If I am too sick to write a mid-term at the regularly scheduled time, do I just fill out a MSAF? is this supposed to be done a few days prior to the exam? I'm thinking it would be after... since you wouldn't know until the day of, if you were going to be ill or not, but I'm scared to miss the test in case the form isn't approved, and ends up being graded as a zero.. or are they usually approved?

When you go to fill out an MSAF form, it actually only gives you options for the past 4 days, so u have to fill it out after your midterm, yes.

You have 5 days to fill out the form, and then prof will decide what to do with the midterm %, either oral, deffered written, or put on exam.

This is the first year that these forms are being used (usually you have to get a doctors note and have it approved by your faculty) but from what I hear they are usually accepted. That being said, they can always say no, although that is unlikely. Make sure that when you fill out the form you immediately email your professor indicating that you were ill and that you filled out the missed work form online. Also, be sure to double check your course outline/syllabus for the course to see what the specific policies the professor has outlined in the event that you miss an assignment or midterm. This is super important since each professor has different policies that they would like you to do (this is where it might say what would happen to the weighting if you had missed that midterm, ie. the weighting would be added to your final, spread between your assignments, etc.)