ARE MOST RN SCHOOLS LIKE THIS??

rnhopeful82, ASN, RN · May 22, 2019

that's not how most schools are...yours lets you do tutoring if you are failing at a 75 lol. Ours is 77 to pass, 76.99 is failing, no rounding. Clinical is pass/fail so all grades come from tests, quizzes, etc. The "easy" assignments and papers only count towards your grade if you already have the 77. So a 76.99 and a 100 on 2 papers which would boost you up don't factor in and you fail. You can fail 1 time, move to the cohort behind you; fail again, you're out. Fail clinical ever, fail the class. Consider yourself lucky!!

It'sYaGirlK, CNA, LPN · May 22, 2019

I’m in a LPN program and mine is the same way but it’s 70% or better but no tutoring offered

WishfulThinkingRN · May 22, 2019

Most nursing schools have a grade cutoff between 75 and 80 percent, mine was 78. Some choose to apply this rule to individual tests and others just to your overall class grade. Most have a rule about how many times you're allowed to fail, usually once and then twice you're out. Some have rules about doing remedial work and mentoring if you've failed once, some don't. It varies from nursing school to nursing school, but what you're describing sounds about average.

The reason they do this is because nursing school doesn't teach you how to be a nurse, it teaches you how to pass boards. If you pass boards, that's supposed to mean that you know how not to kill people (supposedly), and that you'll be safe to work while you're actually learning how to be a nurse. And you won't learn how to be a nurse until you've graduated and are working.

Nursing schools live and die by their NCLEX pass-rates, so it's in their best interest to weed out anyone who can't pass muster before they graduate and are eligible to take boards. This means that there is a huge emphasis on test-taking ability. It sucks, because some of the best nurses I know are horrible test-takers and really struggled in school, but until they come up with a better way to measure safety in new grads, this is what nursing school looks like. Best of luck!

fab, LPN · May 22, 2019

I believe all the schools in my area are the same as well. Anywhere between 75-77 seems to be the cut off. I think the fact they offer tutoring is great! I believe that is uncommon. Just take a deep breath and stay focused. You can get through it. Good luck!

RRTtoBSN, BSN · May 22, 2019

Tutoring? Niiiiice! My program was not so forgiving. You had average a 77% on all exams before any assignments were counted towards your final grade. If you failed 2 check offs, you were done. If you failed a class, you are done. There was no tutoring. They did encourage that if you failed an exam that you meet up with the instructors for advisement and to ask questions but that was it.

myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN · May 23, 2019

Our school requires and 83% average on exams (masters level) at the BSN level it was 81%. I do believe that it would be better if the tutoring was "optional" since it may not be focused on the "next" exam and if you are struggling then that (the next exam) is where most of your effort needs to be. I also believe active in depth exam review is essential since it is from the questions that you miss that you learn the most. also, I have discovered occasions where the reported answer simply isn't correct, or at least isn't the "best" answer. Thus, the student who truly knows the material may (on these occasions) be at a disadvantage.

Megan1977, MSN, EdD, RN · May 23, 2019

6 hours ago, WishfulThinkingRN said:
Most nursing schools have a grade cutoff between 75 and 80 percent, mine was 78. Some choose to apply this rule to individual tests and others just to your overall class grade. Most have a rule about how many times you're allowed to fail, usually once and then twice you're out. Some have rules about doing remedial work and mentoring if you've failed once, some don't. It varies from nursing school to nursing school, but what you're describing sounds about average.
The reason they do this is because nursing school doesn't teach you how to be a nurse, it teaches you how to pass boards. If you pass boards, that's supposed to mean that you know how not to kill people (supposedly), and that you'll be safe to work while you're actually learning how to be a nurse. And you won't learn how to be a nurse until you've graduated and are working.
Nursing schools live and die by their NCLEX pass-rates, so it's in their best interest to weed out anyone who can't pass muster before they graduate and are eligible to take boards. This means that there is a huge emphasis on test-taking ability. It sucks, because some of the best nurses I know are horrible test-takers and really struggled in school, but until they come up with a better way to measure safety in new grads, this is what nursing school looks like. Best of luck!

100% correct- I am an adjunct faculty and NCLEX pass rate is discussed at every faculty meeting.

buttercup9, ASN, BSN, MSN · May 23, 2019

My ASN program required an 82% for the semester to pass. It was not per exam, but by semester. At the time, it really stressed me out, in hind sight, I am really glad they had such high standards.

**emergenceRN17, ASN, BSN, RN** · May 23, 2019

In the program that I attended you had to get 78% or above or it was considered failing.

CapeCodMermaid, RN · May 23, 2019

I went to school in the early 80s. A 75 was the bare minimum to pass.

One of my girls in the class ahead of mine ended up with a 73. She wasn’t going to graduate. She was great with the patients so I asked the dean if I could review her tests. I found they had marked several questions incorrectly. She ended up with a 79 and was able to graduate.

There must be standards

JensConventLife, CNA, LVN · May 23, 2019

I went to a state funded LVN school through a local ROP. The grading was the same. 74% or lower was failing. If you failed two subjectS, no matter what subject or when, you failed out and could apply to come back the next round. Meaning if you “failed” one unit at the very beginning and then failed the second to last final, you were out over a year of work and couldn’t come back until the next time the class you failed was offered again (I hope that made sense)

I was heartbroken for so many of my classmates,who were parents or full time nightshift employees, who then missed just one too many answers only to be kicked out. Of course I understand that you need to pass your classes but their grading was harsh and there was no recourse for the students, many of whom had been on the waitlists for years. Some had left jobs to be a full time student and the school wouldn’t listen to “sob stories.” There were no exceptions. It was tough

We started with 80 students. We graduated 36 and were told we were the largest graduating class in a decade or so.

The reason they did this was to keep their state board pass rate high. Our school always had a high pass rate which is all they cared about because they were a state funded program.

All that said, it can be done. It’s just tough. I wish you the best of luck in school!

myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN · May 23, 2019

I believe that one way to improve things would be for schools to be judged at least as strenuously for the graduation rate that they maintain as they are for board pass rates. I've always said that I would vastly prefer an easier school with a lower board pass rate, than the opposite. No one wants to fail the NCLEX or graduate level ANCC board examination. But it is one thing to retake the boards (often just a matter of taking more review courses and putting in a few months of intensive study), but to fail out of school after taking out tens of thousands in debt, is a far worse affair.