Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Arts and Science,

I am appealing to drop MICR 360, Fall term 2019. Throughout the course I was dealing with many issues relating to my mental health. This lead to troubles focusing during lectures, and increased anxiety while writing midterms and finals. I had a lot of trouble learning and memorizing the content of the course. I began the course having trouble on both of the midterms, I then reached out for academic accommodation to try to help with my ability to focus during the exam but I found I had become too far behind and was unable to catch up. While trying to study I was unable to focus long enough to grasp the content and would become panicked. I also found myself to develop troubles with my memory in recalling the content of the course. My memory had become worse than what it had been in previous years. This lead to further decrease in my mental health when I was unable to remember anything from the course. Tasks seemed to be much harder and then caused me to feel hopeless as I tried to continue on. I would lose the confidence I had in previous years. As I became unable to focus in class I ended up behind on lectures always trying to catch up. With my mental health I often was unable to make it to lectures in the morning, having difficulties getting out of bed. If I was able to get to the lecture I would feel very overwhelmed. This often lead to much greater anxieties. I had difficulty regulating and managing my emotions during this time. This lead to poor performances on my midterms and finals. I also struggle with multiple choice questions, which were the entirety of the midterms and finals, due to cognitive problems with recalling information correctly. Concerning my other courses in the fall semester, they did not consist of multiple choice exams, they focused the grading of the course on assignments, small quizzes and group projects. During these courses I found it much easier to focus my attention and manage my stress. My other courses during the semester I was able to focus my attention for short periods of time on the assignments to decrease my stress and feelings of hopelessness.

I am now using a new medication to help with my mental health and have plans to meet with counsellors on Queens campus to try to allow for better tools to deal with my mental health and stress. I am also planning on taking an extra year at queens to be able to retake some courses that my performance was also hindered by my mental health.