Students, if you find yourself falling just a little short of your deadline with only a little work left to finish but no way to get everything submitted exactly on time, you may be able to trick yourself into meeting your deadlines by marking down a slightly earlier date on your calendar.
Basically, plan to finish a few days earlier than your deadline allows, so that you can absorb that delay without using an extension if something small comes up to get you off track. If an assignment takes a little longer than planned, or you had to skip a study day because of illness, you can make up that lost day or two with the difference between your calendar date and the school-assigned deadline.
If nothing comes up and you turn in your work a couple of days before your deadline, you'll be just a little ahead of schedule, which leaves more options available to you in case of bigger emergencies later on or even an earlier graduation!