Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to have dropped and given credit standing on my courses for this academic year, and the second half of the year following.

This academic year I have faced severe mental health issues, stronger than I ever have had before. The long standing depression, mixed with other heath issues caused me to have low energy, the inability to focus or concentrate, bad memory and ability to absorb information, particularly for courses and sections requiring memorization and low mood and low energy.

I often would find myself too tired or too weak to study, when I did I would be consumed by negative thoughts, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) thoughts, and constant distractions, which would cause mental anxious and cause me to leave my studies and distract myself with other stimulants and distractions. This caused me to often find myself laying in my room, distracting myself with the internet and eating a large amount of food, causing a weight gain of almost forty pounds in the past year. As the condition worsened, I often found myself unable to get out of bed, or do even the simplest of tasks; this includes going days without brushing and even longer without showering, which ended up averaging less than once a week, and periods of up to three weeks without a shower or face wash. I had seen Dr. Khanna and Dr. McNavin, a psychologist and psychiatrist at Queen's Counselling Services on a regular basis and for whom I have asked for written support of my claims. Dr. McNavin may be able to explain the mental and psychical strains I was going through and how it negatively affected my schoolwork and life.

I often let academics, hygiene and my social life slip away. I was missing dates for online tests, webwork assignments and online homework assignments. I was missing deadlines, online assignments which, many of which allowed for multiple attempts, in order to get one-hundred percent. Lectures were missed, as I spent most of my time in my room, to myself and cutoff from the rest of the world. I often got more depressed when I met with friends, and lived in a constant struggle in my head between depression, regret from the past, anxiety about life and my future, OCD thoughts and tendencies, fear, sleepiness, and lack of energy and focus.

These past few months was the worst time of my life, and of course if I could undo it I would. I did attempt constantly to get out of this rut, and my performance was in no way determined by extracurriculars, social life or partying. I did not engage in any extracurriculars and did not party or drink at all these semesters, and my social life was rare at best. This was do to a high amount of emotional distress, depression, mental health issues and anxiety. These psychological problems have very much affected my well-being, with my academics being a consequence of these issues.

The problem most effected itself during exam time, where I was unable to concentrate or focus on my work, and the stress added to the anxiety and mental health issues created a mix which hurt me even further and caused me to even further fall in my academia and grades. I was able to study somewhat for my exams, however I ended up blanking on all of them. Even Econ 212 whose finals are similar year after year, created a blank for me, even though i had done several identical finals earlier and knew what questions would be on the exam, as was accounting and statistics which should have been straightforward for me. This was the biggest effect to my academics, beyond the ability to concentrate on studies or classwork, or the anxiety and depression following me, going into the exams I still felt I would be able to pass, until I ended up blanking (forgetting concepts) on even the most minuscule and simplest of problems. I saw a tutor once a week for math, and econ 212 in first semester and again these courses, with the addition of econ 222 in the second semester. The tutor would go over concepts with me, and after every session I felt like I understood the material and was able to do practice problems and quizzes with ease, however when it came to the midterms, exams and quizzes I often froze, as I did in my exams, and I believe my mental health may have also played a part in my inability to retrieve and carry information.

During the next semester I was off to a better stop, which convinced me to try for another semester, however it was after reading week when I noticed another large fall. I was able to focus better on my midterm studying, however I ended up 'blanking' on my midterms, Econ 222 which I had been in the library for four days straight studying for, in addition to studying during reading week and throughout, was one in which I blanked throughout and the midterm I had been confident I would do well on, ended up being a failed exam, where my grade was less than half of what I expected, this effect and fear carried onto my other midterms. In addition, I was always unable to remember material for my computer science class, which was pure memorization. I thought the first of four tests (each worth 20) was just a fluke and one bad grade I can handle, but by the time I got the grade for my second, I realized I was doing bad, the third and forth ones also caused me to blank on a test which was purely multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks and if I could have dropped the course, I would have if I had known I would have this problem before the drop date. During exam time I struggled with the the ability to grasp even the simplest of concepts in studying for economics and math courses, two of my exams I did not even attend because I had known that I would have failed, this exam time, it was not only blanking and inability to concentrate that affected me, it was an inability to retrieve material and understand even basic concepts.

I have created a future plan to avoid such repeats in the rest of my academic studies. I have completed a plan to take steps, along my path to mental stability and academic success. This summer I am taking three summer courses, and plan to devote full attention to them, I am not partaking in a summer job or committing to any activities beyond my schoolwork. I will be at home where I will have constant monitoring and support from my family. I am taking courses that I feel I can succeed in and have an action plan which I am partaking in with the help of my family, to schedule time, eat healthy and exercise daily. Based on my results I may actually plan on taking the fall semester at home also, where I will have more support here and be able to take elective courses I can succeed in. Based on those results I may come back in the winter semester and finish that year and the following academic year in Kingston. If during these next four months, I see sustained improvement, similar to what I saw at the beginning of this last semester, before reading week, and am able to sustain it, I may come back to Kingston in fall. I will take an easier load, with some repeated courses, for which the material I understand but whose final execution, the final was not successful (econ 212, econ 250, comm 211). I also plan on studying these courses throughout the month of August in order to fully understand these courses and possibly have the level of depth needed at the end of the course by September, allowing me to de-stress and focus on possibly also taking econ 250. This will help me further gain a good academic semester, increase my confidence and decrease my anxiety, setting me up for success in the second semester. I also plan on taking summer courses next year as to ease the strain on the following year. In addition I have made a plan for proper scheduling, regular exercise, proper diet and forcing myself out of my house and to the library, along with a better regime for counselling and medication, which I am working on with my doctor in Vancouver.

I am sincerely asking for credit standing on econ 250, econ 232 and CISC P81, and a dropped grade for all my other courses. Thank You.

My final request is for a dropped grade with regards to the second semester of last year and the summer. During the winter semester I had been doing well in my courses, however my uncle, who I had considered a second dad, died. His status was became terminal in early March, his death was the during the last week of classes and his funeral was during the first week of exams. As Dr. Khanna can support, I had been close to my uncle, often closer than with my own father. Upon his hospitalization, she provided me with a letter for an extension of my final assignments. However after his death I was distraught and never handed in my final assignment for Geography, which was worth 40, I also wasn't able to hand in my final essay for my Economics course and as such failed those courses. In addition, I was unable to study for my exam, and although I did attend the exam, I started crying, as I had previously done in the library and at home during the weeks prior, I was unable to complete my exam and actually left it blank, writing only a note, explaining why the exam was not complete. In the end, I believe my case is strong to have these courses dropped as the final assignments and exam was not complete because of my grievance. I was however able to pass Gender Studies, because it had no exam and no major final assignment, there was one short writing assignment which I had to do, and which I complete albeit late and not to full quality, I am not asking for any specail standing in this course however, only the other two.

The big mistake I undertook was starting math in the summer. I was still not in a proper state for the first month and thus one third of the course, by the time the mid-semester exam came I failed, as I had essentially failed first half of the course, which was worth 50, it made it difficult to succeed. I had thought of dropping the course, but I had been told by my family that I must complete the course and that my father would not support me in going to Queen's for another year if I did not complete the course. I stayed, although I finally realized it was too late and was not able to compensate for the first half of the course, come final exam.


I am sorry for the late response, however I am adding another appeal for the deadline. I was after the winter semester 2015, not aware of the twenty one day deadline, in addition I was still in an abnormal state, after the summer semester I had planned on coming to school in September and filing the appeal then. By the time I had come to school and learnt about the appeals I realized I was past the deadline anyway, by the time I was doing my appeal in October, I was not in a proper mental state, I never was able to do it and by the time the semester had closed I knew I would need to appeal that semester, I decided to wait until this semester to file a large appeal in order to outline all my issues in once concise document and appeal.


I would like to thank you for reading my letter and considering my request, my uncle's death certificate is available and I will be sending notice from Dr. McNavin and Dr. Khanna as soon as I receive them.