i have to deffer one of my exams for a family emergency, can i write it when i return from the break, or do i have to wait till reading week

You don't defer an exam for your convenience. You will write it during reading week, and if you miss that for any reason whatsoever, you will fail the course.

Not managing your time wisely and leaving yourself inadequate time to study is not a legitimate reason to defer.

Couldn't agree more with previous poster. Also consider that your deferred will likely be more difficult than what is being written in December. In the deferred case, the instructor has lost the help of her/his TA and will have to grade the exam(s) themselves. How happy would you be if you were the instructor, set a Christmas exam, graded the exams along with their TAs, and then have to set a completely different exam and grade it on their own two months later when their mind is on either Term 2s courses or on their research?

There are no deferrals in the real world. Part of having a job (any job) is meeting deadlines. Repeatedly saying "I'm not ready/It's not done" will be a sure way to get yourself fired. And once you have been fired (especially multiple times) good luck ever finding a job in your field.

It's one thing to have a legitimate reason (I deferred an exam in my second year due to a serious medical issue that was discovered the afternoon before), but "not ready" won't fly. Besides, they will ask for documentation. Unless your doctor is a total sleaze, they won't give it to you.

Also, deferred exams are usually harder, may contain additional material to compensate for the extra time to prepare and are generally of poor outcome, relative to regular exams.

If you really need to defer it- defer it. Mac allows one freebie. But you will have to wait until reading week to write it, and you can not miss it under any circumstances or you get a zero for the exam.

That must be new. I had to turn in documentation for my first one.

Originally Posted by naval23

If you really need to defer it- defer it. Mac allows one freebie. But you will have to wait until reading week to write it, and you can not miss it under any circumstances or you get a zero for the exam.

Originally Posted by Alomar12

That must be new. I had to turn in documentation for my first one.

It's not new - they've done it for at least for the last seven years, and probably long before that. They just don't advertise it for obvious reasons. It's for things like oversleeping, traffic, etc that otherwise aren't legitimate excuses for missing an exam. I think most schools have a similar policy.
If you have documentation and it's a legitimate reason, they'd rather see that - and you should still have your freebie.