Due to medical reasons(chicken pox), The ministry of education board gave me a 14 day quarantine period. As a result, I couldn’t write my 11th Grade Finals exam. I wasn’t given a retest to compensate for my Final Exam. My overall percentage dropped down drastically as my overall percentage was calculated without my 11th Final exam. The Final Exam comprised of 50% of the overall grade.
I wanted to enquire if this counts as an extenuating circumstance and if yes, how lenient will the admission councilors be?
It always depends upon the school and the rest of your academic record. Some schools would not care a bit in that it wouldn’t hurt you one whit. Others would not care in the opposite way and it could eliminate you.
Usually, there are zero extenuating circumstances taken into consideration at the most selective schools unless that whole circumstance is the focal point of your application. They want kids who excel DESPITE roadblocks and extenuating circumstances. The quadriplegic with the 1500+ test score and straight as, ALSO a Siemans Finalist gets into Harvard. That extenuating circumstance becomes a Hook to pull the app upwards into the accept zine, not something to be given some leeway for bringing down grades or performance.
If this dropped your 11th grade record, yes, it needs to be explained. Best source for that is the school counselor, who may also be able to report what he/she feels you would have achieved, had you not lost credit for the final exams.
But you still need to pick targets willing to go on the total rest of your record. Competition is such that there may be plenty of other applicants from your location who have stronger overall records.
Sorry this happened to you.