Petition Letter
Petition Letter for Grade Reassessment
Faculty of Arts and Science
Dear Associate Dean,
My name is Taran Pabla, and I am submitting this petition to respectfully request a reassessment of select components of my final grade in CHEM 112 for the 2024–2025 academic year. This petition is made with full awareness of academic regulations and in recognition of the importance of upholding consistent academic standards. I am requesting a formal review due to extenuating academic circumstances, including the disruption caused by the TA strike and the significant emotional and psychological stress I experienced this semester, which affected my ability to follow up on grade concerns in a timely way.
Earlier in the term, I spoke with my teaching assistant regarding my performance in some of the earlier labs. I was encouraged to focus on the remainder of the term, as there would be multiple opportunities to improve. I agreed with this advice and intended to revisit the earlier labs later in the course. However, the unexpected TA strike cancelled many of those remaining opportunities, and I was left without a way to access feedback or request re-evaluations. I would have reached out to the instructors or course coordinators directly when the strike first began, but during lecture, Dr. Stamplecoskie noted that any tasks typically handled by TAs, such as grading, would not be taken over by instructors, as those responsibilities fall under a different union group. As a result, I felt uncertain about how to proceed and did not want to overstep boundaries during a sensitive labour situation.
This disruption occurred during an already difficult semester. I have been managing significant financial stress, as I fund both my tuition and living expenses independently. I am also currently in the process of applying to transfer to a university closer to home in order to reduce these costs and continue my education in a more sustainable way. On top of this, I have been struggling with homesickness throughout the year. Being away from home for the first time while navigating academic pressure, financial challenges, and the effects of the strike has taken a toll on my mental well-being. The combined impact of these factors significantly affected my ability to stay on top of administrative tasks like initiating regrade requests, especially once the channels for doing so became unavailable during the strike.
I am currently sitting at 89.4%, just 0.1% away from the A+ threshold. While this may seem like a minor difference, that single decimal point has a major effect on my cumulative GPA and could determine whether I meet the transfer requirements. I have worked extremely hard throughout the year and achieved A+ grades in almost all of my courses, making this final detail critical for my academic and financial future.
I am not asking for an arbitrary grade change, but rather a fair reassessment of a few lab reports that were, in my view, not graded according to the rubric. Had the strike and these extenuating stressors not occurred, I would have addressed this earlier through the proper channels. The grades I wanted a re-grade for are my lab reports for experiment 1 (I added the uncertainty in the rate law and was taken off marks for that but it didn't mention that on the rubric and when I googled it, it also says that there's no harm in adding the uncertainty in the rate law), 4 (in the rubric it didn't say that we couldn't write the procedure and I added the procedure list because I did have a note about it at the end), 5 (nowhere on the rubric was it mentioned to remove the chart title, etc. and I think I did correctly explain question 7 for that lab), 10 (in class we discussed that the sig figs should be correct in the final answer and I had it in my final statement), 7 (I had units in every single calculation except one because the units cancelled out there but I had mentioned it in words before and then did the math).
I can provide the screenshots in a follow-up email as I am unable to upload the pictures in this submission.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my request. I truly respect the academic standards upheld by your office and am simply seeking an opportunity for my work to be evaluated with the context of the semester in mind. I would be happy to provide further documentation or personal statements if needed.
Sincerely,
Taran Pabla
20452784
taran.pabla@queensu.ca
Faculty of Arts and Science
Dear Associate Dean,
My name is Taran Pabla, and I am submitting this petition to respectfully request a reassessment of select components of my final grade in CHEM 112 for the 2024–2025 academic year. This petition is made with full awareness of academic regulations and in recognition of the importance of upholding consistent academic standards. I am requesting a formal review due to extenuating academic circumstances, including the disruption caused by the TA strike and the significant emotional and psychological stress I experienced this semester, which affected my ability to follow up on grade concerns in a timely way.
Earlier in the term, I spoke with my teaching assistant regarding my performance in some of the earlier labs. I was encouraged to focus on the remainder of the term, as there would be multiple opportunities to improve. I agreed with this advice and intended to revisit the earlier labs later in the course. However, the unexpected TA strike cancelled many of those remaining opportunities, and I was left without a way to access feedback or request re-evaluations. I would have reached out to the instructors or course coordinators directly when the strike first began, but during lecture, Dr. Stamplecoskie noted that any tasks typically handled by TAs, such as grading, would not be taken over by instructors, as those responsibilities fall under a different union group. As a result, I felt uncertain about how to proceed and did not want to overstep boundaries during a sensitive labour situation.
This disruption occurred during an already difficult semester. I have been managing significant financial stress, as I fund both my tuition and living expenses independently. I am also currently in the process of applying to transfer to a university closer to home in order to reduce these costs and continue my education in a more sustainable way. On top of this, I have been struggling with homesickness throughout the year. Being away from home for the first time while navigating academic pressure, financial challenges, and the effects of the strike has taken a toll on my mental well-being. The combined impact of these factors significantly affected my ability to stay on top of administrative tasks like initiating regrade requests, especially once the channels for doing so became unavailable during the strike.
I am currently sitting at 89.4%, just 0.1% away from the A+ threshold. While this may seem like a minor difference, that single decimal point has a major effect on my cumulative GPA and could determine whether I meet the transfer requirements. I have worked extremely hard throughout the year and achieved A+ grades in almost all of my courses, making this final detail critical for my academic and financial future.
I am not asking for an arbitrary grade change, but rather a fair reassessment of a few lab reports that were, in my view, not graded according to the rubric. Had the strike and these extenuating stressors not occurred, I would have addressed this earlier through the proper channels. The grades I wanted a re-grade for are my lab reports for experiment 1 (I added the uncertainty in the rate law and was taken off marks for that but it didn't mention that on the rubric and when I googled it, it also says that there's no harm in adding the uncertainty in the rate law), 4 (in the rubric it didn't say that we couldn't write the procedure and I added the procedure list because I did have a note about it at the end), 5 (nowhere on the rubric was it mentioned to remove the chart title, etc. and I think I did correctly explain question 7 for that lab), 10 (in class we discussed that the sig figs should be correct in the final answer and I had it in my final statement), 7 (I had units in every single calculation except one because the units cancelled out there but I had mentioned it in words before and then did the math).
I can provide the screenshots in a follow-up email as I am unable to upload the pictures in this submission.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my request. I truly respect the academic standards upheld by your office and am simply seeking an opportunity for my work to be evaluated with the context of the semester in mind. I would be happy to provide further documentation or personal statements if needed.
Sincerely,
Taran Pabla
20452784
taran.pabla@queensu.ca