Is it rude for me to ask professors for assignments in advance of the class starting?

I will be starting my first semester of an online graduate program in ~20 days. Because of my full-time position, I am expecting things to be quite chaotic over the next month or so and I have considered asking the professors whose classes I will be taking for homework assignments (not exams or lecture notes) in advance, prior to the courses starting, so that I can finish them as soon as possible. The material in this program is not new to me; judging by the textbook, I am very familiar with a lot of the material and would rather spend the time teaching myself what I don't know now before the courses begin, if possible. Would making such a request be considered rude, and if not, how would you suggest wording such a request?

Not rude, but many instructors do not have the assignments finalized until a few minutes before they hand them out.

It's not rude, but as the teacher I might want you to have done or heard some things in class before you write a paper. Doing the assignments before you take the class suggests that the in-class stuff is pretty useless. Why not spend the time reading the parts of the book you don't know?

You might also ask if it's possible to take a proficiency exam, instead of taking a class on material you already know well.

I am not sure if they should be giving you the assignments before the normal handout time. Here, assignments are designed to be finished in a specific amount of time and you most commonly have to hand them in exactly one or two weeks after they were handed out. Getting them early would present a problem as you are then having more time to finish them than you fellow students.

@skymningen: Indeed, and getting them early with the specific condition of having to submit them earlier would still present the possible problem of the other classmates learning about the assignments before they should (i.e. the same reason why you wouldn't be allowed to take the exam earlier).

7 Answers 7

It's not rude, but the professor might want to adjust the assignments later on, in which case he/she won't be able to satisfy your request. So go ahead making the request simply being honest in the wordings, but be prepared to be denied.

Elaborating further on previous answers:

You can certainly ask, phrasing your request using usual conventions of courtesy:

Dear Professor Rodriguez,

My name is Clarinetist, and I am taking your XYZZ 123 course this semester. Because of [state your reasons here], I would like to start working through the assignments before the semester starts, or at least as early as possible. If this is something that would be possible for this course, would you be able to give me the assignments in advance?

If this is not possible, I understand.

If you have any other advice for a student in my situation, that would be helpful as well.

Sincerely,

Clarinetist

Note the line "If this is not possible, I understand". You should not only say this but also mean it - if the professor declines your request, respect that decision. Don't argue about it, and don't assume she has just refused in order to spite you.

Now. There are a number of possible problems with trying to do the assignments ahead. There is a risk that you could have to redo assignments, or finding out that the time you spent doing them ahead was wasted. You should only proceed if you are willing to accept those risks - do not blame the professor, and do not expect that she will: explicitly warn you about them, accept the work you did do, or offer you due date extensions. (One possible reason for the professor to decline to give you the assignments ahead is to avoid hard feelings that could result if/when you find yourself frustrated by these issues.)

• She may not have decided yet what the assignments will be. This is very common, especially when a professor is teaching a course for the first time - many professors find it much easier to "play it by ear", and be able to adapt assignments to how the course goes, than to plan out the entire semester in advance.
• She may change the assignments before they are given out to the class at large. You might complete an assignment and then find it is no longer assigned at all, and that what's actually due is something completely different. I repeat: if you are asking for access to assignments before the rest of the class, then this is your responsibility to deal with, and you shouldn't expect assignment adjustments, due date extensions, etc.
• The assignments might depend on material that is only covered in lecture, and not discussed in the textbook. Maybe you can find this material somewhere else, maybe not.
  • Or it might appear that you can do them based on the textbook, but perhaps the lecture will explain that the textbook has an error, or use alternative definitions for words, or generally interpret the assignment in a different way than you thought. You may thus have to redo it.
  • Or there could be "dynamic" assignments that require information that doesn't even exist until after the lecture. "Analyze the data we collected in class on Tuesday." "Write an essay, incorporating points made by other students in Wednesday's class discussion."

  So in conclusion, even if the professor agrees, your plan may not be as successful as you hope, and may even take more of your time overall. As such, you may want to pay more attention to any "other advice for a student in my situation" that the professor may offer.