Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Appeal Letter
Matthew Murphy

I took my Econ 255 final exam on December 16th, 2021 I was supposed to begin at 7pm and end at 9pm. However, I had a technical issue while in the Examity system and my proctor was unable to join the system and oversee the exam. The proctor was supposed to join within the first 10 minutes so that I could begin the exam. I worked with Queens IT services to resolve this technical issue, but we were completely unsuccessful to resolve it in Examity. For 90 minutes I struggled with Queens IT services. Ultimately the proctor joined via Zoom. By The time I started my exam, I was so frustrated and rattled I was not able to think and was in no position to right the exam.

I did not have a proctor or any academic advisor during the time that I was waiting. Our course Professor expressed to our class several times that if we had issues during our exam, we were not to contact him for assistance, so I was not sure what to do other than contact Queens IT services.

Once the proctor joined via Zoom I began to write the exam (after a full 90 minutes of struggle to resolve the technical issue and waiting for the proctor to join the exam). I was so upset and frustrated by the exam software and unsuccessful problem solving to be in any condition to write the exam.

After the exam and the conclusion of my other course exams, I contacted the professor on Dec 23rd, 2021 to explain my technical problems and request to retake the exam. I did not have any mark for the exam, but assumed I would have done badly given the circumstances and my state of mind.

In early December, our professor had offered that student in the class could chose to defer their exam to January owing to personal reasons. I chose to go head and write the exam.

On Dec 23rd I asked to join my classmates in this deferred exam, as my exam had experienced technical issues and was not a fair representation of my knowledge.

My professor was not compelled by my situation and refused to allow me to retake my exam (and join my classmates as they would write their exam on Jan 18th.) He indicated that at no point did I refuse to write the exam, but continued to problem solve and attempt to write it. I didn??t realize I had any choice in the matter. I assumed I would receive a zero if I just stopped trying to problem solve and stopped writing. I am confused by this distinction.

My professor indicated that I could have deferred the exam on the basis of a personal challenge, had I chosen to do so in advance of attempting to write it. But isn??t a personal challenge identified during the exam just as valid as a personal challenge identified before the exam?

My personal challenge was a technical failure in the Examity portal for 90 minutes, which caused a mental health collapse during the remaining writing of the exam. Is this not equally as valid as someone who has that collapse trigged in advance of the exam?

I contacted the professor on Dec 23rd, despite this, the professor went ahead and marked that exam, integrated it into my final mark and posted it on Christmas Day.

I believe my exam mark to be a poor, unfair representation of my understanding and performance in the course. The final mark is the same.

I want the opportunity to write a fair exam, one without technical glitches that limit my ability to perform and fairly assess my knowledge.

Matthew Murphy
Incident Report:
INC0070975
NetID: 18mm140
Student : 20171261