Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Madam or Sir,
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to formally request a regrade of my final
exam for MATH 121, which I completed this summer. Several issues related to the
course, exam logistics, and communication have significantly impacted my performance,
and I believe they warrant your consideration in reviewing my request.
Throughout the term, there were numerous errors in the course materials, delays in
communication from the professor, and technical issues that affected many students,
including myself. These issues compounded during both the midterm and final exams,
compromising my ability to perform at my best. I’m highlighting some of the midterm
exam issues here as well, as they provide appropriate context to consider my request
for a regrade of the final exam.

Midterm Exam Issues:
During the midterm exam, the proctor disconnected from the session, resulting in the
loss of over 20 minutes of exam time. This caused substantial stress and disrupted my
concentration. Furthermore, the midterm format did not align with the syllabus, as
changes were made just 72 hours prior to the exam, which I understand may be a
violation of university policy. Although the grading was reviewed following the exam
due to the widespread issues, errors were still found. The circumstances of my personal
midterm exam were so dire that the teaching staff eventually agreed to set the grade
aside, if my final exam yielded a better outcome. While I remain thankful for their
openness to address a problematic situation that was not exclusively of their doing, you
will no doubt appreciate that it put a premium on the need for my final exam to be free
of technical difficulties - something it turned out to be anything but…

Final Exam Issues:
The final exam was equally problematic. The proctoring process was delayed, with
repeated interruptions, including one instance where the proctor disconnected with
only 30 minutes remaining in the exam. The time lost in reconnecting and coordinating
with IT caused further delays and a loss of focus. While IT was eventually able to extend
the exam time, the entire process took so long that I spent over five hours at the
computer without access to food or water, adding to the physical and mental
exhaustion of the situation.

Lack of Response from Teaching Team:
After the final exam, I reached out to the teaching team to address these
concerns immediately but received no response despite multiple follow-up
emails. I tried again to connect once grades had been released, to no avail. After
several attempts to contact the teaching team, I was eventually informed that
the exam could not be released for review - something I struggle with, knowing
that (i) past exam reviews have identified mistakes in the correction, in Math 121
and other online courses at Queen’s; (ii) the course grade implies a low final
exam result, which does not match with my perception of the exam and my
mastery of the subject and (iii) coming back to the teacher’s offer to set aside the
mid term if the final exam yielded a better result, I currently have no way to
assess the manner in which my final course grade was compiled. In a past course
were technology challenges were involved, a brief zoom meeting with my
professor revealed that when proctoring issues arose, the exam separated itself
in two in the system and as such half of the questions were marked as failed
when the grade updated into the system.

Review Opportunity & Process:
Given the above, I made a request for a virtual meeting with a member of the teaching
team to review my exam. Once again, my request remained unanswered. Given the long
stream of unanswered emails, I went ahead and requested an informal regrade - as
outlined in the Arts and Science faculty guidelines. I was eventually told that the
professor had reviewed the exam and deemed the grading to be fair, but that if I wished
to review the exam, I would need to travel to Kingston in person.
As an online student residing in Montreal, this is not feasible for me. I am currently
recovering from a hip surgery in which a bone tumour was removed from my sitting
bone, I cannot sit properly, let alone drive several hours to Kingston to review the final
exam. Given this, I once again emailed the teaching team to ask for a virtual meeting to
review the exam with them, but that reasonable request was ignored. I would like to
point out that the program in which I am enrolled is completely online, it is illogical to
expect students, who are meant to take courses from anywhere around the world, to
present themselves on campus to review an exam.

Request for Regrade:
This particular course grade is important to me, as I am currently preparing to apply for
admission to a mechanical engineering program. As it stands, I believe that I am just 2%
away from achieving the next letter grade. This matters. However, my concerns go
beyond the grade itself. The issues I’ve encountered reflect a pattern of
miscommunication, non-compliance with university policies, and grading inconsistencies
that I believe should be addressed.

I have made every effort to resolve these matters directly with the professor and
teaching team, including requesting virtual meetings and submitting inquiries about
potential grading errors. However, their lack of response and cooperation has left me
with no choice but to formally request a regrade. While I understand that a regrade
typically requires evidence of specific grading errors, I hope that the numerous logistical
and procedural issues I’ve outlined, as well as the teaching team’s refusal to grant a
review of my exam, will be taken into account. Short of first reviewing the actual exam,
there is no way to provide evidence of specific grading errors.

I will attach relevant documentation, including emails, course announcements and
sections of the syllabus, to support my request. I would greatly appreciate your
attention to this matter and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Charlotte Carrier
Student ID - 20377018
MATH 121 – Summer Term 2024