Can I ask professor to take exam EARLY? (written by one)

Are you a college student who wants to complete an exam earlier than it is scheduled?

You might be in a situation where you have a vacation planned, or you won’t be in town for the exam, and you need to take it earlier so you don’t miss it completely. I have even seen some students who have work and will get fired if they call in.

Regardless of the reason you want to take the exam earlier, you need to know if your professor is going to accommodate you.

I was a professor, and I will tell you when professors let students take exams early and what you need to tell them to get an exception. This advice will work for final exams or any exam scheduled during the semester.

Will professors let students take exams early?

Yes, some professors will let students take exams early if there is a valid excuse and it doesn’t inconvenice the professor too much. Otherwise students are expected to take the exam with the rest of the class.

When I was a professor, I rarely had students ask to take an exam earlier. This is because most students are at a disadvantage if they take the exam early.

Think about it for a second. If you take the test before the day it is scheduled, you are giving yourself less time to study and learn the material. It is best to just take it when it is scheduled.

However, you might not be able to avoid it because of your schedule and you really need your professor to help you out.

If your request doesn’t cause a problem for your professor, like a lot of extra work, then you have a much better chance of getting an exception.

Here are some reasons professors might give you an earlier test.

• Student conference or activity

• Death of immediate family member

• College policy (jury duty, etc)

• Hospitalization (surgery)

But I would bet that most professors are just going to tell you to take it with everybody else. Keep reading to find out why they might say no, and how to ask.

Why professors won’t let students take an exam earlier?

A professor may not let a student take the exam before the deadline because it causes too much additional unnecessary work for the professor or they might have too many requests from students and they cannot accommodate everyone.

When students would ask me to take the quiz before everyone else, I had to consider how many other students have asked because I treated all students fairly.

If I say no to one student, I had to make sure I was consistent with every other person too. And if I had too many students asking, it becomes a major problem because it’s hard to figure out which excuse is better.

I would have over 200 students every semester and you can imagine how many requests I would have from students. There is no way to say yes to every student. It’s impossible.

Another reason why professors might not say yes is because it might give the rest of the class an advantage.

For example, if a student takes an exam earlier, they know the exam questions before everyone else. They might share that information with other classmates. So, I would often create another exam just for that person.

This is a lot of extra work and something professors might not be willing to do.

You might also have a lame excuse. Bottomline, it needs to be a good excuse to work out for you. I hate to say this but work and vacations aren’t usually a priority for professors.

This leads me into my last argument against offering quizzes early. Professors have limited time to complete administrative tasks, like creating and grading exams. When students asks for these favors, professors will have additional work.

It can be impossible to spend so much extra time and effort on working with students to get these tests scheduled. Sometimes the test has to be taken at a testing center at the college. This requires paperwork which can take 10 minutes to complete for each student.

Anything that is going to result in a lot of paperwork or time, your professor might say no.

How to ask my professor if I can take my exam before the scheduled date

If you think that you have a strong case to ask your professor to take a test early, you need to ask in advance, provide any proof, and come up with solutions to make it as easy as possible for your professor to say yes.

If I were you, I would go in person to talk to your professor. This makes you look more concerned and it will be harder for your professor to say no.

• Ask in advance - Try and ask a week earlier, if possible. But no later than 3 days earlier. Any later than that, there is little your professor can do.

• Provide documentation, if necessary - If you have a valid excuse, you need to provide some proof.

• Offer solutions (take with another section, complete in alternative testing site, or take after the exam)

My BIGGEST TIP is to ask your professor if you can take the exam with another class. Most professors teach multiple sections of the same course and they might have another class taking the same exam. This is the least complicated method.

You could also ask to take the exam in their office or at a desk outside of their office. Even though it might be more work for your professor, you could even ask if you could take it at an onsite testing center for your college, if available.

If you can let them know you are flexible, they will be more likely to say yes.

Now it will be up to your professor to say yes. I know my tips helped you be more prepared to ask your professor this request.

But keep in mind that your professor may not allow anyone to take the exam early, however, they might let students take it late. See the article below.

READ MORE : Should I just ask to take the exam late?

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