Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am sorry to write to you, as I am sure you are receiving plenty of emails regarding classes this semester. I just wanted to touch base and see if there is anything I can do about my grade in the ANAT 316 course this semester.

I was hoping to take the option of my final exams taking the bulk (or all) of my mark for the course, seeing as I did not do well on the first two tests. The second of which I had to postpone and rewrite after being in a car accident on the 401 on my way to class. I have to work full time hours in order to pay for school and rent and such, to make ends meet. This resulted in not doing as well as I¿¿d hoped. I attended 90 of lectures and labs (some scheduling issues at work), but with other classes and working at my two jobs I just did not get the results that I wanted, or needed, in order to succeed in this class. My hope was to really buckle down for the third test and final exams, but the third test did not happen, and the final exams were all online.

I know that I was not able to rewrite the lab exam because I had already completed it, but it took me six hours and I was extremely frustrated and upset about the entire situation. I did not put in the effort that I could have had I written my exam as scheduled. When I found out I could not rewrite, I decided to forget about it and move on to focusing on the final exam, but I was still nervous. I watched all the YouTube videos and read all the articles that were provided in order to be better prepared for the next exam.

Due to all the confusion of the course, I was hoping to just take the option you mentioned where my final mark could be the mark for my course, but I think I took that too personally and allowed it to cause me increased anxiety during my studies as well as during the final exam. I was not anticipating taking this If there was any way I could just get a 50 or ¿¿P¿ mark for the course, I would be so grateful. I was on track to graduate before this course, and it is the only one I need left to graduate and cannot do so without it. I am in my final year of Physical and Health Education and it is also the last year the program is running, and this is the only course keeping me from graduating as planned.

I know that none of this is your fault, and that you are most likely going to have to answer several emails about this semester and I am sorry about that. I just know that my anxiety levels are at an all-time high when I am in school and that it was made even worse after my accident in February, then with the added stress of COVID-19 and still having to work and complete school work I just could not perform to the required standards.

This is my second time taking this course, and I do not feel like I can learn from Dr. Easteal¿¿s methods. I have had issues in the past with mental health and had to take a two-year break in order to feel like I was fully able to commit to being back in school. I passed all my courses this year while working and commuting to Kingston, but even as a second time through ANAT 316 I did not pass. Dr. Easteal¿¿s lectures include him reading out of the textbook and labelling the diagrams given as we follow along. However, most of the time he labels the diagram, scratches it out and rewrites it several times a lecture, only to begin the next lecture going over all the things he got wrong in the previous lecture. It gets very confusing and makes studying difficult, not knowing if what he has labeled in correct.

The entire course is extremely frustrating and the only thing keeping me from graduating. If I could just get a ¿¿P¿ in the course I could graduate and not have to do this course a third time. If I do have to take the course a third time, there is still no saying for certain that I will pass, seeing as I am clearly not learning from Dr. Easteal. This fact, along with the stress and extraordinary situation COVID-19 put us all in, I would be exceedingly grateful with a pass in this course and to be able to graduate while Physical and Health Education is still a program at Queen¿¿s University.