Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom this may concern,

The following letter is to explain the extenuating circumstances that resulted in an unsuccessful CISC 124 grade that does not accurately depict the width and breadth of my knowledge in this course. As such I would like to ask for a Credit Standing status in the course.
Over the 2022 February reading week, I sustained a severe concussion. Within a few days, I developed a debilitating painful headache, nausea, sensitivity to light as well as confusion. These symptoms were so bad I would struggle to sleep at night and was unable to see a screen without extreme nausea and pain, I would wake up in a confused panic often taking over a minute to figure out I was safe in my room. As you may be able to imagine it was nearly impossible to complete any schoolwork. This can be corroborated by my accommodation of a 7-day extension later becoming 14 days for any assessment from April 1st to 14th as well as by consulting my Academic Advisor, who after seeing my medical and academic records has written a letter of support for a Credit Standing grade.
During this time I was completely unable to do any work on a screen. CISC 124, Introduction to Computer Science II is completely screen-based as lecture recordings, assignments and practice problems all require the internet or an IDE to code in. This 2-week break alongside the still-lasting symptoms and the catching up I needed to do left me nearly 4 weeks behind in the class. As you may notice looking at my academic transcript this translated to lower Winter Semester marks but an exceptionally low CISC 124 mark, in fact, the lowest mark and only D on my transcript. Until this incident, my lowest grade was a B, making this D a clear outlier.
I understand this appeal is past the standard 1-term deadline for Credit Standing Appeals but this is also due to extenuating circumstances. After receiving my final grade and consulting an academic advisor over the summer term, I reached out to both my professor and later my advisor to get a hold of my exam. This process took almost 3 months before I was able to see the exam. After evaluating my options I decided to apply for a Credit Standing status for this course and reached out to Deb Bruce, an Academic Advisor who has helped me along with this process for a letter of recommendation for my appeal. As well as a family doctor who offered a note on the impacts of this concussion. These inevitable 3rd party human delays took time well past the deadline.
My grade in CISC 124 was greatly lowered by the impaired learning which affected me over the span of nearly a third of the semester. This has not only affected me mentally but resulted in my no longer being in the Bachelor of Computing Honors program. I now have to retake courses including CISC 124 to be let back into this program due to the impact my concussion had on my Winter 2022 grades. I hope this helps accurately show my situation and help you make a decision. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. To assist in your evaluation process I have attached relevant documentation along with my appeal. If there is any way I can assist you in coming to a decision please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Thank you in advance for your unbias judgment.


Best regards,

Rohan Singh
SN: 20267119