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How to Finish a Huge Assignment or Project Overnight

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The great American writer Mark Twain once said,

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.”

When we live by that advice, though, we sometimes find ourselves chugging concentrated coffee at 2 a.m. in a valiant effort to stay awake and finish a huge project that’s due in 6 hours.

As productive as I’d like to think I am… I’ve been there.

If you’ve been there as well – or maybe if you’re there right now – this week’s video is for you. I’m not going to waste time lecturing you about the importance of planning, there are other videos for that – let’s just look at the best plan of attack when you find yourself in a time crunch.

Now, we’re going to look at some specific concepts related to planning and willpower in a minute – The Impact Effort Matrix, Ego Depletion – but let’s start with the foundation: location selection .

I think your location is vital when you’re working under pressure, and personally I like to pick my study locations based on their “vibe” – that is, what’s going on around me. I tend to favor coffee shops and libraries – I still go to my university library at times even though I’ve graduated – because I work well when I’m surrounded by other people who are also working. Also, close proximity to caffeine is helpful.

The most important part of location selection, though, is avoiding the “call of the pillow”. When you’re studying in a time crunch, it’s likely you’ll be doing it late into the night. That’s why you want to get as far away from your bed as possible.

The later it gets, the more you’ll start rationalizing how good a nap might be and the more you’ll start deciding that certain parts of your project don’t matter. So pick a place where going to bed would be more effort than finishing the next part of your project.

That piece of business taken care of, it’s now time to plan your efforts . Before you start working, take some time to break down your workload into individual parts. Then, it’s time to figure out which ones should get the bulk of your attention.

Dwight Eisenhower often remarked that,

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”

In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Steven Covey popularized the “Eisenhower Decision Matrix”, which is based on this principle. In the matrix, tasks are categorized based on their importance and urgency.

When you’re in a time crunch, though, everything can seem urgent – so importance is the factor you should focus on in this case. To that end, let’s use a similar but more fitting tool – the Impact/Effort matrix .

Here, tasks in a project are given scores based on their impact to the overall success of the project and the effort it will take to implement them. To illustrate how this works, here’s an example from my life.

When I was a senior in college, one of my final projects was building a web app. My idea was called AMPanic, and it was an app that would require you to log in and tell if you’re awake before a certain time – otherwise it would send an embarrassing email to someone. This was actually the precursor to the early wake-up system I use now, which I detailed in this video .

With this project, though, I found myself in a time crunch trying to finish it. So I broke my project down into different parts that I’d have to code and prioritized them using this Impact/Effort matrix.

The core functionality – the code that would let you set an alarm and an email message, the code that would schedule and send the email on time, and the function to cancel the email if the user checked in on time in the morning – those required a lot of effort to build, but they also had the highest impact on the project.

On the other hand, some parts of the site – like the About, FAQ, and Contact pages – didn’t have as high of an impact, but they were low-effort tasks. Since they didn’t take much time to create, I made sure to include them to make the site look more complete.

The main element of the site that I chose NOT to focus on was the user registration and login system. A proper one needs functions for resetting passwords, but I decided that the core alarm setting functionality would be more important to my grade since that was the point of the whole project. So I used a login system I had written for an old project and didn’t bother creating a way to reset passwords.

In the end, it was a worthwhile decision; the alarm system was more advanced than most of the other projects in the class, so I ended up getting an A.

To assign Impact/Effort scores to each component of your project – or each assignment if you’re juggling multiple – consider the following factors:

• What the core deliverables are
• The grading criteria for the project, what which components count for the most points
• What percentage of your grade each assignment counts for
• How much each component will contribute to the knowledge you need to have for tests, which usually impact your grade the most

Once you’e assigned scores to each component, I think it’s a good idea to tackle the ones with the highest impact and highest effort first. This is due to Ego Depletion – a phenomenon explained in Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow . Citing research from the psychologist Roy Baumeister, he reveals that:

“…an effort of will or self-control is tiring; if you have had to force yourself to do something, you are less willing or less able to exert self-control when the next challenge comes around.”

Use the bulk of your willpower to complete the harder tasks first; that way, you’ll only have to deal with low-effort, high-impact tasks when you’re feeling drained.

That’s where we’re going to close for this week. If you select your location well, plan based on impact and effort, and tackle your tasks in a way that utilizes your willpower effectively, you’ll make if through your time crunch in one piece.

Need help finishing a personal project you’ve been procrastinating on? Read this next .

If you’re unable to see the video above, you can view it on YouTube .

Looking for More Study Tips?

You’ll find more tips on planning, study environments, and maintaining willpower in my free 100+ page book called 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less) .

The book covers topics like:

• Defeating procrastination
• Getting more out of your classes
• Taking great notes
• Reading your textbooks more efficiently

…and several more. It also has a lot of recommendations for tools and other resources that can make your studying easier.

If you’d like a free copy of the book, let me know where I should send it:

I’ll also keep you updated about new posts and videos that come out on this blog (they’ll be just as good as this one or better) 🙂

Video Notes

• Eisenhower Decision Matrix
• Impact/Effort Matrix
• Ego Depletion

What other topics related to working under tight deadlines would you like to see covered in the future?

Do you have any additional tips? Share them below 🙂

If you liked this video, subscribe on YouTube to stay updated and get notified when new ones are out!

Images: Eisenhower , Twain , Twain living room , James Cameron , ocean trench , Everest , wall of books , Big Ben , coffee shop

My assignment is due tomorrow and I haven't even started it yet!

English expert at Atomi

Well, if it really is due tomorrow, let’s do this and do it quick! You could have anything due tomorrow, so instead of a step-by-step guide let’s focus on some tips and tricks to pull off this craziness. Legions of students before you have done it and legions of students after you will do it so have faith—you can do it 💪.

1. Prioritise

This probably doesn’t need to be said but if it’s due tomorrow then clear your schedule tonight—this is absolutely your top priority right now! Normally we recommend getting plenty of sleep but if you have something due tomorrow, tonight's the night to push your bedtime back a little bit (still no all-nighters though!)

2. Get your head in the game

Okay, no matter how much of a mountain it seems, this has to be done tonight. Don’t let yourself even consider the option of handing it in late—just thinking that will make it even harder to finish in time.

It’s time to get your head in the game and focus on the task ahead. You want to grab some water and make sure you’ve eaten. Then, set yourself up in a clean, bright area, find a supportive chair and grab all of the resources you'll need to do your assignment.

You can check out our video on Study Spaces for everything you need to set up the perfect workspace.

3. Work out exactly what you need to do

To work as efficiently as possible you should first understand exactly what you need to do.

That means you need to think about exactly what ideas or topics you need to cover and what your approach should be. So, read the assignment and marking criteria carefully and identify any keywords. Also highlight any important details, like the word count or page limit, the submission format and any other info that will affect how you approach this task.

This will vary massively depending on the assignment. The point is basically just that you should make sure you know exactly what you need to do before you start. Trust me, it’ll make everything quicker if you do ⏰.

4. Do a brief plan

To make sure we can get this done properly in one night, the next step is to plan your answer. This will make it a lot easier to start writing and, if you have to do any research, you will know exactly what you’re looking for.

So, sketch out a brief plan onto a page. Work out what needs to go into your answer and how it’s going to be structured. It might feel difficult or pointless to plan at this point, but if you can get some of the hard work out of the way here it’ll become much easier to write!

5. Research efficiently

Now, this one is obviously only relevant if you need research for your answer. Gathering research for an essay or report can take time. By using the keywords from the syllabus and assessment notification, you’ll be able to focus on the resources that you actually need. As far as you can, drop your research straight into the plan and you’ll be moving much more efficiently.

Don’t forget to reference as you go! This will save you time and ensure you don’t make any mistakes 😅.

6. Quality over quantity

This is a seriously important tip. When you’re really under pressure, it can be tempting to just smash out as many words as possible so you can hit that word count—don’t do this! It’s just going to give you a whole lot of waffle and even worse marks.

Instead of waffling, stick to your answer plan, use your research and fall back on the ideas in our lessons . It will get you a much better result for not that much extra work ✅.

7. Do your final read over tomorrow morning

Once you’ve finally pulled off that answer, it’s time to go to bed. You’re probably going to be too tired, too stressed and too wrapped up in your answer to be able to give it a proper check and edit.

So, just get some sleep now, set the alarm 30mins earlier tomorrow and read over it again with fresh eyes and a clear mind. You should be able to pick up any little mistakes and make the whole thing read a lot better and generally end up with a stronger answer!

Even though this isn’t ideal, you can still pull it off! The secret is to be as efficient as possible. So, keep calm, find out exactly what you need to do, plan, research properly and don’t waffle.

Oh and next time, don’t leave your assignments to the last minute 😅. Instead, watch our lesson on Planning an Assignment and use the downloadable planner so you aren’t in this sticky situation again.

For more study tips, tricks and advice, keep reading the student blog or follow Atomi on Instagram . See you there 👋.

Published on

March 15, 2022

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Is it unreasonable to set assignment deadlines on Saturday/Sunday?

I read a similar question ( Knowing that most students submit assignments right around the deadline, is it advisable not to set deadline that is very late at night? ) about setting assignment deadlines at different hours of the day (e.g., 9 AM, noon, 5 PM, 9 PM, midnight).

At my institution, we use a learning management system to manage our courses. I require students to use it to submit all of the assignments for the course.

I am wondering if it is reasonable to set assignment deadlines on Sunday.

On the one hand, I don't want to ruin the weekend for students who may be working on my assignment at the last minute.

• However, I feel that Sunday deadlines have minimal conflicts with students' other commitments. If for example I were to set the deadline on Monday, students may skip classes to meet my deadline, or they may be busy with work from other classes.

Question: Is it unreasonable to set assignment deadlines on Saturday/Sunday, say 6 PM on Sunday? Would this be forcing students to work on the weekends?

• Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat . –  eykanal Commented Sep 8, 2020 at 15:24
• "The assignment is due Friday by 5pm. However, I'll accept it until Sunday if you need extra time." –  Mikey Commented Sep 8, 2020 at 15:37

23 Answers 23

Don't assume anything about your students' schedules. Set your deadlines so everyone can manage their time based on their own needs.

You are concerned about encouraging your students to do work on the weekends. Consider that many students have customer service jobs that require them to work on the weekends (retail, restaurants, etc). They might work nights or swing shifts. They might have children to care for at certain times. You have no way of knowing if doing homework on a Saturday or Sunday is convenient for them or not.

Don't arbitrarily pick a deadline based on what you perceive to be best for them. Give your students a full week to work on assignments if you can, because they might only have small chunks of time available to do homework. Make it due when it really needs to be done, such as when the next class starts.

For example, I worked 10 PM to 7 AM Thursday through Sunday for my first couple of years in college. I often worked on homework during my lunch breaks, which could be at 2 AM on Monday morning. I'm sure all of my instructors assumed I would/should be sleeping at 2 AM, but it was actually a perfect opportunity to finish up homework.

Since there will always be students that procrastinate, and some percentage will inevitably have an emergency at the last moment, you may want to make it clear at the beginning of the course that you are not able to grant any extensions for any reason, because the deadline is already at the last possible moment. Also give the reason why that's the case, whether it's because you will review it in class, or there will be a quiz on it they need to be prepared for, or whatever the reason is. Be clear that since you are already giving extra time, you expect them to manage that time properly, so that an unexpected difficulty does not make their homework late.

You can always choose to make exceptions later for truly exceptional circumstances, but having a clear policy that you don't make exceptions will discourage people from taking advantage of your already generous deadlines. I've taken many classes with this policy, and I've never heard anyone complain about it.

• 7 This all the way. There is no possible way you could anticipate what time would be most convenient for all students, since there are so many things factoring into that (course schedules, work schedules, family needs, religious observances, social engagements, ...). Let the students manage their own schedules. –  NeutronStar Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 14:44
• I'd add the caveat that your deadlines need to take into account that some some submissions will be late. An example of where this matters is when you intend to release solutions in the next class. A deadline just before the class will run into problems when some students submit late. (And there's always a valid reason - death in family, institution-mandated extension due to disabilities, etc.) –  beldaz Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 21:14
• 4 @beldaz are you proposing the deadline artificially be moved up so there's a period where assignments can be late and not cause any problems? Because I don't see how that would be helpful. If someone is supposed to get more time for homework, that doesn't mean you shorten the time for everyone else. If someone has a death in the family just before your earlier "soft" deadline, they're probably not going to get over it and get their homework done before class. Maybe I'm missing your point? –  Kat Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 1:42
• 1 @Kat the example of death in family is just an extreme one I've encountered a couple of times, so don't get hung up on it. But it's pretty common to be required to grant ~1 day extension for students with disabilities (I get about 5 a year of those). So my point is to avoid making a submission policy that is so rigid that you create problems for yourself. Personally I prefer setting an earlier deadline, which I can then extend if many of my students say they are struggling to meet. –  beldaz Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 5:07
• 2 @beldaz so what happens if students physically hand in their homework at the beginning of the next class? I maintain that artificially moving up your deadlines so you can give "extensions" instead of giving everyone more time is absurd and obviously against the spirit of the requirement of extra time, but I'll grant you that bureaucracy sometimes creates absurd situations. I don't think I will recommend that strategy in my answer, though. –  Kat Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 19:37

It's fine. Students are expected to manage their time appropriately.

However , one of the things I despise most as a student is when the instructor doesn't finish covering the material needed for the assignment until shortly before it's due. So if, for example, you have a Friday lecture that contains information pertinent to the assignment (other than to answer clarifying questions and such for those who've waited that long), making the assignment due Sunday almost certainly eliminates the possibility of a free weekend.

• 14 The worst case I had of this was when the assignment was due at 5 pm, with our lecture covering important material from 2-3 pm! That was a stressful 2 hours ... –  Jezzamon Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 16:33
• 47 What are these things you call "free weekends"? –  Kimball Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 17:33
• 65 Some kind of theoretical construct. Clearly no practical applications. –  Peter Schilling Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 17:45
• 4 @Jezzamon The worst case I had was an assignment due at 8 a.m., with the lecture covering the important material from 8 to 10... I skipped that class that year. Next year's instructor did a better job. –  Alexander Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 0:52

It's absolutely valid to set deadlines on Sunday evening. You do not force the students to work on weekends. This is their own responsibility to manage their workload. They are still allowed to hand in their results on Friday and then they can have a free weekend. One may even argue that a deadline on the weekend gives even greater freedom to the students as they have two additional days.

Time management is one ability that is trained while attending university. Students should be allowed to make their own experience. In their future jobs, there will be quite a lot of deadlines such as "until next week" which is also a deadline on Sunday.

• 91 The assumption here is that it is reasonably possible to finish the assignment before the weekend. If that's the case, I agree with this answer. If not, it's better to postpone the deadline. –  user25112 Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 12:34
• 5 Personally I always appeeciated weekend project deadlines as an undergraduate. –  MooseBoys Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 17:03
• 3 If the weekend does not count toward the amount of time allocated for the assignment, why not put it on Friday ? Putting it on Sunday would only make it seem as if they have more time than they actually have. (If student are expected to work on weekends, that's a different story). –  zakinster Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 17:13
• 1 Even with good time management it is nice to have some backup time in the deadline when I am guaranteed to be free if needed. –  user45501 Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 9:47
• Yes. And if any student complains about it, you can always say "well, you can hand it in on Friday if you'd prefer that". –  Dawood ibn Kareem Commented Feb 26, 2018 at 11:21

Is IT support available on Sundays at your university? Is there somewhere students can go or somebody they can call if they run into technical difficulties submitting?

If your deadline is, say, noon on Monday or 5pm on Wednesday, then students can get help if they run into trouble. If your deadline is midnight on Sunday, then, on my campus that would mean anybody attempting to submit in the last 55 hours available would be unable to access anything but the out-of-hours hotline. Not only is the existence of this very new, it is of limited help at best. I wouldn't want to be a student relying on this in the face of an imminent deadline.

Note that technical issues can affect even the most adept and experienced users of virtual learning environments. A web browser or OS update, some change to the VLE itself can cause problems or some service can go down. Class policies should assume that Sod's Law has special applicability out of business hours.

• 4 This seems like a non-issue. It's perfectly possible to have a contingency plan for such cases. On the off chance there are problems with the submission system during the hours before the deadline, you can always extend the deadline by a few days (or even just a single day) to give students another chance to submit. –  Tom van der Zanden Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 10:41
• 4 @TomvanderZanden You can, but it is an avoidable complication and the OP didn't say anything about actually having thought about this or having communicated such a policy. Not communicating such a policy leaves students to panic if they have difficulties. Communicating such a policy risks giving students an easy excuse if they want to delay for other reasons. I'd rather not have to arbitrate those kinds of cases. And extending the deadline in such cases risks unfairness, too. So I think you invite complications easily avoided. –  cfr Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 16:48
• 1 The IT department may even have maintenance to facilities or VLEs scheduled during out-of-hours so that it would be least disruptive. –  anotherdave Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 12:31

So, set the deadline for 8AM Monday morning - needs to be convenient for you though, but it does mean that it won't conflict with classes - does depend on the "late hand-in" policy though...

This also depends on the submission method - it sounds like you have an online system in place in this case.

Some students will want the weekend to work on it, others will accept a hand-in on Friday 5PM...

Whatever time you set - stick to it (obviously there are some external factors that can change this ie a fire alarm etc)..

I have peer assessments that have a final closing time of 23.55 Sundays - there are always some students who say it closed too early...

• 5 Students who don't have morning classes tend to get up at noon and stay up all night. I like start of class session X for due. –  Joshua Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 18:51

It is reasonable to set deadlines on Sunday night or the like. I've had midnight Sunday deadlines for quizzes and assignments (in math & computing) for about 8 years now; the last lecture each week occurs on Wednesday or Thursday. I've only had one or two student complaints in that time (those from students also holding a full-time job through the weekend). I almost always manage to grade them all in the 10 PM - 1 AM zone Sunday night, so I can turnaround with feedback immediately at the start of Monday. Works well for me.

Edit: A comment by Mehdrad got me curious as to the exact distribution of submission times leading up to the end of Sunday. Below is a chart for one introductory programming assignment from Spring 2017 (N = 25), when I temporarily set the cutoff for 10 PM (thinking that I needed extra time to grade the submissions). In this example, about 55% of submissions are made before 6 PM Sunday; 20% come in 6 PM to 9 PM; and 25% come in the last hour (two being within the last possible 2 minutes). Two faulty attempts were submitted on Wednesday (not shown here) and subsequently cancelled/replaced; and another fourteen students submitted nothing.

• 1 They actually turn it in a full 2 hours early so that you can begin grading at 10pm? That sounds lucky for you! And also sounds like the assignments aren't that long... :-) –  user541686 Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 22:35
• 1 @Mehrdad: I think the majority tend to come in by the 7-8 PM hour or so. At 10 PM about two-thirds are submitted and I can usefully get started and pick up the remainder as I'm finishing. (I actually just started experimenting with grading before the deadline last semester and was pleased how it worked.) –  Daniel R. Collins Commented Feb 19, 2018 at 22:42
• 1 The "Yes" confused me because I thought it was an answer to the question in the question title (then I realized that the one in the question body is the complete opposite). –  nomadictype Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 1:14
• 1 @nomadictype: Ack, I hate it when that happens. Expanded the first sentence to clarify. –  Daniel R. Collins Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 1:24
• For your statistic, Is it possible the someone has finished the task but waited until the last hour to submit it, to have the chance to review or improve it. –  Shuangistan Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 17:15

Allow the students as long as you possibly can from when they have all required information for the assignment to when it must be turned in. The turn in time should be based on when you need to start grading in order to return the assignments when you plan to do so.

Every student has their own life, schedule, work commitments, classes etc. A narrow window that is fine for one student may be very inconvenient for others. Making the window as wide as possible increases the chances that every student will have an opportunity to concentrate on your assignment, and get the most benefit from it. Making the window narrower than necessary will lead to some students trying to do the assignment during a work lunch break, or cutting into their sleep time.

The students who choose to leave each assignment until just before its deadline are not your problem. They are adults making a sub-optimal choice. Look after the students who are doing their best with time management, but may not have a free hour until Saturday afternoon.

Leaving the assignment at the last minute, especially in order to enjoy the weekend, sounds more like a choice than an obligation. I don't think it's your responsibility to do time and goal management for your students, especially if they are adults.

Otherwise I want to agree with Solar Mike, just pick something and stick to it. Your student will manage their time to make things work for them.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, especially since the submission of the assignment is done online. Saturday and Sunday are only two days. If the students have to sacrifice their weekend to complete the assignment, that is usually because they didn’t manage their time wisely during the days before.

It seems that your options are to either set a deadline on Friday evening or over the weekend. Let's turn the question around. Suppose you enforced the Friday deadline. Would you actually mark the submitted work over the weekend, or would you wait until Monday?

If the answer is that you'd take the weekend off and start marking on Monday, then it's the Friday deadline that's unreasonable. Why would you demand that students hand in work so that you can ignore it for two full days? Set the deadline for Sunday night (or even early Monday morning) and let the students manage their own time. If keeping the weekend work-free is important to them, they'll make sure their work is finished by Friday.

Conversely, if you would spend the weekend marking, a Friday deadline would make sense. Whether or not it would make more sense than a Sunday/Monday deadline depends on other factors.

Sometimes it's important as a teacher to do things that are unpopular with the students. However, unless there's a good reason otherwise, why not do what the students want? They'll be happier, you'll be happier because they're happier, and you'll get better evaluations. And you can think of this as banking some popularity that you can spend when you need to do something important that's unpopular. In this case I'm pretty confident that the students would prefer a deadline on a weekday, but if you're not confident why not ask them?

As a student I hated nothing more than deadlines before midnight. I would be happy with a deadline on either Sunday 11:59pm or Friday 11:59pm, Sunday would better because that means two more days to do work where I don't have lectures to exhaust me. Trust me when I say that to a student free weekends don't exist anyways/

However Friday 5pm would be horrible. Considering lectures can run until 6pm, a Friday 5pm deadline is equivalent to a Thursday midnight deadline. Unless you are deadset on marking that evening I don't see why the deadline couldn't be moved to midnight.

Would it really make a big difference for you, it sure would to a student, thats a good few hours lost, and making deadlines harder to hit simply because 'students need to learn time management' is a terrible reason.

• 1 If I set you a Friday 5pm deadline, it's because I intend to give up a good chunk of my weekend to mark your work. –  David Richerby Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 16:10
• If your assignments are taking a good chunk of a weekend, they're too big to be assignments or your class is too big to be marked by one person in a reasonable time. –  Nij Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 8:52

There are two major concerns with setting weekend deadlines,

a number of students may not have access to a computer in order to submit online, at that time. Beware of disadvantaging groups of students that tend to face this restriction. This can be avoided by ensuring sufficient computer availability on campus, which is likely to be true.

the times over the weekend may be inconsistent, disrupting regular schedules for some students. In particular this will affect students who have significant work or family commitments while studying that they cannot just "time management" away. This can be avoided by setting every assignment to the same time every time e.g. Sunday at 1700 local.

Apart from considerations to ensure all students have an opportunity to meet this submission time, the actual submission time itself is largely irrelevant.

Students who are ready earlier can submit earlier or improve their work over the weekend. Students who are not ready earlier will appreciate an educator who doesn't respond to issues in the learner's life with "too bad, you should have been perfect like I want to pretend I was".

A colleague of mine recently included a question about deadlines in the course evaluation survey. The deadlines for the assignments were set on Saturday at midnight. The students (~40) overwhelmingly commented that deadlines on Saturday were "perfect", "not a problem", "very convenient". Only one student was dissatisfied with having the deadline on Saturday and commented that they would have preferred Sunday!

So, at least from the students, it seems there are no objections. Moreover, you are not "forcing" them to work during the weekend, but, by setting a weekend-deadline, you know that many of them will choose to. However, when you set the deadline does not affect the total amount of work : if they choose to work on the assignment during the weekend, they have more time off during the week.

• 2 " when you set the deadline does not affect the total amount of work" That is far from certain. –  Acccumulation Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 16:34
• Hmmm "Saturday at midnight" Is that midnight the first moment of Saturday or the last? As various people interpret "Saturday at midnight" differently, suggest a less ambiguous deadline. Deadline by "the end of Saturday" –  chux - Reinstate Monica Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 5:26

The common argument is that you are simply giving students a choice; if a student is still working on Sunday, that's their choice. While this argument certainly has some validity, taking it to its logical conclusion, if a sporting event were to allow steroids, then they are simply offering a choice, and if anyone takes steroids, that is simply their choice. Clearly, anyone competing against people using steroids would not feel that they have a "choice" whether to use steroids or not. Similarly, a student whose work is going to be evaluated in comparison to someone who worked the whole weekend may not feel that they have a "choice" whether to work the weekend as well. A central issue is how much of an impact extra time has on the result. The more sharply the assignment runs into diminishing returns with additional time spent, the less of an issue this is. (Note that if your assignments do offer a significant advantage to those who spend a lot of time on them, you should be taking a serious look at whether you can design the assignments differently and reduce time without reducing academic value; students should be evaluated on how well they understand the material, not how much time they're willing to spend on assignments. Sometimes spending a lot of time on assignments is necessary, but as an instructor, one of your obligations is to work towards optimizing the value received/time spent ratio.)

Another argument is that you should not be doing time management for your students. While time management is primarily the student's obligation, that doesn't mean that instructors shouldn't consider it. Instructors should design their courses to support student learning, and that means taking students' challenges into account. There seems to be an undercurrent to this argument that procrastination is a form of mental weakness, and making accommodations for it is coddling students. However, procrastination is quite often a result of anxiety or other conditions that should be taken seriously, and not dismissed as merely being character flaws. There are going to be some people for whom dashing off a paper on Friday and turning it in knowing that they did the best they could because that's when the deadline is, is significantly less stressful than having a Sunday deadline and spending the weekend feeling like they "should" be spending the time polishing the paper and worrying whether there's some flaw that they could fix if they just spent more time on it.

These are issues that you'll have to weigh. There's no universal answer; I'm not saying that you definitely shouldn't have a Sunday deadlines, I'm just pointing out that there are valid concerns with such a deadline.

The only reason I can think of where this would not be "reasonable" is if the students weren't being given ample time to do the assignment.

If you were assigning the work on Friday, for example, and asking for it to be due on Sunday, that may not be reasonable. Why not let them have Monday morning to do the work? However, assuming the assignment only takes an hour or so to complete, there should be no problem with assigning something on, say, a Wednesday and having it due Sunday.

So long as there is enough lead time, that bit about students potentially procrastinating until Sunday is their problem, not yours. If you assign it on a Wednesday and it's not due until Sunday, it's not your fault if they elect to wait until the last minute just because you gave them extra time. If they don't like doing the work on Sundays, they will learn to carve out some time to get it done before the weekend.

One other recommendation I'd make: if there is a good reason for having a six PM Sunday deadline, then share that reason with your students. If I told my class, "I like to look over the homework submissions on Sunday night while I'm preparing my Monday lecture; that way, I can see if there is anything we might need to revisit," I think my students would respect that.

It is common for assignment due dates to be specified in the course outline/syllabus. Then the due dates are generally discussed during the first class period or two as the students become acclimated to the course. Since the students know well in advance what is expected of them it is their responsibility to decide when to get things done.

It is often wise to avoid changing due dates as this can be surprising for students. The exception to this is to provide additional time to complete the assignment. For example, if the assignment was originally due on Friday but you extend the due date to Sunday night few will complain. However, if the due date was originally Monday and you move it to Sunday night before this could cause problems. Of course, if there was no original due date this does not apply but it would be strange to have no general idea of when you want an assignment submitted when planning a course. I'm sure we all complain if the Dean changes the due date of various administrative task and students are no different.

Therefore, it is best to stick to the due dates specified in the course outline (if they are there) or to extend the due date but to avoid moving the due date up.

As most others have said, the main thing is: give students enough time to get the assignment done. Given that, no deadline is too bad.

Other than that, I think a good deadline should be at or near the "end of working hours" (or at the very start, which basically is the same). Because that maximises the student's capacity for time management. Most of us like to "flow", so planning a full day for a given assignment is normal. And if they need to use the whole last day (not the best idea but still a possibility) allow them. For most people that is at/after sundown. People working nights know they are doing it different and will adjust as usual for them.

As to the day. Do you do classes on weekends? So fine, make a deadline on sunday. You do not? So, why would you expect students to be working on a sunday then? Students may have days off too, no? Set the deadline for a regular working day, please. Sure, students use weekends (I did, I do, I will, I hope) but it is their choice not your's

Just to throw my own two cents' worth in: I like to try to pretend that I won't necessarily demand anything of students (even grad students) outside of some sort of reasonable work-week. Otherwise, I'd feel that I was pretending to command more of their life than I'd really feel I have any right to.

So all due dates are "within the work week". Yes, this has implications for due dates that are early in the beginning of the work-week... Regardless of rationalizations about planning... I don't do this.

Also, by the way, all due dates are known at least two weeks or so prior, so there's hopefully no abusive creation of conflicts or sacrifices and so on.

• 1 Good point about announcing due dates two weeks prior so that students can plan their time appropriately –  I Like to Code Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 0:56
• @ILiketoCode :) .... –  paul garrett Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 1:04

As a student, and being the few ones that had a good computer at home at the time, I joined a few colleagues and often we did work at night for several reasons . I also had a couple of side jobs in my first few years of University.

One of the reasons, is that it can get pretty hot in the Summer time, and besides the night silence, you work cooler and focus more at night.

For me at the time, an assignment deadline of 0800AM Monday would allow me both to work during the day/or enjoy the beach in Summer time and working towards the assignment during the night.

If you intend to start grading the assignment when you get to your office on Monday morning, what would be the point in NOT allowing students until midnight Sunday? (And, of course, accepting work that arrived in the early hours of Monday morning, as long as it WAS 'on your desk' by start of work hours Monday.)

Clearly a Saturday/Sunday deadline is more generous than the previous Friday, but less generous than the following Monday. If a deadline on the previous Friday was not unreasonable, then an extension to a deadline on the Saturday/Sunday cannot be unreasonable. (After all, students can always hand it in on the Friday if they prefer.)

• This is not at all clear to me. It seems you are missing the psychological component here! –  user111388 Commented Sep 8, 2020 at 10:47
• It is not the job of academics to pander to the irrational psychological foibles of their students. –  Ben Commented Sep 8, 2020 at 22:37
• This "irrational psychological foible" seems to be widespread among students, researchers, industry people and so on. While it may or may not be part of academic's job, it is still not "clear" that it is more generous. –  user111388 Commented Sep 9, 2020 at 8:33

This is probably not a major concern for most of your students, but I mention it because it would have affected me as a student, and it has not yet been addressed by any of the other answers: Some students may belong to religious faiths in which doing work on Saturday or Sunday is prohibited. For example, observant Orthodox Jews and Seventh Day Adventists generally would not do homework from sundown Friday evening until sundown Saturday night. (I am not sure of specific Christian denominations that would have a similar prohibition against working on Sundays, but I have no doubt that they exist.) For such a student, making an assignment due on the weekend neither constitutes extra time nor a temptation to procrastinate; rather, it effectively means that they have one less day to get their work completed than the rest of the class.

Now, I don't think faculty should feel obligated to accommodate every student's religious observances -- Sabbath-observant people are used to living in a world that is not designed around our needs. But in the same way that you would probably not schedule an exam on Christmas day or Rosh Hashana, you might want to consider whether weekend deadlines place any of your students under a disadvantage relative to their classmates.

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Why do students procrastinate teachers confirm that 11:59 is the magic hour.

Ella Goodweather , Reporter Feb 21, 2021 3 Comments

More stories from Ella Goodweather

Photo provided by Ella Goodweather

The timeline of students turning in assignments before class the next day.

You have definitely done it before. We all have. Your teachers did it. Your parents did it.

So, you turned in that assignment due at midnight at 11:59 pm. Do you think your teachers noticed that you and your friends do this? Well, they know. And we know too. 

A right-before-the-deadline student myself, I interviewed my teachers and peers to find out why so many of us do it. I found that it happens in every subject and grade. As junior Eden Barr quotes one of her teachers saying, “ungodly hours of the night.” 

So again, why did we do it? Procrastination, sleep schedules, work, clubs or extracurriculars. Maybe we work best at night, have home responsibilities or need time to relax from our busy schedule. Or maybe we prioritized other responsibilities or homework assignments and we do not always have the resources you need to complete your assignments. The fact is, at some point, we barely turned in that assignment before the deadline. 

I recently asked four Bellaire students if they do this and they gave me a variety of answers. However, the consensus was that it is easier to start with the assignments they want to do and leave the other ones off. 

Do our teachers notice?  

While many teachers are aware of their students’ habits of the late-night-assignment turn-ins and all-nighters, they are more cognizant of whether a student turns in an assignment in the first place.

AP English Language and Composition teacher Jeffrey Waller said it does not stick out to him when an assignment is turned in late at night on the HUB unless it has passed the deadline. 

However, teachers do notice when Remind messages are sent to them right before a deadline or in the middle of the night. 

AP US History teacher Patricia Edaburn said about 30 percent of the time, she will receive a Remind message late at night on a Sunday. 

Dr. Waller can relate. He also procrastinated in his high school days. 

“Students get in a bad pattern where they come home and crash,” Waller said. “I suspect that virtual school has messed up students’ sleep patterns even more. I see assignments are submitted at all hours of the night.” 

Edaburn senses that some of the students who turn in assignments late waited to the last minute, but at least they are getting their assignments in. 

Edaburn, along with many Bellaire teachers, understands that this is not a typical year, and understands the difficulty many students have with time management. Students at home struggle with a lack of structure or other responsibilities in the home, due to the pandemic. And teachers like Edaburn will accept assignments, even if they have passed the deadline.

“Better late than never,” Edaburn said. 

Has online school made students more likely to turn in their assignments late at night? Junior Crystal Tang and sophomore Anna Bronk said yes, as deadlines are now at midnight.

IB Astronomy and AP Physics C teacher James Newland said he used to make his assignments due at the end of the school day, but he learned that it is unreasonable for all his students to make this deadline, especially during virtual school. 

Also, home situations due to the pandemic may also affect students’ habits. While some students are prone to procrastination, waiting until the last minute, others are busy taking care of younger siblings or with a job. Newland, Edaburn and Waller each agree that flexibility is important for their students’ success. 

Each one of the teachers and students I interviewed agree that time management is key to success, yet so many students still struggle with it. Junior Sam Yifrach keeps an agenda and calendars his deadlines.

“I do my homework in the afternoon and then video games at night,” Yiffrach said. “I know a large group of students do it the opposite way, playing video games first then homework, but it is hard to gauge how much time you need for homework this way, and you will get too tired.” 

Barr also sees this among her friends. 

“Almost every single person I talk to has turned in something after the deadline,” Barr said. “Mostly, this is because of the time management struggle. During virtual school, it feels like I have more time than I actually do.” 

Newland, Edaburn and Waller all notice time management being a struggle for their students. 

“A lot of my students are spread too thin,” Waller said. “It’s hard to have self-discipline. The mentality is ‘oh, it’s not due until tomorrow, so I don’t need to do it right now’.”

Does procrastination work? Tang said, in some cases, it does. 

“It can make you more productive,” Tang said. “Sometimes, I will work faster since I am working close to a deadline.” 

In other cases, procrastination will not work. Barr said that procrastinating makes an assignment more stressful than it needs to be. 

Is there a pattern in which students procrastinate? Yiffrach said that while he almost never procrastinates, it is more likely for him to procrastinate on the assignments that take the longest. Bronk also said that she will procrastinate on the assignments that are not as easy or fun as the other assignments. Tang also relates to both Yiffrach and Bronk’s view. 

“A lot of procrastination is due to the sense of dread and not knowing how much time and energy it will require,” Tang said. 

Will the procrastination end? Edaburn is hopeful that her students will finally put it to rest. 

“When you have no other choice, you do it,” Edaburn said. “The motivation is there when you have to meet a deadline to get paid or not get fired.” 

Tang hopes to stay on top of things in the future due to the higher stakes. Barr said she will also be less of a procrastinator in the future. 

“Procrastinating is just part of life and growth,” Barr said. “It’s just human nature to sometimes do things at the last minute.”

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Cynthia C. • Oct 24, 2022 at 11:23 pm

I agree; I work full-time, am single, have one income, three kids, no joint custody, practices every day for them, homework, dinner, and baths. etc. so I do my work at night. Some nights I am more tired and get less accomplished. In my literature classes, writing takes an enormous amount of time. Reading is daunting as my eye sight is poor, and even if it weren’t research and writing takes a long time. So, I have been working on one of my classes assignments for about six days now, it was due tonight at 11:59. I got stuck on a page break that kept doing what it wanted. So after I gave up and went to submit, it was seconds past 11:59 so the entire week 9 folder was gone. I didn’t even realize it counted in seconds. 11:59 is 11:59 to me. This is not a reflection of, oh your going to have to meet deadlines at work and so on get over it, your fault. This is reality; this is not a robotic world. And no job that I can get into is ever going to say; you’re fired; you’re seconds late. This discounts all of the work that was put in. Professors don’t see what goes on behind closed doors to get this work done, and lastly, I am the one paying for these classes. That is commitment right there; I am choosing to sacrifice my money to better my future (goal), which shows a lot more responsibility in the workforce than a few seconds of delayed turn-in on deadlines.

Carol Gaylord • Mar 14, 2022 at 4:38 pm

I agree with the teacher especially this year and last year due to covid 19 if the student is getting the work in is a good thing That is like when kids shoe up a few minutes late to class I myself being a parent of 4 childrem my focus would not be on the minutes the student shows up late for class my focus would be on the student showing up to class. It’s the same thing as parents, teachers , role models need to focus on what the child, student, peers progress on their lives journey not their downfalls. Let us encourage one another to do better as an example not a dictator. Do as I say not as I do. Hypocrites are what they are called. The last thing a teacher, parent, etc. needs to be called is a hypocrite. We all need to be role models but most of all is we all need to be authentic Real to each other. ??

Confess your faults one to another and thou shall be healed. Amen

Carol Gaylord • Mar 14, 2022 at 4:36 pm

I agree with the teacher especially this year and last year due to covid 19 if the student is getting the work in is a good thing That is like when kids shoe up a few minutes late to class I myself being a parent of 4childrem my focus would not be on the minutes the student shows up late for class my focus would be on the student showing up to class. It’s the same thing as parents, teachers , role models need to focus on what the child, student, peers progress on their lives journey not their downfalls. Let us encourage one another to do better as an example not a dictator. Do as I say not as I do. Hypocrites are what they are called. The last thing a teacher, parent, etc. needs to be called is a hypocrite. We all need to be role models but most of all is we all need to be authentic Real to each other. ??

• Productivity Center

Never Miss an Assignment Again

Angela Ruth

• Business Tips

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021

Everybody makes mistakes, but nobody wants to. Missing an assignment is a common mistake that we have all made at some point. While sometimes a solution can be as simple as pushing back the deadline, missing major assignments can cost you your job or a good grade in your classes.

Whether you’re struggling with school assignments, work projects, or balancing them both, this guide will help you never miss another assignment no matter what:

Write Down Everything

Start by writing absolutely everything you can about your project or assignment. Then, put every assignment due date into your Calendar with no exceptions. Even the smallest of deadlines are worth taking note of. You can use multiple calendars to spread out tasks by topic; just remember to have them all pulled into one Calendar — like the Calendar app, so you don’t miss a date.

Using an online Calendar means you can have access to your assignment list no matter where you are. Having direct access wherever you are will come in handy. Remember when you’ve had a paper due at midnight while you’re at a friend’s house and need to log on really quickly to upload your information? Your online Calendar will sync across all devices. You want to be able to check due dates on your smartphone as well as when you’re sitting at a computer.

If you like to physically write things down, go ahead! The action of writing things down can help improve memory , which is extremely important if you’re hoping to never miss an assignment again.

Give Yourself Plenty of Reminders

Even when everything is written down in your Calendar, there’s still a chance that you will forget an upcoming due date. However, a healthy dose of reminders ensures that not even the smallest detail gets overlooked over time. After all, a lot can happen between the day you write down as assignment due date and the day it actually arrives.

For example, you can set a reminder the day before an assignment is due for school to make sure that you have it completed. As you clock into work, a morning reminder will remind you of the tasks you need to complete by the end of your shift. These reminders force you to look at your Calendar after you fill it in initially.

Check Your Email to Start the Day

Last-minute changes happen, often due to circumstances out of your control. Even so, you should be aware of these changes so that you don’t get caught off guard. Checking your email at the beginning of each day should do the trick.

By starting your day off by scanning emails , you’ll be able to see the message your manager sent you at midnight notifying you that they expect your next assignment to be completed a day earlier. If you neglected to check your email in the middle of the night or at the start of your shift, you would be completely unaware of this change until it might be too late to do anything about it.

An email from your professor might contain a new assignment list for the following week. If you miss this email, you won’t be able to change up your Calendar in time to adjust your timetable and study schedule.

Communicate With Others

To avoid mishaps with upper management, make an effort to communicate often. Set clear expectations with your manager about how and when to communicate, so you’re not always getting the brunt of last-minute adjustments.

If your work gives you too many assignments, you’re more likely to miss a deadline or two due to the heavy workload. Your workload is another thing you can communicate with your superiors. If you don’t make it known that you’re feeling overwhelmed, nothing will change.

Communicating with coworkers and peers is also essential. We’ve all had a poor experience doing a group project where certain members of the group fail to pull their weight. Staying connected with them won’t be easy, but it will ensure that their feet-dragging won’t be the reason a project isn’t ready to submit on time. A reliable project member can also help you stay on top of deadlines as they arrive by sharing the responsibility.

Learn From Your Mistakes

Most of the time, when you miss an assignment, it’s because a mistake was made, even if only a small one. To stop missing assignments, learn from the mistakes you make to avoid repeating them. Over time, you’ll be a master of punctuality and completing deadlines.

Some mistakes we’ve already covered, in a sense. For example, failing to write down your due dates leaves a lot of room for error regarding late assignments. If this has happened to you, learn from your mistakes by vowing to write everything down from this point forward.

If you’re making an active effort to learn and improve, mistakes only need to happen once before you learn from them. For example, after putting a deadline on the wrong day in your Calendar once, you’ll be a lot more careful in the future.

Stop Procrastinating

Flexible due dates are the worst for chronic procrastinators. The due date will keep getting pushed back until its breaking point, and often ends up coming in late because of it. Staying on top of all your assignment means kicking procrastination to the curb .

If you have a problem with procrastinating, try to find a sense of urgency. Give yourself rewards for getting tasks done early. Use your Calendar to put together a work plan that ensures you’re chipping away at month-long projects. Do whatever it takes to avoid cramming in work at the last minute.

Don’t get too comfortable even when these tips start to show results. You need to stay on top of your game in order to meet all your deadlines with precision. You’ll be able to form better habits along the way but never let up, and you’ll never miss an assignment again.

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My name is Angela Ruth. I aim to help you learn how Calendar can help you manage your time, boost your productivity, and spend your days working on things that matter, both personally and professionally. Here's to improving all your calendars and becoming the person you are destined to become!

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• Mar 29, 2018

Help Your Students Get More Sleep: Set TWO Due Dates for Assignments

Updated: May 9, 2023

Howard Aldrich

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;

Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; and

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University

Students often complain that they can’t get enough sleep because they have too much work to do (Hershner and Chervin 2014). Given the importance of sleep, particularly with respect to learning (Doyle and Zakrajsek 2013), this self-reported lack of sleep has long been a concern to me. I thought students simply needed to manage their time better and that, as a faculty member, I didn’t have control over when students choose to sleep. For all the years I have been teaching, it hadn’t really occurred to me that the time at which I make assignments due might have an impact on how late students stay up to complete the assigned work. I knew students frequently wait until the last minute to complete work, but I just hadn’t thought of how my assigned times, in combination with procrastination, creates predictable sleeping (or lack of sleeping) patterns.

I now have evidence that changing the time at which an assignment is due has the potential for benefitting students by promoting healthier sleeping patterns. In Fall, 2016, I taught a first-year honors seminar with 24 students. Following my customary practice, the papers were due at 9 AM in the morning, just prior to the start of class at 9:30 AM. Because my students submitted their assignments through Sakai, each of the four two-page papers I assigned came with a timestamp that allowed me to see exactly when the papers were submitted.

Across the four assignments, 71% were turned in after midnight. Some students apparently stayed up most of the night to complete their assignments. For the third paper, seven assignments came in between midnight and 2 AM and three came in between 2 AM and 5 AM! For the final paper that semester, eight assignments were submitted between 2 AM and 5 AM. I was stunned and pondered whether changing the time the papers were due might have an impact on when the assignments were completed, and potentially allow for students to get to sleep earlier.

In Fall 2017, for the same first-year honor seminar course with 24 students, I tried a simple modification: papers were “due” at 9 PM the night before, but “accepted” until 9 AM the next morning. Papers that came in after the “time due” of 9 PM, but before 9 AM were not penalized. Therefore, students could turn in papers at the same time of day as the previous semester but were encouraged to turn them in at 9 PM the night prior.

The difference between the two semesters was dramatic. Across the four papers, only 15% of the papers came in after midnight. The 15% was inflated because on the fourth paper, six of the students chose to review their papers once more before turning them in, and so they came in between 8 AM and 9 AM, not during the midnight hours. For the first three papers, 85% of the papers, on average, were turned in by 9 PM the night before.

With this simple modification in the due dates and times, students appeared to have stopped “maniacal binging” (Boice 2000), completed their work well before midnight, and at least had a shot at a good night’s sleep. Using a simple tactic of signaling that papers were “due” at 9 PM, I gave the students a deadline that they appeared to have used in planning how they allocated their time. They didn’t want to be “late,” even though “late” carried no penalty. What is particularly attractive about this technique is that it works without the imposition of any penalties for “late” assignments. Following Lowman’s (2000) lead, I behave as if there will no such a thing as a “late” assignment and the students make my words come true. In support of this concept, no students even asked me if there was a penalty for turning in papers after 9 PM and before 9 AM.

I now use this technique of having all assignments due in the evening rather than in the morning, whether they are graded or just checked off when submitted. Having assignments due the night before not only gives students the opportunity for a good night’s sleep but also, if I so desire, gives me an opportunity to review their work and to make modifications in my lesson plan, if the submitted papers reveal any misunderstandings that I need to clarify. Perhaps, as faculty, we have more influence on our students’ behaviors than we typically realize.

Discussion Questions

The students in this course were in a first-year honors course at a selective university. How might the results be different at different institutions and for students at different academic ranks? The author noted he was surprised by the results. How do you think your students would respond to a process such as this?

Describe at least three other ways in which a typical college/university college/university assignment might impact the health of an average student. What adjustments could you make as faculty member that might result in healthier behaviors by your students?

Explain the kinds of conversations you might have with your students about sleep habits and the impact of sleep (or lack thereof) on academic performance. How might you collect data about the impact of students being more aware of the impact of poor sleep behaviors on their own academic performance?

Boice, Robert. 2000. Advice for New Faculty Members: Nihil Nimus . Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Doyle, Terry and Todd Zakrajsek. 2013. The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony with Your Brain . Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Hershner, Shelley D. and Ronald D. Chervin. 2014. "Causes and Consequences of Sleepiness among College Students." Nature and Science of Sleep 6:73-84. doi: 10.2147/NSS.S62907.

Lowman, Joseph. 2000. Mastering the Techniques of College Teaching, 2nd Edition . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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What Assignment Due 11:59 PM Means: What Comes After

Assignment Due 1159 PM

Assignment due dates are part of the assignment itself. The instructor/teacher/professor wants to determine whether their students can adhere to simple instructions.

This is the reason why assignments that are delivered late attract fines in terms of deduction in marks or even rejection.

Yes, some of the instructors are very strict when it comes to assignment due dates and they can reject your assignment even when it is a few minutes late!

Now, instructors can give students various due dates that determine the date, hour, and minute in which they are required to submit their completed work.

They may decide to set those due dates or let the plagiarism-checking platforms such as Turnitin or Blackboard set default deadlines. 

Note that some institutions only allow their students to submit their work through such platforms so that the assignments can be automatically checked for plagiarism. 

That being said, let us explore what the most common due dates and times mean for students and the submission of assignments. 

Also Read: How to Write a PEEL Paragraph Essay: with Examples

What does Due 11:59 PM Mean

11:59 PM is one of the most common assignments’ due time (deadline) given to students. I know you may be wondering why this is the case. Why not any other time of the day?

Well, the reason is that in the contemporary world, institutions of learning may have students from different time zones who may be attending online classes or are required to submit their homework at the same time. 

In assignment submission, 11:59 PM means that the paper or essay is due at the very last minute of that day and not even a second or a minute late. If as a student you upload a file one minute after 11:59 PM, will have submitted on the next day 00:00 AM, and not the previous day, which is a minute earlier.

For example, if the instructor states that the assignment is due, let’s say, on Friday the 16th, students should deliver their work by 11:59 PM on Friday the 16th. If you upload it on Saturday the 17th then you are late because the time will be 00:00 hours, a new day.

To coordinate the due time, a specific due date has to be set in which the final day to submit the assignments is set.

A complete day is made up of 24 hours with the start of the day being at midnight.

Midnight is written in 24hrs clock as 00:00 hours.

What this means is that when the clock reads 00:00 hours, we have entered another day.

Therefore, if students were required to submit on the previous day, it means that they are late. 

Also Read: Types of Paragraphs in Essay or Academic Writing: With Examples

Is 11:59 Pm Morning or Night?

To some of us, determining whether 11:59 PM is morning or night can be confusing.

Some of the genuine reasons for this confusion are that the “PM” initials signify nighttime and most of the time zones in the world are within the dark side of the earth; meaning that they are experiencing night.

However, 00:00 hours or midnight is considered to be part of the morning because it is the start of a new day.

The problem is that 11:59 PM and 00:00 hours are separated by less than 1 minute (59 seconds) and the former is considered night while the latter is considered morning. Well, all the factors held constant, 11:59 PM should be considered night.

Don’t be confused by the aforementioned technicalities. What matters is the time of day. If it is 11:59 PM, the day has ended and a new day will begin at 00:00 hours midnight. 

What Comes After 11:59 PM?

As aforementioned, 11:59 PM signifies the end of a complete day. A complete day is made up of 24 hours and 11:59 PM in 24 hours style clock is written as 23:59 hours.

This indicates that only less than a minute is left for the 24 hour-day to end. Therefore, when 11:59 PM passes, a new day comes when the clock indicates 00:00 hours or midnight. 

What Does “Due Tomorrow At 11:59 PM” Mean?

As we have noted, a complete day is made up of 24 hours. What this means is that for us to experience a complete “today”, we must experience it from midnight (00:00 hours/midnight) to 23:59 hours/11:59 PM.

Therefore, when someone tells you that they expect something tomorrow, it means that today must pass; or rather we must pass 11:59 PM and transition to 12 AM or 00:00 hours because that would be a new day (tomorrow). 

Now, if your instructor tells you that your assignment is due tomorrow at 11:59 PM, it means that they expect the assignment the next day one minute before midnight.

For example, if today is Friday the 16th and the instructor has told students that their assignment is due tomorrow at 11:59 PM, they will have to submit their work by Saturday the 17th at 11:59 PM. If students submit their work one minute after that, they will have delivered on a Sunday morning (12 AM or 00:00 hours). 

What Happens when you Submit an Assignment at 11:59 Pm?

If you submit your assignment at exactly 11:59 PM, you are okay because you have not breached the deadline.

An important thing you should note as students is that when your instructors ask you to submit your assignment, they tell you to do so via plagiarism-checking tools such as Turnitin or Blackboard. Such tools set their default deadlines at 11:59 PM because it is the end of a complete day.

They do not count the seconds between 11:59 PM and 12 AM. According to such tools, you only need to submit your work before the clock in your time zone reads 00:00 hours or midnight.

Also Read: Essay Reading: Practice and Importance of Reading Essays

Tips on how to Submit an Assignment at 11:59 PM

1. upload one file.

As noted, students should make sure that they upload their assignments before midnight because the assignments will be past due.

If you are submitting your assignment at 11:59 PM, it means that you only have less than 1 minute (60 seconds) to upload your assignment files.

To ensure that your assignment is successfully uploaded within a few seconds, it is best to upload it as one file to avoid wasting time. It takes more time to upload several files, meaning that you will be late. 

2. Use Fast Internet

Bearing in mind that you only have a few seconds to upload your assignment files, you should use fast internet. Fast internet will allow you to upload your files within a short time and beat the deadline.

Slow internet is not only annoying but it can make you submit your work past the deadline because by the time it uploads the complete file, the 59-second window will have passed. 

3. Ensure the Computer is Plugged

This should be an obvious thing to do. Your computer should be plugged in to ensure that there are no disruptions when uploading your assignment files. 

4. Upload a Small Size File

Small file sizes can be uploaded faster compared to larger files. Additionally, if your internet is slow, the process of uploading a small-size file will be faster.

Larger files will take more time even when there is moderate-speed internet. 

5. Do not Close the Window/tab

It is also very important to not close the window or tab of your browser as you are uploading your assignment. This is because if you close, the window or tab will take more time to reload the content and this will make you late. 

6. Wait until the Upload is Confirmed

Finally, it is important to wait until the uploaded assignment has been confirmed.

Do not be in a hurry to close the browser window/tab before confirming that the file upload has been successful.

This is because it might not be successful at times and you may be required to retry uploading the file again. 

Therefore, to avoid submitting your assignments late and consequently being penalized, take note of the explanations and tips in this article. 

With over 10 years in academia and academic assistance, Alicia Smart is the epitome of excellence in the writing industry. She is our chief editor and in charge of the writing department at Grade Bees.

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Setting Assignment Due Dates: Early, Late, or In-Between?

Students often complain that they can’t get enough sleep because they have too much work to do (Hershner and Chervin 2014 ). My first response has been to suggest that they are just not managing their time well. I seemed to have found evidence for my view when I taught a first-year honors seminar in the fall of 2016 with 24 students. Because I had the students submit their assignments through Sakai, each two-page paper came with a timestamp and I could see exactly when they were submitted. Following my customary practice, the papers were due at 9 AM in the morning, right before class met at 9:30 AM. Most of the assignments were turned in after midnight: 71%, on average, across the four assignments. Some students clearly stayed up most of the night, as for example with paper three, when seven assignments came in between midnight and 2 AM and three came in between 2 AM and 5 AM! For the last paper, eight came in between 2 AM and 5 AM. I was stunned, but what could I do?

Ghosts in the trees

In the fall of 2017, for the same course, I tried a simple modification: papers were “ due ” at 9 PM the night before and then “ accepted ” until 9 AM the next morning, before class. Papers that came in “ late ” were not penalized. The difference between the two semesters was dramatic: across the four papers, only 15% on average came in after midnight. And that number was inflated because on the fourth paper, six of the students chose to review their papers once more before turning them in, and so they came in between 8 AM and 9 AM, not during the midnight hours. For the first three papers, 85% of the papers, on average, were turned in by 9 PM the night before.

With this simple modification in the due dates and times, students stopped “ maniacal binging ” ( Boice 2000 ), completed their work well before midnight, and presumably got a good night’s sleep in the bargain. Using a simple tactic of signaling that papers were “ due ” at 9 PM, I gave the students a hard constraint that they used in planning how they allocated their time. They didn’t want to be “ late ,” even though “ late ” carried no penalty. (And no one ever asked me if there would be a penalty.)

I now use this technique on all my assignments, whether they are graded or just checked off when submitted. Having assignments due the night before not only gives students the opportunity for a good night’s sleep but also, if I so desire, gives me an opportunity to review their work and to make modifications in my lesson plan, if the submitted papers reveal any misunderstandings that I need to clear up. What is particularly attractive about this technique is that it works without the imposition of any penalties for “ late ” assignments. Following Lowman’s ( 2000 ) lead, I behave as if there will no such a thing as a “ late ” assignment and the students make my words come true.

Interested in learning more about late assignments? See this post .

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4 thoughts on “ setting assignment due dates: early, late, or in-between ”.

What a great idea. As always, this is my first stop for teaching ideas. Thanks!

Julie, thanks so much for your supportive comment! I’m delighted to learn that these blog posts are useful for you.

This technique applies not only to teaching. I applied a similar approach in my work as a startup accelerator manager and it worked out great! We were getting applications at the last possible moment, which was straining our resources (we strive to review and respond to applicants within 1-2 days). By moving the deadline a couple of weeks earlier, we managed to give ourselves more time to review the applications and make the entire process smoother.

Ted, thanks for this example of applying the principle I wrote about. Looks like it has wide applicability!

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assignment <due> at midnight

• Thread starter Tanis20
• Start date Nov 29, 2021

Senior Member

• Nov 29, 2021

Where are these sentences from? Although "assignment" has several meanings, here we imagine it is a piece of work as part of your studies. "Due" is the deadline for when it needs to be handed in. Of course, you can hand it in before midnight, so there is no need for this to get in the way of whatever you have planned for that time.  

From youtube comments: Full sentence is: Me when I'm playing video games then suddenly remember that I have an assignment due at midnight.  

Tanis20 said: Me when I'm playing video games then suddenly remember that I have an assignment due at midnight. Click to expand...

dojibear said: The assignment is not due at midnight. He realized at midnight. Click to expand...

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[Serious] If an assignment is due at midnight, what does that mean to you?