<p>I’m chronically ill and have missed a lot of classes in my day, and I’ve never, ever heard of a prof scaling something up and I don’t think that would be fair to ask. That’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard when it comes to grading, not fair to give a 0 on a midterm that the student could not be bothered to remember? Surely you jest. School hasn’t JUST been about how well you understand the material since about kindergarten for most people.</p>
<p>OP, if it were me at this point I would just be the model student from here on out and see if there are any extra credit opportunities for you to take advantage of. I think continuing to wheedle her for credit after she’s already told you that you can’t make it up is disrespectful and childish, not to mention obnoxious.</p>
<p>If she gives you another chance, or increases the value of other tests just for you, it will be completely unfair to all the students who DID get their butts out of bed and make it there on time. For all she knows, you just didn’t feel prepared and wanted more time to study. If I were a classmate, I would complain loudly, or insist that everyone else should be given say, 30 extra points on their grade for the midterm.</p>
<p>It seems like a good idea to ask if you can have the final count for more of your grade. Some classes have it so if you fail one midterm, your final is increased to make up a greater percentage of your final grade and the midterm score is dropped. Seems only human to make these types of mistakes (although in college they make few exceptions for these cases) but if a professor refuses there’s really nothing that can be done about it.</p>
<p>I commend you because if this ever happened to me, I think I would’ve had a nervous breakdown.</p>
<p>In tough love words, you do have to take responsibility for sleeping in on the exam. I totally feel for you because it’s a VERY stressful situation. One of my friends in my Chemistry class last semester missed the final hour exam (not the final exam) and she said when she woke up and realized she missed it, she felt like she was going to throw up. </p>
<p>Anyway, just talk to the professor. The professor isn’t going to bite you. Explain yourself and see what happens. It’s either the professor will compromise or won’t compromise. You’ll never know till you try. </p>
<p>This must be just awful. I can only imagine how terrible you might feel. Unfortunately in situations like this most professors do not make second arrangments. Iam show your not the first for this professor. Just be more cautious around exam time. Sorry to hear this and good lucky with.future exams.</p>
<p>I have given advice on this exact thing before. My friend in engineering ended up getting to at least take the exam, with 25% taken off from the start which is so much better than a 0 that he thanked me later.</p>
<p>But unfortunately, your first move was incorrect. </p>
<p>The one thing that I want to clairfy here is that everybody who is saying to lie in this situation is wrong. Lying will get him nowhere. Does anyone here really think that this man has not heard every excuse in the book before? And even if he hasn’t, does anyone here really believe that this educated man couldn’t see through any lie he could put up to him? He is not in a position to lie because in all honesty the prof will just end up seeing right through him and making his life even more miserable than just missing an exam. The last thing anyone should do is make the professor believe that you thought he was stupid enough to believe you. </p>
<p>That is a SLAP IN THE FACE. And that gets you sent not only to an absolute certain failing grade but also to the dean or whoever handles people who have the audacity to lie and attempt to cheat the system.</p>
<p>Ok, so now to the OP, your intentions were right in line. You were honest. But the problem is that you didn’t do this face to face. This is not a situation for e-mail. The only e-mail or phone call you make in this case should involve making an appointment to see him and nothing more said. Why face to face? Here’s my reasoning:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>He may recognize you. If he knows you are the kid sitting at the front of the room always in attendace (yes professors even in 100 person class sections know), then he will have a better idea of who you are and your commitment to his class. That is something an e-mail will not get you.</p></li>
<li><p>He will realize you are man enough to confront your mistake face to face. E-mail is for appointments and quick easy questions. E-mail is not for serious business. If you e-mail the professor that you unfortunately missed his exam, he a) doesn’t know who you are (unless you have introduced yourself and talk frequently which I doubt you have done both) and b) Has a much easier decision to make. Telling someone who is genuinely sorry that they are out of luck face to face is a much more difficult call to make, albeit it is probably what he will tell you anyways.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So now you are faced with a dilemma because he has already cast his judgment upon you. With that said, your chances are not over, but they are not good at all. What I would recommend you do is reply to him saying that if possible you would like to talk to him in office hours one day this week. He will not say no. You should then in the meeting introduce yourself and say you emailed him earlier about missing the exam. Without pause, state that you are very sorry about the carelessness and disrespect you may have shown to him due to your actions. And most importantly, tell him that you really do care about succeeding in the class and ask if there is anything that you can do to make that happen because right now you feel that it is looking impossible. Be honest, and if he laughs you off then you live with the consequence and no harm is done to your reputation beyond the 0 you receive, but if he shows any sympathy you know you gained it the honorable way. </p>
<p>My two cents. I hope someone finds this useful.</p>
<p>Hey, there’s no harm in asking. Ask away. You’ve got to be aggressive to get what you want. Granted, you really should have got up to take the exam, but just talk to her and apologize profusely. Maybe she’ll let you make it up for half credit?</p>
<p>I would definitely suggest talking to her in person about figuring out some way to make up the grade. Come with a few possibilities, but don’t barage her with all of them.</p>
<p>I’ve had a friend mess up the scheduling for his finals twice, and both times the professors let him just take it at the next time that worked for both of them. Naturally, the rest of us thought that seemed a bit unfair, since that wasn’t an issue of him not getting up so much as an issue of him not being prudent enough to actually make sure he knew when his tests were.</p>
<p>That said, I have slept through an alarm and missed half of a final (although I immediately got dressed and got to class and asked if I could take the test then, being completely honest about why I was so late to begin with - and wound up finishing it before some of the students who were there since the beginning), and so I can totally feel your pain, which is naturally made worse because you know that it was, at least in some capacity, your fault.</p>
<p>Face to face has to be the way to do it. As has been said, this leads to the personal connection that you (hopefully) have with your professor. Also, it makes reasoning and reaching some deal easier, as there don’t need to be a series of proposals back and forth, and you can read your professor better.</p>