Hesi Exit Test

Nursing Students HESI

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Hello fellow educators....I am dealing with a dilema which I have no control over as I am a staff member, not administration, but it is just eating away at my concious. My community college uses the HESI exit exam for the ADN and LVN programs. Regardless of how good your GPA is, clinical performance and so on....along April or so, you have to pass a "exit exam" with a score of 850 or better in order to "Walk with your diploma". If you fail to pass the test you are allowed to take it again. If you fail again, you are out. Don't pass go, don't collect you monopoly money!!!! The problem I have with it, and I am not alone in this, IS>>> a couple of students each year per program, fails the HESI, despite being quality nursing students and according to the census of most instructors would pass the NCLEX with no problems. Other schools in our area use the HESi,but as a tool to help the students focus on their areas of weakness. I feel we should not leave it up to a third party vendor to make or break these kids, who have put their lives on hold, pawned everything they own, just to be one of us.

Am I normal to feel this way? I have discussed it with other staff and told it is the policy of the college network, DON'T go there...etc.

Your viewpoints would be appreciated. I just want my students to all have a shot at NCLEX after proving themselves to me, not a private vendor.

ERDude

the community college i attend also uses the hesi to determine pass or fail. they also have the insane policy ( i assume it is state wide) that if you withdraw or fail a class twice you are out of the program for 2 years, can not apply to any nursing program in the state in that time. so if you fail the hesi and you previously failed or with drew from a class sometime in the past 2 long years of your life you are out for 2 years and have to restart the program from the first semester. I am in that situation now only i didnt make it to the end and take the hesi. i am not going to retake classes i already passed and paid for. they are suppose to review this policy this summer and possibly do away with the hesi or only use it for a guide for the students. if they do not change this policy and the hesi test i will be staying at this college only to get my prereqs for my BSN because the tutition is cheaper and then transefer to a 4 yr university. the hesi test is for the college to make money off of . I also am fed up with the teachers they get side tracked during thier lecture and start telling stories from thier nursing career or about getting drunk and i am sitting there waiting for the lesson... that are simply power points and almost word for word from the book but that is a whole new thread.............

I think the hesi should be given only to see if a student needs remedation and not be given at the end of the program and prevent graduation. I have talked to students that have taken it as an exit exam and the answers where not what they were taught in the program and they proved it to the teachers.. nursing schools do not need exit exams the nclex should be plenty to show the ability of the school for accreditation.. hence the reason my school has the hesi because they almost lost thier accreditation a few years ago before they started using the hesi because alot of people were not passing the nclex.

I am a Drexel student. I have taken the HESI 4 times. My scores have been 895-915 (approximately & consistently). Our school requires a score of 950. Approximately 35-40% of the students never achieve this score until they spend an additional $2400 and 2 months in remediation to pass the 950 requirements.

Recently, Drexel, started allowing students who failed the tests to review the HESI questions, answers and rationales for missed test questions. Review of the HESI questions from the last test shows that HESI makes mistakes in scoring. So far 5 questions in the last test have been challenged as being incorrectly scored. We have some support from the faculty, but no support from administration as this poses significant implications to their graduation requirements of passing the HESI with a 950 if the test has errors.

There are 8-9 students who are pursuing legal actions at this time. Several have taken steps to join class action law suits being tried in other states. I am on the fence with my next step.

there are 3 legal actions against my school right now because of the hesi exam and the progression policy (2 Attempts and you are out ) I think the remediation is a good incentive but should be done in the 3rd or 4th semester not the 5th (last one at my school)

Students, I mean this in the kindest possible way....may I suggest that you take this discussion to the student portion of the site, and start a thread about HESI there?

This area of allnurses is for nurse educators, to allow them to discuss and exchange information that is of interest to faculty. I am sure you like having a portion of the site where you can discuss concerns with other students, and we like being able to talk to our colleagues as well.

this should be of interest to faculty , this should open the faculty's eyes to problems thier students are having and heaven forbid maybe this would get something done..:eek:

Specializes in L & D, Med-Surge, Dialysis.

Hesi is a waste of money and time. I almost dropped out of the nursing program because i did not make 850. But i have to sacrifice an 8weeks in other to pass to be able to graduate after 5months of graduation. We lost a colleague who did not make the 850. That sucks!!! :crying2:

Specializes in Medical-surgical:ortho, cardio, oncology.
this should be of interest to faculty , this should open the faculty's eyes to problems thier students are having and heaven forbid maybe this would get something done..:eek:

I think you may have misunderstood my post; what I was saying (politely, unlike you) is that this could be a timely discussion among faculty, instead, it has turned into a debate among students, few or none of whom seem to understand why schools are using this assessment tool.

To help you understand, let me recap an earlier post, which you seem to have missed:

Here is the bottom line:

If a school's first-time NCLEX pass rate falls below a certain percent, the State Board of Nursing becomes involved and could actually close a school if the rates drop too far below a certain percentage. Using NCLEX predictor examinations as a requirement in the program (such as HESI or ATI) allows programs to identify students who are still at risk of failing NCLEX. These students put the put the school at risk of closing, if they are allowed to "take the chance" and then fail the NCLEX.

"Fine!" you may respond. "If a school is not performing, it SHOULD be closed down." In many ways that is true, but think of this: if a school closes due to low pass rates, that is one less school that can serve students who want to be nurses. Raising admission standards, raising passing percentages in courses, and eliminating "participation points" (and other such grade-inflating credits in courses) would do lot toward keeping only those students in a program who were capable of academic success, and were able to pass NCLEX on the first attempt.

Then, of course, we would have the other side of this tedious argument: "THEY fail too many people! Those heartless instructors!"

Here is an interesting article on the subject, with a few comments from me:

* Grade inflation is a factor leading to a low NCLEX pass rate in some nursing education programs, particularly in programs that allow significant point credit in theory courses for attendance, participation, and completion of assignments. (So, you could be an "A student" and still not have the knowledge base needed to pass NCLEX. Students often complain that "we should have more ways to get good grades other than quizzes and tests...some people just are not good test takers, but they would be great nurses"....Clue: the NCLEX is a test. I create grading opportunities that reflect the nature of the licensure exam, both in format and in difficulty. GET good at taking tests. This takes effort on the part of the student).

* Student characteristics identified by programs as leading to NCLEX failure include a high number of work hours, family commitments, English as a second language, and low admission points. (Ask yourself how much the efforts of faculty will help if a student works too much to devote sufficient time to study, has overwhelming family or personal concerns, has difficulty understanding the material , or came to school with poor academic preparation. Much as faculty would like to think they can, they CAN'T fix everything).

Nursing education programs tend to take similar actions to address NCLEX pass rate concerns. Actions commonly taken by programs include:

o Initiating the use of an NCLEX predictor examination as a requirement in the program (which we have done; to date, all our students have ultimately passed the HESI (about 1/3 need three tries) and our pass rate is well above the national average each year).

o Requiring students to complete NCLEX review, tutoring, or other actions if the predictor examination score is low (We provide intensive counseling and remediation, both at the midcurricular and the exit exam).

o Increasing the minimum passing grade (something I am very much in favor of; we have established that students who consistently have a course grade of 77% or less are at high risk of not passing the HESI on the first attempt, and are at a much higher risk of failing the NCLEX).

o Providing faculty education in the areas of the NCLEX examination and test development skills (we have monthly faculty development meetings on this very subject).

o Changing or increasing admission requirements (something we are considering)

http://articles.directorym.com/Nursi...-a1022926.html

Specializes in Educator/ICU/ER.

Thank You Valmor for that very quick and easy rationale as to why we do this. We use another testing system, but use it the same way. It helps us predict who will pass NCLEX and that is what we are working toward: TOGETHER!!

We have raised our entrance standards and now have a better retention rate and our NCLEX pass rate was high last year.

By making it harder to get in, we have better students in the long run. So, all of you students out there that are whining about not getting in to a college, work harder and get better grades in the sciences.... nursing is a science!

Thanks again for putting it out there. We walk a fine line sometimes when we want to help our students, but turn out safe nurses when we are finished!

Specializes in Women's Health, OB, Peds, Nursing Ed..

Thanks for the great response.

Specializes in LPN.

I Agree. I just recieved my nclex results today and pass. but school and clinicals are stressful and hard enough. since i just went through this situation, for me i feel that the hesi exit exam is important don't get me misunderstood, however i feel that the expectant score is not fair. I felt that 650 should be the expectant score. because even with a passing score of 850 is still not determined if you will pass nclex because that nclex test is a whole entire different test than nursing school testing. and that is my opioion of this topic.

Specializes in LPN.

hi, i suggest to try your best and if all else fails theres a lot of books with questions and rationals.

Specializes in Medical-surgical:ortho, cardio, oncology.
Thank You Valmor for that very quick and easy rationale as to why we do this. We use another testing system, but use it the same way. It helps us predict who will pass NCLEX and that is what we are working toward: TOGETHER!!

We have raised our entrance standards and now have a better retention rate and our NCLEX pass rate was high last year.

By making it harder to get in, we have better students in the long run. So, all of you students out there that are whining about not getting in to a college, work harder and get better grades in the sciences.... nursing is a science!

Thanks again for putting it out there. We walk a fine line sometimes when we want to help our students, but turn out safe nurses when we are finished!

You are welcome, GoodOldNurse (I am one, too, at least the OLD part :-)

Specializes in Medical-surgical:ortho, cardio, oncology.
Thanks for the great response.

Thank you! I know this is hard for disappointed students to understand, but these assessments really are a benefit, if used correctly by the school and taken seriously by the student.

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