"has anyone been told something rather alarming about the final exam policy on Internet outages?"
Item
e reddit @ :/cuny v Q Search ~ it
Me Posted by u/motherthrowee 1 year ago =]
3 has anyone been told something rather alarming about the final exam
policy on Internet outages?
So we recently found out in one of my classes that the policy in the event that you lose your Internet
connection during your final would be that you will be considered to be done with the final, and
presumably only graded on what you completed. I have a couple of questions about this:
1. Have others been told this? Is this department-wide or university-wide at your school? CUNY-
wide?
2. Am I right to think this is absolutely bananas? It seems incredibly backward that the college is
implementing what I think are a bit extreme accommodations -- going to pass-fail, adapting
exams to be multiple-choice and/or open book, generally making things easier -- only to
introduce the possibility of failing, even if totally prepared, via pure random chance. I know it's
plausible some people might open the exam, decide it's too hard, quit, and say their Internet
went out... but it's also plausible people's Internet might go out, particularly when they can't go
anywhere reliable.
(To be 100% clear, this was not my professor's decision, nor did they seem AT ALL pleased about it
either. I don't want to come off as the entitled snowflake student. But I have unreliable Internet access,
and I'm sure I'm not the only one.)
@ 11 Comments Award Share [¥ Save Q@Hide [& Report
es This thread is archived
New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast
SORTBY BEST w
'o) FavMascot 11 year ago
I had a professor let my friend retake an exam after this happened to her and same with another
professor of mine. Iam on the same boat with bad connection we called and the response was
that they were redirecting WiFi to people who need it more which I found to be crazy, but maybe
you can make an appeal or something if this were to occur while you were taking a final.
& 2 §& GiveAward Share Report Save
ey) motherthrowee “© 1 year ago
I just hope it doesn't happen. The advice we were given was to "look for a better connection,"
but how exactly am I supposed to do that? Businesses are closed. Libraries are closed. War-
walking would probably get me in trouble with the proctoring system (which, so would
businesses and libraries). A mobile hotspot is expensive and puts me at the mercy of the
package delivery at my apartment (I've had two packages lost in the past two weeks alone). I've
had a technician look at the connection, but the nature of an Internet outage is that it is
unpredictable. You don't know when or if it's going to happen until it happens.
4 3 § GiveAward Share Report Save
thetwentiethyear 1 year ago
I have extremely unreliable internet access. I was presenting two separate times when my
internet went out and I had to reset my wifi, the whole process takes about 5-6 minutes. My
professor was not understanding about the presentation, so I am praying that I can just get
through the exam without the internet going out because she doesn't seem to care or get it. Hope
your connection doesn't fail either. It’s ridiculous how some professors have used this time to
make things harder for students.
& 1 GiveAward Share Report Save
a) motherthrowee “© 1 year ago
Just to clarify again, this doesn't seem like it was the professor's fault.
4 1 Give Award Share Report Save
e) imisspelledcuny ‘1 year ago
~#¥ This isn’t true. This actually happened to me twice during my final today. My professor reuploaded
the exam twice for me and told me to start where I left off. Blackboard isn’t that reliable as it
crashes for me out of the blue even though I have a reliable laptop and WiFi.
& 1 8 GiveAward Share Report Save
ey) motherthrowee “© 1 year ago
It seems like it might not be CUNY-wide then, we were definitely told it would be the case for
ours
4% 1 Give Award Share Report Save
ap) imisspelledcuny 1 year ago
I think it depends on the professor because it happened to me with two different professors
and both of them let me retake it. It doesn’t seem like a Cuny-wide policy at all not college
even. What college are you referring to by the way?
4 1 §) Give Award Share Report Save
ProfBird 1 year ago
It is definitely not a CUNY wide policy. You should complain to your school dean if this happens.
Not fair.
& 1 § Give Award Share Report Save
throwaway59423 12 months ago
You are NOT an entitled snowflake. During my 4 hours final on Monday, I was dialed in to
Blackboard Ultra for 2 hours through my phone b/c the professor was available for half the finals
to answer questions. Students were endlessly disconnecting, even losing their exam answers.
Luckily the professor has a record of all *saved* answers, but the unsaved answers? Bye bye. He
specifically said students can email in answers just to be safe.
COMPLAIN COMPLAIN COMPLAIN. This situation is pathetic and ridiculous. Sounds like my school
(City College, smh).
& 1 § GiveAward Share Report Save
ay) motherthrowee “© 12 months ago
Well this doesn't bode well (my exam is today).
4% 1 § GiveAward Share Report Save
ay) throwaway59423 12 months ago
Good luck. Sucks such policies are in place @&
Sending all my positive thoughts and luck your way.
4% 1 GiveAward Share Report Save
100% Upvoted
cunyarchive
#¢ 1 karma
About Community
r/CUNY
An online Meet-up for CUNY students to
discuss what ever it is you wish to discuss!
4.5k 33
Members Online
& Created May 16, 2011
Create Post
COMMUNITY OPTIONS Vv
r/CUNY Rules
1. Keep all posts and discussions CUNY
related.
2.No spam or clickbaits.
3.No surveys or questionnaires without
prior approval.
4.Be Respectful ¥
5. Hate speech is not permitted here. ¥
6.No NSFW content. v
7. English only.
8. No Religion v
9.Do not slander others. Vv
10. Do not solicit or post personal
information of anybody without their
explicit permission.
Moderators
% Message the mods
u/tweetibird
u/TheMentalist95
u/3ggs95
VIEW ALL MODERATORS
TOP POSTS MAY 12TH 2020
TOP POSTS OF MAY, 2020
TOP POSTS 2020
Me Posted by u/motherthrowee 1 year ago =]
3 has anyone been told something rather alarming about the final exam
policy on Internet outages?
So we recently found out in one of my classes that the policy in the event that you lose your Internet
connection during your final would be that you will be considered to be done with the final, and
presumably only graded on what you completed. I have a couple of questions about this:
1. Have others been told this? Is this department-wide or university-wide at your school? CUNY-
wide?
2. Am I right to think this is absolutely bananas? It seems incredibly backward that the college is
implementing what I think are a bit extreme accommodations -- going to pass-fail, adapting
exams to be multiple-choice and/or open book, generally making things easier -- only to
introduce the possibility of failing, even if totally prepared, via pure random chance. I know it's
plausible some people might open the exam, decide it's too hard, quit, and say their Internet
went out... but it's also plausible people's Internet might go out, particularly when they can't go
anywhere reliable.
(To be 100% clear, this was not my professor's decision, nor did they seem AT ALL pleased about it
either. I don't want to come off as the entitled snowflake student. But I have unreliable Internet access,
and I'm sure I'm not the only one.)
@ 11 Comments Award Share [¥ Save Q@Hide [& Report
es This thread is archived
New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast
SORTBY BEST w
'o) FavMascot 11 year ago
I had a professor let my friend retake an exam after this happened to her and same with another
professor of mine. Iam on the same boat with bad connection we called and the response was
that they were redirecting WiFi to people who need it more which I found to be crazy, but maybe
you can make an appeal or something if this were to occur while you were taking a final.
& 2 §& GiveAward Share Report Save
ey) motherthrowee “© 1 year ago
I just hope it doesn't happen. The advice we were given was to "look for a better connection,"
but how exactly am I supposed to do that? Businesses are closed. Libraries are closed. War-
walking would probably get me in trouble with the proctoring system (which, so would
businesses and libraries). A mobile hotspot is expensive and puts me at the mercy of the
package delivery at my apartment (I've had two packages lost in the past two weeks alone). I've
had a technician look at the connection, but the nature of an Internet outage is that it is
unpredictable. You don't know when or if it's going to happen until it happens.
4 3 § GiveAward Share Report Save
thetwentiethyear 1 year ago
I have extremely unreliable internet access. I was presenting two separate times when my
internet went out and I had to reset my wifi, the whole process takes about 5-6 minutes. My
professor was not understanding about the presentation, so I am praying that I can just get
through the exam without the internet going out because she doesn't seem to care or get it. Hope
your connection doesn't fail either. It’s ridiculous how some professors have used this time to
make things harder for students.
& 1 GiveAward Share Report Save
a) motherthrowee “© 1 year ago
Just to clarify again, this doesn't seem like it was the professor's fault.
4 1 Give Award Share Report Save
e) imisspelledcuny ‘1 year ago
~#¥ This isn’t true. This actually happened to me twice during my final today. My professor reuploaded
the exam twice for me and told me to start where I left off. Blackboard isn’t that reliable as it
crashes for me out of the blue even though I have a reliable laptop and WiFi.
& 1 8 GiveAward Share Report Save
ey) motherthrowee “© 1 year ago
It seems like it might not be CUNY-wide then, we were definitely told it would be the case for
ours
4% 1 Give Award Share Report Save
ap) imisspelledcuny 1 year ago
I think it depends on the professor because it happened to me with two different professors
and both of them let me retake it. It doesn’t seem like a Cuny-wide policy at all not college
even. What college are you referring to by the way?
4 1 §) Give Award Share Report Save
ProfBird 1 year ago
It is definitely not a CUNY wide policy. You should complain to your school dean if this happens.
Not fair.
& 1 § Give Award Share Report Save
throwaway59423 12 months ago
You are NOT an entitled snowflake. During my 4 hours final on Monday, I was dialed in to
Blackboard Ultra for 2 hours through my phone b/c the professor was available for half the finals
to answer questions. Students were endlessly disconnecting, even losing their exam answers.
Luckily the professor has a record of all *saved* answers, but the unsaved answers? Bye bye. He
specifically said students can email in answers just to be safe.
COMPLAIN COMPLAIN COMPLAIN. This situation is pathetic and ridiculous. Sounds like my school
(City College, smh).
& 1 § GiveAward Share Report Save
ay) motherthrowee “© 12 months ago
Well this doesn't bode well (my exam is today).
4% 1 § GiveAward Share Report Save
ay) throwaway59423 12 months ago
Good luck. Sucks such policies are in place @&
Sending all my positive thoughts and luck your way.
4% 1 GiveAward Share Report Save
100% Upvoted
cunyarchive
#¢ 1 karma
About Community
r/CUNY
An online Meet-up for CUNY students to
discuss what ever it is you wish to discuss!
4.5k 33
Members Online
& Created May 16, 2011
Create Post
COMMUNITY OPTIONS Vv
r/CUNY Rules
1. Keep all posts and discussions CUNY
related.
2.No spam or clickbaits.
3.No surveys or questionnaires without
prior approval.
4.Be Respectful ¥
5. Hate speech is not permitted here. ¥
6.No NSFW content. v
7. English only.
8. No Religion v
9.Do not slander others. Vv
10. Do not solicit or post personal
information of anybody without their
explicit permission.
Moderators
% Message the mods
u/tweetibird
u/TheMentalist95
u/3ggs95
VIEW ALL MODERATORS
TOP POSTS MAY 12TH 2020
TOP POSTS OF MAY, 2020
TOP POSTS 2020
Title
"has anyone been told something rather alarming about the final exam policy on Internet outages?"
Description
This Reddit thread, posted on April 2, 2020, documented one student's concerns over the assessment policies of their class if they were to suffer a network outage and were unable to complete a given test as a result of such connectivity concerns.
This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
Creator
Anonymous
Source
CUNY Distance Learning Archive
Publisher
Reddit
Date
April 2, 2020
Rights
Obtained from Contributor - Copyright Unknown
Language
English
uri
https://www.reddit.com/r/CUNY/comments/gimf5b/has_anyone_been_told_something_rather_alarming/
Transcription
"So we recently found out in one of my classes that the policy in the event that you lose your Internet connection during your final would be that you will be considered to be done with the final, and presumably only graded on what you completed. I have a couple of questions about this:
Have others been told this? Is this department-wide or university-wide at your school? CUNY-wide?
Am I right to think this is absolutely bananas? It seems incredibly backward that the college is implementing what I think are a bit extreme accommodations -- going to pass-fail, adapting exams to be multiple-choice and/or open book, generally making things easier -- only to introduce the possibility of failing, even if totally prepared, via pure random chance. I know it's plausible some people might open the exam, decide it's too hard, quit, and say their Internet went out... but it's also plausible people's Internet might go out, particularly when they can't go anywhere reliable.
(To be 100% clear, this was not my professor's decision, nor did they seem AT ALL pleased about it either. I don't want to come off as the entitled snowflake student. But I have unreliable Internet access, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.)"
Have others been told this? Is this department-wide or university-wide at your school? CUNY-wide?
Am I right to think this is absolutely bananas? It seems incredibly backward that the college is implementing what I think are a bit extreme accommodations -- going to pass-fail, adapting exams to be multiple-choice and/or open book, generally making things easier -- only to introduce the possibility of failing, even if totally prepared, via pure random chance. I know it's plausible some people might open the exam, decide it's too hard, quit, and say their Internet went out... but it's also plausible people's Internet might go out, particularly when they can't go anywhere reliable.
(To be 100% clear, this was not my professor's decision, nor did they seem AT ALL pleased about it either. I don't want to come off as the entitled snowflake student. But I have unreliable Internet access, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.)"
Anonymous. “‘has Anyone Been Told Something Rather Alarming about the Final Exam Policy on Internet outages?’”. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/CUNY/comments/gimf5b/has_anyone_been_told_something_rather_alarming/, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/1913