I have posted a few threads on the fact (sorry to bore you guys! lol) that US schools usually have higher grading scales than our Canadian nursing schools...
Usually whenever I state that my nursing school only requires 63% to pass nursing classes and 50% to pass electives, alot of the US nursing students reply that we must not know that much, they wouldn't trust an RN that only needed 63% to pass a class to care for them in a hospital etc, we shouldn't be nurses if they only require us to know 60% or so of nursing knowledge as a bare mininum.
Now I know that not every school in Canada has the same grading scale, but several large universities (including U of T) have similar passing grades for their nursing classes.
I totally respect USA students for their hard work (believe me when I say that if I had to have 80% or 85% in each nursing class in order to graduate, I would most likely fail nursing school! lol) Now its not like I strive to get 60's in nursing school (my GPA is 3.2 right now so I am not doing too bad :X) but it is a tad annoying when others make statements like that. I always respond politely to their replies, and state that its just the way canadian nursing schools seem to do it (at least the ones that I know of but I am sure others have had higher grading scales!)
But its a free country and to each her (or his!) own :p:specs:
Just wondering if anyone else had noticed this? I am NOT trying to start a flamewar between us and other nursing students. I am just curious about others responses!
But when you lose marks for putting a period in the wrong place according the APA format, or using different wording in the as-evidenced-by section of your nursing diagnosis than the instructor would have used, or being visibly nervous in front of a room full of people even when you know the information cold, it's much harder to be perfect.
I still had to do papers and care plans, but they were graded as part of clinical. And I would lose points too for the same thing. But in the end, it was pass/fail. If I made too many errors on my care plan, or if I did a poor job on a presentation, then I would have failed.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
Our clinical was evaluates solely on the actual time spent on the floor under supervision. It too was pass/fail. Our charting, our skills, our interactions with patients and staff, the discussions in post conference were all part of it, but the care plans were part of the didactic.
What do you say about people who are taking the NCLEX for the fourth or fifth time and still have not passed? I read somewhere that 96% of Canadian-educated first time writers pass the CRNE and there are only three opportunities to pass that exam.
To me, that say's a lot about their education. Nursing school gives you the basic knowledge to gain your practice permit after successful exam completion.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
In the context of this thread, I'd say that was a good question. The OP argues that Canadian schools have lax standards compared to the schools south of the border, based on minimum passing grades. Other posts (not in this thread) have made mention of how their education was aimed at passing the NCLEX. So there's a bit of a paradox here.
If an exam is passed by 96% on the first time, then I'd say it was way too easy.
But for the record, I don't really care about grades/standards of my Canadian counterparts. I was mearly responding to the post where it was assumed that we got points for coming to class. Some schools do, I'm sure. 8ut for me, I had to earn every point, and graduated with a 4.0 to boot.
If an exam is passed by 96% on the first time, then I'd say it was way too easy.
The CPNRE is passed with a similiar rate and it's not a cake walk. A percentage of the questions are eliminated, others are being trialled and not counted. You have no way of knowing what questions will be evaluated for that coveted PASS slip. It doesn't stop after x number of questions. It goes on and on and on for two booklets spread over an 8 hour day. We don't get that option of walking away when a machine is done with us.
I've worked with someone who managed to fail the exam three times and was removed from her job. She wasn't a bad nurse, wasn't unintelligent, she just couldn't write an exam. English was her third language, that may have had a lot to do with it. She trained at the same college I did (and was required to have minimum marks of 70-80% to pass the various courses). Can't blame the college for having lax standards.
Ultimately passing an exam is up to the individual. I have no way of know by how much I passed the exam. I just went, wrote, and sweated until the slips were mailed out.
In the context of this thread, I'd say that was a good question. The OP argues that Canadian schools have lax standards compared to the schools south of the border, based on minimum passing grades. Other posts (not in this thread) have made mention of how their education was aimed at passing the NCLEX. So there's a bit of a paradox here.
I never said that Canadian schools HAVE lax standards compared to US schools...I was saying that other people seem to have that impression based on our lower grading scales based on on other threads on AllNurses
I am happy with my Canadian nursing school and am happy with the quality of education that I have received :). I think I will be well prepared to write my CRNE (hoping I pass next June when I write it!)
Maybe it came out the wrong way, but I was trying to say in my original post that other people sometimes think that we Canadians have a worse education bc alot of our schools don't require like 80% to pass nursing classes (I am only talking about my NS and the several others I know of that have grading scales like this...I am sure there are some NS in Canada that have higher passing grades...)
I was trying to say that just because we have lower passing grades it doesn't make us worse nurses (contrary to the belief that many people on Allnurses state that they wouldn't want nursing students who only require a 63%, etc to pass their nursing classes taking care of them in a hospital)
I think I will be a good nurse regardless of my NS low requirements for passing nursing classes and electives. It depends on the person anyways, some people can be super book smart and have bad interpersonal skills in clinical. I'd rather be good at both
When it all rinses away in the wash, it's down to a Pass or Fail on the national exam. I've never met anyone who was hired for their grade in college/university. I've never even been asked if I passed on the first writing of the exam.
I agree with you Muhaha, nursing is more than just marks, it really does depend on the person and to a certain extent the amount of support they get or don't get from their workplace. JMO.
:p:specs:
cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN
4,106 Posts
I still had to do papers and care plans, but they were graded as part of clinical. And I would lose points too for the same thing. But in the end, it was pass/fail. If I made too many errors on my care plan, or if I did a poor job on a presentation, then I would have failed.