Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: Hi there,

I hope you are doing well.

I am writing this letter in response to my academic appeal that was denied on January 30, 2022.

In the email I received, the academic regulation 10.3.2 was stated. Reflecting on my own situation, I believe that I was in a situation where I had completed all my coursework. Aside from assignments, the only test that occurred in the course was the final examination. I did quite poorly on the final examination, but aside from that exam, my grades were fine. I know the reason why I was struggling on the exam and why I performed poorly was due to an anxiety episode.

The exam was weighted heavily, and despite my doing well in the other projects and assignments, my failure of the exam (exactly fail and a 42.5%) dropped my grade substantially to a B-.

I have applied to extremely competitive law school programs abroad, and the B- on my transcript, I believe, is not reflective of my academic ability.

Over my time at Queen's, I have worked extremely hard to manage my disabilities and personal struggles and get to a place where I was finally in good academic standing. As you can see on my transcript, I had a very tough time in my first year and was actually required to withdraw..... after getting accommodations at Queen's and working hard, I was able to do well. Recently I got the dean's honour list with a distinction award. I am not mentioning this to gloat. I am just including it to demonstrate that I am a hard worker.

While you may think a B- is fine and shouldn't matter, it really does matters to me. I really try and push myself to do well, and I did try so hard in this course, but I can't control my anxiety. I wish I could, but I couldn't. I barely wanted to leave my apartment on the day of the exam because I was having horrible crippling anxiety, but I still went. I went, and I tried my best, and I failed because I was having anxiety.

I have had accommodations at Queen's since I started for my ADHD and my learning disability. A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with OCD and anxiety, which made it hard to go to class and focus. One of the comments that were mentioned in the email was that since I was unable to provide proof of test anxiety, I was unable to receive the credit standing.

I found this a bit offensive. I explained prior that I was unable to afford to get a doctor's note to confirm my test anxiety. However, quite frankly, I don't believe that I should have to go and pay for a doctor's note as I have accomdationsa at Queen's that details my anxiety.


I am not trying to offend anyone, and I do not want to disrespect anyone that made the last decision, but I am personally offended that I have to prove my anxiety by paying for a note or some type of documentation.

At the end of the day, the B- I received is not reflective of the overall work I put forth in that class. The B- to me is a result of my anxiety getting the better of me, and I do not want it to impact my future school options.

I included my disability tax credit form, which I had to pay my doctor to do, and in the comment sections, he details I have severe anxiety.