Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean,

I am writing to request credit standing for PHIL318 in the Fall 2020 term. I have a diagnosis of persistent depressive disorder and anxiety which has been significantly exasperated by the shift to online learning and by the general difficulties of the pandemic. During the 24-hour exam for PHIL318 I experienced significant anxiety but had believed that despite this I had succeeded at responding in a suitable manner to the exam.
However, because of unreasonable panic regarding the timeframe and size of the assessment, I failed to exercise necessary caution and fundamentally misunderstood the instructions of the exam. Half of the work which I submitted could not be marked by the instructor at all, resulting in a failing grade on the examination: a final mark of 6/20. Compared both to what I believe myself able to achieve, and my performance on other written pieces in the same class, I do not believe this accurately represents my level of achievement; rather, I consider it representative primarily of anxious error caused considerable stress beyond my control and beyond what I have normally been accustomed to before the pandemic.
While I would agree that my illness cannot be, at this point considered, new or unexpected in of itself, I believe that the alternation in circumstances brought upon by quarantines and remote learning has had a sufficient negative impact upon my mental health and academic performance which warrant consideration.

Sincerely,
Christian Matte