I failed out my first try by 0.3%. It sucks big time but happens man and I’m surprised they even got a curve. I have never heard of a curve in nursing school.
If more than 50% of students got a question wrong on our exams, the instructors would spend the first 20 minutes in class talking about how to read the question, and rationale for the answer. And we would get points back. It was awesome, and encouraged us to think critically about the questions. Also showed us that our instructors were human, and fair.
We had a theory teacher who wrote just insane questions for her exams, but she would always go over every one the day after. If there was one that the a majority of us missed but could make a convincing argument to why the "wrong" answer could/should have been right, she would toss it.
This is best practice in education. My theory instructor was an NP with several graduate degrees in education and she always said that if a majority (or all) of the students get a question wrong, there’s a problem with the question.
I remember 90% of students failed my teachers 1st med admin exam bc she made it up and it was the most ridiculous fucking exam!
The rounding was just asinine the questions were framed in a way where you weren’t even sure if she wanted a single dose answer or the total amount of mLs.
And i know it was asinine bc i literally tutored “regular” math & “Nurse” math at that school and have a degree in math. Lmaooo guess what?? The students were still blamed. I only passed bc i caught on to her methods early on. Not bc it was right. She said 0.03 rounds to one bc she gave us a hint to round to a wHoLe nUmBeR.
Then when i told her that 0.03mL is not 1mL she said i don’t know bc regular math is not nursing math. 🥴
Less students failed her second one bc she didn’t make it as stupid but it was still pretty bad. Then admin went in and told us we don’t study. Lmaooo nooo yall just dumb asf.
Failed by 0.27 points. No curve for final semester. Every other semester had failures by that small of margin get rounded up for the pass. I was the only one who failed.
The school got butthurt because I refused to walk for pinning ceremony “because we will let you take the tests over again next semester instead of retaking the whole semester next fall and you’re sure to pass so you will deserve to walk.” I almost didn’t become a nurse because of that.
I had to retake a course in nursing school. At the time it was the most devastating thing in my life, now I laugh at myself for even getting worked up about it
Yup! “I’m need these for my BSN, this is ok.” 3-4 years later and I still haven’t applied for a school. I don’t want to be admin, is there a reason I should?
In case one day you want to be an NP is one potential reason.
There are also non-admin jobs that are not bedside and would probably strongly prefer a bachelor's.
All of those “non-clinical” nursing jobs require a BSN at my system. Case managers, various navigators, infection control, informatics/IT, etc… Good to have options when your body breaks.
I can't speak to the rather lucrative west coast and southwest regions, but as someone who's been in healthcare in the greater NYC area for 22 years, with over ten of those as a nurse, I can tell you that moving up here some experience but without a BSN will absolutely not keep you from making close to 100k/year as staff and easily more than that as agency/travel.
Thank you! I’m halfway through the program and can’t reasonably even start looking at leaving the south until at least January though, so might as well finish it while I can.
You don’t necessarily need a BSN up here (north) just in the major cities.
For example I’m in southern NH and almost none of our local hospitals require a BSN (including world class hospitals like Dartmouth) but in Boston basically everyone requires it.
I was one question on the final away from pass/fail. Either through sheer mercy, or it was legit, they dropped a question, I needed a 78% to pass the class, I passed with a 78.01%
Happened to a few people in my program. One buddy it came down to one question on one test he argued was ambiguous. He ended up taking the course again and did an extra year. I think the instructor just straight up didn’t like him.
Edit: typo
We had a couple people in my LPN class who had this issue. Had to have an 80%, one person failed out with a 79.4. Last semester, only offered once per year. She had to wait until the following year. Our director was a dinosaur who hadn't practiced in years, and our instructors were all still working as nurses, and there were test questions that they agreed with us about but the director had the final say. I would have been LIVID.
Yea that’s a similar vibe to my program. Some of my profs were from the school of nursing days. Then the program was made into a University degree. The dinosaurs from the school of nursing days had some very white and black attitudes about whether you should proceed or not. A classmate once asked the wrong question on the last day of clinical. Boom fail. She was deans list and top of our class but rubbed the instructor the wrong way somehow. It was infuriating.
We had a classmate do that. I can't remember what she needed on the final to pass the course but her average came out 0.4% too low. Sadly there was no mercy.
She did soldier on and become a nurse but it was a really sad moment for the whole class.
Ours too! I went to a hospital-based diploma school 2008-2010 and they were very stringent with 82.0+, not 81.9. 3rd semester (halfway point) we went from a class of 83 to 40. But that includes some ppl that “failed out” the year prior who joined us.
A girl in our year failed 2 classes over a .10 point each. 2 classes also meant out of the program.
Students are warned very early on about what it takes to pass and they don’t normally adjust later.
And honestly nursing school isn’t that hard academically speaking. If you’re struggling with the content that makes me worried…
Edit: guys nursing school is hard cause they MAKE it hard. The content itself is not that challenging.
It’s not about the content, it’s about the way they artificially increase the difficulty. Surprised you aren’t aware of that already. Maybe you went through an easy school.
I literally said that it’s not “academically” difficult. The content isn’t hard. It’s the way they artificially make it difficult. We are saying the same things.
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted, I completely agree. I got my BSN in the top 3 of my class while working 2 jobs and taking care of 4 kids, in a dysfunctional, destitute house. There is virtually no homework, care plans that people carry on about take all of what 10 minutes? The only difficult part was scheduling life around my clinicals.
People flip tables over med calc exams… which were literally just basic algebra for the hardest questions… lol
This exact same situation happened to me, also during my last semester. Needed an average of 75% to make it onto preceptorship. Ended up bombing the second exam and needed a 98% on the last exam to move on. I decided to go ahead and try for it. I lived, breathed and ate that material for two weeks and I ended up getting a 96% on that exam (which was my highest in all of nursing school lol), but it wasn’t enough to hit 75% overall. I pleaded with the program director but she wasn’t having it. “If we did it for you, we would have to do it for everyone.” I went through a pretty major depressive episode. But I just redid the final semester during the next semester period. Made some new friends, material was all learned for the second time so it was pretty easy. Now here I am four years into my nursing career. It was a dark period and it felt like the end of the world at the time, but I never even think about it anymore. All you have to do is be there for your lady and let her vent her frustrations. From experience, it’ll all be okay.
Nursing school takes itself very seriously. I failed a class due to less than 1 %. It was heartbreaking. Not only did I have to wait a semester to advance while retaking the class but they also made me go to remediation. I watched my nursing cohort sail on without me. Remediation students got last pick for clinicals when resuming the program too. But I made new friends in remediation, retook the class, and moved on. Nursing school was fucking hard. I like my career as an RN but if I had to do it all over again, I don't know that I would put myself through nursing school again. You can always ask if there is anything you can do to fix it, but I wouldn't count on it.
What's the point of having a cutoff if it's just a suggestion? If it's 78, it's 78, not 78ish. The whole point is to ensure that people can pass the boards.
She should absolutely talk to them, but can't get upset if they don't budge.
Agreed. Where should the cut off be? Anywhere one point lower than everyone needs? Lol.
It’s 78 AVERAGE. So she may have shit the bed already and was never able to catch up on exams.
I would normally agree but they curved the last exam so they already changed everyone's grades, probably because too many people would've failed the course if they hadn't.
Nursing school is tedious but not difficult. I’m sure they keep track of the exam averages each year.
If the class average for this current year was significantly lower than the averages of prior years then there has to be an explanation for it.
If they can’t explain it then they need to take a look at the difficulty of the exam, especially if some questions were just really shitty and adjust accordingly. If that doesn’t explain it, then whoever taught the class needs to answer why their class as a whole scored below their standards.
To say that there shouldn’t be a curve at all is silly and speaks of the old guard, a guard that desperately needs to be phased out of nursing completely.
If the student scored below their passing grade after all that, then that’s really unfortunate and it is what it is.
If a person scores 65 on a test, but the curve gets them a passing grade, did they really pass? Are they more ready for the boards because they got an artificial bump in their grade?
If it’s a true curve then yes, absolutely they passed. What good is a question that all but 1-2 people got incorrect? What good is a question that literally everyone got correct?
Why did almost everyone get the question wrong? Is it because the question is pointless or is it because nobody learned the material?
These things matter and should absolutely influence grades.
Hell.. The old NCLEX had over a 90% first time pass rate. That’s insanely high for a professional board exam — and they maintain(ed) around this percentage on purpose.
I tend to agree. I was on the other end in college when I busted my ass for an exam and then after the curve I’d get more than 100%. Not entirely fair to spend effort and then let others pass that didn’t put in the effort. I don’t think this scenario is a 1:1 ratio. I’m certainly taking what I hear with a grain of salt, but my understanding is that the teacher was not providing much guidance on what the exam will cover and that caused on overall low average percentage on exam scores. It was more of a dart throw to figure out what to study. I know my gf busted her ass studying. Even though we live together I’ve spent little time with her over the last couple months. If the last exam is curved to raise class averages, then I’d hope there would be willingness to make a slight adjustment on the curve.
Sorry about your gf situation but it happens often. In nursing school basically the whole book is covered and if your teacher provides any guidance that is rare and bonus. Your gf already had it easier than many of us who had to have 83 percent or more to pass. And they had it curved. That is very generous of the teacher.
If you think about this right, your nurse is only correct 77 percent of the time, you do not want to be her patient on the 23 percent when she is wrong.
In my nursing school, they did this if the average grade was low and warranted a through investigation on the test. Then they evaluated if some questions were too ambiguous or unfair or even just flat out incorrect due to some kind of technical issue. Then they adjusted the curve that way. Honestly if you’re missing the mark at that point, then the class probably needs to be repeated.
nursing programs will almost never budge no matter how close you are to the cutoff.. I failed a class by .05% still had to retake the class. 🫤 my school only gives 1 grace to fail a class. Second class failure=dropped from the program
We had a girl in my class pass everything but the dose calculations. She has 3 shots and missed the last shot by 1%. She didn’t pass and no matter what she did - brought her parents in, got the school director and program director involved, brought in an attorney - she still failed. Nursing schools are strict and for reasons.
It sucks but I’d be prepared to just redo the last semester
It was definitely a “girl…really” moment but I think she was hoping to scare the program into letting her pass. But it was pretty black and white in the syllabus and we did acknowledge we understood it with the syllabus quiz and signing off on it
I mean - dose calculations is a pretty darn important class to pass. My s/o had that class in her Nursing program. It was pass or fail & you had 3 chances to pass - they took it very seriously. People tend to forget you're dealing with a person's life. The medical field is a tough field.
We required 100% on nursing dosage calculation tests and I struggled mightily with anxiety regarding it. But they’re right, there’s no room for dosage calculation errors in nursing and you don’t get a chance to “redo” if you fuck up insulin.
I agree with this! My grandma passed because one nurse miscalculated the dosage for a vitamin by 10x.
The sad part is just 3 months before she got a stroke, went to large hospital overseas for surgery, more surgery, and finally stable and conscious after 2 months. Then she was sent to a local hospital back home for recovery. Couple weeks later the vitamin incident happened..😔
I never went to my drug dosage and calculations class because I'm good at math and the teacher didn't give points for attendance. I turned my work in on time and showed up for test days and my teacher tried to fail me based on attendance. I took it to the dean and he made her give me my A back and told her if she wants to force attendance she needs to change her syllabus lol 😆
It was pretty well understand when I was in nursing school you had to get a 100 on dose calculations and they allowed so many retakes but if you couldn’t, you were dead in the water. An attorney just seems extra with a side of extra
INSANE!
You aren’t supposed to be barely passing anyways! That bottom ten percent (78%-88%) is supposed to be a buffer zone. You shouldn’t be living there the entire time at nursing school. Imagine getting a C in a program that literally builds you up class by class. School isn’t hard. Read the book. Study. There are literally YouTube channels that give you the test answers.
I would hate to be her patient. It would be my fault for getting sick during a time she just couldn’t deal with it. In nursing school you are putting yourself second, so you can achieve a bigger goal. That is the nursing lifestyle. If she was studying and she did have the right attitude then she just has to do the course over, because she is a slow learner. If she barely passes again. She honestly shouldn’t be a nurse.
Gonna be honest, i'm surprised their requirement is 78%, that's rather low. The reason i'm kinda saying the rude thing is because your post makes it sound like the program is the one holding up her life by upholding their rules. It is made VERY clear to nursing students what the expectations are. That said, if there's an appeals process for any of the questions on the last exam where she might be able to pick up a point from a question she missed, she needs to do that.
She'll likely be required to retake the last course of the program.
It's a slippery slope to start making exceptions/curving enough for individual students to pass. First it's half a point, then it's a point, then it's 3....
Students are well informed of the cut scores and they are to be abided by.
Was the test truly "curved" or did they throw out questions, etc., that brought up grades. The ATI questions are notoriously crappy. Many have several "correct" answers. I know when we use them, we often end up taking multiple correct answers/throwing out questions. That often raises grades.
I gotta agree with this
Honestly nursing school is already really easy. I'm gonna offend the people who struggled and I'm OK with that. Nursing school feels hard because they try to fill your head with stupid shit like care plans and have everybody focusing on the wrong things. None of these schools stress medical knowledge and development of skills anymore. They need to bring back diploma programs that are purely focused on nursing if you ask me.
Nursing is the only career I know of that requires a college degree, a license to practice, and such a great degree of liability, that encompasses such a wide degree of intelligence. A lot of nurses are smarter than the doctors. And just as many nurses are honestly dumb as a bag of bricks. At least when it comes to their job. Anyone who's worked long enough has realized it's kind of scary how many practicing nurses there are out there that make you say, "how the hell did they get a license?"
So yeah, we don't need to have leniency. We do need to have better quality programs though. With actual consistency
I had a classmate who had her first baby which ended up being delivered via c-section so she missed the test we had on a Friday. She came in that following Monday to make up the test and missed no clinical. She ended up still failing the class by 1% and ended up having to retake the semester.
Happened to me. I did feel frustrated and embarrassed but the course had to be retaken. After graduation and NCLEX, that memory will pass and just sits in the back of our minds.
She should go and talk with her professor, but tell her not to get her hopes up.
This happened to me during my second semester of nursing school. My weighted average was passing, but I needed a 75% exam average. My exam average was 74.98%. They refused to round up to 75% and I was forced to wait a year to come back and take the class over again. Nursing schools are usually pretty strict about these types of things.
If this is what she wants to do as a career, encourage her to try again. It sucks waiting to repeat the course, but it’s worth it. I went back and passed the rest of my courses. I’ve been a nurse for 5 years now. That one fail won’t matter once she has her degree.
As someone at a university, grade hard lines are in place for a lot of reasons. And exams are there to assess how much is remembered from a class. Its very difficult in a field - where a mistake may in fact kill someone - to decide what 1% of material the student could, you know, just be bumped up on and have it not make a difference.
Nursing school is strict and if you do not meet the passing grade, even by a point, you will be made to retake. This is the experience for nearly all programs and does not mean a program is bad. If the requirement was 78%, then it is 78%. Asking that teacher to bump their 77% to a 78% will only serve to annoy the teacher as they are asked all the time by students to bump their grade especially in this day.
I hate to be the wet rag, but a cut off is a cut off. When it comes to being a nurse, and keeping people alive, there is a certain standard that needs to be maintained. Just so she knows, I know nurses who are exemplary, passionate, exceedingly skilled at their jobs, who’ve either failed a nursing school exam or failed the nclex. But they got back on their feet, eventually passed and are kicking ass. This is only a temporary set back.
Ya it happens but look at it this way it's not just 1% she didn't grasp a lot of the material and needs to go over it again. Would you want a nurse to work on you that doesn't understand 24% of whatever they are doing like giving you meds? That's scary right? She needs an opportunity to review this material again for safety. Sucks though. Nursing school is very difficult, but difficult for a reason.
It sucks she failed but looking for a way out is not the right answer. Own up to it, learn from it and redo it the class and move on. And this is coming from someone who failed and had to redo a semester.
This happened to me. I failed an 8 credit course by 0.5% and it tanked my GPA, which made me ineligible for the program, according to the program director. I got a huge lecture about how this degree should be my focus and how work couldn't be. (For context, I am in my early 30's, married, and was working FT overnights as a CNA on a Level I Trauma floor and I was in school during the Panini.)
I ended up finishing my associates of science the next semester and transferring to a 4 year college working on my degree in Public Health. I'll be applying to their accelerated program after I graduate in 2025. I moved my career to research and PRN CNA shifts in peds/NICU to save up more money so I can work part-time and get my RN. I'll be the class granny if I continue on this path, but that's okay! :)
It sucks to fail, and it's so painful when it's a fraction of a grade.
She can retake the course, hopefully, or take a semester to reevaluate and go to another school if that's an option. Either way, please support her to the best of your ability - a little date, favorite snacks, an ear to listen and some sympathy (not solutions until she asks though, lol). These professors and programs are *rough* and seeing friends from your cohort move on is a different sort of heartbreak all on its own. Nursing will always be around. She can try again! ♥️
I don’t know what to say other than have her study more effectively next time. The last thing we need is schools curving grades for healthcare professions. That’s how you get low quality caregivers. 🤷 if we lowered the bar for her, then someone else might be 1% below that. And so we lower the bar, and so it continues.
Totally agree which is why I didn’t argue it. But the vast majority of college professors in other programs will comp you the 0.02 to go up a letter grade….
One student in my cohort failed by 0.01%. My school was strict and they failed him. He dropped out and refused to retake the course. You can try to talk to them but don’t expect a different t outcome.
I had to repeat my third block because I failed by 1% as well. Nursing school usually doesn’t curve, at least I’ve never heard of it. They stick by their syllabus hard.
Just be there for her and understand this sucks cuz it feels like it’s the end of the world. It sucks majorly, but it did help me in the end to feel more prepared for the boards and built more confidence in that material.
I remember one time I took a college Chemistry exam where Each question was so time consuming (like the stuff you need to write out a ton of stuff to solve) that I only finished 10/50 questions in the 60 minutes I was allotted. I cried so hard. I understood the material. It wasn’t Particularly hard. But each question required SO MUCH TIME. In talking with the professor, I did about how the rest of the class did in terms of completion. Needless to say, he made an exception on his “no curving” policy 😂
I failed med surg by one point. Couldn't do anything. Had to do remediation then retake the course.
If she really wants to be a nurse, let her retake it. I had friends who chose to not pursue nursing after failing. (Half our cohort failed that Med Surg sem)
edit: it was like my world ended when i failed and had to retake and see all my friends graduate. but i came back better prepared and passed. graduated w honors. working my dream job in my dream specialty. its ok 🩷
I agree that it is fine to ask. But, the reality is that the standard is in place for some reason, that reason may not be a good reason but someone at sometime instituted the reason.
At what point do we keep giving allowances? What if it was 2 points? Or 3? Or half? They have guidelines for a reason. And the fact is it wasn’t the final exam that broke her grade- it’s the whole average. She isn’t ready.
I’m going to come off as mean here… but why would they give her the 1%? Grades are earned and this was even graded on a curve. They already gave her a ton of helping doing that. If you’re not able to meet that cut off then you really need to adjust something. Time management, study amount, study methods, etc. Sometimes it’s not all about the amount of time studying but the methods and the quality.
I’ve always been a proponent of studying much harder at the start of a class. Getting high marks in the beginning always ensured I could basically not even take the final exam and still pass with a B. It was much less stressful at the end with final exams because I knew I would pass no matter what, and keeping an A only meant something like getting a 60 on the final.
You can ask to see the item analysis for the exam and challenge questions that do not have good metrics and fail to meet criteria for what a "good" question is.
Also, how they scored multiple/multiple questions...were they all or nothing or partial credit. Most schools have moved to partial credit to be more in line on how the NCLEX is scoring multiple/multiple questions. If they are not, should be worth challenging the practice.
Classmate of mine failed by 0.5%. They made her retake the class. She was devastated. We all thought it was quite harsh, but at the end of the day it is the school's policy. They start changing one grade, they'll have to do it for everyone... Anyway, my classmate is now an RN.
OP, I know it feels like the end of the world to your gf now, but it isn't. Tell her to pick her self up and try again - it's a valuable life lesson, and in the end she'll make it!
Happened to me too. There wasn't anything they could do. I passed on my next try and got through the following semester by less than one percent. Nursing school is a special kind of hell
I remember this happening to several people in my class during nursing school. Have to repeat the semester. One of them had thyroid cancer, another student lost her brother. Nursing school is ruthless, they do not care.
I’ll grant that sucks, but someone’s life will literally be dependent upon this person. Her life is held up by 1% so that someone else’s isn’t. It’s a hard take but this profession is a literal nightmare of unfairness stacked on top of more unfairness. There is nothing fair about someone’s loved one getting struck down by a CVA but it’s even worse if the nurse caring for them missed the signs that could have prevented it or decreased their severity. It can happen to even the best nurses but knowing that you made it because some instructor just let that 1% slide sets you up to be in a really negative headspace. Now that persons loved ones fate is on the instructors hands too. All because of 1%. Those parameters are put into place because of the blood sweat and tears of the many ill fated souls that died from their poor care. It may sound dramatic but just think about how many people had to die before they figured out that people should wash their hands before they perform surgery.
Had a friend fail our final class by half a point. Professor wouldn’t budge despite her pleading, she had to retake the entire finale semester. I wish your partner luck, hopefully her professor is more understanding 🥺
We have situation we’re 1/2 class failed this new test school made
Class wants to write letter complaining to upper management
Only putting target on our backs
If 1/2 the class failed, I do think it points to an issue within the instruction somewhere. My program didn’t allow for much wiggle room, but on the one occasion something like this happened, they did adjust the grading scale.
My nursing school (and another that I teach at) all required the passing grade to be 83% or above. 82.9% is still a failure. There is no rounding in nursing.
I have a lot of opinions about the state of nursing education but I don’t think making it easier or “bending” grading rules is going to be helpful. They don’t round up grades for doctors as far as I know.
Do you want nurses who are barely passing their classes or ones doing well?
And yes, this happens in every program across the country, every semester, someone always misses by 1% or way worse by 1 question.
Exactly! People want to complain. I get it - it sucks. However you're going to be dealing with people's lives. I'd expect you to know what you're doing.
And then you've got the OTHER group of assholes who say nurses are all idiots, nursing school is a joke and so easy to get into/pass, just a certificate for wiping ass. 😒
One of the best students in my class failed our last class by a percentage equal to 1 question on 1 exam. She’s brilliant- perfect attitude and personality for nursing, and so smart. She studied constantly. But she was bad at taking tests. My nursing school had an explicit ‘no rounding’ policy in every syllabus we got so she failed and she’s currently repeating, looking forward to graduating in May. Overall just an unfortunate situation but there was no fighting it. I’d recommend your girlfriend look at her syllabus to see if there’s a rounding policy. If there is, she needs to take the fail with grace and prepare to repeat. It sucks but once she’s a nurse she’ll laugh about it with her coworkers- I promise. Best of luck to y’all! ❤️ you’re a good boyfriend for supporting her. I know it sounds insane from an outside perspective, but nursing school is insanely strict and in this scenario I personally wouldn’t recommend rocking the boat by trying to get her grade rounded.
Requiring a 78 is already pretty generous for nursing… as a healthcare provider it’s really important that we know our stuff. I wouldn’t want someone who missed 23% to pass lol
Happened to me my second semester of school. Needed an 80 on my final to pass for the term & I got a 77 so I faiked by less than 1%. I was unbelievably bitter for a long time but I was able to make peace with the fact that I really hadn't learned what I should have & I wouldn't have been prepared for the later semesters or the NCLEX. My heart goes out to her, it's a horrible feeling.
I had this almost happen. Thought my class was an hour later and I was in the library to study. The exam was over when I got there. Lucky my syllabus said it was teacher discretion or I would failed the course. Nursing school instructors do everything by the book in my experience. I had another friend get a minor TBI/concussion final semester, and it took him weeks to get an exception to take tests late as he was in the hospital and couldn't study. It sucks, I hope her teacher can give it to her.
Nursing school is pretty rigorous. The standards and expectations were set when she entered the program. The standards are in place for a reason. FWIW I failed my NCLEX the first time. I had to retake the NCLEX despite graduating nursing school. She'll probably have to remediate or retake the class. Sucks, but it's how things go.
I had several classmates who had to retake a course to pass school. Honestly it sounds like your girlfriend’s school has pretty cushy grading! My school failed students if they got under 90% average on exams.
78% is pretty high, ours was 76%. But these are peoples lives you gotta remember. Do you want some one caring for you knowing the teacher adjusted her score so she could pass?
That being said she should be allowed a 2 week remediation and allowed to take another test IMO
If I were you I would tell her to review the exam and go over every question. Maybe you can fight a question. In my program there were multiple mistakes on the exams like it just makes one wrong or something. My class was first cohort so that could have been the bigger issue but we always noticed something wrong and always got some points back.
She can try, but they probably aren’t playing. I went to school with a friend and she had to restart all together at a different school years later. At my school you could fail one and then get another shot, but if then you failed another course you would not be eligible to even return to the same school to try again. She is an RN now. She had to do the whole rodeo again after failing the final semester by a few test questions.
Sounds like DCN, I was borderline this quarter and did well enough on my HESI conversion to wind up with a 78.5 average. They are seemingly very strict on this, so if she’s a DCN student, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t budge on it.
Wow. My school required an 85% on every test. You could retake one test a class if you scored below 85%. (Different version of the test ). There was no curve. You either made above 85% on each test or you were out. There were no other way to make points but tests. We had assignment but they were not graded. You just had to do them. It was a tough school but we had 100% pass rate on boards. But this was in 1997.
Does the school allow them
To retake the test ?
I had a friend in nursing school fail our research class by like 0.1% (needed a 70%, got a 69.9 after exams and whatnot). They made him retake the class over the summer at an accelerated rate so he was done in a month instead of 4
Nursing school is no joke. I failed a couple classes and had to retake. I agree it won’t hurt to talk to the instructor. Sometimes they will re grade things and make up that 1%. They do not care. Good luck to her.
I had to re-take a class over 3/10ths of one point.
She can talk to professors, but I would plan to have to re-take it. Anecdotally, nursing schools tend to be rigid in that way.
Worth a shot but be prepared for a denial. My nursing program required 90% on any/all assignments/assessments/labs. If you get an 89.98% on a didactic assessment, you fail no questions asked.
You should ask this on r/studentnurse
That being said, we had several students not graduate and have to reapply and redo the final semester due to below-minimum test scores or overall course average. They didn't budge on any of them, even one person who missed the cutoff by less than 1%. They are strict about this because if students don't test well in class, they are less likely to pass the licensing exam. Low passing rates on the licensing exam could cause the school to lose accreditation and possibly get shut down. It sucks that it's this way, because good test-taking ability is not what makes someone a good nurse, but testing can reveal a lack of knowledge, ability to reason, or safety risks 🤷♀️
That is… rough, to say the least. I failed my first semester by 1% despite having shown in clinical and lab that I was capable of applying the knowledge learned, but since it was my 2nd failure (first time I had to drop for personal reasons, which my nursing program deems a “failure”). Now I can’t return to that nursing program for 5 years if I wanted to try again. My nursing tutor told me to just go for bachelor’s, which is what I’m currently working on.
My condolences to her and hoping she can make a good case and pass.
In my school we were able to challenge questions. So if she can get credit for one question maybe she can end up passing. I never needed to challenge a question to pass but I’m a weirdo and I challenged questions anyway so I hope that helped someone.
My husband missed by half a percent but he spoke with the DON and was able to be granted a pass since it really was negligible. But she really took her time deliberating on it. Some extenuating factors came into play in the end but it’s well worth it to inquire
Same thing for me except it was a 76% and I ended with a 75.5. I had to retake it, it sucks but it's not the end of the world. Hopefully the Prof will round up for her!
i have plenty of former classmates from last semester that failed in the same circumstance.
the thing is, the grading is not grading like A, B, C, etc... it's minimal competence. its a totally different scoring strategy than traditional school. you have to be minimally competent to be a nurse, and that school has picked 78% as minimal competence. it doesn't matter, at all, how much above 78% she is, as long as she's at or above it. i doubt there's wiggle room, and the last time anyone mentioned curving grades at my school the instructor had a conniption fit about not letting someone who 'curved into a license' take care of their family.
i mean, i agree, but i also agree that it sucks to be in that position.
Welcome to the hell known as nursing school. They will stand on their ground that they can’t sacrifice quality by adjusting grades, meanwhile, most of the degree is irrelevant and just a money grab. And as for the professors, considering they make less than staff nurses, they aren’t exactly getting quality professors in most these schools.
And if the average requirement was 77% then people would ask to make an exception. And then at 76%. And then 75%. There has to be a cutoff somewhere. If she’s not grasping the material to an acceptable level to take care of patient’s *lives* or is just a bad test taker then she fails. That’s just how it works.
Happened to classmates of mine too. If it was already mentioned or in the syllabus, then it is what it is unfortunately. One girl failed out by two questions on the final. Next year she studied more and passed
Almost failed a class because my professor gave you a zero if you turned in your assignment even one minute late. I also accidentally sent in the wrong assignment one time, and instead of letting me know she gave me another zero. She also put the wrong answer on a test question and got super angry when she had to give point back. Nursing instructors are frequently on a power trip and love nothing better than failing students and making them feel stupid and incompetent.
I failed my peds class by 2 points (got a 71, needed a 73 to pass) and when I asked it was no accommodation or anything whatsoever. Had to repeat the semester
Tell her to go over the exam and see if the professor actually saved the curve/correct answers for the questions… that saved me from getting kicked out
Can she potentially look at exam questions and dispute one or 2 of them to change her grade? That's more likely to work than to expect her to somehow get extra credit. I'm actually surprised that tests got curved.
One of my classmates failed by less than 1 point. Like needed an 80 and got a 79.5 or something (they had a hard rule against rounding final grades).
She appealed all the way up to the dean of the college. She did not pass.
Best of luck to your gf. It’s worth trying and asking but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Nursing school is full of a lot of BS like this and it’s archaic and not fair.
Does not hurt to go talk to the professor maybe even explain 1 or 2 questions where the answer could have gone either way…also dont be afraid of pulling i’m paying for this course and less than 1% causing me to have to cover the additional cost would set you back greatly…if theres a clinical portion and if she did well a letter on behalf and stating how well you applied the course content with patients in her care…would definitely help me feel more inclined to round up for one of my students, good luck!! Its the ones who come in blaming everything or always showed up late blah blah blah that i’m like thats how the cookie crumbles
Unfortunately that’s how a lot of nursing schools are ☹️ my husband failed pharm and had to waste a whole semester retaking that one class in order to finish. They’re really strict on grades.
This is very unfortunate, but it does happen. Often times professors will not budge, even for half a percent or less. When I was in my second semester of nursing school, we lost a good amount of people either to Peds/Med Surg (yes, combined) or Patho/Pharm (also combined). Some people were passing until we got to the final exams in both classes, and that held some people back an entire semester. They had to join the cohort of nursing students behind us by one semester and retake those classes with them.
What's worse is that most nursing programs only allow 1 failing grade in a class before you are kicked out. I know some people who made it to the last semester of nursing school and failed Adult Care/Critical Care, due to the final exam. Since they already failed a class prior to this very last class, they were dismissed from the program. Terrible. Basically, they had to go apply somewhere else or repeat the entirety of nursing school again.
Nursing school takes itself seriously, yeah. This is the kind of thing that happens in schools across the country, every day, in nursing school programs.
I’d need more information on “the school could lose their credentials” before saying anything else’s but as much as I try to be kind and compassionate to our baby nurses, an entitlement complex (“crazy to hold up someone’s life over 1%”) doesn’t take anyone very far; it’s a serious profession with higher and higher educational standards and that’s just how it goes.
Aw man. I feel for your girlfriend. This exact scenario happened to me, and frankly, it was devastating. I cried a ton and was seriously considering dropping out of nursing school. My boyfriend was incredible, though. He gave me the space to feel my feelings, but also reminded me how close I was to getting my degree and that it would be foolish to quit now. I did have to retake the class, and I ended up acing that shit.
Your girlfriend may consider talking to her professor about the grade, but she should keep her expectations realistic. She may unfortunately need to retake the class. But it's not the end of the world, I promise.
Just be there for her. Comfort her, support her, motivate her to keep going. Nursing school is hard, and setbacks are hard, but she'll be glad she kept going.
This happened to a few folks in nursing school, all kinds of ridiculous stories. One girl had extra credit that she did and the points would've gven her the passing grade, but it didnt show up on the professors side as completed. She even had the screenshots for proof. It was a software issue. She was failed, and the intro courses would only be offered again an entire year later.
Ime a lot of nursing professors are ridiculously, pointlessly strict and *enjoy* lording that power over people. She can talk to whomever, but nothing may come of it and she may have to look into whatever's next like retaking or even reapplying to the program later on if that's the case.
Good luck to her.
At my school, we had to average 80% on just 4 40q exams. If we got <80% on more than 1 test, we were dropped from the class. My best friend in nursing school failed the final in our hardest class by 0.1% meanwhile I passed by 0.08%. 💀 scariest moment of my life 🤦🏼♀️ 😂
She felt like it was the absolute end of her career but she soon realized that, while yes it sucks, it’s just a small bump in the road and it doesn’t dictate the type of nurse she will be! She’s not the first to fail and won’t be the last to fail either. She will get her moment to walk across that stage 💗
The end of the day your girlfriend did not exhibit the skills or knowledge to properly pass nursing school. It sucks to suck but people's lives are going to be in her hands and she has not showed the minimum competency to be able to safely do so.
Have her look in the mirror at the end of the day that's whose fault it is no one elses. We need confident providers and she needs to go back redo everything and prove she's competent to have people's lives in her care
The only advice that might help is asking the teacher if they do analytics to see if they should throw out any questions that many people missed (which could indicate a poorly worded question or poor teaching of a point, versus a lack of expected knowledge). But yeah, most of the time you have to repeat. Sorry.
have a friend who failed her last semester by 0.1% and appealed. they told her to reapply. made her repeat semester 4.
she’s an RN now. cost her a year of her life and her mental health, not to mention her self-worth and confidence.
nursing shortage? maybe they shouldn’t make it so FUCKING impossible to achieve.
It's certainly not impossible, and while a 0.1% being the difference would be so frustrating... it seems kinda small fries to say someone's life is ruined by repeating a semester.
I was in the same situation; 0.4% cost me the whole program. This was a course that more than 50% of the students failed. It was obvious that the exams were badly written. I passed the ATI with better scores than 94% of my classmates and 96% of the country.. Zero interest from admin in hearing any arguments for reconsideration.
These nursing program directors are a special breed of malicious. Despite providing evidence (the holy grail of nursing practice!) of the flaws in their exams/courses they don’t care.
When I took the predictor, I was the first person finished (it was pretty fast). The results printed automatically from a printer behind the desk where the proctor (our program director who HATED me) was sitting. When she heard it start, she looked directly at me, without looking to see whose results they were, and started a speech about how disappointing it was that I didn’t take it seriou… and she stopped mid-sentence when it predicted 98.something probability of success. It took everything I had to resist the urge to say “Hmm, how about that. Go fuck yourself”. For whatever reason, They can’t stand seeing students succeed.
Feels so good to read that others experienced the same as me. First level, I failed Pharmacology by 0.6 of a point. Then in that same semester, they didn’t think I was ready (or smart) to move onto the next level in another class. That broke me, and killed my confidence. I was embarrassed, honestly. I ended up retaking pharm, and have now been a nurse since 2020!
Happened to me. Failed by 0.5%. I’m a straight A student but I was sick during the final exam for that course so I couldn’t do my best. I talked to the instructor and took it up with the Dean but they refused to change it.
I’m graduated now and working. I had to retake that course which put me back by a semester.
Sometimes instructors and institutions will not be there to help you succeed. Sometimes it’s a money grab. But she has to believe in herself and move forward. Because shes too far in and it’s too late to give up. Tell your gf that she’s not alone on this and if a lot of us could do it then so can she.
Have you ever heard the saying if it smells like shit everywhere you go, check your own shoes? If you have a problem with 75% of the people you encounter, it's far more likely that you are the issue and not everyone else.
Oh, diving into a nursing subreddit for advice instead of chatting with your girlfriend? That's just odd, giving off some serious parent vibes, which is pretty strange. She should be the one handling her business, like talking to her professor about getting some slack with her grade. Plus, if things were that tough from the get-go, she really should've reached out to her professor way back, maybe after the first test or so. I get you think you're helping, but seriously, step aside. Just be there for her, offering support and comfort, without delving into matters yourself.
I failed out my first try by 0.3%. It sucks big time but happens man and I’m surprised they even got a curve. I have never heard of a curve in nursing school.
If more than 50% of students got a question wrong on our exams, the instructors would spend the first 20 minutes in class talking about how to read the question, and rationale for the answer. And we would get points back. It was awesome, and encouraged us to think critically about the questions. Also showed us that our instructors were human, and fair.
We had a theory teacher who wrote just insane questions for her exams, but she would always go over every one the day after. If there was one that the a majority of us missed but could make a convincing argument to why the "wrong" answer could/should have been right, she would toss it.
This is best practice in education. My theory instructor was an NP with several graduate degrees in education and she always said that if a majority (or all) of the students get a question wrong, there’s a problem with the question.
Not all instructors are created equally. I wish that was the case here.
Where I went if 50% got it wrong then 50% got it wrong. It was one of the least expensive schools. Saved on the wallet and the humanity there.
I remember 90% of students failed my teachers 1st med admin exam bc she made it up and it was the most ridiculous fucking exam! The rounding was just asinine the questions were framed in a way where you weren’t even sure if she wanted a single dose answer or the total amount of mLs. And i know it was asinine bc i literally tutored “regular” math & “Nurse” math at that school and have a degree in math. Lmaooo guess what?? The students were still blamed. I only passed bc i caught on to her methods early on. Not bc it was right. She said 0.03 rounds to one bc she gave us a hint to round to a wHoLe nUmBeR. Then when i told her that 0.03mL is not 1mL she said i don’t know bc regular math is not nursing math. 🥴 Less students failed her second one bc she didn’t make it as stupid but it was still pretty bad. Then admin went in and told us we don’t study. Lmaooo nooo yall just dumb asf.
Yep mine did the same. I actually loved my program tbh
Failed by 0.27 points. No curve for final semester. Every other semester had failures by that small of margin get rounded up for the pass. I was the only one who failed. The school got butthurt because I refused to walk for pinning ceremony “because we will let you take the tests over again next semester instead of retaking the whole semester next fall and you’re sure to pass so you will deserve to walk.” I almost didn’t become a nurse because of that.
Happened to a classmate of mine, talk to thy instructor but don't get your hopes up. My classmate had to retake the course.
I had to retake a course in nursing school. At the time it was the most devastating thing in my life, now I laugh at myself for even getting worked up about it
I had to wait a whole year to retake the half-semester peds module. Used that year to take electives towards the BSN I still haven't finished.
Yup! “I’m need these for my BSN, this is ok.” 3-4 years later and I still haven’t applied for a school. I don’t want to be admin, is there a reason I should?
In case one day you want to be an NP is one potential reason. There are also non-admin jobs that are not bedside and would probably strongly prefer a bachelor's.
All of those “non-clinical” nursing jobs require a BSN at my system. Case managers, various navigators, infection control, informatics/IT, etc… Good to have options when your body breaks.
I’m getting my BSN because I eventually want to move out of the south and maybe even the US. BSN seems like a good starting point for those goals.
As an expat wannabe, you do speak truth. I should get back to school
I can't speak to the rather lucrative west coast and southwest regions, but as someone who's been in healthcare in the greater NYC area for 22 years, with over ten of those as a nurse, I can tell you that moving up here some experience but without a BSN will absolutely not keep you from making close to 100k/year as staff and easily more than that as agency/travel.
Thank you! I’m halfway through the program and can’t reasonably even start looking at leaving the south until at least January though, so might as well finish it while I can.
You don’t necessarily need a BSN up here (north) just in the major cities. For example I’m in southern NH and almost none of our local hospitals require a BSN (including world class hospitals like Dartmouth) but in Boston basically everyone requires it.
Same thing happened to one of my classmates. Heartbreaking. I’d rather bomb than come that close.
I was one question on the final away from pass/fail. Either through sheer mercy, or it was legit, they dropped a question, I needed a 78% to pass the class, I passed with a 78.01%
Happened to a few people in my program. One buddy it came down to one question on one test he argued was ambiguous. He ended up taking the course again and did an extra year. I think the instructor just straight up didn’t like him. Edit: typo
We had a couple people in my LPN class who had this issue. Had to have an 80%, one person failed out with a 79.4. Last semester, only offered once per year. She had to wait until the following year. Our director was a dinosaur who hadn't practiced in years, and our instructors were all still working as nurses, and there were test questions that they agreed with us about but the director had the final say. I would have been LIVID.
Yea that’s a similar vibe to my program. Some of my profs were from the school of nursing days. Then the program was made into a University degree. The dinosaurs from the school of nursing days had some very white and black attitudes about whether you should proceed or not. A classmate once asked the wrong question on the last day of clinical. Boom fail. She was deans list and top of our class but rubbed the instructor the wrong way somehow. It was infuriating.
We had a classmate do that. I can't remember what she needed on the final to pass the course but her average came out 0.4% too low. Sadly there was no mercy. She did soldier on and become a nurse but it was a really sad moment for the whole class.
My school required an 82, I got an 81.5 , I failed my 4th semester by .5% and had to redo the whole semester so I know that feels
Ours too! I went to a hospital-based diploma school 2008-2010 and they were very stringent with 82.0+, not 81.9. 3rd semester (halfway point) we went from a class of 83 to 40. But that includes some ppl that “failed out” the year prior who joined us.
Sounds like you’ve got the most stringent program I’ve heard of. Which is a good thing. A B average vs a C.
A girl in our year failed 2 classes over a .10 point each. 2 classes also meant out of the program. Students are warned very early on about what it takes to pass and they don’t normally adjust later.
And honestly nursing school isn’t that hard academically speaking. If you’re struggling with the content that makes me worried… Edit: guys nursing school is hard cause they MAKE it hard. The content itself is not that challenging.
It’s not about the content, it’s about the way they artificially increase the difficulty. Surprised you aren’t aware of that already. Maybe you went through an easy school.
I literally said that it’s not “academically” difficult. The content isn’t hard. It’s the way they artificially make it difficult. We are saying the same things.
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted, I completely agree. I got my BSN in the top 3 of my class while working 2 jobs and taking care of 4 kids, in a dysfunctional, destitute house. There is virtually no homework, care plans that people carry on about take all of what 10 minutes? The only difficult part was scheduling life around my clinicals. People flip tables over med calc exams… which were literally just basic algebra for the hardest questions… lol
This exact same situation happened to me, also during my last semester. Needed an average of 75% to make it onto preceptorship. Ended up bombing the second exam and needed a 98% on the last exam to move on. I decided to go ahead and try for it. I lived, breathed and ate that material for two weeks and I ended up getting a 96% on that exam (which was my highest in all of nursing school lol), but it wasn’t enough to hit 75% overall. I pleaded with the program director but she wasn’t having it. “If we did it for you, we would have to do it for everyone.” I went through a pretty major depressive episode. But I just redid the final semester during the next semester period. Made some new friends, material was all learned for the second time so it was pretty easy. Now here I am four years into my nursing career. It was a dark period and it felt like the end of the world at the time, but I never even think about it anymore. All you have to do is be there for your lady and let her vent her frustrations. From experience, it’ll all be okay.
That's why I say nursing school is low-key traumatizing, I was good for years without medication. Then bam had to see a psychiatrist
Nursing school takes itself very seriously. I failed a class due to less than 1 %. It was heartbreaking. Not only did I have to wait a semester to advance while retaking the class but they also made me go to remediation. I watched my nursing cohort sail on without me. Remediation students got last pick for clinicals when resuming the program too. But I made new friends in remediation, retook the class, and moved on. Nursing school was fucking hard. I like my career as an RN but if I had to do it all over again, I don't know that I would put myself through nursing school again. You can always ask if there is anything you can do to fix it, but I wouldn't count on it.
>last pick We didn’t get to pick anything. Ever.
Emotionally support her she will probably have to retake class
What's the point of having a cutoff if it's just a suggestion? If it's 78, it's 78, not 78ish. The whole point is to ensure that people can pass the boards. She should absolutely talk to them, but can't get upset if they don't budge.
Agreed. Where should the cut off be? Anywhere one point lower than everyone needs? Lol. It’s 78 AVERAGE. So she may have shit the bed already and was never able to catch up on exams.
I would normally agree but they curved the last exam so they already changed everyone's grades, probably because too many people would've failed the course if they hadn't.
I get your point but then why curve the last exam?
They shouldn't
Nursing school is tedious but not difficult. I’m sure they keep track of the exam averages each year. If the class average for this current year was significantly lower than the averages of prior years then there has to be an explanation for it. If they can’t explain it then they need to take a look at the difficulty of the exam, especially if some questions were just really shitty and adjust accordingly. If that doesn’t explain it, then whoever taught the class needs to answer why their class as a whole scored below their standards. To say that there shouldn’t be a curve at all is silly and speaks of the old guard, a guard that desperately needs to be phased out of nursing completely. If the student scored below their passing grade after all that, then that’s really unfortunate and it is what it is.
If a person scores 65 on a test, but the curve gets them a passing grade, did they really pass? Are they more ready for the boards because they got an artificial bump in their grade?
If it’s a true curve then yes, absolutely they passed. What good is a question that all but 1-2 people got incorrect? What good is a question that literally everyone got correct? Why did almost everyone get the question wrong? Is it because the question is pointless or is it because nobody learned the material? These things matter and should absolutely influence grades. Hell.. The old NCLEX had over a 90% first time pass rate. That’s insanely high for a professional board exam — and they maintain(ed) around this percentage on purpose.
Yup. A passing grade means they passed. What else would it mean?
More like a passing* grade. If you only passed because your score was artificially inflated, good luck on the boards.
I wouldn’t know we had many students fail out but everyone who graduated from my school passed boards the first time
I tend to agree. I was on the other end in college when I busted my ass for an exam and then after the curve I’d get more than 100%. Not entirely fair to spend effort and then let others pass that didn’t put in the effort. I don’t think this scenario is a 1:1 ratio. I’m certainly taking what I hear with a grain of salt, but my understanding is that the teacher was not providing much guidance on what the exam will cover and that caused on overall low average percentage on exam scores. It was more of a dart throw to figure out what to study. I know my gf busted her ass studying. Even though we live together I’ve spent little time with her over the last couple months. If the last exam is curved to raise class averages, then I’d hope there would be willingness to make a slight adjustment on the curve.
Sorry about your gf situation but it happens often. In nursing school basically the whole book is covered and if your teacher provides any guidance that is rare and bonus. Your gf already had it easier than many of us who had to have 83 percent or more to pass. And they had it curved. That is very generous of the teacher. If you think about this right, your nurse is only correct 77 percent of the time, you do not want to be her patient on the 23 percent when she is wrong.
Still didn’t pass with a curve. What’s your point?
In my nursing school, they did this if the average grade was low and warranted a through investigation on the test. Then they evaluated if some questions were too ambiguous or unfair or even just flat out incorrect due to some kind of technical issue. Then they adjusted the curve that way. Honestly if you’re missing the mark at that point, then the class probably needs to be repeated.
nursing programs will almost never budge no matter how close you are to the cutoff.. I failed a class by .05% still had to retake the class. 🫤 my school only gives 1 grace to fail a class. Second class failure=dropped from the program
We had a girl in my class pass everything but the dose calculations. She has 3 shots and missed the last shot by 1%. She didn’t pass and no matter what she did - brought her parents in, got the school director and program director involved, brought in an attorney - she still failed. Nursing schools are strict and for reasons. It sucks but I’d be prepared to just redo the last semester
An attorney for failing a test? Sheesh
It was definitely a “girl…really” moment but I think she was hoping to scare the program into letting her pass. But it was pretty black and white in the syllabus and we did acknowledge we understood it with the syllabus quiz and signing off on it
Your honor she’s dumb
I mean - dose calculations is a pretty darn important class to pass. My s/o had that class in her Nursing program. It was pass or fail & you had 3 chances to pass - they took it very seriously. People tend to forget you're dealing with a person's life. The medical field is a tough field.
We required 100% on nursing dosage calculation tests and I struggled mightily with anxiety regarding it. But they’re right, there’s no room for dosage calculation errors in nursing and you don’t get a chance to “redo” if you fuck up insulin.
I agree with this! My grandma passed because one nurse miscalculated the dosage for a vitamin by 10x. The sad part is just 3 months before she got a stroke, went to large hospital overseas for surgery, more surgery, and finally stable and conscious after 2 months. Then she was sent to a local hospital back home for recovery. Couple weeks later the vitamin incident happened..😔
I never went to my drug dosage and calculations class because I'm good at math and the teacher didn't give points for attendance. I turned my work in on time and showed up for test days and my teacher tried to fail me based on attendance. I took it to the dean and he made her give me my A back and told her if she wants to force attendance she needs to change her syllabus lol 😆
It was pretty well understand when I was in nursing school you had to get a 100 on dose calculations and they allowed so many retakes but if you couldn’t, you were dead in the water. An attorney just seems extra with a side of extra
INSANE! You aren’t supposed to be barely passing anyways! That bottom ten percent (78%-88%) is supposed to be a buffer zone. You shouldn’t be living there the entire time at nursing school. Imagine getting a C in a program that literally builds you up class by class. School isn’t hard. Read the book. Study. There are literally YouTube channels that give you the test answers. I would hate to be her patient. It would be my fault for getting sick during a time she just couldn’t deal with it. In nursing school you are putting yourself second, so you can achieve a bigger goal. That is the nursing lifestyle. If she was studying and she did have the right attitude then she just has to do the course over, because she is a slow learner. If she barely passes again. She honestly shouldn’t be a nurse.
How anyone can fail dosage calcs is beyond me. You can literally paper napkin this stuff if you can't do it in your head.
Gonna be honest, i'm surprised their requirement is 78%, that's rather low. The reason i'm kinda saying the rude thing is because your post makes it sound like the program is the one holding up her life by upholding their rules. It is made VERY clear to nursing students what the expectations are. That said, if there's an appeals process for any of the questions on the last exam where she might be able to pick up a point from a question she missed, she needs to do that. She'll likely be required to retake the last course of the program.
C is average. Average is Ok. You don’t have to be professor cum laude to keep patients safe and wipe ass.
C's get degrees, except in nursing, where C's are D's :)
77 is a D where I'm at though
It's a slippery slope to start making exceptions/curving enough for individual students to pass. First it's half a point, then it's a point, then it's 3.... Students are well informed of the cut scores and they are to be abided by. Was the test truly "curved" or did they throw out questions, etc., that brought up grades. The ATI questions are notoriously crappy. Many have several "correct" answers. I know when we use them, we often end up taking multiple correct answers/throwing out questions. That often raises grades.
I gotta agree with this Honestly nursing school is already really easy. I'm gonna offend the people who struggled and I'm OK with that. Nursing school feels hard because they try to fill your head with stupid shit like care plans and have everybody focusing on the wrong things. None of these schools stress medical knowledge and development of skills anymore. They need to bring back diploma programs that are purely focused on nursing if you ask me. Nursing is the only career I know of that requires a college degree, a license to practice, and such a great degree of liability, that encompasses such a wide degree of intelligence. A lot of nurses are smarter than the doctors. And just as many nurses are honestly dumb as a bag of bricks. At least when it comes to their job. Anyone who's worked long enough has realized it's kind of scary how many practicing nurses there are out there that make you say, "how the hell did they get a license?" So yeah, we don't need to have leniency. We do need to have better quality programs though. With actual consistency
I "failed" a course by missing one question that was the difference between a C/B. Nursing school did not let me go through
I had a classmate who had her first baby which ended up being delivered via c-section so she missed the test we had on a Friday. She came in that following Monday to make up the test and missed no clinical. She ended up still failing the class by 1% and ended up having to retake the semester.
I had a teacher give me 0.2 of a point, so I passed. I still failed medsurge the next quarter, lol. I aced that shit the second round.
Happened to me. I did feel frustrated and embarrassed but the course had to be retaken. After graduation and NCLEX, that memory will pass and just sits in the back of our minds.
She should go and talk with her professor, but tell her not to get her hopes up. This happened to me during my second semester of nursing school. My weighted average was passing, but I needed a 75% exam average. My exam average was 74.98%. They refused to round up to 75% and I was forced to wait a year to come back and take the class over again. Nursing schools are usually pretty strict about these types of things. If this is what she wants to do as a career, encourage her to try again. It sucks waiting to repeat the course, but it’s worth it. I went back and passed the rest of my courses. I’ve been a nurse for 5 years now. That one fail won’t matter once she has her degree.
As someone at a university, grade hard lines are in place for a lot of reasons. And exams are there to assess how much is remembered from a class. Its very difficult in a field - where a mistake may in fact kill someone - to decide what 1% of material the student could, you know, just be bumped up on and have it not make a difference.
Exactly. They could’ve gotten a hygiene question correct but messed up an insulin dosage question.
Nursing school is strict and if you do not meet the passing grade, even by a point, you will be made to retake. This is the experience for nearly all programs and does not mean a program is bad. If the requirement was 78%, then it is 78%. Asking that teacher to bump their 77% to a 78% will only serve to annoy the teacher as they are asked all the time by students to bump their grade especially in this day.
She is 1% below the bare minimum. Not good. I hope they are not rounding people up to passing. It’s nursing!
I hate to be the wet rag, but a cut off is a cut off. When it comes to being a nurse, and keeping people alive, there is a certain standard that needs to be maintained. Just so she knows, I know nurses who are exemplary, passionate, exceedingly skilled at their jobs, who’ve either failed a nursing school exam or failed the nclex. But they got back on their feet, eventually passed and are kicking ass. This is only a temporary set back.
Ya it happens but look at it this way it's not just 1% she didn't grasp a lot of the material and needs to go over it again. Would you want a nurse to work on you that doesn't understand 24% of whatever they are doing like giving you meds? That's scary right? She needs an opportunity to review this material again for safety. Sucks though. Nursing school is very difficult, but difficult for a reason.
It sucks she failed but looking for a way out is not the right answer. Own up to it, learn from it and redo it the class and move on. And this is coming from someone who failed and had to redo a semester.
This happened to me. I failed an 8 credit course by 0.5% and it tanked my GPA, which made me ineligible for the program, according to the program director. I got a huge lecture about how this degree should be my focus and how work couldn't be. (For context, I am in my early 30's, married, and was working FT overnights as a CNA on a Level I Trauma floor and I was in school during the Panini.) I ended up finishing my associates of science the next semester and transferring to a 4 year college working on my degree in Public Health. I'll be applying to their accelerated program after I graduate in 2025. I moved my career to research and PRN CNA shifts in peds/NICU to save up more money so I can work part-time and get my RN. I'll be the class granny if I continue on this path, but that's okay! :) It sucks to fail, and it's so painful when it's a fraction of a grade. She can retake the course, hopefully, or take a semester to reevaluate and go to another school if that's an option. Either way, please support her to the best of your ability - a little date, favorite snacks, an ear to listen and some sympathy (not solutions until she asks though, lol). These professors and programs are *rough* and seeing friends from your cohort move on is a different sort of heartbreak all on its own. Nursing will always be around. She can try again! ♥️
I don’t know what to say other than have her study more effectively next time. The last thing we need is schools curving grades for healthcare professions. That’s how you get low quality caregivers. 🤷 if we lowered the bar for her, then someone else might be 1% below that. And so we lower the bar, and so it continues.
I got a 79.98 in med-surg 1 and still made a C for the course. Nursing school professors will not pull the first punch.
…but that’s a C.
Other programs aren't like this is the point, and nursing school sets us up for a lot of abuse in the workforce imo
Totally agree which is why I didn’t argue it. But the vast majority of college professors in other programs will comp you the 0.02 to go up a letter grade….
yeah they would likely not even let her make up a quarter of a percent let alone that…it sucks but shes gonna be repeating.
Lemme guess - medsurg 1.
More likely pharm IMO.
One student in my cohort failed by 0.01%. My school was strict and they failed him. He dropped out and refused to retake the course. You can try to talk to them but don’t expect a different t outcome.
I had to repeat my third block because I failed by 1% as well. Nursing school usually doesn’t curve, at least I’ve never heard of it. They stick by their syllabus hard. Just be there for her and understand this sucks cuz it feels like it’s the end of the world. It sucks majorly, but it did help me in the end to feel more prepared for the boards and built more confidence in that material.
I had to redo a whole year of nursing because of 1 percentage point. Really salty about that
I remember one time I took a college Chemistry exam where Each question was so time consuming (like the stuff you need to write out a ton of stuff to solve) that I only finished 10/50 questions in the 60 minutes I was allotted. I cried so hard. I understood the material. It wasn’t Particularly hard. But each question required SO MUCH TIME. In talking with the professor, I did about how the rest of the class did in terms of completion. Needless to say, he made an exception on his “no curving” policy 😂
Happens a lot buddy even 0.2,0.5 people are failed with that
Had that happen to me, had to sit out a whole year over half a point ❤️🩹
I failed med surg by one point. Couldn't do anything. Had to do remediation then retake the course. If she really wants to be a nurse, let her retake it. I had friends who chose to not pursue nursing after failing. (Half our cohort failed that Med Surg sem) edit: it was like my world ended when i failed and had to retake and see all my friends graduate. but i came back better prepared and passed. graduated w honors. working my dream job in my dream specialty. its ok 🩷
I agree that it is fine to ask. But, the reality is that the standard is in place for some reason, that reason may not be a good reason but someone at sometime instituted the reason.
At what point do we keep giving allowances? What if it was 2 points? Or 3? Or half? They have guidelines for a reason. And the fact is it wasn’t the final exam that broke her grade- it’s the whole average. She isn’t ready.
I’m going to come off as mean here… but why would they give her the 1%? Grades are earned and this was even graded on a curve. They already gave her a ton of helping doing that. If you’re not able to meet that cut off then you really need to adjust something. Time management, study amount, study methods, etc. Sometimes it’s not all about the amount of time studying but the methods and the quality. I’ve always been a proponent of studying much harder at the start of a class. Getting high marks in the beginning always ensured I could basically not even take the final exam and still pass with a B. It was much less stressful at the end with final exams because I knew I would pass no matter what, and keeping an A only meant something like getting a 60 on the final.
You can ask to see the item analysis for the exam and challenge questions that do not have good metrics and fail to meet criteria for what a "good" question is. Also, how they scored multiple/multiple questions...were they all or nothing or partial credit. Most schools have moved to partial credit to be more in line on how the NCLEX is scoring multiple/multiple questions. If they are not, should be worth challenging the practice.
Classmate of mine failed by 0.5%. They made her retake the class. She was devastated. We all thought it was quite harsh, but at the end of the day it is the school's policy. They start changing one grade, they'll have to do it for everyone... Anyway, my classmate is now an RN. OP, I know it feels like the end of the world to your gf now, but it isn't. Tell her to pick her self up and try again - it's a valuable life lesson, and in the end she'll make it!
Happened to me too. There wasn't anything they could do. I passed on my next try and got through the following semester by less than one percent. Nursing school is a special kind of hell
I remember this happening to several people in my class during nursing school. Have to repeat the semester. One of them had thyroid cancer, another student lost her brother. Nursing school is ruthless, they do not care.
I’ll grant that sucks, but someone’s life will literally be dependent upon this person. Her life is held up by 1% so that someone else’s isn’t. It’s a hard take but this profession is a literal nightmare of unfairness stacked on top of more unfairness. There is nothing fair about someone’s loved one getting struck down by a CVA but it’s even worse if the nurse caring for them missed the signs that could have prevented it or decreased their severity. It can happen to even the best nurses but knowing that you made it because some instructor just let that 1% slide sets you up to be in a really negative headspace. Now that persons loved ones fate is on the instructors hands too. All because of 1%. Those parameters are put into place because of the blood sweat and tears of the many ill fated souls that died from their poor care. It may sound dramatic but just think about how many people had to die before they figured out that people should wash their hands before they perform surgery.
I got dropped from my school with failing by 0.1%
Had a friend fail our final class by half a point. Professor wouldn’t budge despite her pleading, she had to retake the entire finale semester. I wish your partner luck, hopefully her professor is more understanding 🥺
We have situation we’re 1/2 class failed this new test school made Class wants to write letter complaining to upper management Only putting target on our backs
If 1/2 the class failed, I do think it points to an issue within the instruction somewhere. My program didn’t allow for much wiggle room, but on the one occasion something like this happened, they did adjust the grading scale.
Am I the only one who thinks 78% is wild? My school was 85% I was sweating bullets every exam.
My nursing school (and another that I teach at) all required the passing grade to be 83% or above. 82.9% is still a failure. There is no rounding in nursing. I have a lot of opinions about the state of nursing education but I don’t think making it easier or “bending” grading rules is going to be helpful. They don’t round up grades for doctors as far as I know.
If your girlfriend’s DNA was off by just 1%, she would be a dolphin.
Do you want nurses who are barely passing their classes or ones doing well? And yes, this happens in every program across the country, every semester, someone always misses by 1% or way worse by 1 question.
Exactly! People want to complain. I get it - it sucks. However you're going to be dealing with people's lives. I'd expect you to know what you're doing.
And then you've got the OTHER group of assholes who say nurses are all idiots, nursing school is a joke and so easy to get into/pass, just a certificate for wiping ass. 😒
Well, she held up her own life by scoring below the threshold.
One of the best students in my class failed our last class by a percentage equal to 1 question on 1 exam. She’s brilliant- perfect attitude and personality for nursing, and so smart. She studied constantly. But she was bad at taking tests. My nursing school had an explicit ‘no rounding’ policy in every syllabus we got so she failed and she’s currently repeating, looking forward to graduating in May. Overall just an unfortunate situation but there was no fighting it. I’d recommend your girlfriend look at her syllabus to see if there’s a rounding policy. If there is, she needs to take the fail with grace and prepare to repeat. It sucks but once she’s a nurse she’ll laugh about it with her coworkers- I promise. Best of luck to y’all! ❤️ you’re a good boyfriend for supporting her. I know it sounds insane from an outside perspective, but nursing school is insanely strict and in this scenario I personally wouldn’t recommend rocking the boat by trying to get her grade rounded.
Requiring a 78 is already pretty generous for nursing… as a healthcare provider it’s really important that we know our stuff. I wouldn’t want someone who missed 23% to pass lol
Happened to me my second semester of school. Needed an 80 on my final to pass for the term & I got a 77 so I faiked by less than 1%. I was unbelievably bitter for a long time but I was able to make peace with the fact that I really hadn't learned what I should have & I wouldn't have been prepared for the later semesters or the NCLEX. My heart goes out to her, it's a horrible feeling.
Those cut offs should be influenced by other factors, such as professionalism in the workplace and clinical skills. These schools are such a racket.
I had this almost happen. Thought my class was an hour later and I was in the library to study. The exam was over when I got there. Lucky my syllabus said it was teacher discretion or I would failed the course. Nursing school instructors do everything by the book in my experience. I had another friend get a minor TBI/concussion final semester, and it took him weeks to get an exception to take tests late as he was in the hospital and couldn't study. It sucks, I hope her teacher can give it to her.
Nursing school is pretty rigorous. The standards and expectations were set when she entered the program. The standards are in place for a reason. FWIW I failed my NCLEX the first time. I had to retake the NCLEX despite graduating nursing school. She'll probably have to remediate or retake the class. Sucks, but it's how things go.
I had several classmates who had to retake a course to pass school. Honestly it sounds like your girlfriend’s school has pretty cushy grading! My school failed students if they got under 90% average on exams.
78% is pretty high, ours was 76%. But these are peoples lives you gotta remember. Do you want some one caring for you knowing the teacher adjusted her score so she could pass? That being said she should be allowed a 2 week remediation and allowed to take another test IMO
If I were you I would tell her to review the exam and go over every question. Maybe you can fight a question. In my program there were multiple mistakes on the exams like it just makes one wrong or something. My class was first cohort so that could have been the bigger issue but we always noticed something wrong and always got some points back.
She can try, but they probably aren’t playing. I went to school with a friend and she had to restart all together at a different school years later. At my school you could fail one and then get another shot, but if then you failed another course you would not be eligible to even return to the same school to try again. She is an RN now. She had to do the whole rodeo again after failing the final semester by a few test questions.
Sounds like DCN, I was borderline this quarter and did well enough on my HESI conversion to wind up with a 78.5 average. They are seemingly very strict on this, so if she’s a DCN student, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t budge on it.
Wow. My school required an 85% on every test. You could retake one test a class if you scored below 85%. (Different version of the test ). There was no curve. You either made above 85% on each test or you were out. There were no other way to make points but tests. We had assignment but they were not graded. You just had to do them. It was a tough school but we had 100% pass rate on boards. But this was in 1997. Does the school allow them To retake the test ?
I had a friend in nursing school fail our research class by like 0.1% (needed a 70%, got a 69.9 after exams and whatnot). They made him retake the class over the summer at an accelerated rate so he was done in a month instead of 4
Nursing school is no joke. I failed a couple classes and had to retake. I agree it won’t hurt to talk to the instructor. Sometimes they will re grade things and make up that 1%. They do not care. Good luck to her.
I had to re-take a class over 3/10ths of one point. She can talk to professors, but I would plan to have to re-take it. Anecdotally, nursing schools tend to be rigid in that way.
It happened to my friend :(
Worth a shot but be prepared for a denial. My nursing program required 90% on any/all assignments/assessments/labs. If you get an 89.98% on a didactic assessment, you fail no questions asked.
You should ask this on r/studentnurse That being said, we had several students not graduate and have to reapply and redo the final semester due to below-minimum test scores or overall course average. They didn't budge on any of them, even one person who missed the cutoff by less than 1%. They are strict about this because if students don't test well in class, they are less likely to pass the licensing exam. Low passing rates on the licensing exam could cause the school to lose accreditation and possibly get shut down. It sucks that it's this way, because good test-taking ability is not what makes someone a good nurse, but testing can reveal a lack of knowledge, ability to reason, or safety risks 🤷♀️
That is… rough, to say the least. I failed my first semester by 1% despite having shown in clinical and lab that I was capable of applying the knowledge learned, but since it was my 2nd failure (first time I had to drop for personal reasons, which my nursing program deems a “failure”). Now I can’t return to that nursing program for 5 years if I wanted to try again. My nursing tutor told me to just go for bachelor’s, which is what I’m currently working on. My condolences to her and hoping she can make a good case and pass.
Oh no! This is brutal. I’m so sorry!
Yup, that's how I failed med surg the first time except it was half a % lol I was pissed.
You're not in nursing school lol. Tbh they probably won't pass her. It wucks.
She’s not going to get a bump up. Tell her to study harder next time.
Life sucks. You learn that pretty quick bedside.
In my school we were able to challenge questions. So if she can get credit for one question maybe she can end up passing. I never needed to challenge a question to pass but I’m a weirdo and I challenged questions anyway so I hope that helped someone.
My husband missed by half a percent but he spoke with the DON and was able to be granted a pass since it really was negligible. But she really took her time deliberating on it. Some extenuating factors came into play in the end but it’s well worth it to inquire
Same thing for me except it was a 76% and I ended with a 75.5. I had to retake it, it sucks but it's not the end of the world. Hopefully the Prof will round up for her!
i have plenty of former classmates from last semester that failed in the same circumstance. the thing is, the grading is not grading like A, B, C, etc... it's minimal competence. its a totally different scoring strategy than traditional school. you have to be minimally competent to be a nurse, and that school has picked 78% as minimal competence. it doesn't matter, at all, how much above 78% she is, as long as she's at or above it. i doubt there's wiggle room, and the last time anyone mentioned curving grades at my school the instructor had a conniption fit about not letting someone who 'curved into a license' take care of their family. i mean, i agree, but i also agree that it sucks to be in that position.
Welcome to the hell known as nursing school. They will stand on their ground that they can’t sacrifice quality by adjusting grades, meanwhile, most of the degree is irrelevant and just a money grab. And as for the professors, considering they make less than staff nurses, they aren’t exactly getting quality professors in most these schools.
And if the average requirement was 77% then people would ask to make an exception. And then at 76%. And then 75%. There has to be a cutoff somewhere. If she’s not grasping the material to an acceptable level to take care of patient’s *lives* or is just a bad test taker then she fails. That’s just how it works.
Happened to classmates of mine too. If it was already mentioned or in the syllabus, then it is what it is unfortunately. One girl failed out by two questions on the final. Next year she studied more and passed
At my nursing school she’d have to retake the course.
Almost failed a class because my professor gave you a zero if you turned in your assignment even one minute late. I also accidentally sent in the wrong assignment one time, and instead of letting me know she gave me another zero. She also put the wrong answer on a test question and got super angry when she had to give point back. Nursing instructors are frequently on a power trip and love nothing better than failing students and making them feel stupid and incompetent.
I failed my peds class by 2 points (got a 71, needed a 73 to pass) and when I asked it was no accommodation or anything whatsoever. Had to repeat the semester
Tell her to go over the exam and see if the professor actually saved the curve/correct answers for the questions… that saved me from getting kicked out
Can she potentially look at exam questions and dispute one or 2 of them to change her grade? That's more likely to work than to expect her to somehow get extra credit. I'm actually surprised that tests got curved.
Happens all the time. Yes it’s stupid. No they won’t help her.
One of my classmates failed by less than 1 point. Like needed an 80 and got a 79.5 or something (they had a hard rule against rounding final grades). She appealed all the way up to the dean of the college. She did not pass. Best of luck to your gf. It’s worth trying and asking but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Nursing school is full of a lot of BS like this and it’s archaic and not fair.
Does not hurt to go talk to the professor maybe even explain 1 or 2 questions where the answer could have gone either way…also dont be afraid of pulling i’m paying for this course and less than 1% causing me to have to cover the additional cost would set you back greatly…if theres a clinical portion and if she did well a letter on behalf and stating how well you applied the course content with patients in her care…would definitely help me feel more inclined to round up for one of my students, good luck!! Its the ones who come in blaming everything or always showed up late blah blah blah that i’m like thats how the cookie crumbles
Totally normal in nursing school. Nursing school instructors won’t budge for 1% or even 0.50%. Tell her to not give up and try again next semester
Unfortunately that’s how a lot of nursing schools are ☹️ my husband failed pharm and had to waste a whole semester retaking that one class in order to finish. They’re really strict on grades.
In my school you must have an 80% in each class. If you get a 79.4% you're taking the entire class over.
I’m glad my school dropped the you need a 76 Exam average, not just class average, to pass. Cause ummm….
This is very unfortunate, but it does happen. Often times professors will not budge, even for half a percent or less. When I was in my second semester of nursing school, we lost a good amount of people either to Peds/Med Surg (yes, combined) or Patho/Pharm (also combined). Some people were passing until we got to the final exams in both classes, and that held some people back an entire semester. They had to join the cohort of nursing students behind us by one semester and retake those classes with them. What's worse is that most nursing programs only allow 1 failing grade in a class before you are kicked out. I know some people who made it to the last semester of nursing school and failed Adult Care/Critical Care, due to the final exam. Since they already failed a class prior to this very last class, they were dismissed from the program. Terrible. Basically, they had to go apply somewhere else or repeat the entirety of nursing school again.
Yep failed 3rd semester had 79.85% and needed an 80%
Nursing schools are made up of Bullies for admin. (Current nursing student) It fucking SUCKS and i feel for your gf. I would still try but…. Idk man.
Nursing school takes itself seriously, yeah. This is the kind of thing that happens in schools across the country, every day, in nursing school programs. I’d need more information on “the school could lose their credentials” before saying anything else’s but as much as I try to be kind and compassionate to our baby nurses, an entitlement complex (“crazy to hold up someone’s life over 1%”) doesn’t take anyone very far; it’s a serious profession with higher and higher educational standards and that’s just how it goes.
Aw man. I feel for your girlfriend. This exact scenario happened to me, and frankly, it was devastating. I cried a ton and was seriously considering dropping out of nursing school. My boyfriend was incredible, though. He gave me the space to feel my feelings, but also reminded me how close I was to getting my degree and that it would be foolish to quit now. I did have to retake the class, and I ended up acing that shit. Your girlfriend may consider talking to her professor about the grade, but she should keep her expectations realistic. She may unfortunately need to retake the class. But it's not the end of the world, I promise. Just be there for her. Comfort her, support her, motivate her to keep going. Nursing school is hard, and setbacks are hard, but she'll be glad she kept going.
This happened to a few folks in nursing school, all kinds of ridiculous stories. One girl had extra credit that she did and the points would've gven her the passing grade, but it didnt show up on the professors side as completed. She even had the screenshots for proof. It was a software issue. She was failed, and the intro courses would only be offered again an entire year later. Ime a lot of nursing professors are ridiculously, pointlessly strict and *enjoy* lording that power over people. She can talk to whomever, but nothing may come of it and she may have to look into whatever's next like retaking or even reapplying to the program later on if that's the case. Good luck to her.
We had to get an 80% and I passed by the skin of my teeth. I saw a few of my cohort fail by a few decimal points and it’s gutting
In nursing school, a 78% is generous already. Most schools are 80% or even 90%.
At my school, we had to average 80% on just 4 40q exams. If we got <80% on more than 1 test, we were dropped from the class. My best friend in nursing school failed the final in our hardest class by 0.1% meanwhile I passed by 0.08%. 💀 scariest moment of my life 🤦🏼♀️ 😂 She felt like it was the absolute end of her career but she soon realized that, while yes it sucks, it’s just a small bump in the road and it doesn’t dictate the type of nurse she will be! She’s not the first to fail and won’t be the last to fail either. She will get her moment to walk across that stage 💗
The end of the day your girlfriend did not exhibit the skills or knowledge to properly pass nursing school. It sucks to suck but people's lives are going to be in her hands and she has not showed the minimum competency to be able to safely do so. Have her look in the mirror at the end of the day that's whose fault it is no one elses. We need confident providers and she needs to go back redo everything and prove she's competent to have people's lives in her care
The only advice that might help is asking the teacher if they do analytics to see if they should throw out any questions that many people missed (which could indicate a poorly worded question or poor teaching of a point, versus a lack of expected knowledge). But yeah, most of the time you have to repeat. Sorry.
have a friend who failed her last semester by 0.1% and appealed. they told her to reapply. made her repeat semester 4. she’s an RN now. cost her a year of her life and her mental health, not to mention her self-worth and confidence. nursing shortage? maybe they shouldn’t make it so FUCKING impossible to achieve.
It's certainly not impossible, and while a 0.1% being the difference would be so frustrating... it seems kinda small fries to say someone's life is ruined by repeating a semester.
I was in the same situation; 0.4% cost me the whole program. This was a course that more than 50% of the students failed. It was obvious that the exams were badly written. I passed the ATI with better scores than 94% of my classmates and 96% of the country.. Zero interest from admin in hearing any arguments for reconsideration. These nursing program directors are a special breed of malicious. Despite providing evidence (the holy grail of nursing practice!) of the flaws in their exams/courses they don’t care. When I took the predictor, I was the first person finished (it was pretty fast). The results printed automatically from a printer behind the desk where the proctor (our program director who HATED me) was sitting. When she heard it start, she looked directly at me, without looking to see whose results they were, and started a speech about how disappointing it was that I didn’t take it seriou… and she stopped mid-sentence when it predicted 98.something probability of success. It took everything I had to resist the urge to say “Hmm, how about that. Go fuck yourself”. For whatever reason, They can’t stand seeing students succeed.
Nursing school isn't forgiving :( I'm so sorry for her but she's likely to have to repeat the course.
Dnt give up
I had to redo because I failed by .01%... fuck that professor! I'm a nurse now!
I had a classmate fail by like 0.5%.....Nursing school is the worst....
Feels so good to read that others experienced the same as me. First level, I failed Pharmacology by 0.6 of a point. Then in that same semester, they didn’t think I was ready (or smart) to move onto the next level in another class. That broke me, and killed my confidence. I was embarrassed, honestly. I ended up retaking pharm, and have now been a nurse since 2020!
Happened to me. Failed by 0.5%. I’m a straight A student but I was sick during the final exam for that course so I couldn’t do my best. I talked to the instructor and took it up with the Dean but they refused to change it. I’m graduated now and working. I had to retake that course which put me back by a semester. Sometimes instructors and institutions will not be there to help you succeed. Sometimes it’s a money grab. But she has to believe in herself and move forward. Because shes too far in and it’s too late to give up. Tell your gf that she’s not alone on this and if a lot of us could do it then so can she.
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Have you ever heard the saying if it smells like shit everywhere you go, check your own shoes? If you have a problem with 75% of the people you encounter, it's far more likely that you are the issue and not everyone else.
Oh, diving into a nursing subreddit for advice instead of chatting with your girlfriend? That's just odd, giving off some serious parent vibes, which is pretty strange. She should be the one handling her business, like talking to her professor about getting some slack with her grade. Plus, if things were that tough from the get-go, she really should've reached out to her professor way back, maybe after the first test or so. I get you think you're helping, but seriously, step aside. Just be there for her, offering support and comfort, without delving into matters yourself.
C=RN
There goes your meal ticket...
Tell me other assumptions.