How can I ask to not be assigned a seat near a particular person during exams? I'm going to write my exams next month, but since COVID-19 we have special rules on how exams should be carried out and one of them is that every student is assigned a place to sit in the examination hall in advance. I won't go into details, but there is one person next to whom I don't want to be sitting. My reason to not sit near him has nothing to do with the pandemic. And since our class is pretty small, it's very likely to get a place somewhere near him.
That's why I'm planning to write an email on Monday to the unit in my university, which is responsible for the organization of the exams (if necessary to my professors as well), explaining them that it doesn't matter to me where I'm going to sit, but I just want a seating place which is not directly next to him.
Do you think that's a good idea and is there anything else that you could maybe recommend me to do?
Yes, I think you can ask. You don't need to give a reason if things are handled justly. &quot;Personal reasons&quot; should be enough. If the person has harassed you in the past or is known to you to cheat you have adequate reason.
And, it might be important to do so if you think that it would affect your performance.
You will need to decide whether to give a reason if asked. But be honest without revealing more than necessary. You might not achieve your objective, of course. Be ready for that.