Student shocked at why assignment wasn’t graded: ‘It must be a joke’

An 18-year-old student who has a strict deadline to complete an assignment gained viral attention after she missed the deadline to submit her work by just five seconds.

IN post ON TikTok which has been viewed more than 915,000 times, she wrote: “This must be a joke,” but opinions were divided as to who was to blame for the late paper.

“I had to finish my task right away because I was busy earlier and when I thought I would do it submitted it on timeit took a few seconds to load and upload,” said student Pari Brach from Vancouver, Canada Newsweek. “I couldn’t believe it. “I thought it was a very ‘Oh my God’ moment that would make the audience laugh.”

While Brach’s intentions were lighthearted, the replies in the comments made it happen: broader debate about academic termstime management and online application systems.

Many universities and colleges use a virtual learning environment (VLE) to submit online applications. This includes platforms such as Moodle and Turnitin, where students submit assignments directly. Online application systems are generally available 24/7, but students are we recommend submitting your assignments well in advance in case of internet problems.

Thanks to the online system, the exact time of submission is recorded, meaning that even a few seconds late in submitting can result in a “late submission”, as in Brach’s case.

“As a university professor, I allow assignments to be 12 hours late. I just don’t tell my students about it,” wrote commenter Hell.is.colder, sympathizing with Brach’s plight. Others were less understanding: “Late is late. Welcome to the world,” wrote viewer Cole.

“Maybe don’t wait until 11:59 to submit. I never understood how to do it. I shipped my stuff at least 5 days in advance,” commented CozyBookishCharm.

However, others can totally relate to this. Alyssa added, “The story of my entire college experience.”

Comments were divided on deadline pressure and online application systems. Brach was a bit shocked by the reactions, especially the amount of criticism she received for her light-hearted post.

“Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about the public reaction,” Brach said. “There are a lot of haters, people pretending to be professors and saying it’s my fault, people probably twice my age trying to tell me about my mismanagement… There are also commenters who think it’s very funny and entertaining; These are definitely my favorite because they understand the humor of TikTok.”