Erroneous late flag

The most common case of alleged error is when the student tells you their work is flagged late and they believe it should not be. What you should not do is simply believe them and cross out the word ``LATE'' on the relevant sheet. That word is merely a flag drawing attention to the lateness, it is not a data item itself. Instead you should ascertain the cause of the late flag and deal with that: either by correcting it, or explaining to the student why the work is late.

There are 3 causes of late flags:

• The student did not meet the (unextended) deadline, and did not obtain the extension. For obvious reasons, a student who is absent on the day of the deadline, without a good reason, cannot have the extension. If the student merely forgot to get the extension, you may forgive them and change the cross in column 3 (obtained extension) to an ``E forgot''. If the student claims they did get the extension, then change the cross to a tick, or an ``E claims got one'', depending on how much you believe them.

• The student did not meet the extended deadline, and has not been given a further extension for a good reason. If the student has a good reason (e.g. illness) then change the cross to an ``E ill'' or whatever is appropriate. Please note though that this further extends the deadline by only more more session (usually): see the excuse expiry date printed near the top of the page.

• The student obtained a further extension, but it expired before the work was completed. If the student has completed, this means the date in column 5 (date of completion after extended deadline) is after the excuse expiry date (printed near the top of the page). If they have not completed yet (column 5 is still blank) then the excuse expiry date must have already passed by. If the student feels they should be given or have been given even more time, you should tell them to arrange this with the appropriate laboratory manager directly, either
  John Latham (email: jtl@cs.man.ac.uk) or
  Alan Williams (email: alaw@cs.man.ac.uk).

In order to remove the late flag, you need to remove all of the 3 causes.

See §15 for more discussion of special circumstances.