The rules apply to everyone, including you.

Almost every semester, a student ignores the rules.

For example, they fail to finish benchmark problems on time for class, and then complain if points are taken off.

They fail to finish term paper Benchmarks on time, and complain if they do poorly on the final term paper.

You need to understand that all the rules will be strictly enforced, unless there is a documented reason not to enforce them (e.g., a note from a doctor stating that you were sick on a particular day).

What is the reason to be so strict?

The reason is to be fair to all the students in the class.

If a student fails to do benchmark problems on time, we can't really determine their conceptual understanding of the material, because they haven't done the work.

Because every part of the course builds on the previous part of the course, not keeping up with benchmark problems means falling further and further behind in your mastery of the course material.

This also means that the student cannot be of assistance to his or her teammate, because he or she doesn't know the material at all.

Similarly, if a student fails to complete a term paper Benchmark on time, we often contact the student shortly after the deadline to remind them that they have missed the deadline.

Sometimes a student replies with a valid reason, and we do our best to be understanding.

Very often, however, a student will just say that he or she is very busy and did not get to it, but will get back to it later.

Unfortunately, "later" usually means "never".

A student who does this is often very unhappy with the grade that he or she receives for the course.

If the student complains, we gently point out that every student taking the course, and every student who is working on a term paper is very busy; many have senior projects, or are interviewing for medical or graduate school, or participate in sports events regularly, or have a very heavy course load, or may be doing research; but each of these other students managed his or her time effectively so as to meet the deadlines.

How would these students feel if they found out that they had worked incredibly hard to meet all of their deadlines, sacrificing sleep and juggling different responsibilities to finish in time, and a student who had ignored the deadlines suffered no penalty?

Would you feel that was fair if you had done all the benchmark problems on time, or if you had handed the term paper in on time?

Summary:

The rules apply to you, and will be strictly enforced.