What is a "passing grade" for your nursing program?

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I am just curious as I have noticed that it varies program to program.

For my program that I will be starting next month, a passing grade is 80% and anything less is failing. Furthermore, your exams must average out to 80% prior to them adding any of your other assignments into the grade. So even if you have an 89%, but your exams average to 79.9, you will be failing then semester.

And I only clarified that because I am feeling overwhelmed. I am sure I will do well but I am doubting myself at the same time because it is something new and I know it is going to be different than any classes I have taken thus far. So then I feel like I don't even know what I am getting into and maybe I will not do as well as I have in the past. Sorry, I hope that made sense.

75% no rounding

must have 75% (no rounding) average on exams before other course work is calculated into grade

1 dosage test per semester- 95% (but you can try 3 or 4 times on dosage)

Thanks for the input everyone!

Specializes in Tele/Med Surg/Psych.

77% on exams before other assignments are added in. Even if you get a 76.9% on exams and and 100% on homework and quizzes, you still won't pass the class, even though your grade might be an A!

I forgot to add that you must score a 95% on math exams (20 questions so only 1 wrong) I order to proceed to clinical each semester. A failing math score = an automatic withdrawal from the course, no exceptions.

Ours is a 76% on exams and a 76 overall. We cannot use non-exam grades to boost our exam grade.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

My program required a 78.0% to pass a class...That was a "C" grade -- a 77.9% was a C- and meant you failed the class and were out of the program. However, that was an average, so you could fail an exam but pass another and bring your overall grade up.

Most classes also had several other assignments (reports, case studies, presentations, quizzes, etc.) that were required in order to pass the class, but they counted very little, if at all, towards your final grade. The most that the extra assignments could count towards your final grade was 3%.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

I recommend all nursing students to get a bunch of NCLEX study books and read, read, read.

Make sure that your book doesn't just have questions and answers, but also the rationales for each right and wrong answer. That is the biggest factor, IMO, as to whether or not you'll succeed at taking nursing exams....can you figure out what is being asked, and why the right answer is the right answer.

Reading through rationales for why each answer is or isn't right can help you learn how to think "the NCLEX way", which is the way your nursing exams will be written.

Prepare yourself for questions where all four multiple choice answers are right, but you can only pick ONE right answer.... chances are, you're being asked to pick what you would do first (you're going to do all the things eventually, but which is your first action?) or which is most important.

Also learn to slow down and read every single word in the question, and every single word in every answer. Sometimes you'll miss key words like "except" or "not".... As in, "the nurse would expect to administer all of the following meds except:" or, "which of the following should the nurse not do:"

If you skim the question, you'll be thinking of the situation described, see an appropriate medication/action for that situation, choose that answer and move on to the next question. If you read every answer even when you think you know it already, and then realize that several are appropriate, then you can re-read the question to see what you missed the first time around.... is it a select all that apply, or did you miss an important word like "first" or "except"?

Nursing school is unlike any other class you've ever taken, but it's not impossible. Take your time, prepare yourself, and remember to breathe. ;)

My program is 78%. But we work on a "points" system. Each assignment (including exams) is given a certain amount of points it is worth and at the end of the course you have to have a set amount of points to pass. For example; at the end of the course you need 500 points minimum to pass. And there are 5 exams at 100 points each plus 5 assignments that are worth 50 points each. That means the most points you can obtain is 750. If you got a 78 (which is the least amount to pass an assignment) on each 100 question/100 point test, you would only have 390 points. You would need to get 110 points out of the 250 available on your assigments. Which can get tricky because you can end up having .5 points on some items. I have failed before because my score was 77.3. :dead:

Specializes in psych/dementia.

You have a have a 3.0 to continue without repeating the class you got a "C" in. We don't have +'s or -'s, which can be nice. Grading system is the normal 10 point system with rounding, so an 89.5 is an A, 79.5 is a B and so on. So, you can get a "C" so long as your overall GPA is still above a 3.0.

75% test average is passing, anything below is failing the course regardless of other assignments.

My school test average needed was 75% total, any written assignments were pass or fail but there were only 4 exams including the cumulative final, which counted for 40% of the course grade.( I completed an ADN program).

Anything less than a 75 was a fail, and the course had to be repeated, and if you didn't pass the second time you were kicked out of the program. The limit was repeating two nursing courses.

All that being said, I felt like we were really prepared for the NCLEX

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