A Professor's Grade Deflation Policy

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a student at one of the Accelerated programs (public institution) in the country. I am writing you guys to know of your thoughts and advice on what I and a few of our classmates' perception as grade deflation by our professor and what we can do about it. We can call her by Professor A.

Professor A is our program coordinator as well as professors for Fundamentals, Med-Surg, Pharmacology etc. The past quarter, approx 20% of the class failed (12 out of 48) either Fundamentals and Intro to Pharm. This quarter, the class median and mean grade for Med Surg are 81.9%, 80.5% respectively and for Pharm are 83.78% and 83.5%--Basically Cs.

My question is--what can we do to change this hard core, grade deflation policy? We thought that when this happened during the first quarter, its just an adjustment period, but alas, it has continued to this quarter and nothing has changed in terms of her exams, etc. The main problem, I think is that on her exam--say, 50 questions--30 questions would be easy, 10 questions--hard, while 10 questions is "out of this world"--basically, questions that were not covered during lecture, and so we would just be guessing the answers on.

My classmates and I are just concerned that with Cs in our grades, we would be at a disadvantaged when we apply to Grad school, etc. This is a class that is made up of professionals and career changers and has had the highest entering GPA according to admissions advisers. I, for one, have studied long and hard for each exam and has had a Median C to boast of. It is one of the most frustrating education program I have ever done and it is discouraging a lot of my fellow classmates.

Appreciate any suggestions of steps we need to do and know of. Has anyone ever experienced this, what steps did you do and what happened afterwards ? What are the chances of this (grade deflation policy or professor) being changed ?

Thank you in advance. Have a good day !

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

First, find out what the school's policy is pertaining to grading. Most institutions no longer allow the instructors to have a lot of freedom because that can create the impression of bias. Second, this is not high school. There is no reason the instructor should cover every factoid in lecture then expect students to regurgitate the identical information. You cannot learn critical thinking that way. So you have to study everything in the text about the topic. Third, the test questions may be coming from a bank provided by the textbook publisher. I actually like those as they have been tested for validity and reliability. But "homemade" questions tend to reflect the instructor's personality and lack the qualities that professional test writers can demonstrate. So once you find out all this, remember that your energy is better spent on learning. As for GPA - heck, schools are looking for tuition. Don't sweat it too much.

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This sounds like the typical nursing program. When I went to nursing school, I already had a BA as well, but not knowing about the accerated program, I completed a nursing program at a community college (2 year degree). I did well in my previous degree, but I will tell you I found nursing to be much more difficult. We started with about 120 students the first semester and about 30 ended up graduating the program (that many people failed over the two years). The average grade was about a B- each semester. There is just so much information and so little time for the teachers to go over everything. Your program is probably a little more difficult because it is at an accelerated rate. It is up to you to go beyond the lecture. I found a good NCLEX review book helps. I found that a lot of the questions from the exams came from review books. A good one that I used was Saunders NCLEX review.

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

when i was in nursing school, we started with 100 and 40 of us graduated. i never thought to challenge the grades ....it is what it is.. they want nurses who can think critically and the questions won't be easy or from the book some teachers write their own some they pull from a test bank , they should be NCLEX style to help you pass boards,,there were many A students who ended up graduating with C's or not graduating at all. your main goal in nursing school is to pass boards and they are preparing you ... i think i would not make waves and study hard .. get through it ..

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First and foremost, I would suggest being very careful before you take any action against this Professor/program coordinator for what is "perceived" as grade deflation. It could come back to bite you in a not-so-nice way. The "out of this world" questions may not have been covered in lectures, but is it material that is covered in the text? Could it possibly be material that is not obvious, but is meant to encourage you to think outside the box when giving the answers (ie. critical thinking)?

I feel your frustration, but I don't really understand what you are trying to accomplish other than a group of students trying to force a Professor to make the work easier so they can achieve better GPAs for grad school. Is this a new Professor/program coordinator? I'm wondering if classes prior to yours were having the same issues.

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Specializes in LTC Family Practice.

Sounds like your basic critical thinking questions. Don't rock the boat, learn how to take tests like these.

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

they set these grades or standards for a reason.. maybe so they can be sure the people who pass the program know enough to pass boards .. the school has set a standard that they feel is correct and that is what you need to abide by.... while was in nursing school the first thing they said to us was ( i remember it to this day) the professor said " see the person sitting next to you, well they may not be here next semester.. only the best and brightest will make it".... and thats how it is... being a nurse is serious business and it will not be a easy A and people will fail.. it is what it is..

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I don't think you or others will gain anything but increased problems if you try to fight the school about this instructor. Either learn how to deal with this situation, or, if it bothers you that much, withdraw, and find another program. You are paying too much money not to get what you want out of the program.

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What is your programs NCLX pass rate? I will bet it is not 100% so they are not giving you everything everyone needs. It sounds like a typical nursing program to me, nursing is not a typical profession. A 70% in nursing is not enough, that means 30% of the time you are wrong and when dealing with lives you cant be wrong 30% of the time. Good is just not good enough you have to be great all the time or people suffer. I would not want someone who I knew was wrong that often taking care of my family. Jeff

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

the cut off for my rn-bsn program is 92% = bs and 82% = cs. so long as the syllabus clearly states this to be the grading policy, there is little you can do to have it changed.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

This seems like a typical nursing class.

*shrugs*

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Sounds like a typical nursing program to me.

I wouldnt try to challenge it. Get yourself a good NCLEX book and study from it. Nursing school is about critical thinking, not memorizing info and then reguiritating it back. That's probably the way you were taught in your previous degree, but it's not like that with nursing.

You will see what I mean when you start actually working as a nurse.

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