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Being in school is like working a full time job; in order to succeed, you need to put several hours into your work. However, like a full time job, you may need to take a sick or personal day. Most students will miss at least one day of school every year for different reasons – some valid and some, well, not so valid. For every lecture and tutorial you miss, your professor will have gone through a lot of information. Here are some tips on how you can recover after missing a day of school:
- If possible, let your professor or TA know you’re going to be absent at least one day in advance. This is necessary for any classes where attendance counts toward your grades. A professor will usually only excuse you for academic reasons, so avoid playing hooky just so you can attend a concert or sleep in.
- Ask a friend in your class for help catching up. Find out what topics were covered and if the professor revealed any news or updates. If your friend is willing to share notes, ask for them as well. It’s always a good idea to exchange contact information with a person in your class at the beginning of the year so you have a buddy to help you out in these circumstances.
- Sit in on another lecture. If your professor teaches the same course on a different day when you don’t have class, consider attending that lecture.
- If you are extremely sick, you would be better off missing your classes for a day. Your classmates will appreciate that you aren’t spreading germs, and being sick will only hinder your ability to retain information. Take the day off for some much needed rest, but find ways to avoid this issue in the future. This means taking better care of your health so you get sick less often, and spreading out your workload so you don’t get overwhelmed.
- Plan ahead. If you have a commitment that will cause you to miss a day of school, plan your whole week accordingly so that you have more time to catch up on the classes you missed.
- Never miss school for avoidable reasons. Parties and social events can wait. Don’t take shifts at work at the same time as one of your classes. It is recommended that you only miss school for unavoidable and important reasons. You never know what you might miss.
- Try not to make it a habit. Missing a couple days of school is bound to happen, but missing a week or more should not. Find a balance between your extracurriculars, part-time work, social activities, and classes so that they do not overlap.
- Never miss school on days you have an assessment. Your professor will give you a syllabus at the beginning of the year detailing when you will have quizzes and tests as well as when you will have assignments due. If you miss a day of school, the excuse “I didn’t know” will not work. If you miss an important class, notify your professor as soon as you can and work out how you can make up for your missed assessment.
- It is not the responsibility of your professor, TA, classmates, or friends to reteach course content you missed. Try to understand the content through the readings and other resources before reaching out to others for help. Your professor will not appreciate or entertain requests to go through an entire lecture just for one student, so formulate a short list of questions you may have instead.
- Don’t stress out too much because you missed a day of school. Do all you can to catch up and understand the content you missed, and you should be fine. Don’t let the thought of missing a day prevent you from doing well in the class.