Student shocked because assignment was not graded: “This must be a joke”

An 18-year-old student’s brush with a strict assignment deadline has caught everyone’s attention after she missed the deadline for submitting her work by just five seconds.

IN fast on TikTok which has been viewed more than 915,000 times, she wrote: “This must be a joke,” but opinions were divided as to who was to blame for the article’s lateness.

“I had to complete the task immediately because I was busy before and when I thought that sent on timeit took a few seconds to download and send,” said student Pari Brach from Vancouver, Canada. Newsweek. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was very “Oh my God!” a moment that will make the audience laugh.”

Although Brach’s intention was light-hearted, the responses in the comment section turned the issue into wider debate over academic termstime management and online application systems.

Many universities and colleges use Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for online submission. This includes platforms such as Moodle and Turnitin, where students directly upload assignments. Online application systems are usually available 24/7, but students advised me to submit assignments well in advance of deadlines in case of Internet problems.

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

“As a university professor, I accept being 12 hours late. I just don’t communicate this to my students,” wrote commenter Hell.is.colder, sympathizing with Brach’s plight. Others were less lenient: “Too late. Welcome to the world,” wrote viewer Cole.

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

However, others might completely understand it. Alyssa added, “The story of my entire college experience.”

In the comments, people were divided when it came to the pressure of deadlines and online submission systems. Brach was a little shocked by the reaction, especially the amount of criticism she felt the light-hearted post received.

“Honestly, I have very mixed emotions about the public reaction,” Brach said. “There are a lot of haters, people claiming to be professors and saying it’s my fault, people probably twice my age trying to tell me about my bad management… Then there are commentators who think it’s very interesting and funny; this is by far my favorite because they understand the humor of TikTok.”