Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Ella Van Beers (student number) I am appealing to drop PSYC342 past the drop date due to extenuating circumstances. This appeal considers the health issues that have challenged me throughout my time in this course.
I am a student with a brain injury, which causes me to have impaired memory and retention. I have had several neuropsychological assessments and I am receiving ongoing treatment with a neurologist to help manage my ongoing symptoms. Part of my treatment plan is working to minimize the burden that this injury has on my day-to-day functioning, especially as a university student.
My neuropsychologist has noted that my memory issues have declined recently, resulting in spending energy compensating for this through accessing support on campus. I have been receiving support from Accessibility Services, Counseling Services, Student Academic Success Services, and my professors as much as possible to ensure I am given an equal opportunity when it comes to evaluations.
Despite feeling that I was doing everything in my power to manage my health, when I wrote the PSYC342 midterm on October 27th, I was immediately very overwhelmed by the amount of memorization required for the exam. For example, the test consisted of a long answer question worth 24 marks of drawing out an exact graph that was shown on a PowerPoint slide from class. This was a large portion of the test where visual memory and regurgitation is solely relied on. As someone who is weak in this area, there was no manageable way for me to work around this heavily-weighted question. I could not approach it by thinking of related concepts, rely on my strong problem solving skills, or use any previous knowledge of the subject, which are the strategies I use to compensate for my lack of memory.
Following the exam, I emailed the professor promptly requesting to meet with him to discuss it. I was hoping to discuss the test and how to avoid feeling as if I didn¿¿t know any of the material due to the testing style. He requested that I wait until I receive my mark. By the time I received my mark two weeks later, he requested that I wait an additional two weeks to speak with him. I found this very inaccessible and unhelpful, as I wanted to be as proactive as possible, given my situation. My concerns were not based on marks; they were based on feeling that my individual needs were being met in this course.
In the future, I plan to make more meetings with a Student Academic Success Services in order to minimize the effects of my injury on my academic work. I will continue to seek out counseling for anxiety and accommodations from accessibility services. My doctor and I have also worked out a plan to change my medications that may have been negatively impacting my cognition, and I am soon scheduled for an MRI to help better target a treatment for my symptoms.
Given the situation outlined above, would like to drop this course. As a student working with a disability, I feel my performance in this class was not an accurate reflection of my abilities.

Thanks you very much for your consideration. Sincerely
Ella Van Beers