Manage Appeals
Petition Type: 2
ID: 5808
Submitted: May 27, 2019 at 9:41:31 AM
Relevant Petition: 5780
New Information: To the Associate Dean (Studies):
I wish to seek credit standing in seven courses that were completed between the Winter 2018 and Winter 2019 academic semesters. These courses are as follows: MATH 121, PHYS 117 (Winter 2018); ANAT 215, BCHM 218, CHEM 281, STAT 263 (Fall 2018); ANAT 216 (Winter 2019). As many of these courses are passed the One-Term Appeal Deadline, this letter follows an initial appeal to waive the One-Term Deadline.
I wish to obtain credit standing in the above-mentioned courses as a result of experiencing symptoms of a chronic mental health disorder that put me at an academic disadvantage and was undiagnosed and untreated until February 2019. I had been experiencing focus and attention difficulties, for as long as I could remember, that were particularly impactful on my academic endeavours but were prevalent in other parts of my life as well. I had grown up in an academically driven environment and attended a school where students were competitive, and I always held myself to a high standard. As a result, I developed a mindset of responsibility for my learning and saw outcomes I deemed as unacceptable to be my fault and not heavily influenced my external factors. I was fortunate to learn good study skills, time management techniques, and planning/organizational skills. Additionally, I was always engaged in my learning and motivated to be knowledgeable. It is for these reasons that there were few signs of my struggling that could have led to a teacher or family member to suggest I seek help. At the time, I was not considering any other possibility than that I was just not trying hard enough to focus and be attentive.
Around midway through high school (2015) I identified my challenges with sustaining focus as a barrier academically, but was satisfied with other variables, for example I was not often struggling to understand concepts in classes and would seek clarification if it was needed. This challenge continued to frustrate me as I transitioned to university. Over first and second year of my Bachelor of Science (Honors), I attempted many strategies to combat what I was experiencing. These included but were not limited to diet/nutritional adjustments, consistent exercise, eliminating distractions while studying or in class, and scheduling time to study and complete my course work. These methods were not successful. I realized after the examination period of the Fall 2018 semester that this was beyond my control and that I needed to consult with a physician too see if they could provide any insight. After seeing a physician in February 2019, I was told I did, in fact, have ADHD and started treatment shortly thereafter.
Relevant to this appeal, is the fact that my transcript is inconsistent; there is significant variation in the grades I have obtained. This can be explained by a few factors. Firstly, the nature of my symptoms was such that I could only focus on coursework or in class for a short period of time before I was unable to sustain it any longer. As I mentioned before, I had developed time management strategies which I was able to use to mitigate the attention difficulties when it came to projects, essays, assignments and work of that nature. As I was aware of the limits of my attention, to complete an essay I could start early and divide its work into many short sections. This was not as feasible a solution when studying for tests and exams as I had other work to complete during the semester and finite time during the exam period. In other words, for this strategy to work for traditional studying, I would have to focus on one or two classes and neglect the rest. This is applicable to the grades I received as different courses have different assessments. For example, the 'B' I received in POLS 110 was possible due to essays that took weighting off the exams, whereas MATH 121 was assessed mostly through tests and exams which were the type of assessment I was least able to prepare for. To this point, the evaluation for the courses in which I seek credit standing were very heavily weighted on tests and exams. Secondly, the high school diploma I completed qualified me for transfer credits in BIOL 102 & 103. I was close to receiving a transfer credit in CHEM 112 as well. The requirements for said program (IB) prohibited students from taking three natural sciences, so I could not take physics as well in high school. Consequently, I was familiar with the material in BIOL 102 and CHEM 112 and thus performed better in those than other courses despite my symptoms affecting my performance in every course. I had not had exposure to physics and PHYS 117 was assessed predominantly through the exams, which accounts for my low grade. I do not request credit standing in PHYS 117 because I had not taken a physics course before, I understand many other students had not as well, I a merely saying my background prepared me to do better in BIOL 102 and CHEM 112 with little studying. I believe if I had been undergoing treatment during first year, I would have performed substantially better in all of these courses. The 'A' I received in PHAR 100 can be attributed to the distribution of grading that included several assignments as well as my deep interest in the course that led me to spend more time preparing for the exam than other courses. I did however, make an effort to equalize the time I spent on each course. In reviewing the grading distribution for the assessments I completed in ANAT 216, the effect of the treatment I was receiving is evident. My performance significantly improved nearing the end of the course when I was seeing remission of symptoms.
In conclusion, my extenuating circumstances put me at a disadvantage that severely impacted my academic success. When I was diagnosed with a mental health disorder in February 2019, the treatment I began to receive improved these circumstances. I am only seeking credit standing in one course from the Winter 2019 semester as I was mostly able to salvage acceptable outcomes in those courses. My condition is now being managed under the supervision of a physician and I do not anticipate my academics being impacted going forward. As supporting documentation, an Off-Campus Physician's Note should accompany this letter. I welcome follow up contact to request additional relevant information or clarification on any matters that would assist in making a decision on this appeal. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Richard Nauman
I wish to seek credit standing in seven courses that were completed between the Winter 2018 and Winter 2019 academic semesters. These courses are as follows: MATH 121, PHYS 117 (Winter 2018); ANAT 215, BCHM 218, CHEM 281, STAT 263 (Fall 2018); ANAT 216 (Winter 2019). As many of these courses are passed the One-Term Appeal Deadline, this letter follows an initial appeal to waive the One-Term Deadline.
I wish to obtain credit standing in the above-mentioned courses as a result of experiencing symptoms of a chronic mental health disorder that put me at an academic disadvantage and was undiagnosed and untreated until February 2019. I had been experiencing focus and attention difficulties, for as long as I could remember, that were particularly impactful on my academic endeavours but were prevalent in other parts of my life as well. I had grown up in an academically driven environment and attended a school where students were competitive, and I always held myself to a high standard. As a result, I developed a mindset of responsibility for my learning and saw outcomes I deemed as unacceptable to be my fault and not heavily influenced my external factors. I was fortunate to learn good study skills, time management techniques, and planning/organizational skills. Additionally, I was always engaged in my learning and motivated to be knowledgeable. It is for these reasons that there were few signs of my struggling that could have led to a teacher or family member to suggest I seek help. At the time, I was not considering any other possibility than that I was just not trying hard enough to focus and be attentive.
Around midway through high school (2015) I identified my challenges with sustaining focus as a barrier academically, but was satisfied with other variables, for example I was not often struggling to understand concepts in classes and would seek clarification if it was needed. This challenge continued to frustrate me as I transitioned to university. Over first and second year of my Bachelor of Science (Honors), I attempted many strategies to combat what I was experiencing. These included but were not limited to diet/nutritional adjustments, consistent exercise, eliminating distractions while studying or in class, and scheduling time to study and complete my course work. These methods were not successful. I realized after the examination period of the Fall 2018 semester that this was beyond my control and that I needed to consult with a physician too see if they could provide any insight. After seeing a physician in February 2019, I was told I did, in fact, have ADHD and started treatment shortly thereafter.
Relevant to this appeal, is the fact that my transcript is inconsistent; there is significant variation in the grades I have obtained. This can be explained by a few factors. Firstly, the nature of my symptoms was such that I could only focus on coursework or in class for a short period of time before I was unable to sustain it any longer. As I mentioned before, I had developed time management strategies which I was able to use to mitigate the attention difficulties when it came to projects, essays, assignments and work of that nature. As I was aware of the limits of my attention, to complete an essay I could start early and divide its work into many short sections. This was not as feasible a solution when studying for tests and exams as I had other work to complete during the semester and finite time during the exam period. In other words, for this strategy to work for traditional studying, I would have to focus on one or two classes and neglect the rest. This is applicable to the grades I received as different courses have different assessments. For example, the 'B' I received in POLS 110 was possible due to essays that took weighting off the exams, whereas MATH 121 was assessed mostly through tests and exams which were the type of assessment I was least able to prepare for. To this point, the evaluation for the courses in which I seek credit standing were very heavily weighted on tests and exams. Secondly, the high school diploma I completed qualified me for transfer credits in BIOL 102 & 103. I was close to receiving a transfer credit in CHEM 112 as well. The requirements for said program (IB) prohibited students from taking three natural sciences, so I could not take physics as well in high school. Consequently, I was familiar with the material in BIOL 102 and CHEM 112 and thus performed better in those than other courses despite my symptoms affecting my performance in every course. I had not had exposure to physics and PHYS 117 was assessed predominantly through the exams, which accounts for my low grade. I do not request credit standing in PHYS 117 because I had not taken a physics course before, I understand many other students had not as well, I a merely saying my background prepared me to do better in BIOL 102 and CHEM 112 with little studying. I believe if I had been undergoing treatment during first year, I would have performed substantially better in all of these courses. The 'A' I received in PHAR 100 can be attributed to the distribution of grading that included several assignments as well as my deep interest in the course that led me to spend more time preparing for the exam than other courses. I did however, make an effort to equalize the time I spent on each course. In reviewing the grading distribution for the assessments I completed in ANAT 216, the effect of the treatment I was receiving is evident. My performance significantly improved nearing the end of the course when I was seeing remission of symptoms.
In conclusion, my extenuating circumstances put me at a disadvantage that severely impacted my academic success. When I was diagnosed with a mental health disorder in February 2019, the treatment I began to receive improved these circumstances. I am only seeking credit standing in one course from the Winter 2019 semester as I was mostly able to salvage acceptable outcomes in those courses. My condition is now being managed under the supervision of a physician and I do not anticipate my academics being impacted going forward. As supporting documentation, an Off-Campus Physician's Note should accompany this letter. I welcome follow up contact to request additional relevant information or clarification on any matters that would assist in making a decision on this appeal. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Richard Nauman
Student Number: 20051073
Documentation
Professional Letter: Physician Note-6.pdf