Failed reentry exam & feeling HORRIBLE!

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Apr 23, 2014

I disagree - the process you describe was definitely "student friendly" - for the existing students. It does not favor anyone seeking re-admission over those who have managed to remain in the program. Were you informed in advance that the exam would be comprehensive? If so, the outcome was entirely due to your performance.

I am familiar with re-entry processes for 6 programs, 5 require validation of previous knowledge via written tests. One actually includes a Sim Lab skills demonstration component as well. In all cases, re-admitted students are on probationary status for one semester... during which their performance & participation is held to a higher standard than normal.

I don't have any hard data - it's not available to outsiders - but I would imagine that these processes were designed to eliminate marginal performers. If a student had a pattern of poor performance and was barely passing when they were dismissed, he/she would be very unlikely to be successful on the readmission assessment process. However, if he was dismissed due to some sort of uncharacteristic event -- performance dipped due to illness, family issue, etc... chances of success are much higher.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Apr 23, 2014

Long time ago, when water was 9 days old and I was starting nursing school, I was half through my second semester when I received a certified letter from the Dean's office. Seems I had not taken my entrance exam and no one had caught it, and I was clueless. I went to an office, took the exam and did not make a high enough grade to get into the program. HOWEVER, since I was holding an "A" average they overlooked it. So I believe there is hope.

minlou · Apr 23, 2014

Wow, if I read your message too much, I will want to give up. Thankfully, I will keep going. I was told by another student in this same program that the reason the instructors do things the way they do is because they want to produce students who can pass the NCLEX on the first try. Well, forgive me I thought the whole reason nursing schools existed was to produce knowledgeable, capable & compassionate nurses. As I explained to her, whether it takes a graduate once, twice or 5 times to pass the NCLEX, it would not determine the type of nurse they will be. Any school who is more concerned with their NCLEX rating than the capability and knowledge of its students should be put through "reentry process". Anyway... I just think schools need to get back to the art of TEACHING., after all that's what my tuition paid for. I know their is someone who actually has gone through something similar and can understand what I'm saying. Anyway....all schools are not the same, I thank God Almighty for that. I will succeed. Whether I am considered "marginal" or not, I will finish school and by the Grace of God become nurse.

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 24, 2014

Wow, if I read your message too much, I will want to give up. Thankfully, I will keep going. I was told by another student in this same program that the reason the instructors do things the way they do is because they want to produce students who can pass the NCLEX on the first try. Well, forgive me I thought the whole reason nursing schools existed was to produce knowledgeable, capable & compassionate nurses. As I explained to her, whether it takes a graduate once, twice or 5 times to pass the NCLEX, it would not determine the type of nurse they will be. Any school who is more concerned with their NCLEX rating than the capability and knowledge of its students should be put through "reentry process". Anyway... I just think schools need to get back to the art of TEACHING., after all that's what my tuition paid for. I know their is someone who actually has gone through something similar and can understand what I'm saying. Anyway....all schools are not the same, I thank God Almighty for that. I will succeed. Whether I am considered "marginal" or not, I will finish school and by the Grace of God become nurse.

Ummmm, you do understand that you cannot be a nurse unless you pass the NCLEX, which is why schools are so concerned with their NCLEX pass rates, right?

Also, you're limited in the number of re-takes you can have in a year.

mrsboots87 · Apr 24, 2014

The NCLEX is a basic measure of competency in safe nursing and tests your ability to critically think. Schools teach to the NCLEX because the BON determined that it was the way to measure if a nurse should be licensed or not based on the basic knowledge and skill set a graduate nurse should have. When schools have low NCLEX pass rates, they can get visited and possibly lose their accreditation, therefore making all current students of the school obtain worthless degrees. So you can be mad at the process all you want, but blaming the system will not help you pass. Yes you are paying the institution to teach, but it is your job to learn. Grades are not given to you, they are earned. I am not saying you should give up, nor that you would be a marginal or even a bad nurse. What I am saying, is stop finding a way to blame anyone but yourself. YOU failed peds class. YOU did not pass reentry (being one point off means even if you passed with that one point it would have been marginal). The school, the NCLEX, the instructors did nothing to you. Now dust yourself off. If nursing is what you want and starting over is the way to get there, then that's your answer. Reapply and start over. Since you have already taken over the first half of the program, it should make passing it very easy for you. GL

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Apr 24, 2014

Nursing schools are "graded" by the BON by the number of students who pass NCLEX. That is an OUTCOME of the school's ability to produce nurses. If many fail, the school is reviewed (expensive and laborious process). So many schools offer entrance tests to weed out bottom level performers in an effort to only graduate people who will pass NCLEX. This is not a strategy dreamed up by nursing instructors who only get paid if there are students to be taught.

rubato, ASN, RN · Apr 24, 2014

NCLEX pass rates are everything to nursing schools. It is their measure. Of course their goal is 100% pass. This shouldn't be shocking to anyone.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Apr 24, 2014

The NCLEX is a basic measure of competency in safe nursing and tests your ability to critically think. Schools teach to the NCLEX because the BON determined that it was the way to measure if a nurse should be licensed or not based on the basic knowledge and skill set a graduate nurse should have. When schools have low NCLEX pass rates, they can get visited and possibly lose their accreditation, therefore making all current students of the school obtain worthless degrees. So you can be mad at the process all you want, but blaming the system will not help you pass. Yes you are paying the institution to teach, but it is your job to learn. Grades are not given to you, they are earned. I am not saying you should give up, nor that you would be a marginal or even a bad nurse. What I am saying, is stop finding a way to blame anyone but yourself. YOU failed peds class. YOU did not pass reentry (being one point off means even if you passed with that one point it would have been marginal). The school, the NCLEX, the instructors did nothing to you. Now dust yourself off. If nursing is what you want and starting over is the way to get there, then that's your answer. Reapply and start over. Since you have already taken over the first half of the program, it should make passing it very easy for you. GL

To add: if you can re-enter as a student from the beginning; if you WANT to be a nurse then by all means start at the beginning; you have another chance to be successful-at least you got another chance to do this rodeo again, even at the beginning; many programs do not offer such a privilege.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Apr 24, 2014

Wow, if I read your message too much, I will want to give up. Thankfully, I will keep going. I was told by another student in this same program that the reason the instructors do things the way they do is because they want to produce students who can pass the NCLEX on the first try.

And another student is the authority in this because ...? See, this is an example of critical thinking deficiency, too.

Well, forgive me I thought the whole reason nursing schools existed was to produce knowledgeable, capable & compassionate nurses. As I explained to her, whether it takes a graduate once, twice or 5 times to pass the NCLEX, it would not determine the type of nurse they will be. Any school who is more concerned with their NCLEX rating than the capability and knowledge of its students should be put through "reentry process".

Um, no. Nursing schools DO exist to produce knowledgable and capable nurses. However, the students have a large part in the production of making themselves knowledgable and capable. The way we evaluate this is by, well, evaluating them and their progress towards goals. This is why there are grades and tests.

A school that "produces" a lot of aspiring nurses who take multiple times to pass NCLEX isn't demonstrating quality education OR they are doing their damnedest to educate people well but the admissions office is letting them down and giving them suboptimal material with which to work, or both. Either way, though, the way the schools are evaluated is by looking at how well they prepare qualified candidates to pass the basic nursing licensure exam, NCLEX. Sounds like so far you haven't made the cut.

Anyway... I just think schools need to get back to the art of TEACHING., after all that's what my tuition paid for. I know their is someone who actually has gone through something similar and can understand what I'm saying. Anyway....all schools are not the same, I thank God Almighty for that. I will succeed. Whether I am considered "marginal" or not, I will finish school and by the Grace of God become nurse.

Apparently most of your classmates (who presumably had the same teaching come to their ears and eyeballs) are passing their coursework. Ever ask yourself why? Are they studying more than you are? Taking a pass on a night out to review those notes? Getting extra resources from the library to expand and solidify their understanding of the things you aren't understanding as well, as demonstrated by your test scores?

There (not their) are indeed many people who have gone through exactly what you are going through. They have a few choices to make, and one is attitudinal. They can take long hard looks at themselves to see where they could have done better, and get the help they need to do that; these actions will be necessary no matter what schools they choose. They can take those long hard looks and decide that if they want to be nurses, they'll need to do something differently. They can also take those long hard looks and honestly decide that perhaps being an RN isn't within their grasps.

At this point, if think you have what it takes to pass a nursing program, then now is the time to step up your game and demonstrate that. That is entirely on you. Not faculty. Not peers. Not schools. You.

And I wouldn't be too hard on God if his grace isn't enough to do it for you; sometimes, the answer to a prayer is, "No."

AOx1 · Apr 25, 2014

I was told by another student in this same program that the reason the instructors do things the way they do is because they only want to produce students who can pass the NCLEX on the first try. Well, forgive me I thought the whole reason nursing schools existed was to produce knowledgeable, capable & compassionate nurses. As I explained to her, whether it takes a graduate once, twice or 5 times to pass the NCLEX, it would not determine the type of nurse they will be.

Why on earth would I want my graduates to repeatedly have to take NCLEX? Each retake is expensive and draining emotionally for the student. I hear this from students all the time, that instructors are mean because they want students to pass the first time. If that makes me mean, then I guess I am. I would rather see a student fail early in school and find a better way to learn than see them get to the end, think they are fine, and repeatedly fail NCLEX. If you think it is devastating to fail a course, just try losing your brand new nursing job and explaining to friends and family that you're still not a nurse and you've taken NCLEX 3 times.

You can very likely succeed in nursing school, but that will come from maturity and very hard work, not from fighting against a system that is designed to protect you as well as the public. I realize you are very disappointed, but these policies exist for a reason.

Nolli · Apr 25, 2014

Originally I and many other students thought that HESIs were horrible inventions and that they should be banned. Why should we have to take a test at the end of the semester that counts for a large chunk of our grade and isn't gone over by our professor to make sure that it only covered material we were taught? Isn't that unfair? Well yes, and no. It may seem unfair, but what I found out was that the people who failed the exam were right on the cusp of failing the course the whole time and completely bombed the exam. Those who had been passing, but not excelling were still ok and many of those people bombed the exam and were still able to pass. What happened over time was beautiful. People who had previously failed the HESIs improved their scores (and they never saw the same question twice). They learned how to answer questions and think like a nurse. We have an exit exam coming up and I'm not going to lie I'm nervous, but I know that if I can't pass the exit than I am going to have a hard time trying to pass the NCLEX. The NCLEX isn't going to be checked by my instructors either. There may be things I have not encountered on it.

Like your re-entry exam it isn't about fair. It's about competence. If I fail it it doesn't matter whether or not I passed my course previously. I'm not testing at the minimum level I need to be safe. It is harsh, but only because it has to be to be safe.