaining eligible for their competitions. If they got zeros for late works, many would lose the ability to play their sport, which we think would be a detriment to their mental health. -Allows a focus on equity in grading policies We are aware many students face challenges outside of the classroom that make focusing on schoolwork difficult. A lenient late work policy doesn’t punish students who are facing these sorts of challenges.

Cons of a Lenient Late Work Policy -Teachers aren’t able to give timely feedback or adjust instruction When assignments are turned in late, often the topic of the assignment has already appeared on a test and if the student didn’t understand it, the opportunity to help that student before a test has already passed. -Students are learning bad habits when they aren’t taught that deadlines have importance As students head into high school and beyond, and eventually the workforce, we worry we are setting them up for failure if they haven’t learned that not meeting a deadline has consequences. Middle school is an ideal time to help students learn how to prioritize their time, organize their work, and develop a strong work ethic. Instead, the message they are sent with an overly lenient late work policy is that there are no real consequences to not meeting your obligations.

Changes We Have the Power to Make at the School Level -Be selective in what counts as a grade — make it more about growth than compliance -Guide students in developing executive function skills, like prioritizing work, creating their time management systems, task trackers, etc. -Require students to turn in something on the due date — even if that “something” is a request for a deadline extension -Be explicit with students about why turning in work on time is important for them to be able to get timely feedback on assignments that will help them prepare for assessments -Possibly offer extra credit for work turned in on time or other positive incentives -Possibly offer one “free” pass on an assignment per class per quarter or a drop the lowest grade pass -Required attendance at Yeti Den (after school work time) for missing work

Changes that Would Need District Approval -10% penalty for up to a certain number of days and then 25% off and then at some point, district’s policy of 50% minimum on work turned in kicks in — no more full credit for really late work. -Missing work considered in athletics eligibility -Missing work triggers automatic emails to parents from Infinite Campus gradebook just like unexcused absences do

Mary, thanks for taking the time to share your thinking! Jenn will be so glad to know that the post helped spark this conversation among your colleagues.

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How to Email Professor About Late Work

Last Updated: April 12, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed. and by wikiHow staff writer, Caroline Heiderscheit . Alexander Ruiz is an Educational Consultant and the Educational Director of Link Educational Institute, a tutoring business based in Claremont, California that provides customizable educational plans, subject and test prep tutoring, and college application consulting. With over a decade and a half of experience in the education industry, Alexander coaches students to increase their self-awareness and emotional intelligence while achieving skills and the goal of achieving skills and higher education. He holds a BA in Psychology from Florida International University and an MA in Education from Georgia Southern University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 175,502 times.

With deadlines, jobs, activities, and relationships to juggle, managing your schedule as a student can be tough. If you’ve realized you’re going to miss a deadline (we’ve all been there), you might be wondering how to email your professor for an extension, to apologize, or to limit any late penalties. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Below, we'll walk you through how to email your professor, plus we'll give you some sample emails to inspire you, too. To learn how to email your professor about late work, read on!

Example Emails to Professors for a Late Assignment

Every now and then, it’s okay to miss a deadline. When this happens, send an email immediately and say something along the lines of, “I apologize for turning in this assignment late. Know that I take my work seriously, and I'll do my best to avoid this in the future. I would greatly appreciate an extension on this paper if possible.”

Tips For Late Work Emails

• Don’t say: “I’m just genuinely so, so sorry. I can’t believe I turned this in late, and you have no idea how long I prepped for this assignment. I really am so sorry that I missed the deadline, and you should know that I will do my best in the future, even when I have tech issues, to not let this happen again.”
• Instead say: “I apologize for turning in this assignment late. Know that I take my work seriously and I’ll do my best to avoid this in the future.”

• Don’t say: “Message from a student in Psych 104,” “Need an extension,” or “Hello from Randy Bernard!”
• Instead say: “Extension Request for Psych104, Paper 2: Randy Bernard”

• Use a formal greeting. “Dear Professor James,” and “Professor James,” are perfect. “Hey,” and “Hi,” are too informal and should be avoided.
• Same goes for your signoff—choose a formal phrase. “Best,” and “Sincerely,” are great picks.
• If you’re asking your professor for something, be sure to ask, not demand. Instead of saying “I need” an extension, say that an extension would be extremely helpful to you.
• Remember to use “Please” and “Thank you," too!

• This could hurt your relationship and increase penalties on your assignment.
• So instead, say you're sorry: “I apologize for my late assignment. I know you're busy, and I don’t want to waste your time.”
• “I’m sorry for this late paper, especially because it communicates a lack of care and concern for my grades that I don't feel is accurate.”

• “If I had an extra 48 hours to complete this assignment, I’d be able to fully explore and structure my insights for this term paper.”
• “I would greatly appreciate an extension on this project. With a little more time, I could turn in my very best work and learn even more from this assignment."

• “Last night, my dog had a bar of chocolate without me realizing. I’ve spent the entire evening with her at the vet.”
• "To be entirely honest, I've been dealing with some mental health issues that are seriously affecting my schoolwork."
• If you can, avoid lying. If you're granted an extension and the truth comes out later on, you could face major consequences.

• Don’t say: “Honestly, it was out of my hands entirely. I’m a victim of circumstance, and that’s why my assignment is late.”
• Instead say: “It's true that I didn’t plan for this to happen. That being said, if I’d started earlier, this wouldn’t have been an issue. So I know, ultimately, this is my fault. I take full responsibility.”

• “This isn’t like me, and in the future, I promise to do better.”
• “I take my schoolwork very seriously. If it weren’t for my dog’s illness, I would have made getting this assignment in my top priority.”

Sample Emails

Why You Should Email Your Professor About Late Work

• Policies around extensions differ from school to school, but by writing an A+ email, you can only help your chances.
• Generally, professors only give you an extension under extenuating circumstances, like a major accident. They're going to be less inclined to extend an assignment if you had competing priorities, like work.
• Professors are people too, and they want to help! Especially if you don’t have a history of late work, when you plead your case, they may be more forgiving than you’d expect.

• Especially if you had a major, unforeseen factor pop up in the final moments before submitting your assignment, you may be able to explain and limit your punishment.

• By offering a respectful and honest apology for your late assignment, you can improve your relationship with your professor, earn their respect, and possibly limit your late assignment’s penalties.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://dean.williams.edu/files/2010/09/Guide-to-Emailing-Professors-1.pdf
• ↑ https://advising.yalecollege.yale.edu/how-write-email-your-instructor
• ↑ https://studentaffairs.loyno.edu/health-counseling/university-counseling-center/news-ucc/emailing-your-professor-tips-tricks-health
• ↑ https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/how-to-ask-for-an-extension/
• ↑ https://www.makemyassignments.com/blog/how-to-complete-your-assignments-before-the-deadline/
• ↑ https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/09/23/tips-handling-missed-deadline-opinion

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9 Excuses for Late Assignments: Turning Online Homework Late

• by Michael Smart
• January 5, 2024

It is a common scenario to fail to submit the assignment within the timeframe during your academic years. With many reasons for late assignment submission, there are a number of excuses you can give and they soften the stance of your professor.

Any student should strive to stay updated when it comes to matters of studies and assignments. However, some may face some uncertainties which can derail their concentration and affect how they are working, leading to delays.

In that case, here is a comprehensive list and explanation of the excuses you can give for late submissions.

9 Excuses for Late Submission of Assignments

A student may develop stress of keeping with the environment and hinder them from keeping assignment deadlines.

Although we may not deny the chances of a student being careless, genuine cases can prompt a student to fail to finish the work on time.

If found in such a scenario, then look for any possibility of asking for an extension. Here, you must have a compelling reason that can bargain your request.

1. Blaming Illness for late Homework

Illness and sickness are natural happenings that are unavoidable in someone’s life. Such situations may make one lack the physical and emotional strength to work on the assignment or homework.

While giving such an excuse, ensure that it is valid by backing it up with the note from your doctor. Some sickness can still occur on your immediate family member, thereby affecting how you work.

For example, your parent or a sister may be highly sick, prompting you to leave what you are doing and take care of him or her. Such is a strong reason that can compel one to ask for a late submission.

2. Domestic Violence for Undone Assignment

Domestic flights are typical cases in any marriage setup. Such can be a sensitive excuse which a teacher must consider and probably bring it up to your parents.

Also, a teacher can report such cases to the guiding and counseling office, who can talk to your parents concerning such ordeals. They should understand the impacts of such actions on your academic life.

3. Writers Block

A student can read many books until he/she develops writer’s block. Such situations are overwhelming, thereby affecting the productivity of a student. One can diagnose such an experience by taking a short break and come back while fresh.

A teacher should listen to your story and grant you leave of some days before you recollect and work on your assignment before submitting it as agreed.

4. Other Paper Due

When you have another paper to work on ahead, you may need time to prepare. About that, you can request your professor to give you more time so that you can prepare for another paper that you are about to handle.

That can be a valid reason that could justify your late submission. The best practice is to put such information in the application and let the teacher acknowledge your request.

5. Job Interview

One can receive a request for a job interview which can be unavoidable. A teacher should listen and accept such an apology by granting ample student time to prepare and attend that interview in the subject area. It is a valid reason that can lead to the late submission of assignments.

6. Learning Disability

One should inform the university in advance in case you have a learning disability. The most common issue is dyslexia which is an abnormal condition that makes a student struggle in making speedy and accurate spelling and reading.

Nearly all universities have plans that support students who experience learning disabilities. Such conditions are harsh, and that is why a college should accommodate such cases.

7. Lost a Family Member

Death is unavoidable in the life of someone. When you lose an immediate family member, it can be distractive, leading to divided attention

 If found in such circumstances, you can ask your professor to extend the submission date to assist you in overcoming such a situation.

8. You are a Caretaker

A student may be caring for a disabled person like a sick partner or a disabled parent. You have to let your teacher know in advance about that situation for you to enjoy the window of late submissions.

9. Blaming a Lazy Group Member

Group assignments are not new in the academic world. You might get assigned to someone who is lazy and drag your group leading to late submission.

If you are sensing that, it is critical to inform your instructor of late submissions. You can join this by saying that he forgot to submit the assignment early, especially his or her part.

As a group, you can join forces and assist that student who might be the cause of the delay and finish the assignment within the agreed timeframe as agreed by your teacher. You can choose to cover up the ills of a lazy student for success.

Reasons and Excuses for Turning in Late Online Homework

Online assignments present a little bit different excuses on top of the ones discussed above. However, ensure that you back your excuse with sound reasoning.

Such creates a better impression with your instructor as it indicates sincerity towards the pending task. This works better if you send a good late assignment email to your professor to explain more about the situation.

In this section, we can examine some of the good excuses you can provide to justify your late submission of the online assignment.

1. Computer Issues

When your laptop fails to work, it can lead to the destruction of your schedule. Such an excuse co only be valid if you provide evidence for your argument.

You can provide a receipt from your technician indicating the service quotation. Alternatively, you can take it to the university’s ICT department to see if they can assist in data recovery.

2. Wi-Fi Failed to Work

Wi-Fi is a technological issue that the school can address objectively. Schools should provide such a service to allow the students to work effectively.

However, when the students go out and encounter an internet challenge, it could cause a delay in the submission of assignments.

This is also one of the excuses for student lateness in class and can be used as a common reason. You can present the same evidence for missing classes and assignments.

3. Never Understood the Assignment

Every student learns uniquely. We have quick learners who need simple directions to learn. Some may be slow hence requiring more lessons to grasp the subject.

If you are in the category of slow learners, it may take you a while before completing the same assignment leading to late submission.

4. Sickness

One can fail to submit the assignment at school due to sickness. It would help if you wrote to your instructor to explain why it was challenging to work in such conditions.

You can back up your points with a medical report from your doctor to ascertain your honesty.

5. Had an Exam

The student could be doing a different course elsewhere. When the programs clash, the student must find a way of balancing them. If you are examining another cause, then it is reasonable to seek leave for a late submission. 

Consequences of Being Late with Assignment

Different schools and colleges deal with such situations uniquely.  For example, some universities and colleges would take off some points from the total mark.

In most universities, a late assignment submission penalty is taking 5% off the total allocated marks for that assignment. Such would be deducted for the first seven days, after which the professor will not accept the assignment again. While the late submission penalty varies, most universities follow a similar plan to deter lateness.

Another consequence of being late with your assignment is that it could lead to your studies’ postponement.

If you fail to submit it within the semester’s schedules, it will be difficult for the faculty to compile your marks and decide your course overall within the program leading to deferments.

On the other hand, some extreme cases could lead to suspension or expulsion. Before your join, any academic institution, ensure you understand the policies that govern your studies. Also, it is good to apply tips to beat homework due dates so as to avoid these consequences.

It is essential to adhere to the laid down procedures so that you are on the safe side. However, lecturers sometimes decide on the pros and cons of accepting late student assignments before applying the penalties. Here are the common penalties.

I am an educational writer and blogger focussing on tech, education, and life improvement.

The Blue Jay

Why it is NEVER a good idea to turn in late work

Courtney McQuay , Staff Writer | October 19, 2016

It is not uncommon for students to be overwhelmed by the amount of work assigned to them in their classes. Having too much work can make them stressed and more likely to procrastinate. That big pile of homework seems intimidating, but your grade is in jeopardy if you let it sit there. Students often feel that it is okay to do a little bit of their work at a time and take a break in-between assignments, except for when those breaks last longer than it takes for you to complete the assignment. This mindset can end in work not being completed by its deadline, while the student’s workload does not decrease. It does not work like that. Sometimes students feel that it’s okay to turn in an assignment late since one late assignment won’t affect their grade all that much.

But that’s where they’re wrong. One assignment might not impact a grade that much, but when the student turns in the work late, it really impacts the teacher. Instead of having your paper to grade at the same time as everyone else, a teacher must now grade your paper separately, well after they’ve read everyone else’s, and must now go back through the requirements of the assignment and must look back through the answer key, instead of knowing exactly what they are looking for when they grade everybody else’s work at the same time. This causes it to take much longer to grade the assignment than when the assignment is turned in on time, plus most teachers deduct points for being late.

“There comes a point when an assignment loses its value.” says Mrs. Hartman, an English teacher, “it’s not worth turning in.”

Assignments have deadlines for a reason. To get you to do it. If you learn and get into the habit of good time management, then you are set for life past high school. No boss will want an employee that constantly misses a deadline. Plus, missing deadlines puts stress on you, especially if you didn’t do that speech due today. When you turn work in on time, that means you also have less work to do later instead of it piling up. Your grade is also saved. You might actually get a hundred on that assignment.

“Turning in something undone is better than not turning it in.” says Mrs. Hartman, “partial credit is better than no credit. If it’s late, the most you can get is a 60%. That’s the English department’s late work policy.”

Missing due dates in school can impact your learning too. If you don’t do the work, then you won’t understand what is going on in class. If your class is having a discussion over last night’s assignment and you didn’t do it, then you won’t have a clue what’s going on. If the teacher calls on you to summarize what the assignment was over and you didn’t do it, then it can be quite embarrassing for you, and distract the rest of the class.

“Assignments won’t get graded as quickly.” Says Mrs. Hartman, “If you aren’t worried about your grade then I won’t be.”

Turning in work on time also shows that your responsible and well organized. You’re more likely to get a good reputation if you turn in things before their deadline. If you plan how to do your assignments so that they are turned in on time, then you will likely be able to actually do it. Don’t ever leave assignments unfinished and thinking that you will just “do them later” because there likely won’t be a later and you will forget about them. Set reminders if you need to about due dates, and bring the completed assignment to class on that day it’s due.

Do not think that this means that you won’t ever have time for yourself. Finishing things early just lets you relax later knowing that you have everything done. Always schedule time for you to relax between assignments, just remember that you have to come back to them later.“It becomes a cycle.” Says Mrs. Hartman, “college doesn’t accept late work. It’s better to figure it out now, not later.”

“It becomes a cycle.” Says Mrs. Hartman, “college doesn’t accept late work. It’s better to figure it out now, not later.”

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Courtney McQuay is a senior. She considers Junction City, Kansas, her home. Courtney enjoys drawing and writing in her free time. She would like to become...

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Why kids don’t hand in their work (even if they did it)

By Amanda Morin

Expert reviewed by Bob Cunningham, EdM

Quick tip 1

Use visual reminders..

Put a sticky note that says “Did you turn in your homework?” on a lunchbox or something else kids use every day. Or have kids keep their completed homework inside their lunchbox or on the very top of a bookbag.

Quick tip 2

Try a homework folder..

Have kids use a folder to bring their homework to and from school. Try a brightly colored folder with pockets. This makes it easier to find in a backpack and keeps papers from slipping out. Check this folder daily.

Quick tip 3

Use calendars and checklists..

Digital or paper calendars, planners, and checklists can help kids remember to turn in homework. Have kids choose a tool that works best for them. Then teach them how to use it.

Quick tip 4

Do a backpack audit..

A messy backpack can make it hard for kids to find their homework. Clean out the backpack together. Then give kids tips for keeping it organized on their own.

When kids complete their homework but don’t turn it in, it’s frustrating. And it can be even more frustrating if kids don’t have an answer to the question, “Why didn’t you hand it in?”

It’s not unusual for kids to forget to turn in their homework from time to time. And some kids choose not to hand in their homework, even if they did it.

Middle-schoolers and high-schoolers may want to seem cool in front of their friends. To some kids that age, caring about getting their homework done isn’t cool. 

Some kids might feel like they’re just “not good” at a class or at school in general. Maybe they had a bad experience with an assignment or a teacher in the past. So they don’t even bother handing in their work — even if they did it.

For other kids, though, getting homework to the teacher is a different kind of challenge. It’s one thing to do homework. It’s another thing to put it in your backpack, bring it to school, find it in your backpack, and remember to turn it in.

It may seem like kids are being lazy or not trying hard enough. But challenges with organization are real.

Dive deeper

Homework and trouble with organization.

The routine to get out the door in the morning is already hard for some kids. Managing to take their homework with them adds another layer. It doesn’t mean that kids don’t want to get it right or aren’t working hard. Kids can want to get organized and still struggle with it.

Other kids may get their homework to school but forget to turn it in. Maybe they can’t find it in their messy backpack. They might be distractible and get sidetracked by something before turning it in. 

Some kids just completely forget to turn homework in. Forgetfulness isn’t uncommon, especially when kids are stressed or tired. And it’s more common for some kids than others, like kids who have trouble with focus or with following directions.

Learn more about what can cause organization challenges .

How a homework contract can help

A homework contract holds everyone accountable for what they need to do to make sure homework gets done and turned in. 

Parents and caregivers: Download a homework contract to use with your child. Use it to outline the ways you’ll help with homework, including how much you’ll help your child get it to school.

Educators: If kids are having trouble turning in their homework, suggest that families try a homework contract. Explore homework contracts and other organization printables for families. 

When kids are completing homework but not turning it in, families and educators should connect and share what they’re seeing. Talk about the classroom policies and routines around homework like: 

Late work policies 

Where and when kids turn in homework 

Online options — can kids turn in homework online, like on Google Classroom? Can they email homework? 

Then use the information to find strategies to try. 

Parents and caregivers: It’s important to talk with your child, too. Ask specific questions about how school is going. For example, does your child feel uncomfortable handing in homework? Is something going on with the teacher? Talk about what’s going on and let them know you’ll work together to find solutions. 

Explore related topics

Turn in an assignment in Microsoft Teams

Review and submit assignments

How to turn in an assignment

To turn in an assignment:

Navigate to the desired class team, then select Assignments . You can also use your search bar to search for an assignment by keyword.

Tip:  Select the Expansion icon (diagonal, double sided arrow) to work in full-screen mode.

If your educator specified a document for you to turn in, or if you have other files to attach to this assignment, select +Add work and upload your file. You can attach up to 10 resources to an assignment. 500mb is the maximum file size for a resource.  

Tip:  Work on Office files associated with this assignment right from here—no need to leave the app. Older files with .doc, .xls, and .ppt file extensions can only be edited in the desktop versions of those apps. You can copy content into a new file created in Teams to edit them again.

Select  Turn in  to submit an assignment before its deadline. This button will change depending on the status:

Turn in for group  if you're working on a group assignment. Only one member of the group needs to turn in the assignment.

Turn in again if you’re editing an assignment you’ve already turned in and need to submit work again.

Turn in late if you’re turning in your assignment after the due date, but your educator has allowed late turn-ins or asked for a revision.

Not turned in if the assignment is past due and your educator is no longer accepting turn-ins. You cannot turn in work.

Undo turn in if you decide you want to edit your assignment before the due date. You'll need to turn it in again after you make your edits.

After submitting your assignments, track your progress in the Grades tab to review points earned and educator feedback.

View assignments across classes

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Turn in an assignment

This article is for students.

You turn in your work online in Classroom. Depending on the type of assignment and attachments, you’ll find  Turn in or Mark as Done .

Any assignment turned in or marked done after the due date is recorded as late.

Important: 

• You can only submit an assignment before the due date.
• If you need to edit an assignment you submitted, unsubmit the assignment before the due date, make your changes, and resubmit.
• Attach one or more files to your assignment.
• Upload photos from a camera roll.
• Open and work on files you own in Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Drawings and then attach them to your assignment.

Turn in an Assignment Using Google Classroom (Web)

Go to classroom.google.com  and click Sign In.

Sign in with your Google Account. For example,  [email protected] or [email protected] .  Learn more .

• Select the attachment or enter the URL for a link and click Add .

• Click the file and enter your information.

The status of the assignment changes to Turned in .

Important : If you get an error message when you click Turn in , let your instructor know.

Turn in a quiz

• Click the form and answer the questions.
• Click Submit . If the form is the only work for the assignment, the status of the assignment changes to Turned in .
• If there's more work to do for the assignment, click Open assignment .

Turn in an assignment with an assigned doc

If your teacher attached a document with your name in the title, it’s your personal copy to review and edit. As you work, your teacher can review your progress before you click Turn in . 

• Click the image with your name to open the assigned file.
• Enter your work.
• On the document or in Classroom, click Turn in and confirm.

Important: If you get an error message when you click Turn in , let your instructor know.

Mark an assignment as done

Important: Any assignment turned in or marked done after the due date is recorded as late, even if you previously submitted the work before the due date.

Unsubmit an assignment

Want to make changes to an assignment that you already turned in? Just unsubmit the work, make the changes, and turn it in again.

Important: Any assignment turned in or marked done after the due date is marked late, even if you previously submitted the work before the due date. If you unsubmit an assignment, be sure to resubmit it before the due date.

• Click Unsubmit and confirm. Note : This assignment is now unsubmitted. Turn it in again before the due date.

Related articles

• Find your work for a class
• How attachments are shared in Classroom
• Work with a doc assigned to you
• Google Docs Help Center
• Use a screen reader with Classroom on your computer

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Best Practices for Dealing With Late Homework

While there are different views on the use of homework, late homework may be an inevitable part of your teaching experience. If you choose to use homework, you also have to decide how you will address tardy assignments. Here, we offer ways to handle late homework.

While there are different views on the use of homework , late homework may be an inevitable part of your teaching experience. If you choose to use homework, you also have to decide how you will address tardy assignments.

Here we offer five ways the handle late homework that can help you manage the task efficiently, while still being fair to students who complete their work on time.

1. Create Consequences for Late Work

Penalizing students for turning homework in late is a common practice among teachers. If your student misses a deadline, there’s a clear, expected consequence.

Penalties, however, can also encourage students to complete the late assignment to receive partial credit. This ensures fairness — late work can’t achieve the same score as work that was submitted on time — while also giving students who turn homework in late an opportunity to learn the materials and succeed in the class, which is the ultimate goal.

2. Accept Late Work — for Legitimate Reasons

No, “my dog ate my homework” is not an acceptable reason for missing a homework deadline. But there are some situations that may warrant tardiness, such as a medical or family emergency. 

Help your students understand your expectations for accepting late work without a penalty, as well as what you’ll need to verify those conflicts (such as a signed letter from a parent, for example). This is also a great way to preempt students’ attempts at making excuses, which could reduce the number of excuses you’ll field throughout the year.

3. Put Extensions on the Table

Not every student who turns work in late is unmotivated or irresponsible. Some students might be struggling to keep up with the workload, or they could be dealing with situations at home that make managing classroom deadlines difficult. 

By encouraging students to ask for extensions, you can empower them to proactively manage their workload. Note that some students might try to take advantage of extensions to avoid late penalties. Creating boundaries, like requiring students to ask for an extension in advance of the deadline, can help.

4. Grant a ‘Next-Day Pass’

A next-day pass is a pass that grants your students the opportunity to submit a homework assignment the day after it’s due without penalty. Next-day passes afford students some flexibility that they can tap into when they need it, while also helping you eliminate the need to field excuses for late work and requests for extensions.

5. Take ‘Late’ Out of the Equation

Some teachers have adopted policies that don’t penalize students for turning work in late — no matter how late the assignment is or how many assignments are late. Instead of penalizing students for tardiness, this method grades students separately based on their ability to turn their assignments in on time. By creating a distinction between the work and deadlines, you may be able to better understand whether students who are struggling are not grasping the concepts or are dealing with other obstacles.

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Methods for Managing Late Work

Examining the reasoning behind your assessments can help shape your approach to tardy work, says Jennifer Gonzalez.

When she was teaching, Jennifer Gonzalez used to plod through a “pointless” exercise at the end of the term: allowing a few students to complete late assignments and then docking their scores by 50 percent for tardiness. In her recent blog post , she reflects on why that practice didn’t help her students and offers suggestions from other educators on how cope with late work. 

The first step, Gonzalez says, is to examine your assessment procedures as a whole. Ask, “What do your grades represent?” The emphasis should be on learning and growth, not compliance. “If your grades are too compliance-based,” Gonzalez says, “consider how you might shift things so they more accurately represent learning.” Look also at the quantity of what you grade, she advises. Many assignments function as practice, not assessment. Shift to fewer graded assignments, she says, even if it is a challenge to “convince your students that ungraded practice is worthwhile because it will help their performance on the big things.” 

The final step for evaluating your grading system is asking yourself, “What do I assume late work means?” Gonzalez confesses, “I’m embarrassed to admit that when I first started teaching, I assumed most students with missing work were just unmotivated.” But lack of motivation is rarely the cause; many students don’t complete homework because they don’t have the resources of their peers. 

The most important factor in your grading system? Creating a plan you can actually keep up with, Gonzalez says. Once you establish a system, you can develop a strategy for late work. She offers a range of possible options, curated from other teachers through social media, ranging from penalties to the elimination of deadlines. 

Many teachers still opt for penalties, and there’s a reason: “When work is turned in weeks or even months late, it can lose its value as a learning opportunity because it is no longer aligned with what’s happening in class.” If you choose penalization for tardy assignments, a reduction in points can motivate students to complete the work, even if it is late. “This policy still rewards students for on-time work without completely de-motivating those who are late, builds in some accountability for lateness, and prevents the teacher from having to do a lot of mathematical juggling with a more complex system.”

Other teachers implement a policy that rewards students who turn things in on time by allowing them to resubmit their assignments for improved grades; if the work is late the student can’t retake the assessment for more points or receive feedback. 

Punitive policies don't always work as motivators, Gonzalez says, because sometimes the reason for late work isn't related to a lack of motivation. As a result, many teachers are abandoning the practice. "Students may have issues with executive function and could use some help developing systems for managing their time and responsibilities. They may struggle with anxiety. Or they may not have the resources—like time, space, and technology—to consistently complete work at home," she writes. 

Separate Mastery From Deadlines

Some teachers use a separate assessment  to “measure factors like adherence to deadlines, neatness, and following non-academic guidelines like font sizes or using the correct heading on a paper.” Completing assignments on-time, in other words, is part of a separate evaluation from the mastery assessment--and students receive grades for both. 

“Although most teachers whose schools use this type of system will admit that students and parents don’t take the work habits grade as seriously as the academic grade,” Gonzalez writes, “they report being satisfied that student grades only reflect mastery of the content.” Because better work habits can yield better academic results, having this type of “work habits” score can be used to show students the importance of staying on top of deadlines.

Issue Selective ‘Passes’ or Use Floating Deadlines

Another popular option for late work is to anticipate it and offer a pass the student can elect to use instead. “Most teachers only offer these passes to replace low-point assignments, not major ones, and they generally only offer 1 to 3 passes per marking period.” A “next day pass” serves a similar purpose; students can use them to extend the deadline by a day. One teacher reports that the introduction of the pass gave her “the lowest rate ever of late work.” Some teachers use extension requests so students can anticipate when they might be late and write a proposal about why their tardiness should be excused. 

A floating deadline can help avoid the question of how to address late work altogether. Giving students a flexible range of dates when they can submit work allows them to take ownership in their work. “Some teachers offer an incentive to turn in work in the early part of the time frame, such as extra credit or faster feedback, and this helps to spread out the submissions more evenly,” Gonzalez writes. A variation on the flexible deadline allows students to turn in work that’s in process. Teachers then have the chance to review work and give feedback before the final grade. Students can also take responsibility by weighing in on when work should be due. “They may have a better idea than you do about other big events that are happening and assignments that have been given in other classes.”

What is the best policy on late work? The system that actually works for you. Gonzalez encourages teachers to experiment with different approaches and settle on the process that suits you and your students.

Howard Aldrich

Kenan professor of sociology, dept of sociology @ unc chapel hill.

Assignments: better late than never?

A few days ago, a colleague came to me for teaching advice. On his syllabus, he had written that he did not accept late assignments. One of the students, a young woman who was struggling in the class, had turned in a paper that was woefully incomplete and he told her that it did not meet the assignment requirements. However, rather than rejecting it outright, he took account of her struggles and accepted that she hadn’t decided to order essay online cheap to get it finished, telling her that if she turned in a finished version by the end of the week that completely met the basic requirements of the assignment, he would give her partial credit. At the end of the week, she turned the paper in again, but it was still well short of what he would accept as meeting minimal requirements.

Get that assignment in on time or else!

He asked what I thought he should do. He told me that the assignment counted 15% of her grade, and thus giving her a zero on the assignment would immediately knock her down at least a grade and a half, before taking account of her other less-than-stellar work in the course. But, because he had announced that he didn’t accept late papers and then had recanted on that rule by inviting her to submit a revised version, he felt he had to give her some credit.

After suggesting that yes, it made sense to give her some credit, under the circumstances, I went on to make a more general point about putting strict rules and regulations in a syllabus. At least this way, it would be printed for all the world to see, and nothing beats having it in a hard copy when you want to make a point. An old colleague of mine, who loved using a syllabus for his classes, told me that I should consider using a printing service like Printivity to display all of the information when it came to the year and what the students would be expecting. It’s one of the only ways to make sure that they have been sent a clear message. So, I should definitely consider putting rules and regulations in this type of format. I reminded him that in my syllabi, I never say that I will not accept late assignments. I have no list of punishments or points that will be taken off if assignments are turned in late. My friend, Joe Lowman, and I have had many conversations about this & I’ve benefited greatly from his wisdom. Indeed, when it comes to such matters, I usually find myself asking, “what would Joe do?”

On the first day of class, students often ask me, what are your penalties for late assignments? I tell them I don’t expect late assignments, as all the due dates for assignments are in the syllabus they’ve just been handed. In that case, why would any assignments be late? I find this logic impeccable, but some aren’t satisfied with this answer and persist in questioning me. All I will say is that if they find themselves having difficulty, prior to an assignment being due, they need to talk with me and I will try to help them. I never speculate about what I might do with the late assignment, preferring to deal with each of them on its own merits.

I do this to avoid being put in the situation of my colleague: announcing a hard and fast rule which extenuating circumstances may well require me to break. Over my 45 years of teaching, I have heard about plenty of emergencies, some of which were devastating to the students involved. What would I do if a student told me about a family emergency which gave them no choice but to rush home? I would feel really heartless in telling a student that I was very sorry about the accident and I hoped the victims would recover, but I stood firmly by my policy.

My colleagues are typically astonished when I tell them about this policy. Typically, they raise two objections. First, won’t I get a lot of late assignments? Second, if I do accept late assignments, isn’t that unfair to the students who turn their assignments on time? My answer is “no” to both objections, as I will explain.

First , in my syllabus and on my webpage, every assignment is clearly described with its due date. I use Sakai, which sends out automated notices, reminding students of due dates. The assignment is also noted on the website’s course calendar. For larger assignments, such as term papers, I have multiple milestones that students must meet: reporting their chosen topic, submitting a one paragraph description of their theme, a preliminary listing of references, a rough draft, and so forth. These milestones give me many opportunities to intervene when students show signs of falling behind. I also take a very active role in keeping track of how students are doing, sending emails to students who miss class and asking students to come in and talk with me about assignments, if they have difficulties.

When students approach me about the possibility of a late assignment, and what I would do, the first thing I always say is, “What is interfering with your turning in an assignment on time?” I don’t say, “Remember the penalties.” If, after working with them, it is clear that they will not get the assignment in on time, the next conversation I have with them goes something like this:

Student: “okay, when can I turn the paper in?”

Me: “when do you think you will have it finished?”

Student: “well, will I be penalized?”

Me: “you realize that the reason I ask for assignments to be turned in on time is so I have enough time to read them properly, so I can be sure that I will give each assignment its proper due. Late assignments make that more difficult. However, I will grade it as fairly as I can.”

Student: “okay, I’ll turn it in on Monday.” [ Students almost always pick a date earlier than I would have chosen, if I had picked the date! ]

Cooperative learning means you’re always coming up roses!

One of the consequences of this approach is that I almost never get late assignments! And, my syllabus is not cluttered up with pointless draconian rules that I have no intention of enforcing.

Second , what about the “fairness” issue? Isn’t it unfair to the conscientious students, who get their work in on time, to allow some students to turn assignments in late? I have three responses to this alleged violation of some perceived moral principle. (In what philosophical system is taking account of extenuating circumstances equivalent to a moral failure?)

(1) for students having problems getting assignments in on time, extra time almost never makes a difference in the quality of what they do. The best students in a class are not the ones asking for extensions.

(2) students who get assignments in on time can put that assignment behind them and get on with their lives. By contrast, students who are struggling to complete a late assignment will find they have to forgo other things that they would’ve enjoyed doing, with their assignment-free peers, but instead they are stuck indoors, completing an assignment. Being allowed to turn something in late is no free pass to scholastic heaven. It is a burden.

(3) my goal in assessing my student’s work is to try to figure out what they have learned in my class, and knocking off points from a student’s score because a paper was a day or two late completely muddies the meaning of a grade. I’m not teaching “discipline,” I’m teaching sociology. I want to give students every opportunity to show me what they’ve learned, and if this requires me, every few semesters, to accept a late assignment, I’m quite willing to do so.

Interested in learning more about what to do about late assignments? See this post.

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42 thoughts on “ assignments: better late than never ”.

I’ve been teaching at four-year colleges in the New York area for more than 20 years. I tell students they may hand in assignments late, but if they do, I may not read them and I may not grade them. I tell students I will only possibly read and grade late assignments if I feel I need them to assign a final grade to the student. I don’t believe in “penalizing” a student by downgrading a late assignment….I believe an “A” paper is an “A” paper whether it’s handed in on time or a month late. The opposite is like saying a grilled bronzino with vegetables is “worth” !8.00 if served during the “early-bird” time, but it’s worth 28.00 if served after. Makes no sense!

More accurately, it’s like not having my bronzino served after waiting at the table for an hour, at which point I would leave, taking my appetite and my money to another restaurant. After enough tardy bronzinos, that restaurant would struggle to stay in business.

John, I wonder if that’s the right analogy. Are instructors the ‘customers’ who are waiting for a tasty dish we order but has been prepared by someone else? Maybe George should have used a less fragile example — a cold sandwich? But I guess you’d still want it when you were hungry. However, here is where the analogy really breaks down. As instructors, we’re co-producers of the assignment b/c we provided the initial resources, including the recipe, and the prep instructions. We’re not just sitting back & waiting for 3rd parties we don’t know to serve us. We’re much more actively involved. Thanks for the thought-provoking comment!

That sounds so logical. I still got penalised as a student, for missing the deadline because I was horribly sick from chemotherapy and brain surgery. Lol teacher did not want to be unfair to other students… well, get brain cancer first and then let’s talk about fair.

I wanted to submit my final essay at school today which is going to be due in 2 business day.however the whole campus is claused because of thinks giving. I didn’t know that the campus would be claused the day after thanksgiving and all my documents are saved on the campus’s computers. Is there any way to help me out ?

In planning ahead, think of this motto: “something is either early or it’s late.” No such thing as “on time.” If you plan your life as if you can always submit stuff “on time,” bad stuff will happen, sooner or later. In this case, you’ll have to throw yourself on the mercy of your instructor, claiming ignorance of school policy. Good luck.

My attitude toward late penalties has changed considerably since I first started teaching nearly 20 years ago. After taking some workshops on learner diversity and First Peoples Principles of Learning ( http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PUB-LFP-POSTER-Principles-of-Learning-First-Peoples-poster-11×17.pdf ), this last semester I finally eliminated all mention of late penalties from my syllabi. I wanted to see what would happen. And you know what happened? Exactly what you described! I’m done with late penalties.

Thank you for articulating all this so well in your post.

Melinda, I’m so glad to hear this! Thanks for having the courage to drop the late penalty clause. Glad to hear it made no difference.

what about? Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions. ( http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PUB-LFP-POSTER-Principles-of-Learning-First-Peoples-poster-11×17.pdf ),

It is true that people must learn that their actions have consequences, but that is a very generic kind of learning. People must also learn to recognize the contingencies that affect the conditions under which they apply one rule rather than another. For instructors, I would say that “actions have consequences” is something that parents should teach their children, rather than waiting until the kids get to college. By then, they know that general rule. What instructors need to consider are the conditions under which a harsh penalty is appropriate & when it is not.

I think many students (like myself) face appropriate consequences as the panic over their late assignments. I know that asking for an extension is always my last resort, regardless of the course policy on late work.

I’m working on my masters degree, I’m a family nurse practitioner student. One of my classmates and I turned our papers about 20-30 minutes after deadline (midnight). I simply thought that my instructor is not going to read this paper at midnight anyway and my classmate couldn’t do it because her computer was updating. We both got zeros on our papers. I want to talk to my instructor about giving us at least some credit, but I don’t know how I can convince her. I would appreciate an advice from you.

Yulia, sorry to hear of your troubles. First and most important: what is your instructors stated policy? Was it written in the syllabus that late papers were not accepted? If that is the case, then your instructor will argue that you knew the rules and she can’t make an exception. That’s when you can use the arguments that I raise in my blog post. Second, if there was no stated policy, then I think you have a stronger case for at least having the instructor accept the paper and grade it and then perhaps deduct something from the grade because it was “late.” There’s a big difference between getting a zero on a paper and a C or even a B.in the case of no stated policy, I would make the argument that you did the assignment and the instructor should grade it, for otherwise you’re in the same boat as somebody who didn’t do the assignment at all. That doesn’t seem fair. Third, you could send the link for my blog post to your instructor, to give them advance warning of the argument you will make.

Here is an excellent post on getting rid of late assignment penalties from Tom Schimmer: “Enough with the Late Penalties.” https://tomschimmer.com/2011/02/21/enough-with-the-late-penalties/

I read your article with great interest, but from my experience, I must disagree with a lot of your points.

I teach college English composition courses. My syllabus is ironclad and I thoroughly cover everything in the syllabus on the first day of the semester. I don’t accept late work unless there is a death in the family, or they have a medical reason for missing class. Students are required to upload their assignments via Sakai. They are always given a fair amount of time for each writing assignment, so they’re never rushed to finish a project.

I don’t budge on not taking late work for several reasons. Deadlines are deadlines. Students are supposed to learn the responsibility of becoming an adult and part of that is getting tasks done on time. Punctuality shows initiative, and what so many fail to teach students at the college level these days is time management. Yes, being a college student is a major adjustment. It’s a balancing act. They need to learn how to schedule the proper amount of time for each project. Most don’t. We should not reward procrastination, which is what most students minor in. =)

Deadlines are important in the real world. To apply for graduate school, a student must submit an application on time, as well as get letters of recommendation, apply for grants, etc. After graduation, the same holds true. If submitting an application for a particular job is expected by a certain date, the student needs to realize that the “day after” is too late. Often, for employers, they are looking for future workers who are punctual and have the ability to get their work done by the deadline.

Allowing a student X number of days beyond the deadline is unfair to those who did their work on time. What’s the point of even giving a due date, if it’s going to be dismissed afterwards? I’ve also discovered that students hold a higher level of respect for the instructors/professors who set standards and keep them.

Point 2, you state: “By contrast, students who are struggling to complete a late assignment will find they have to forgo other things that they would’ve enjoyed doing, with their assignment-free peers, but instead they are stuck indoors, completing an assignment.” Most students I have are never ‘assignment-free peers’. They start working on another assignment. The ones who turned their work in on time had to forgo other things they would’ve enjoyed, and from my experience, the ‘struggling’ students forwent doing their assignments by doing something they enjoyed instead. Procrastination is commonplace, and cellphone addiction is a conversation for another day. Sadly, the distractions prevent students from focusing on the more important objectives.

Again, I enjoyed reading your article and your view. Very enlightening to see a different perspective. For me, it would never work. Keep up the great work!

Sam, thank you for your thoughtful disagreement with my points. Your comments reminded me that I probably didn’t put enough context into my argument so that him readers could see the setting in which I was able to use these techniques.

My policy regarding late assignments is not a stand-alone policy, divorced from the overall framework in which the course is organized. The course is embedded in a much bigger philosophy of teaching and learning that enables me to use this specific policy, along with many others. The larger perspective can be glimpsed, I think, by looking at my other blog posts and the many papers and postings I’ve made on teaching and learning over the past decades. (See my “Teaching Resources” webpage.)

The first thing to note is that I get almost no requests for permission to turn in assignments late. From day one, I behave as if I don’t expect late assignments and I emphasize ways in which students can complete their assignments on time. (For those sociologists reading this, I truly believe in the “social construction of reality.”) If, early in the semester a question ever does come up about late assignments – – which is extremely rare – – my reaction always is to say that the course is organized so as to make it possible for people to do their work on time. I ask people to let me know as soon as possible if they are having difficulties and to come and see me. If students persist and ask “yes, but what penalties will I get if I’m late?” I just reply, in mock surprise, “Are you aware today that you’ll be late for something a month or two from now?” And then, in so many words, I tell them that will cross that bridge when we come to it. And the path almost all students follow hardly ever takes them across that bridge.

Second, my now retired colleague, Joe Lowman, who wrote a very good book on college teaching(Mastering the Techniques of Teaching), used the same policy during his 40 years of teaching in the Psychology Department here, and with the same results that I have experienced.

Third, you make an excellent point regarding students needing to learn about deadlines and time management, and I spend time on that in class. My syllabus and calendar, on Sakai, are structured to emphasize punctuality and timeliness. For example, see my blog post on using small wins in creating milestones for students.

Fourth, I take the deadlines extremely seriously, which is why I spend so much time creating milestones to make certain that students will be prepared to meet the deadlines.

Fifth, in almost 50 years of teaching, I don’t recall a student ever saying to me that they felt cheated or treated unfairly because another student received a little extra time to complete an assignment. (Recall again that in my classes, I almost never get late assignments, and so this may not be a very fair test.) I try to build a culture of trust in which I hope students assume that I will use my discretion in a just way.

Six, I wholeheartedly agree with you regarding cell phone addiction and the presence of other distractions in the lives of our undergraduates. I wish I had an answer to that question! I can tell you that I don’t allow cell phone use or laptop use in my classes. Students keep them off unless I direct them to be turned on for use in classroom assignments. Some students even seem relieved to be unburdened of that distraction for 50 or 75 minutes!

Thanks again for your thoughtful comments and for an alternative perspective on my proposals.

Repeat on of the learning principles Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions. When you create an assignment and you establish a deadline to complete the assignment, what is the consequence for not doing it on time? What if that student that has been trained that late papers are just fine becomes a doctor and it is late for an important surgery of your family member? What if that student that has been trained that late papers are just fine, is late in one maneuver and crashes the airplane with you inside or your family members? There are cases that are exceptional cases in which late assignments can be accepted without penalty, but to make that a rule is dangerous.

Actually, nothing I do is ever strictly rule-governed. Life is full of too many contingencies! Instructors have a huge amount of power over their students & they need to learn to exercise it in a nuanced & humane way.

I think even the laziest college students who truly take advantage of their ability to submit late work are capable of understanding that life and death scenarios should be treated more urgently than an essay.

Dear Anna: thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Yes, I agree: students are adults & should be allowed to weigh the life consequences of their decisions without being burdened by rigid rules.

In my experience, the working world, especially people working for the government, was comprised of painfully mediocre people whose best talent was being on time for everything.

Kimberly, not sure how to reply. Are you saying that some people are so obsessed with being on time that they neglect more important things?

Awesome read. Thank you for sharing.

I am in arts university as a sculptor major and nearly every assignment I have handed in to date has been late. I feel absolutely sick about it because I am here to do my best – it is not my first time at university and I take it very seriously. It makes me wonder if this is my best and if so, how can I ever succeed in life? Most of my profs are accommodating because I have a documented learning disability, I am respectful of them and do my best to take risks, utilize their feedback and submit the best piece of work I can. Others seem to think I think I’m too special to hand things in on time like everyone else. I guess my question is… If I would have failed without the willingness of my profs to accept late work thus far, is this then a message to me that I shouldn’t be here? What’s your stance on students who chronically fail to meet deadlines despite working flat out to meet them? Where do they belong? Any advice?

The same kinds of people who are accommmodating you in college will be there, in the world beyond college, and you should expect the same from them. Every person must find their niche in the world, or carve one out, and you are not more or less “special” than anyone else. I would say that if you feel you belong, you belong. It sounds like you have many people who see you as someone they want to work with & see succeed.

Just a lurker reading your compassionate response, and it honestly moved me to tears. I am a BScN nursing student, three quarters of the way through my degree, and working at full scope as an ESN. I have a previous degree in psychology, and completed IB in highschool at age 16. I have a struggled with late assignments throughout my academic career and I believe I probably will for the rest of my life when it comes to handing in written work. I, too, have a diagnosed learning disability as well as chronic health challenges that plague me. I suffer from PTSD, I struggle financially (I survive off of Canada’s student loan program), and many of my friends and family are dead. For those reasons I miss half of my lectures and I do much of my learning on my own through textbooks and recorded lectures from other universities. I am a gifted student, I can at least recognize that now, and my papers and exams are always in the 90s despite my poor attendance (though now I’m in a highly competitive program they’re more often in the 80s). I know that I am a passionate learner with a lot to offer in the real world and my clinical work with patients is impeccable. However, I don’t think I’ve handed a paper/assignment in on time once this entire program. I lose an average of 15% per course based solely on missed deadlines despite my genuine grades being quite high. I believe that’s fair, because it speaks to my weaknesses overall. But what you said about “if you feel you belong, then you belong” really struck a chord with me. I’ve always felt like a black sheep among impossibly functional academic elites. It took me so many years to recognize my strengths for what they were and to be able to envision a future for myself where I could meaningfully contribute to society. It’s professors like you, who saw beyond my organizational difficulties and gave me opportunities to really shine and showcase my talents, that have allowed me to grow with confidence into the competent professional that I feel I am now. Thank you so, so much!

Alexandra, thanks so much for taking the time to write such a full response! I appreciate your affirmation of the approach I suggested. Good luck in your chosen profession.

I stumbled here as a student feeling discouraged about failing to complete an assignment on time — again. I chronically rely on the mercy of professors. As a person who is eager to learn, does the reading, shows up every day and pays careful attention, I appreciate what your philosophy. I can attest that pushing to get work done while knowing most others were able to complete it on time does not feel like a “free pass.” It feels terrible.

I can’t help posting a response to the comments regarding teaching students about the “real world.” I am 35, with 18 years behind me as a punctual and hardworking employee. Students are not employees, and we come to college with different levels of preparation and difficulties to overcome. And unlike a job, when I fall behind in school the only person who suffers is me.

This week I blew it on two papers (after spending far too much time struggling with the first one, I had little time left for the second). I was granted an extension on the first, and turned in an excellent (per the professor) paper three days late. For the second, I obeyed the strict policy in the syllabus and turned in a dreadfully incomplete paper after a desperate all-nighter. My grade is likely destroyed, and I feel humiliated and dejected.

As a grown-up, I know I am responsible for running out of time. I accept the consequences, but I don’t feel I or anyone else gained anything by them.

Jess, your last sentence points to what I see as the hollow reasoning behind penalizing late papers: what lesson is being taught? Who benefits from the penalty? Surely not other students, as they have never told me that my accepting “late” papers is unfair.

Same boat as you. I am now 37 in a masters program. Would be an A+ student in my undergrad except for handing things in late. But I am still doing it. Been in therapy for over 10 years. Working through my issues but it isn’t easy and it just feels so shitty to be asking for professors mercy constantly. The author really has it correct when he describes the burden of being a late submitter.

I am another student in their 30’s, returning to work after over a decade in the “real world”. One of the biggest issues I’ve seen is that professors assume the worst of their students while also relying on them to support their ego.

As an adult, I have real world issues that sometimes need to be prioritized over my assignments because I am simply not the most important thing in my world and sometimes need to show up for other people. Despite my best efforts I do sometimes turn in assignments late or miss class. The few times I’ve tried to explain, professors stop me three sentences in and say “I don’t want to get involved”. I realized very quickly that they were expecting something silly and became very uncomfortable with basic, grown up issues that all adults should feel comfortable discussing.

By only offering flexibility with explanations, the professor holds all the power and can quickly close the lines of communication. I have had to accept zeros on exams and labs despite previous notice of a court summons (not even for something my fault!), and I’ve accepted that even though I’ve never gotten lower than a 93 on an exam, show up to class on time, and complete most assignments on time, I am simply not trusted as a competent adult by all of my professors.

The culture of mistrust towards undergraduates needs to stop. The slippery slopes in the comments above simply aren’t true, and having come from the “real world” into academia, I can now see very clearly why my younger colleagues would often sit on tasks and not communicate if there was an issue or question. If I had gone to college first, I likely would have picked up the same work habits!

The truth is, the strict deadline clauses do not promote personal growth and is an exercise of power, not a lesson in accountability. The real world is harsh, but it is significantly more forgiving than academia.

Hi “Greenstick”! Thanks for yet another example of the absurdity of rigid rules regarding “late” assignments. Instructors can grow into better humans if they learn to recognize the importance of students as individuals, not as “the student who must follow the rules regardless.”

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I look forward to seeing more from you.

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And students should question it. We are not in class or attend school to only accept the status quo or not ask why – or what comes at us. We are to question and question some more. The “no late assignment rule” is inhumane and ableist.

Dear Gregory: Thanks for your note. Good point: question authority was what I was taught, back in the 1960s, and that is still a good motto to live by! Your point about the no late assignment rule being abelist is also well taken.

I’m generally a good student with decent grades, but sometimes (esp in the end of the semester when there’s 3 to 4 deadlines a week) I just get so burnt out and can’t write a word even I have a detailed outline ready. I hand in stuff late for perhaps 1 or 2 times and feel terrible about that because I tried my best but its not enough. It’s true that punishing student harshly for late submission won’t encourage punctuality. It would only make me feel worse and less motivated to hand in higher quality work. I would probably just submit whatever incomplete draft I happen to have next time after receiving a deduction in grade for late work.

Izzy, thanks for pointing out the emotional costs of penalties. I’m curious to learn: when you notice that you’ve going to be late, do you approach your instructor & explain the situation? Many instructors don’t realize the issues students are facing & are surprised when they learn about them. Sometimes, it is just a matter of opening up to your instructor & explaining what’s happening. You may not have to “request” an extension” — they may simply offer it to you. Try it!

It has been fascinating and educational to read your post and the thoughtful and divergent responses. I have a similar policy for substantial assignments — like papers and projects. However, I have a different type of assignment that I am dealing with now. One (though not the only) goal of this type of assignment is to ensure that students have done the reading and thought about it before class discussion. (The course is a freshman seminar that is a general education requirement.) In this case, not handing the assignment in on time means not being prepared for class, so it matters beyond the quality of the work or the individual student. To clarify, these are small, but not inconsequential, assignments that range from selecting quotations from the reading and posing questions about the reading to writing a first-attempt analysis of a quotation from the reading (~300 words). I would be interested to know how you or others treat this type of assignment.

What are your thoughts on someone who has a medical issue who asks the prof for extra time and it is granted and then loses points for the late submission – though this was never articulated and she tells the rest of the class they may submit late?

I would say that you should first find out what her reasons were, if any, and if you find them unsatisfactory, take the issue to the department chair & then to the Dean, if need be. If an instructor is going to impose a late penalty, that should be clear from the outset. It is unfair to give someone extra time & then penalize them for accepting the offer.

I’m on year three of teaching an online course for graduate students, most of whom are working as well. I originally used the same late assignment policy as the ground version of the course, which was No Late Assignments Accepted. Last year, I had multiple students with emergencies who reached out to me. Of course, I wanted to be compassionate and ended up accepting late assignments.

I’m updating my syllabus right now and found your post while searching for examples flexible due date policies. After reading your post, I’m thinking of just simplifying my late assignment policy to “due dates are posted. Contact me as soon as possible if there’s an issue.” Even with some version of flexible due dates, there’s still going to be emergencies and some students will ask, but others won’t think to do so and will just not turn in assignment or drop the course, and that doesn’t help anyone.

I’m going to think on this a bit more. Thank you for this perspective.

I like your new, simpler statement about assignments. You’re right: the ‘smart’ students ask about what to do if they can’t meet a date, but others just try to power through or don’t do the assignment. So, your new policy is a big improvement.

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18 Surprising Things That Happen to Your Body When You Stop Drinking Alcohol

From weight loss to better sleep, the long-term and short-term side effects can be noticeable.

What happens to your body when you stop drinking?

Alcohol withdrawal timeline, how to stop drinking, bottom line.

If you’re thinking about joining the #SoberCurious movement , you’re not alone. There are currently over 750,000 uses of the hashtag on Instagram, and more and more people are considering giving up alcohol as an experiment (think: Dry January but at other points in the year) — or for good. So what happens to your body when you stop drinking alcohol? We asked experts to break down everything you might notice immediately, and the effects that can continue long after you’ve had your last sip.

What does alcohol do to your body?

You’d be hard-pressed to think of something in your body that isn’t impacted by alcohol. According to Matthew Mosquera , MD, the Medical Director of the Alcohol, Drugs, and Addiction Inpatient Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts and an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, alcohol affects three main systems in your body:

Light drinkers tend to be mostly spared from the effects on the liver, but for heavy drinkers, the liver becomes inflamed, which can be dangerous over time,” says Dr. Mosquera. According to The National Institute for Health,  light drinking is defined as seven drinks per week for women, with no more than three in one day, and no more than 14 drinks per week for men, with no more than four in one day .  That said, your liver has to work hard to process and filter alcohol, no matter the quantity. When you’re drinking heavily on a regular basis, it can overwhelm the liver’s capabilities, causing a cascade of health issues, including liver disease, liver cancer, and  acute alcohol-related hepatitis  — all of which can be deadly.

Cardiovascular System

“Alcohol is a monkey wrench in our homeostasis,” says Dr. Mosquera. “Both light and heavy drinking dehydrates you, so your heart compensates by elevating your blood pressure and your heart rate.” In fact,  an analysis of seven studies  in the journal Hypertension , found that  people who had just one drink per day showed elevated blood pressure when compared to non-drinkers.

Cognitive Function

Drinking increases anxiety levels and impairs your memory’s ability to function, adds Dr. Mosquera. But we’re not just talking about one night of “blacking out” and forgetting what happened. The compound effects of drinking on your brain can be serious. One study found that even moderate alcohol consumption can cause changes to the brain’s structure , leading to cognitive decline in areas associated with memory and reasoning. In the study, more excessive drinking translated to more rapid cognitive decline.

While these areas may take the greatest hit from regular drinking, they aren’t the only ones affected. Alcohol’s inflammatory properties don’t just affect the liver — the stomach can also become inflamed, which, along with the dehydration, can affect digestion and lead to constipation . While your liver and stomach can usually rebound if you stop drinking, with inflammation comes an increased cancer risk over time.

Alcohol can also impair your ability to get restorative rest because you’re less likely to enter REM sleep, which has been shown to increase your risk of dementia .

Regular drinking raises estrogen levels and reduces testosterone. For men, this can look like lowered libido and erectile dysfunction, as well as decreased muscle mass. For women, it can increase the risk of breast cancer, impair bone health, and lead to mood changes.

And, emotionally, alcohol can make you not only more anxious, but more irritable, more impulsive and less inhibited — not just after a drink, but compounded over time, says Dr. Mosquera. These effects can also be exacerbated if you have a mental health diagnosis like bipolar disorder, he says.

Ironically, some of the first things you might notice are similar to what happens to your body when you’re drinking. “Anxiety is the most common thing people notice upon stopping,” says Dr. Sharone Abramowitz , MD, a psychiatrist and president of the California Society of Addiction Medicine . She also notes that a craving for alcohol is common once people stop.

Other common side effects:

• rapid heart rate
• restlessness
• sleep problems

The good news? These effects will subside as your body adjusts to the absence of alcohol.

The first few days:

Some positive effects of no alcohol will come on after just a few days of giving up your nightly nightcap. Alcohol inhibits your ability to reach a REM state while asleep, so after a few days without alcohol, you’ll start to notice that you’re dreaming more and getting deeper, more restorative rest. “You’re also more hydrated, so your heart rate will start to go down,” says Dr. Mosquera. “After a few days, you’ll notice an increase in energy and more mental clarity.”

After a week:

After just seven days without alcohol, your immune system starts bouncing back. While you might not notice it, your hormones are starting to improve as well, with libido and sexual function revving back up. While heavy drinkers are the only ones who experience liver effects from alcohol, the improvements can be felt very quickly. “If you’re a heavy drinker, this is where your liver health starts rebounding,” says Dr. Mosquera.

After a month:

Your body’s systems bounce back over time, but after about 30 days, you’ll start seeing a difference. “Your skin has had a month to absorb all the hydration and nutrients and B vitamins that your body hadn’t been getting while you were drinking, so this is when you’ll see noticeable improvements to your skin,” says Dr. Mosquera. There’s also likely to be some weight loss within a month, due to the absence of the calories you were ingesting in alcohol (as long as you haven’t swapped them for equally high-calorie comfort foods).

After 3 months:

Consider this when the cloud will start lifting mentally. “After a few months, the brain will begin to return to health,” says Dr. Abramowitz. Your alcohol-induced anxiety levels have likely stabilized, too. Your sleep cycle is continuing to improve, so you’re getting even more REM sleep and feeling more rested.

After 6 months:

Six months without alcohol is when you can begin to see your immune system optimizing and fighting the good fight again, though depending on the time of year and your environment, you might not immediately notice. If it’s winter, you may notice fewer colds than in the past, but in warmer months, the changes may be more subtle, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Your body is starting to operate more efficiently, too. “Giving your body six months of water absorption will improve your digestion and constipation,” says Dr. Mosquera.

After a year:

“The one-year mark is when your overall risk of different cancers has leveled off,” says Dr. Mosquera. “No level of drinking is safe when it comes to cancer risk, but after a year without alcohol, you’ve experienced a significant risk reduction.” After all this time, you might also appreciate a lot of the emotional effects of a life without alcohol. “Your relationships are likely improved, and your resilience has increased,” says Dr. Mosquera.

On top of that, you’re likely feeling less anxiety and are better able to regulate your emotions when life’s hiccups arise.

Depending on whether you’re a light or heavy drinker, your strategy around cutting back will be different. “For a light drinker, you don’t really need to taper,” says Dr. Mosquera. “Heavy drinkers should make a plan to avoid withdrawal symptoms like seizures.” If you’re drinking more than seven drinks a week for a woman or 14 for a man, especially for extended periods of time, consider talking to a doctor first before stopping cold turkey.

If you’re considering a break from alcohol, it might also be helpful to think about why you drink. “Everyone turns to alcohol for a reason,” says Dr. Mosquera. “Maybe it’s relief from your worries or connection with friends. Try to think about what you’ll replace alcohol with so that you can still get that outlet.” Instead of meeting friends regularly at a bar to connect and wind down, suggest a new workout class you could do together or just meet up for a walk. If drinking is your go-to way to blow off steam after a busy week, schedule a booze-free, self-care activity for Friday afternoons, like indulging in a hobby you enjoy or a pampering session like a massage.

Quitting without a plan can be extra tough because you’ll still want to fill the emotional void that alcohol used to sop up. Make sure you have another strategy lined up that actually works for you (i.e., don’t say you’ll take up yoga if you hate yoga), so you won’t feel tempted to rush back to drinking when life gets stressful. Another potential option: The rise in great-tasting non-alcoholic beverages may make the switch even easier.

Why trust Good Housekeeping

Brittany Burke Robert, the author of this article, has written about health for Oprah Daily, Well+Good, Livestrong, Reebok and other publications and digital brands for over 15 years. She has extensive experience working alongside clinicians and providers to create physical and mental well-being content that's useful, informative, and clinically effective. For this article, she conducted interviews with multiple doctors for their expertise and recommendations and read research on alcohol and its effect on the body. In addition, the editor of this article has spent the last 15 years as a health editor, covering all things health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness and adheres to the highest journalistic standards.

Brittany Burke Robert has written about health for Oprah Daily, Well+Good, Livestrong, Reebok, and other publications and digital brands for over 15 years. She has extensive experience working alongside clinicians and providers to create physical and mental well-being content that's useful, informative and clinically effective.

Jihan Myers is an award-winning journalist and editor who has covered women's health for more than 17 years for digital brands and publications including Good Housekeeping, O, The Oprah Magazine, Prevention, and Marie Claire , among others. She has experience covering all things health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness and adheres to the highest journalistic standards.

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Why on EARTH are we allowing students to turn in late assignments whenever they want with zero penalty??

Do the people making these rules not realize they’re setting up these students for failure when they’re out in the real world?? Imagine not being to keep a deadline at a job, think you’re boss will give you extra time. They may once or twice, but keep it up and you’re out of there. I can’t even begin to explain the negative precedent this sets…

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