By nebarius - 02/01/2017 10:07

Today, marks the 3rd day I can't access my institutional login. It's also a replacement public holiday, meaning both the library and IT center aren't open too. My 2500 word Stylistics essay is due in two days. I have 0 words and near-0 understanding on the theory my lecturer told me to use. FML
I agree, your life sucks 5 447
You deserved it 1 604

nebarius tells us more.

OP here! I didn't think my FML would get posted so I didn't create an account until now, haha. First, thank you all for your suggestions and understanding! Now, to clarify some things...(long comment incoming!) 1. I actually started researching for this assignment on Christmas (My family doesn't celebrate Christmas or New Years so I had no holiday celebrations to distract me). The institutional login went down on the 31st of December and during that time, I had just finished reading textbooks and articles on the Cognitive Metaphor Theory and have only started to look for articles related to my text and such. So yes, I spent 6 days reading up and researching more on the theory because I didn't understand it. Although I'm a second year English major, English is not my first language and it definitely isn't my country's national language either, so I had some trouble with certain words and concepts. 2. My classes officially ended after the first week of December, my class had consultations with our lecturers in the following week. It's not encouraged to start writing essays before the consultations because our ideas can be rejected and in Year 2, rejection is a high probability because we "need to be more unique" and "everything has been done to death". Also, paying attention in class rarely (in my experience) helps in university, especially for a course like mine because what you learn in class may never be applied in your essays. But yes, I actually did go and see my lecturer to have her explain things to me after each class, the unfortunate thing is that she speaks in a roundabout way so even when I ask her to clarify things further, it still makes no sense. Hence I often end up learning everything again by myself. 3. I had a 3000 word essay on Victorian Literature on top of this Stylistics essay. It's completely my fault for underestimating how much time and research I needed on my assignments (I spent two whole weeks on my Vic Lit essay) because I thought that my anxiety and perfectionist-tendencies wouldn't go insane this time round. 4. The Institutional login issue is a campus-wide one. Despite this, none of my classmates and I have the balls ask for a deadline extension. Prior to this issue, it has already been extended by a day and most of us don't want to bother our lecturer since she's the nicest one and the only one who really cares so far. She's also new and has done a lot for us (as in helping us catch up with the basics we weren't taught in Year 1 so that we can understand Stylistics). Also, as soon as it opened, I went over to the library to ask about what happened and they told me that the IT department decided to "restart" the servers, which I find ridiculous because it's less than a week away from examinations period and the majority of the university have their assignments due before examinations period starts. 5. My classmates are unfortunately on the same boat as I am, meaning, none of us get Stylistics enough to teach someone else. We've spent our entire time in Stylistics trying to catch up on the basics of Linguistics while learning Stylistics at the same time so a lot of whatever that's taught in Stylistics flew over our heads. 6. There's no "winter break" for my university because my country is a tropical country (which is weird because we have "summer break". Christmas is unfortunately also viewed as one of the minor holidays so no, there's no study break during Christmas as well, but it's still a public holiday. I hope that clears some things up! Also, I'm a 'she/her/female' :)

Top comments

mermaidkeels 26

3rd day attempting to find resources plus 2 days until it was due means that he tried to start 5 days ahead. I wouldn't call that last minute. Sometimes, I have to start papers a week before their due date because the professor is still teaching on the subject or hasn't even gotten to it yet.

dietcoke09 25

Usually professors are really understanding if you can't log into something especially if you tried to seek help. Just have some proof and hope that they are in a good mood!

Comments

This is where the paying attention part of school comes into play

paying attention to a class doesn't mean you'll understand everything. paying attention also can't help when you can't log into something, unless the professor had told the class that the login information has been changed.

Last year in my Biology class, I never took notes, fell asleep a few times (I work nights), and never read the book or studied the material. I passed with an 88. Meanwhile, the guy next to me, who took notes every day, never fell asleep, always read the book chapters and studied before every test got a 60-65 on each exam (we answered tests on these clickers that told you your grade as soon as you submitted your test answers, so we would always compare grades). This all said, paying attention doesn't mean you'll pass the class. I'm not saying it doesn't help, I probably would've gotten a higher grade in the class if I paid more attention, but sometimes people legitimately just don't understand the subject matter. If it had been some sort of math class, and not Biology, and me and this guy swapped places, he'd have outscored me without even batting an eye, while I'd have been struggling trying to do my best. It's just how learning is sometimes.

dietcoke09 25

Usually professors are really understanding if you can't log into something especially if you tried to seek help. Just have some proof and hope that they are in a good mood!

you could email the teacher and explain the situation. they may give you an extension and help you understand the theory.

mermaidkeels 26

It's always wise to save a classmate's number for situations like this. However, I'm sure you're not the only one having trouble accessing different resources. Email prof as soon as possible and seek help. There's nothing more that a prof hates than an email full of excuses the night before an assignment is due.

could you not reach out to other students in the same class to get some understanding ? and if you explain what happened to your professor I'm sure they help you out alittle with an extension.

momac86 17

Ever thought of not procrastinating

Starting 5 days before an assignment is due is hardly procrastinating, especially when you take Christmas and New Year into account.

YDI. I can't imagine you just heard about the assignment three days ago. Don't put off important things because shit will always fail and you'll be screwed.

mermaidkeels 26

3rd day attempting to find resources plus 2 days until it was due means that he tried to start 5 days ahead. I wouldn't call that last minute. Sometimes, I have to start papers a week before their due date because the professor is still teaching on the subject or hasn't even gotten to it yet.

saliwells1 18

Being that most schools have been on break for the holidays for at least a week I'm going to have to agree with the "don't procrastinate" comments. if you didn't understand the theory you should've asked the teacher about it prior to winter break...YDI

I failed a online test when the university site went down for maintenance, and signed me out 2 minutes into an exam. Instructor said the syllabus was very clear on no excuses on incomplete tests.

You can use Google books to find what you're looking for because you can find a lot of useful references in the previews they show. I did that for a lot of my university essays and ended up with good grades. When you're finally able to access books from the library, I recommend searching for books by Leslie Jeffries and Mick Short - they both explain Stylistics in an easy, concise manner, so it won't take you too long to understand it. As a last resort, email your lecturer and ask for an extension because 99% of the time they'll give you one. Lecturers are incredibly chill. GOOD LUCK, Stylistics is a super fun subject once you get into it. :)