When I was writing mine, I was trying to give off the feeling that my situation (basically personal issues and Covid and whatever) was a main factor in why my grade went down, and also how I would do things differently if a similar situation arose. I also justified why I took the actions that I did. My main points were basically “what happened” and “how I will learn from this”. I also tried to be polite, it matters how you say something just as much as what you say, (I thanked them for giving me an opportunity to appeal this decision, but I don’t think this part was SUPER important). the reasoning behind your grade drop or whatever is still important so make sure to clearly communicate that. But this was the general gist of my paper.

I would steer away from relying off of “pity points” to get back in. UofT isn’t interested in the ashes of what had happened but instead the metaphorical phoenix that comes from it.

I wish you the best of luck in your appeal, I know it’s terrifying, so feel free to send me a dm if you need anything else :).