failing due to less than .1 of a percent

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Hello everyone, wanted to reach out here to see if anyone here has been in a similar experience. We are coming to a close on one of our classes before preceptorship, and as we are, not only did I but 3 other of my classmates finished less than a percent away from a passing grade in the class. With that said, there have been factors that have led to us getting a lower grade than we thing that we deserve such as our professor's refusal to throw out questions that a majority (if not all) of the class got wrong (faulty/bad questions), as well as a makeshift HESI constructed by our professor as well as some of the other nursing staff due to social distancing of the Corona Virus. That of which had extremely poor written match calculation questions that from my understanding, a huge portion of the class also had trouble with/answered wrong, as well as fill in the blanks (some of which I got marked wrong for even though I typed basically the same thing as the write answer. I know this as we were allowed to review it after). Our professor refuses to round the grade since it is apparently against our school's policy ( that of which I cannot find), nor refuses to even start a discussion which has led me and the other to take this to the director and the dean. With the pandemic going on and the changes being made, alongside other aggravating factors throughout the semester, I feel it's to the point of being unethical to simply let us fail by a percent that could be rounded up, or even give us some sort of assignment to add a point to the last exam.

Was wondering if anyone else has gone through a similar experience or know someone who has, and how it was handled. I'm going to be devastated if I have to repeat a semester being only .04%, another one of my classmates only being 0.01% away.

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I'm sure this is devastating and tough to handle, but I'm not sure you and your classmates have much of a leg to stand on. Grading policies should be available in your syllabus and on the school's website, so if you're really not able to find it, that may be your only saving grace.

Unfortunately, failing by less than a percent is still failing. I've had classmates fail for similar circumstances, and it is heartbreaking, but it is also just how the cards fall sometimes. Believe me, I would love if nursing school rounded, but I've never encountered anyone who went to nursing school that did. You can't expect the program to make exceptions for you and your classmates and allow you an "extra assignment" that others before you and those that will come after you were not given.

Take your break between semesters to chill out, relax, and do a lot of self-care. You may have just burnt yourself out and that's why this semester didn't go your way. I wish you luck.

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1 hour ago, BagelBomber said:

I'm sure this is devastating and tough to handle, but I'm not sure you and your classmates have much of a leg to stand on. Grading policies should be available in your syllabus and on the school's website, so if you're really not able to find it, that may be your only saving grace.

Unfortunately, failing by less than a percent is still failing. I've had classmates fail for similar circumstances, and it is heartbreaking, but it is also just how the cards fall sometimes. Believe me, I would love if nursing school rounded, but I've never encountered anyone who went to nursing school that did. You can't expect the program to make exceptions for you and your classmates and allow you an "extra assignment" that others before you and those that will come after you were not given.

Take your break between semesters to chill out, relax, and do a lot of self-care. You may have just burnt yourself out and that's why this semester didn't go your way. I wish you luck.

The thing is, my classmates and I have heard she had made exceptions for others in the pass, and I feel like we got the short end of the stick due to the corona virus and that crap exam at the end of the semester. She also hated our class for reasons that stem to the beginning of the semester. Also, She's refusing to look at at final at points I'm missing that the key is marking me wrong for due to it being fill in the blank, another classmate being in the same position . She's deliberately choosing to let some of us fail

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On 4/17/2020 at 12:54 PM, folin8 said:

The thing is, my classmates and I have heard she had made exceptions for others in the pass, and I feel like we got the short end of the stick due to the corona virus and that crap exam at the end of the semester. She also hated our class for reasons that stem to the beginning of the semester. Also, She's refusing to look at at final at points I'm missing that the key is marking me wrong for due to it being fill in the blank, another classmate being in the same position . She's deliberately choosing to let some of us fail

This is what an academic Dean is for.

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On 4/17/2020 at 1:54 PM, folin8 said:

She's deliberately choosing to let some of us fail

While I understand your being upset the truth of the matter is your grades shouldn't have been so borderline that one test caused you to fail the whole class. I don't hear you taking any responsibility for being in that position in the first place so it's difficult to be entirely sympathetic. That being said you and your classmates may take this up the chain of command collectively but you risk being kicked out of the program so you need to choose how much you are willing to risk. Please note, being kicked out of one program will severely inhibit your ability to be accepted into another. Best of luck in whatever direction you decide to take.

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On 4/17/2020 at 10:54 AM, folin8 said:

The thing is, my classmates and I have heard she had made exceptions for others in the pass, and I feel like we got the short end of the stick due to the corona virus and that crap exam at the end of the semester. She also hated our class for reasons that stem to the beginning of the semester. Also, She's refusing to look at at final at points I'm missing that the key is marking me wrong for due to it being fill in the blank, another classmate being in the same position . She's deliberately choosing to let some of us fail

It was her prerogative not to continue to make exceptions as long as she did not make that change during your term or for only some of the students. However, in the same breath, she should have looked at the final for those possible changes you mentioned, as long as she looked at all finals. Not fair to take care of a few but not all. That is where you would have your argument.

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On 4/17/2020 at 1:54 PM, folin8 said:

The thing is, my classmates and I have heard she had made exceptions for others in the pass, and I feel like we got the short end of the stick due to the corona virus and that crap exam at the end of the semester. She also hated our class for reasons that stem to the beginning of the semester. Also, She's refusing to look at at final at points I'm missing that the key is marking me wrong for due to it being fill in the blank, another classmate being in the same position . She's deliberately choosing to let some of us fail

Unfortunately, word of mouth is not concrete proof of a professor demonstrating favoritism. If you encounter another student who typed the exact same answer in one of the fill in the blanks as you did and they were marked correct while you were not given the credit, for example, that would be actual proof of non-equal treatment. Wuzzie makes a great point regarding the potential long-term consequences here, as well as your standing in the class heading into the final.

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On 4/20/2020 at 8:51 AM, caliotter3 said:

It was her prerogative not to continue to make exceptions as long as she did not make that change during your term or for only some of the students. However, in the same breath, she should have looked at the final for those possible changes you mentioned, as long as she looked at all finals. Not fair to take care of a few but not all. That is where you would have your argument.

You absolutely right and I do apologize for that. Don't get me wrong, I do take blame for having my grade be so low, and know I could have done certain things better to have been in a better position. I have a bad tendency to overthink the questions and talking myself out of the right answer. It's something that I've struggled with throughout nursing school. I was just extremely frustrated when I made those posts. My biggest issue being her lack of response to my emails, and my belief that she was denying me points that I answered correctly, but got wrong due to a keying error that would have put me at passing.

Overall Update: I had intended to go to the Dean to appeal my grade due to the Keying error. It's a policy at my school which wouldn't have resulted in ant consequence that I know of. However, my professor did reward everyone an extra point on one of the previous exams that bumped me over to passing, which I was extremely grateful for.

I agree with pretty much everything everyone said here, was just extremely frustrated with the situation, and hoped for some sort of compassion from the staff due to the minimal amount. Luckily, the situation played out to my favor, and I'm taking it as a learning experience, and to not take any point for granted.

I appreciate all of your responses.

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Something to remember, yeah, you shouldn't have been in a situation where less than 1 point can fail you, but school is still a 2 way street. You're responsible to learn, but your instructors are still responsible to be your teachers. I don't know where this attitude came from that they don't have to do their job, but that's what they're getting paid for and what you're paying the school for. If a teacher is refusing to discuss anything school related with you, never doubt moving up the chain until you get answers. If you feel that your grade was the result of an error on the teacher's / technology's side, you have the right to bring that up and question it. Your instructor is a teacher, not some magical gatekeeper to who gets into the nursing world. If you feel you earned a passing grade, even if it's the bare minimum, never be afraid to question it.

You're not going to find a lot of compassion here. It's not that the people here don't have any, but these boards tend to follow the general idea that the instructor isn't responsible for actually doing the job of a teacher, and is more there just to grade your tests.

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Specializes in Adolescent Psychiatry.

Last Spring I failed the last class needed for my associate's degree, maternity, with a 73.8%. In our program you need a C+/75%, which can be rounded up from 74.5% so I had missed by 0.7% or two questions on the final. I had felt pretty frustrated and wanted to blame it on the professor and did an entire appeals process. Doing the appeals helped me to feel like I was doing something, but ultimately my appeal was denied. I retook the class in the fall which was on half semesters. This time I needed to pass with a B/80% or be removed from the program. At the first sign of my grades being even slightly in question after the second exam I withdrew and registered for the second half of the semester. From that point on I did everything I could to bring my grades in the class up. It worked for me and I got an A- for the course, my highest nursing grade. What the entire ordeal taught me was: You can't change how other people are acting, but you can change your actions and reactions. The class went much better for myself once I took more responsibility of my actions towards it.

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I can see where you’re coming from. A lot of people on here are a little harsh because with everything going on in the world even accreditation has called for “flexibility.”

My program started out with 53 and is now down to 14. They recently failed 12 more students which resulted in the 14 after this Spring semester. I was one of those students. I have filed an appeal.

The idea is to learn and if you want to fail students based on a 1% then it shows an issue especially when the highest grade is 3 percent above the failing. I mean come on now! We all have hardships, we all can do better but unfortunately if the school didn’t change their policy it’s on them. For instance. You cannot grade the same way for online if the class states it’s a traditional face to face.
No one expected a pandemic to happen but it did so adjustments should be made. Students are there to learn and if that many students are failing then the teachers aren’t teaching properly.

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On 4/29/2020 at 11:54 AM, TheDudeWithTheBigDog said:

“You're not going to find a lot of compassion here. It's not that the people here don't have any, but these boards tend to follow the general idea that the instructor isn't responsible for actually doing the job of a teacher, and Is more there just to grade your tests.”

WOW!! I’m sorry but you’re wrong with that statement. I do have some instructors who actually teach as that is their jobs! Not just to grade tests.
Unless you’re a nursing instructor I wouldn’t speak for them. I will say they put in long hours complaining outlines, lessons, clinical groups and hours, and yes GRADING. But grading is only a small portion. I do feel that there are many out there who believe in teaching and educating as that is what nurses do whether they’re instructors or not. Unfortunately you have to take the good with the bad but if you have multiple students failing during this pandemic then something needs to be done. Book smart doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be a good or bad nurse, but when you can’t have clinicals then what?!?

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