Professor takes forever to grade (what to do)
About the author
Hi there. I am the prolific professor with 15 years of experience teaching online and in-person. I have a graduate degree. I have a passion for education. But I’ve also worked in the professional world (outside of education) too. Thanks for visiting.
My professor is SLOW to grade
As a college student, you work hard on your assignments, and you study for your exams, only to wait FOREVER for your professor to grade them. It doesn’t seem FAIR.
It can be totally frustrating when your professor takes forever to grade your assignments. Not only is it annoying, it’s also nerve-wracking for you.
You’re probably worried about how you did on the assignment, and your anxiety builds as you wait for your grade. It can definitely ruin your day waiting to find out how you did.
After working so hard and submitting your assignments on time, you don’t get the feedback you need because your professor takes too long to grade.
Even worse is when you don’t get your grade before the next assignment is due.
How are you supposed to know how you are doing in the course to improve if you don’t get your grades in a timely manner?
Well, as a former professor, I am going to tell you why professors take so long to grade AND how to get your professor to grade faster.
I will even hook you up with an email template to send to your professor to get your grades faster. Don’t worry, I will tell you everything I know so that you can email your professor to get them to grade faster.
How long should professors take to grade?
The table above outlines the minimum and maximum amount of time it should take a professor to grade a particular assignment. The time is in minutes. But please understand that I used my estimates as a professor and your professor’s circumstances may make grading faster or slower.
While it may only take a professor 10 minutes to grade your research paper, they have multiple classes with lots of students so they will have to grade all those assignments too. This is how grading gets backed up.
Professors should follow their grading policy and grade accordingly. Professors will take longer to grade more complicated assignments like written research papers while shorter assignments should be graded faster. If a professor has a teaching or graduate assistant, they will likely have help grading and it can speed things up.
As a former professor, I would say that professors should take NO longer than a WEEK to grade assignments unless it’s a long research paper. And then they may need TWO weeks to finish all their grading. But any longer than that, it is problematic.
There is not necessarily a time limit for professors to grade, so it can vary widely. Some professors don’t work as hard as other professors or they just take longer to grade because of their process, so there are too many variables to give you a specific timeframe.
Why does my professor take forever to grade?
Here are a few factors that may effect the length of time it takes professors to grade assignments
Method of submission (scantron or written)
Do they have assistants to help with grading?
How many classes are they teaching?
What is their grading policy?
Are they a thorough grader?
Okay, it should be obvious here, but if an exam is completed on a scantron, it should take them minutes to grade them. Most universities will have a scantron machine that will grade them automatically and they can enter the grades right away.
If professors have any assistants to help them with grading, you might have your grades sooner.
Some professors overdo themselves and teach way too many courses. This can slow down grading for students. You could check your professor’s teaching load and find out how many classes they are teaching.
If they have more than six courses they are teaching, it could signal that they are overworked if they are taking way too long to grade your assignments.
First, I would advise you to check their syllabus and see if they have a grading policy. A lot of colleges will require their professors to tell students how long they should have to wait for feedback. See if this is in your professor’s syllabus.
Are they within that timeframe? If they are, don’t sweat it too much. But if it’s days after their expected timeframe, you are going to want to reach out. However, make sure you consider holidays or any campus closures. That won’t count against their time.
Finally, if you have a professor who is so thorough in their grading, it is going to take much longer for them to grade all the assignments. They might check every single source, which can take awhile. While not ideal, it could provide you with more detailed feedback.
And in reality, you could just have a bad professor and you might need some other advice. I have an article to help you out if you think you have a bad professor.
Are professors required to grade in a timely manner?
Professors are not necessarily required to grade in a timely manner, however, most colleges will REQUIRE their professors to teach, support and advise students.
How can professors do that adequately if they take too long to grade assignments?
So, while a grading timeframe isn’t outlined for professors by the college, it is indirectly required through their job duties.
Also, some colleges will have a faculty handbook, and it could outline a grading policy for professors. This isn’t that common, but it is possible that a university will tell professors how quickly they should grade.
Nonetheless, if a professor doesn’t grade in a timely manner, it can be frustrating for students and it might be considered unprofessional.
But professors have a lot of discretion in their grading process so it would be hard for a college to require professors to grade quickly. If they did, it could hurt students because some professors may have complex assignments that take additional time to grade. You don’t want to rush that.
Keep in mind that professors will likely give themselves a deadline for grading so check their syllabus to see if they outline their policies.
What to do if your professor isn’t grading assignments
If a professor isn’t grading assignments in a timely manner, you should reach out to them and discuss your grade and outstanding assignments.
I recommend scheduling an appointment and going in person, but if you want to email them instead, I’ll help you do that too.
First of all, be polite. You don’t know how hard your professor has been working to grade all the assignments or what is going on in their personal life. They might have been sick recently so they could be backed up with their grading.
Secondly, check their syllabus to see if they have a deadline for students to receive feedback. They might have it outlined there. If they are within that timeframe, you will likely need to wait until that time has passed before you reach out.
Third, approach them as a concerned student. You want to try and refrain from calling them out or telling them they are lazy. You are reaching out to them because you want that important feedback to help you improve and learn the material.
Keep very good records. I want you to write down when an assignment was due, and how long it took them to complete their grading for each assignment. If you need to go to their boss, you will have documentation to show them. This is a very last resort, in the most extreme circumstances, but it might be necessary.
Finally, if it’s taking too long for your professor to get their grading done, you should let your professor know on their student evaluations. Most colleges will have students complete evaluations about their professor, and this is where you can leave that feedback. Their boss will see it too so they can advise them to grade faster if it’s a problem.
They won’t see these evaluations until after the semester ends so it won’t help you now but it could make things better for future students.
How do you ask a professor to grade an assignment faster?
I have an email template for you to customize and send to your professor when you want them to grade your assignments quicker. Remember, don’t copy and paste this email. You should be using it as an example to help you craft the perfect email to your professor.
Dear Professor Smith,
I am in your History 101 class and I am enjoying the topic we are reviewing right now. I have learned so much, and I really like the information you shared about the Civil War last week. Since we recently completed an assignment over this topic, I would love to know how you think I did because I value your input. I am also interested in your assignment feedback to learn about my progress in your course. I am trying to assess how I am doing in your course so far. We have a similar assignment due next week, and I would like to know how to improve that assignment submission after reviewing your feedback on this last assignment. I’d love to discuss these outstanding assignments at your earliest convenience, and find out how you think I did. I will use these grades and feedback to improve. Thanks.
This email is polite, short, and to the point. And you can see how I tried to compliment the professor too. I did not blame them, and I wasn’t rude or demanding. You want to have the professor understand why you want your grades now, and you should be a concerned student.
You want to approach them from the perspective of wanting to improve and get the feedback you need to progress in the course.
Use this as a guide to help you create the perfect email to your professor about grading more promptly.
But don’t be afraid to talk to your professor. That’s their job.
Remember, there are times when you should not email your professor, so check out my detailed guide before you click send.
How long does it take professors to grade a paper or assignment?
It could take professors, on average, 10 MINUTES to grade each student’s assignment. This will depend on the complexity and length of the assignment. When I was a professor, this is approximately how long it took me to grade assignments. Some were much quicker than others, but this was the average time it took me to grade students’ assignments and leave them feedback.
Something that lengthens the time it takes for professors to grade assignments is the amount of feedback they leave each student. The more detailed they are with their feedback, the longer it will take to grade.
If the course is online, it might take longer for them to leave feedback because they have to use a computer to type their comments and enter them. This is just another step that usually makes the process take longer.
You should also keep in mind campus closures, weekends and sick time that could affect a professor’s grading schedule.
I know you want your grades and feedback sooner rather than later, so use my tips to talk to your professor about grading faster.
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