Minutes Late Assignment Submission: Tips to avoid Penalties

Have you ever completed an assignment and noticed that you are just minutes late to its submission time? If so, then you are among the many students who seek ways to avoid late penalties when submitting an assignment, even 1 minute late.

In this post, you will learn all the tips on how to handle any late submission and the ways in which you can avoid the associated penalties. We will also give you an email template to your professor if you are caught submitting an assignment late.

Tips how to Handle 1-Minute Late Submission

As we have noted, even a one-minute late submission is subject to a 10% penalty. This is automatic for all assignments submitted through Turnitin.

This is undeniably frustrating because a 10% penalty is a heavy price to pay for just being a minute late.

Furthermore, you will be treated the same as a student who has submitted their work within 24 hours after the deadline.

Some tips can be used to help you submit your assignment 1 minute late without necessarily receiving a 10% penalty.

The best and most appropriate tip for 1 minute late submission is to submit and communicate with your instructor concerning the issue.

Algorithms control Turnitin, while your instructor is a human with emotions. You can approach them physically or email them detailing why you have been late by a minute.

Like humans, they will understand that issues like errors in communication, slow or unstable internet connection, or any other software or hardware malfunction may cause the delay.

They also understand that the penalty will negatively affect a good paper’s score. The chances are that they will understand and reconsider the 10% penalty on your paper.

If you do not wish to communicate with your instructor or you have heard from students that your instructor will not reconsider the penalty even after you have explained the reason for the 1-minute lateness, there are some tips that you can use to avoid the 10% penalty.

The first tip is to change the deadline or the current assignment link. To accomplish this, you must first log in to your Turnitin account and open the control panel.

You should then select the course tools and pick the desired Turnitin assignment from the drop-down list. Select the link to the Turnitin assignment.

After you finish, look for the top menu and select the tab labeled “Edit Assignment”. It is from here that you can change the deadline. Ensure that the changed deadline comes after the actual deadline.

The second tip is to edit the settings of the Turnitin assignment within the content folder. You should find the link to the assignment and select the tab labeled “Action Link.”

Finally, choose the “Edit Assignment” section. The final tip for 1 minute late submission is to upload a corrupted file to Turnitin. Your instructor will not be able to open it and, therefore, will request you to resubmit your paper.

Late Submission Penalties

The Penalties of submitting on Turnitin 1 minute late differ from one institution to another.

This is because different instructors have varying levels of leniency when it comes to penalizing students on late assignments, even when they are late by a minute

Ideally, most universities through Turnitin or Canva give a 10% penalty on late assignments not later than 24 hours.

If you have submitted your work 1 minute late, the penalty may be similar to a student who has submitted several hours late.

This can be attributed to the fact that Turnitin uses an algorithm to determine what constitutes a late assignment submission.

For example, if the deadline is 11:59 pm, submitting your assignment at midnight or even the next day may be treated the same.

Therefore, you will be penalized 10% of the total grade.

However, this does not apply to all institutions or instructors. Some instructors may show empathy when they realize that you have submitted your assignment 1 minute late.

If they do not and you are worried that the penalty will affect your overall score, it is advisable to talk face-to-face with the instructor or write them an email detailing the situation.

What does Assignment Due at 11:59 pm Mean?

When you are told to submit your assignments on the due date via Turnitin, it means that that is the deadline for submitting your work. Any submission after the due date is considered a late submission, and it is subject to penalties.

Assignment due at 11:59 pm means that Turnitin has taken it as the default submission deadline for the course’s time zone. It should be noted that the seconds are not counted in due dates.

Therefore, an assignment due at 11:59 pm means that the assignment is due at 11:59:01 pm. Any submission after that is considered late and is subject to penalty.

Risks when you Submit an Assignment at 11:59 pm

As aforementioned, there are risks associated with submitting your assignment 1 minute late. The default deadline for Turnitin is usually 11:59 pm.

This is because a minute after that time will mean that midnight has reached and a new day with a new date has reached. It is a way of giving students ample time to complete their assignments.

Lateness risk

For example, if the deadline for an assignment is, let’s say, July 21st, the 11:59 pm deadline rule will ensure that the last day of the deadline is completely utilized by the students.

Any submission after that will mean that the student submitted their assignment the next day, which will be July 22nd.

Therefore, the risk of submitting your assignment at 11:59 pm is that one minute will pass and your assignment will be perceived to be 1 day late.

The shift from 11:59 pm to 12:00 midnight means that the day and date have changed.

It is therefore advisable to submit your assignments earlier than that because the algorithms governing Turnitin will not understand that only a minute has passed for a full day to change.

This is the reason why a 24-hour late submission and a 1-minute late submission after 11:59 pm is treated the same and the default penalty is 10%.

Facing Technical Problems

Another risk associated with submitting assignments at 11:59 pm is that you may face unavoidable technical problems or issues that may result in lateness.

One issue may originate from unstable or slow internet. At times, Wi-Fi or internet sources may fail in terms of connectivity and speed.

Just imagine that you have completed your assignment and the internet fails you at the due date and time? That can be very frustrating. Again, you may face technical issues originating from your computer’s hardware or software.

At the same time, Turnitin’s servers may be unresponsive especially when several students are trying to submit their assignments at the due date. So, avoid such last-minute submissions.

Tips for Turning in Assignments Early

As aforementioned, it is evident that there are a lot of disadvantages when turning in assignments on the due date or after the due date.

This is because you will automatically be penalized if you do not approach your instructor with a convincing explanation. Therefore, it is important to turn in your assignments early to avoid inconveniencing yourself and your grade.

One of the tips for turning in assignments early is planning your day’s schedule. This is important because you have to separate your personal life and studies in such a way that they do not negatively affect each other.

You should have a few hours to tackle your assignment partly so that when the due date arrives, you will have already been through and even submitted it. You should also prioritize assignments in terms of their urgency.

Complete the most urgent first. When doing assignments, it’s advisable to complete those you consider to be the most difficult. The easier assignments will be easier to tackle and therefore you will be able to submit them early.

Finally, take planned breaks between doing your assignments to avoid procrastination. For example, during the time you have allocated for doing your assignments, you should have strict time-bound breaks that are not longer than 10-15 minutes. Longer breaks will diminish your willpower to complete the assignment.

What to do if you Forgot to Submit your Assignment

Even though this can be considered as a reason for the late submission of assignments, it is usually not a viable or arguable reason for lateness.

This is because your instructor will create a negative perspective of you as a student. You can be regarded as lazy, negligent, unfocused, not serious, and so on. If you forgot to submit your assignment, be ready to have a very good reason for that.

Such reasons should prove to be more urgent or direr than submitting your assignment.

Such can be family or personal emergencies, health issues, and so on.

You should also be prepared with your assignment so that you can submit it. It is better to have a late assignment submission than to not submit.

This will demonstrate to your instructor that you did the assignment. They might show empathy if you provide a valid reason for forgetting to submit your assignment. Finally, be ready to write an email to your instructor.

How to Email your Professor for a Late Assignment

If you have submitted your assignment late, you should be prepared to write an email to your professor to avoid the 10% to 25% penalty depending on the duration of lateness.

The first thing you should do is apologizing and admitting that you have submitted your assignment late.

Secondly, provide valid reasons why you submitted your assignment late. Be straight to the point. You can read a post on various late submission hacks and learn how to give such reasons.

Thirdly, solemnly apologize for the late submission and demonstrate how the penalty would negatively affect you. Then, show that you will not repeat the same mistake by proposing a personal solution.

Late Assignment Email to the Professor