The fall semester is coming to a close here at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi as students prepare for the most dreaded time known as finals.

It is the time of the semester where students scramble to give their last efforts to get the best grade in the class, with some of them having graduation on the line. But there are some students who have had some wild excuses for missing an exam or other circumstances.

Many professors here at TAMU-CC have heard nearly every excuse in the book on why a student can’t take an exam. Professor of Art David Fuentes recalls one instance at the start of teaching Art and Society where one student had a run in with the law.

“He emailed me and said that I got arrested for some personal issues,” said Fuentes, “He didn’t go into why he got arrested, he just said my court date has fallen on the exam day, if something happens to me prior to the court date, is there anyway I can make it up in some capacity.”

Fuentes revealed that the student was able to take the exam seemingly having a good court hearing. One other instance where a student got in trouble with the law was in Professor of Psychology Steven Seidel’s class.

“I had somebody that was in prison,” said Seidel, “they contacted me that they weren’t going to make it to the exam. …and my response was ‘Well, I hope that wasn’t your one phone call,’ and another was ‘Can you excuse that absence,’ which is a tough one to call.”

But the one memorable excuse Seidel has heard of was when a student was calling that she was going to miss the exam because she was going into labor.

“They called me during this time to let me know that they weren’t going to make it to the exam as they were giving birth,” said Seidel. The student was distraught to which Seidel said it was okay and that they would work with her on setting up an exam time.

Political Science professor Juan Carlos Huerta recalled excuses of students being hospitalized and being in a car accident. But the one moment that stands out is when some of the students who usually skips class and comes in for the final exam late.

“The finals are at 11 am, and I can always tell who skips class all the time,” said Huerta, “because you know what time they come for the final. …12:30 p.m.”

Huerta also added that he had a student drop by to take the final at 1:30 p.m. assuming it was a drop-in final, meaning they could come in at any time to take the final. So when preparing for a final, make sure you know when your exam times are, and be sure to let your professor know immediately if anything comes up.