<p>I'll just copy paste my letter of appeal to the Dean of Natural Sciences at UC Merced. Tell me what you guys think and what I can do if I am punished of false accusations.
"To the Dean of the School of Natural Sciences,
My name is -------- and this is my official appeal Dr.------'s decision to give me an F on the course on the basis of academic dishonesty. On May 15th, 2013, I submitted a scantron for regrade for a midterm that was taken on May 3rd, and handed back on May 10th during a lab. On the day of the exam, I borrowed a calculator from my friend -----. I was unaware that the calculator was predisposed to fraction mode so everything that I computed with the calculator came out as a fraction. I started to panic on the test because I did not know what to press to convert the fraction back to decimal form for the chemistry test and I ended up rushing through the entire test with 12-15 minutes to spare. The content of the test consisted of many conceptual questions and a number of mathematical problems that were fairly easy to answer with an appropriate calculator. With the time that I had left, I pressed every function key on the calculator and I finally found the button that converts fractions to decimal form. The button was labeled "S->D" which I am still unsure as to what the letters stand for. When I managed to operate the calculator, I looked at the clock and I still had 10 minute to spare so I went over a large portion of my exam. I went through many of the conceptual questions and I was able to correct many of them using the answers that I found on the other problems. An example would be a problem about spontaneous reactions which I initially confused the equation as deltaG = - deltaH + TdeltaS. The actual formula for the equation was deltaG = deltaH - TdeltaS. I was able to clarify this by looking at an equation sheet provided with the exam. Since I knew that a negative delta G accounts for a spontaneous reaction, I knew that the values on one of my mathematical questions were incorrect; given that the reaction for spontaneous, delta H must have been a negative value while delta S was a positive value since the temperature was not high enough to negate the delta H. In doing so, I was able to correct this mathematical question along with a few conceptual questions about spontaneous reactions. In addition, I was able to fix many questions pertaining to pH the calculator gave me actual values so I did not have to guess what the answer would be. Note that the pH questions had logarithmic applications that I would not have been able to estimate in my head without using a calculator. In total, I changed over 12 questions on the exam, granted some of the questions did not require a calculator to answer. When I was down to my last question, I had one minute left on the exam and I guessed the answer that seemed most reasonable and I turned in the exam hastily. Although I did have a lot of trouble with the calculator, I felt really good about the exam because I knew that studying paid off. I discussed my answers with some of my friends that came out of the exam and we all seemed to have consent over many of the problems. A couple days after the exam, the scores were posted and I was really astonished by the fact that I received a 9/25. I began to think that maybe I simply did not understand the material. On the day of lab, I was taking a quiz and my TA placed our exams on the lab tables with the front facing the table so that the scores were hidden. When I finished my exam, packed everything up into my backpack and walked over to my friends' lab station where she was leaving. My friends ------ and ----- asked my what happened on my exam and I just told them that there were a lot of pink marks on my scantron and I told them that I though I did well, but I was wrong. They asked me to take out the exam and show them so I handed them my exam to look at. They glanced over the exam and noticed that there was something wrong with my scantron because I answered 26 questions on a 25 question test. I was unaware of this fact until they brought it up and they asked my to take it to Dr.---- so that I can discuss the test because they told me that my score should be around a 17-18/25. Although I wasn't going to ask Dr.----- about it because I though that Dr.----- wouldn't give me the points because it was such an avoidable error. However, I decided to send him an email just to ask him about the scantron and he responded 2 days later saying that he would be happy to discuss my "transcription error". I took note of the quotations that he placed around the phrase and I wondered if he was skeptical about the error or was it simply procedural to indicate the issue with clarity. 2 days later on May 15th, I brought the exam to him during on of this office hours and he simply made me sign a regrade submission form. I did not get the opportunity to discuss the actual content of the exam with him as he mentioned in his email and the only thing I was able to express to him was the calculator concern. I also pointed out that the error most likely occurred on number 7 or 8 of the exam because it was around the area where I began going over my test after I learned how to use the calculator. I think that the actual error was made when I was fixing my answer for number 7 and I did not erase the initial answer and instead, filled in the actual answer onto number 8. This is the only area where he might think that I altered my scantron after it was passed back because of the answer mismatch. However, I told him in a brief conversation that lasted for 30 seconds that I had to fix a large portion of my scantron. I felt that I was not given the opportunity to fully explain the the situation because he did not have my original test on May 15th for a discussion to take place. I was only offered a form to fill out and that was the entire meeting. Both of my friends in my lab can testify to the fact that there was indeed a transcription error to begin with as they saw my exam almost immediately after it was handed back. In addition, they can voucher the fact that my original score would have been approximately 17 or 18 depending on whether the initial answer for number 7 was counted or the revised answer after I was able to use the calculator. I can honestly say that I did not tamper with the scantron in anyway. As a result of this, Dr.----- has given me an F in the course before I had the chance to reply to the alleged violation and I did not receive any response emails in the past 24 hours. I feel that I should be granted the knowledge of exactly what I did wrong and what indicated any signs of dishonesty. Hopefully he has a photocopy of the scantron that can justify what I am saying because it would be a really helpful document for for my case. Furthermore, there would not have been any significant value of getting the points since I was right in the middle of a B and this class is scaled to the extent in which the B- to B+ range is approximately from 71%-85.99% which means that even if I received a 17 or 18 on this exam, it would raise by grade by a mere 2.5% which would not bring me close to a B+ since I had a 77-78% in the class. I only went in to try to get the points that I deserve and not to cheat to get a better grade. I can honestly say that I would never cheat in school to achieve want. I would hope that you would be able to go over all the material and this statement and consider another outcome. I believe there is an honest mistake and I am open to discuss this in a meeting or via email. I also think that Dr.----- should give me reexamination so that I can prove to him that I studied for the exam and I knew the material well. I was really upset when I saw that he had already changed my grade before telling me the details of my alleged actions. The only thing that I might have done was that I darkened my name on my scantron as the graphite began to smear off in my backpack. Lastly, I would like to say that I am a student with academic integrity and a good academic record. There was a circumstance in Chem 1 in which my lab TA awared more points than I deserved on a quiz and I notified him about the error that he made. Hopefully I can get a better explanation as to what happened with my scantron and if there is anything that requires proof of information such as the transcription error, or the score that I would have received, both my friends ----- and ------- are willing to confirm this fact. Thank you very much for reviewing this appeal."</p>
<p>At the end of all this, i was notified earlier today that there in fact was a photocopy of the scantron that indicated clear alterations. However, I insisted that I really do not know what there would be any changes and why would I even tell my professor to submit something that would be incriminating on my part unless I was confident that the photocopy should indicate that there were no changes. Anyway, all the evidence is against me and I don't know what to say. I just know that I didn't do anything to tamper with the scantron at all. And I am a straight A student with no record of academic dishonesty anywhere in my academic history.</p>