Chapter 2: You and Your Education

17 Academic Appeals

An academic appeal is a student’s opportunity to officially disagree with a grade they received. There are a number of reasons you may want to appeal a grade, but the common three include:

  • You were going through extenuating circumstances, and you don’t want it to reflect on your transcript
  • You don’t agree with the grade you received
  • You feel you were treated unfairly

What counts as “extenuating circumstances”?
Here at Cambrian, extenuating circumstances refer to “unforeseen events or circumstances that may have seriously impacted the student’s academic performance (including the ability to complete course requirements and meet deadlines). This may include the death of a family member, a legal issue, or other life circumstances.”

 The point is typical life issues (minor illnesses, financial stress, holidays or events) are not usually part of this. Speak to your academic advisor if you would like to know if your circumstance is considered extenuating.

 

Moving Forward

For circumstances where you believe an assignment or exam was graded incorrectly, a formal appeal is usually not necessary. Often, simply contacting your instructor for additional feedback regarding your grade can help resolve the issue, and if there was an error your grade can be updated. The next module has some good tips for how to email a professor, which will be helpful when you make this request.

If, however, you are unable to come to a resolution with your instructor or extenuating circumstances apply, there are certain steps you must follow set out in Cambrian’s Academic Appeals Policy. The first step will be submitting an Academic appeal form.  Part of this process includes writing an appeal letter explaining your reasoning. When writing this letter, it is important to be polite and professional, and the tips below can help with that.

Do: Dont’s:
  • Use plain English
  • Be upfront and provide an accurate account of facts
  • Indicate how extenuating circumstances directly affected your academic performance
  • Include relevant policies or procedures
  • Include supporting documentation
  • Write a story or include unnecessary details
  • Conflate or over-exaggerate the truth
  • Include irrelevant documents/information
  • Feel the need to disclose personal or sensitive information
  • Assume anything about your reader; e.g., don’t assume your reader thinks you are lying

Writing an appeal letter can be daunting and may dissuade you from wanting to appeal the grade.

 Tips on writing a good letter:

  1. 500-800 Words Maximum
  2. Have a clear introduction
  3. Include a description of extenuating circumstances
  4. Include a timeline of circumstances
  5. Explain the impact of circumstances on performance
  6. Steps you took to deal with the circumstances
  7. Plan for achieving future academic success.

Knowing your rights and what you are expected to do is your best bet to a successful appeal. Regardless of the outcome, it is important to learn from the experience. Consider what happened to lead to this, the result, and the appeal; what can you take from this experience?

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EYES AT Cambrian Copyright © 2023 by kkcambrian and Rafiq Rahemtulla is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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