There are many excuses students can give whenever they want to skip classes in school, or were late and missed the attendance calls. Maybe they lack interest in attending the class or perhaps the class’s professor had given a tedious assignment that was due that day. But, for whatever reasons, they were absent.
If you’re that kind of student, you’re in luck because I’ve curated the best excuses for missing class that you can use. And they work for any school; whether high school, college, or a university!
Here are fifteen good excuses you could make to avoid punishment whenever you miss class that follow our best editorial standards:
What is The Best Excuse For Missing Class?
The best excuse for absenteeism from class is that you had diarrhea. Everyone knows how messy diarrhea is, and because you couldn’t control it, your teacher can’t exactly blame you for skipping class because of it.
However, that is just one excuse for tardiness and being absent from school/class.
Here are 15 more reasons to get away with unexcused absence from class that follow our best editorial practices:
1. “I had family problems at home”
Attendance at school is compulsory, but your family always comes first.
You’ll be let off the hook quickly when you bring up this excuse (especially if you throw in some acting points).
That’s because those teachers are adults with families, and they know some things can happen at home to make students skip classes.
So if you tell them you had some family emergency, or your parents or guardians called you for something important, they may overlook your absence in class.
If you play your cards right, this might be all you need to avoid punishment for being a truant. No further questions were asked.
2. Absenteeism due to an illness
In my school, calling in sick is enough to get excused from classes the rest of that day. You can’t lie about having a chronic illness because then, it’d be in your medical folder at the school clinic.
However, if you tell your lecturer that you got bit by a sick rat, or developed a cold, or something that doesn’t usually show signs post-treatment, you should be good to go.
Also Read: Can a senior date a freshman in high school?
3. “I had to attend to my siblings” excuse
If you’re a big bro or sis, you’ve obviously got some duties to your siblings that could overlap with your academic schedule. Leverage that.
Anytime you have to do something for them, and you’re not feeling any of that for school or classes, blame being late -or even skipping- on them. Your teacher would probably say you could have carried them, but ultimately, it’s not your fault.
Don’t use this excuse often because wise teachers would see through it.
4. “There was no toilet paper in the school stall, so I was kinda stuck.”
The best excuses stem from situations you can’t directly control. And this is one of the best.
If you go to the bathroom to take a waz and find out there’s no toilet paper AFTER you finished, you’d typically just sit there till some goof Samaritan came along. That’s a real-world scenario. Claim it.
Tell your teacher you didn’t find tissue paper and had to wait till someone got you one. Act like you care about the attendance policy and your coursework (you should). The blame will fall on the school, not you.
5. Got gum in your hair during lunch, and you had to get it out.
If you attend a community college, or simply a public-school, you’d know that it’s not rare to hear about pranks that involve gum in hair. No one wants a rainbow of gum on their hair, but you can use it as an excuse to skip lessons.
You don’t even need to get gum entangled in your hair. Just wash your hair BEFORE going to give your reason for not attending class.
6. You had a nose bleed and had to clean up
Nose bleeds actually happen somewhat often for students.
Maybe you hit your head, or the air was too cold for your nostrils.
And no one wants a bloody nose; it’s messy!
Telling your teachers that you had a bloody nose would likely not raise any further interrogations.
7. A junior requested your help cause they were lost
Many freshmen would try to find their way around your school in the new year.
Maybe you wouldn’t have even looked at any of them twice if they didn’t ask for your help.
But schools teach us to be generous and kind to everyone we meet.
Use that.
Tell your teacher that you found a wandering junior student and offered to help him find his way.
Say it took so long that you missed the class because they didn’t have clear directions to their destination.
While your teacher might be annoyed, he’d acknowledge that you were selflessly helping a junior around campus.
8. Your locker wouldn’t open
Another classic situation you can’t control. Sometimes, lockers at school get stuck and won’t open. No matter how hard you push or pull, it won’t budge. And whose fault is it?
Definitely not yours.
Give your teacher this excuse and watch what they say. If they ask why you didn’t get the janitor to help open it, tell them you couldn’t find him and that he was probably off-campus. But they don’t always ask follow-up questions.
9. You had to speak to one of your other teachers
This is a tricky excuse.
What if both teachers are close and they could easily confirm with a phone call? What if your teacher is determined to find out whether you’re lying or not?? You have to use someone they’re beefing with, so they wouldn’t be so eager to ask them. Or even use a higher authority, like your principal.
Using a higher authority is better because most teachers don’t have the guts to visit them unannounced. Why would they? To ask whether a teenager skipped class because they were in the principal’s office??
It’ll be too trivial to verify.
10. You had period cramps at home
I’m not a girl, so I’ve never had cramps.
But I can tell just how painful it can be.
Why not use it, girlies?
Tell your teacher that you had immense period cramps throughout the morning, so you couldn’t prepare on time.
Not like they have a tracker for your periods to verify, lol.
11. You accidentally slept in from all that homework last night
This time, make it the teacher’s fault.
Say you were so hard at work trying to finish up their assignment so you could turn it in the next day but stayed up into the night and woke up well past their class period.
Obviously, other students would finish the assignment to submit it on time, but it’s still a solid excuse.
12. Your siblings/puppy ripped up your homework
Full disclosure: this could lose you points from your teacher, but do we care?
This excuse can work if you don’t feel like going to school and want to miss class.
Tell your professor or teacher that you couldn’t attend their class because one of your siblings tore up your homework.
Or maybe you got a new puppy that was still learning the ropes of living in your house and didn’t know NOT to tear up your homework.
Sure, your professor may view you as irresponsible, but it’s a viable reason nonetheless.
13. You had a doctor’s appointment
Everybody gets a doctor’s appointment some time or another.
You aren’t any different.
And you know the good thing about doctor appointments?
They can happen any time of the school year.
Imagine how crowded hospitals would be if there was a particular time of the year when anyone could have a doctor’s appointment.
Chaos!
Because of this, teachers can hardly decline this excuse.
Of course, the smart ones may ask to see a doctor’s note.
Tell them your mum’s got it.
Fingers crossed, they don’t ask any other questions.
14. You had diarrhea
Everyone hates diarrhea.
Even thinking about it is irritating, isn’t it?
That’s exactly how your teacher would feel if they heard this excuse.
Diarrhea is messy and almost uncontrollable.
If they find out you are suffering from it, they should have some compassion to let you go.
It worked for everyone at my school who used it, so it should also work for you.
15. You were with the counselor because you were sad but lost any motivation for school and sat in the bathroom all day.
Mental health is a real thing.
So is our laziness to not come to school and, therefore, to find excuses for missing class.
If you tell your teacher you felt sad throughout the morning for no reason and lost all will to learn anything, why would they challenge you?
You could add the counselor narrative to spice things up, making you sound more convincing.
But this doesn’t mean depression isn’t real, fellow teenagers!