When special consideration is not so special after all

*Sigh of relief*

Update on my 12-page analysis: it’s over with and submitted as of 3:15pm today
The problem? It’s a day late because my body finally gave in to a very persistent little virus during the exact same day I was supposed to hand in my assignment.

The apparent solution: My tutor told me to hand in a filled-in special consideration form and a medical certificate as I hand in my homework to my student centre. Ah gee… if only it were that easy. It was only after obtaining a medical certificate yesterday, that I discovered I have to have a HCAP form filled in by a professional (in this case, a medical practitioner) and NOT a medical certificate. I had to print it then bring it to the clinic where I’ve just been only to be told by the receptionist that my doctor won’t have a chance to fill it up till this afternoon. Then this morning, the said receptionist called me up to tell me I had to see my doctor regarding the form coz there’s some stuff there that I might be more familiar with than he would. And the earliest I could see that doctor is tomorrow. Bummer. The special consideration form is to be filled in online within 3 working days after the assessment date, with the HCAP form to follow within 5 working days of the application for special consideration. Add to that the days that my home faculty has to process the application itself.

Having just recovered from said illness, all this talk about forms was just too much to take in. It was just too darn annoying that the moment I was feeling a bit better, I took the train to uni to hand in the assignment just so that I’ll only just cop up a 5% deduction of marks instead of the 20% if I hand it in Monday, just in case the special consideration process doesn’t work out to my liking. It’s hard to believe that only a week ago, I was tickled pink by the mass email by my tutor saying that the 12-page analysis is not supposed to be an “arts essay”, and that writing a whole lot of paragraphs for it won’t earn us the big marks. I surely am not tickled pink now.

Lesson learned? Get a flu shot. ASAP. My growing collection of medical certificates for this semester is not at all the kind of collection I would want to continue while in uni. Also, submitting assignments to the student centre rather than in tutes will test one’s knowledge of the tutor’s last name. Be prepared.