Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Sarah Larsen
Jean Royce Hall, Tracey House, TY-0302
537 Union Street, Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, K7M 2B9

February 2, 2022

Attention: Associate Dean (Academic) Dr. Jenn Stephenson
Faculty of Arts and Science
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
f2deans@queensu.ca
Request: Review of mid-term 20% penalty applied to Psych 100 midterm exam
I am appealing the 20% penalty that was applied to my Psych 100 midterm exam.
I wrote a psych 100 exam online on December 8, 2021. It consisted of two parts multiple choice and the second part, a written portion. I completed both sections exactly as instructed, provided on December 8, and I submitted both documents. Throughout the exam I saved the document as I made changes as I was instructed at the beginning of the exam, these new changes were saved and downloaded to my computer, replacing previous editions, such as the blank edition with only the questions. I received confirmation that my submission had been successfully submitted shortly after, I am not a technology person and did not realize that 20KB was a small file until my interactions with IT in February. (see appendix A). On December 22, 2021, two weeks after the exam, I received an email from the Psychology department informing me that my written portion of the exam had not been received.
I was upset at receiving this news, 2 weeks after writing the exam, and the day the University was closing for holidays. I worked with my father (who is an IT professional) and we contacted the University to see if we could retrieve the exam on my computer, or on Word. I was unable to find it anywhere, even in the trash folder. I wrote an email to the Undergrad chair, Dr. Meaghan Norris, and left her a voicemail on Dec 22, 2021. She emailed on Dec 22, 2021 We will have ITS run another verification on your exam. If no submission was received in a format that can be verified (Appendix B) I was working with the general IT department at Queen's (the day before the Christmas holidays at 4:17 pm EST). Verification that the exam was received or not was confirmed by the Psychology department (the previous confirmation I had received was from onQ). The original email I received from the Psych department stated that either my document was blank or was not received. (Appendix C) When I found the confirmation email that the document had been received I then emailed Dr. Norris, her response on Feb 2, 2022, was the first confirmation from the Psych department I got that said my document was received but blank.
Extenuating Circumstances for this request would be in two points: 1) All students were asked to leave Kingston as soon as possible due to COVID. My flight was originally planned to leave on Dec 18, 2021, and I rebooked and left early on Dec 14, 2021. All my handwritten notes were left behind in my residence room. If I had received notification before I left Kingston, I would have been able to access IT services on campus and bring my handwritten notes home to better prepare for a rewrite. Second, this has been a learning experience but not one without considerable stress and worry. As the exam submission information was provided to me on Dec 22, 2021, the day before the University holidays, I was unable to resolve the issue for an additional 2 weeks. This was a difficult time with COVID and the additional uncertainty of an exam error. (An exam which I followed every instruction provided and completed). All email correspondence is below.
I did complete the written portion of the exam on December 8, 2021. There would be no advantage for me not to have completed it, furthermore, if I were to have chosen not to submit the written answer questions I would not have submitted a document. When I received the email explaining that my written portion was not submitted, I was upset and frustrated at finding out 2 weeks after writing the exam. Especially, on the day the University closed for holidays. Dr. Morris explained on Dec 22 at 3:30 pm EST I apologize that you are finding out now. The PSYC100 team has been manually going through each exam and running reports on any exams where there are concerns so that students could be proactively notified. Please consider that the outcome of being told the day before University closes (2-week lag), having to stress over the holidays, engage many supports (family, IT and residence) and rewrite the exam is enough of a penalty for me.

I work on a Chrome computer and this is my first year at University. My computer has worked in the past to submit documents similar to this but never in an exam setting. This was my first experience with submitting a timed exam online at University. To date, I have completed all my assignments in all my classes and attended all sessions and submitted all assignments to the Psychology classes.


I worried about this over the holidays and arranged to have a staff member at the residence enter my room and take photos of my notes. As explained to Dr. Morris, I was okay to rewrite the exam, but I am appealing the decision to have a 20% penalty applied to the written portion of the exam. I requested the penalty be removed throughout our correspondence.
My rewrite was on January 18, 2022. I received my final mark for the mid-term on February 1, 2022. I was unaware of any of the marks before this time. 1/3 of the mark was the multiple-choice and 2/3 the written portion. I was only asked to rewrite the written portion.
As it stands now, on my rewrite, I received a 67% overall (class average was 61%) and now my midterm mark with the 20% penalty is at 53%. This 53% is worth 30% of my final grade for Psych 100.
My long-term goal is to apply to Speech Pathology (which will require me to take second and third year Psych courses, which will not be possible if my grade is too low) and get a BAH from Queen's University. I am proud of my accomplishments so far this year. I have moved away from home for the first time, carry a full course load, completed my half year courses with two A- s in history (and received a letter from the Faculty of History saying that one of the instructors has suggested I should consider majoring in History). I have attended all my classes and I am working hard at keeping my marks high.
I do not know what happened to the written portion of my Psychology exam, but I assure you that I did write it and if it was a fault of mine, I will take photos of future submissions.
Please consider my appeal to have the 20% penalty taken off my midterm Psychology 100 exam.
I have included all the email correspondence between Dr. Norris, myself, and one of my parents.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,

Sarah Larsen 20261861