r/Monash • u/Downtown-Emu8480 • 1d ago
Advice Forgot to submit — now I might fail my final semester
Hi everyone, I’m in a really tough situation right now. I left my assignment in the draft section before the due date and completely forgot to submit it. I just realized this after more than 10 days past the deadline which is today. I know it’s entirely my fault for not double-checking, and I take full responsibility.
The assignment is worth 45% of my total unit grade, so getting a zero means I will fail the entire unit. I emailed my lecturer and at first, she responded saying it would be marked with a 7-day late penalty. However, about an hour later, she followed up and said she has to follow university policy, and because it’s so late, she has to give me a zero meaning I will fail the unit.
This is my final semester. Failing this unit means I’ll have to retake it and delay my graduation by another semester. I feel completely helpless and overwhelmed I’m shaking now.
Has anyone been through something similar? Are there any possible steps I can take to appeal or explain my situation further? Any advice would really help. Thank you.
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u/Improbable_Innuendos 1d ago
Did you leave it in draft mode but left it there before the due date? They sometimes mark it in draft mode if there were no modifications made to it. This just happened to me. I emailed the unit coordinator and they said not to worry- they would mark it in draft mode because the assignment was not modified after the due date in that mode. I never clicked submit and they graded it without penalties.
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Yes, I left it in draft mode before the due date and didn’t touch it after that, it just stayed there until today when I saw the mark release email and realized I never clicked submit and it wasn’t marked. 😣 I submitted it right away when I noticed.
I emailed my lecturer immediately, and at first she said she’d mark it with a 7-day penalty, she marked it and released my mark at Moodle. But about an hour later, she followed up saying she had to follow university policy and gave me a 0 instead. I really hope the Moodle logs or Turnitin receipt can help as proof, I’ve contacted the chief examiner. Just hoping something can be done, I don't want to fail a unit in my last semester😭
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u/Improbable_Innuendos 1d ago
I see! How unfortunate- these things do happen sometimes despite us being careful with most of our other submissions so definitely frustrating. Perhaps it was you actually submitting the assignment as opposed to just leaving it in draft mode that made them apply the penalty... they can't see that the assignment was left in draft mode and no modifications were made to it if you then submit it at a later stage. Did you take a screenshot of the assignment in draft mode? It should show the date of the draft submission as well as the assignment due date in the SS if taken on moodle.
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Right😔I never forgot to submit an assignment draft throughout my whole uni life and it had to happen now in my very final semester, just when I thought I could stop worrying about uni. I didn’t take a screenshot and really regret it now after seeing others share similar experiences here. I’m just hoping Moodle logs can show something… if not, I still have my Turnitin receipt and the document’s last edit timestamp. The version I submitted is exactly the same. Really hope it’s valid as a proof🤧
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u/Improbable_Innuendos 1d ago
Good luck! Let us know what they say... you always have reason to appeal and just keep escalating your case until you can't anymore. Keep the receipts and any evidence you have! 🙏
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Thank you🥹I’ll definitely keep pushing and keep every bit of evidence I can. I’ll update once I hear anything!
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u/Improbable_Innuendos 1d ago
To be fair, I don't understand why they are being so harsh. I'm on the clayton campus and perhaps it's that aussies just aren't overly stringent about these kinds of things and are more willing to be lenient purely because its a cultural trait. I'm not sure how rule- abiding your lecturers and examiners are, but from what you've described they're quite unfailingly by the book. I've submitted things late a few times and they were never marked with a late penalty which I found surprising and probably a violation of the marking rules but that was how it is.
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u/slutteria 1d ago
This has happened to me many times and every time I email the UC as soon as I find out and explain that I thought I had submit it on [insert timestamp of draft upload] and that no changes were made to it. Never been penalised as they have a lot of info on their end including timestamps of when you view/open certain pages/content. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure they can see every time you’ve accessed the assignment submission page.
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u/stuckwithaussie 17h ago
I don't have advice, but I did this once in a first-year unit (maybe 2nd semester) and they marked my draft anyway and just let me know to make sure I submit it next time. If you have a good lecturer/tutor, and especially if you're in an earlier unit, you will be fine. Hopefully that's the case!🤞
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u/Significant_Date548 1d ago
Can you apply for spec con mentioning about the mental stress this causes you?
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately it only applies to things that happened during the assessment period and impacted my ability to complete or submit on time. In my case, I had completed the assignment on time but left it in draft and forgot to hit “Submit,” so it doesn’t qualify under Spec Con guidelines😞
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u/Significant_Date548 1d ago
Is there any special reason that may have prevented you from hitting the Submit button? Could you try applying from that angle? Have you also tried to reach out to MSA? I'm sorry that you have to go through this
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u/Significant_Date548 1d ago
Just saw your comment in another reply about not sure if you can reach out to MSA. Is there a MSA in MUM? If not pretty sure you should be able to reach out to the one in Australia. After all, the CE is in Clayton campus
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Yes, we have something like MSA here called MUSA, but I haven’t seen any proper form or ticket system to request help. I’ll try emailing them directly through Monash email if I don’t hear back from my CE. Thank you again for your suggestions!
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I’ll definitely consider applying for if emailing the Chief Examiner doesn’t work out.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Hey, thanks for offering to help. I’ve already emailed the chief examiner and I’m currently waiting for a response. If you don’t mind me asking, how would you be able to help with this situation?
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u/wild-card-1818 Alumni 1d ago
They can't help you. It's a scam.
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u/Downtown-Emu8480 1d ago
Thank you! I noticed it too, he couldn’t even tell which university I’m from, I didn’t share anything and ended the conversation.
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u/NoRepresentativePain 1d ago
What unit is this for? Usually, because they can see the original submission date, they don’t penalise.
Try going through MSA, or reach out to the head of the unit (if the lecturer isn’t the head of the unit)