Final... Basically a test that is a final to end you

Trilldayz,RN BSN · May 16, 2011

Thanks! It was hell for me, in all honesty. See where you get accepted to first, before cutting ties with your current school.

vizzle · May 16, 2011

I really won't have a choice...they will make the decision for me..

Music in My Heart · May 16, 2011

Again the book smart people win. And those with common sense are going to lose out, kicked to the curb.

I always wonder why the folks who struggle with the "book learning" want to portray it as an either/or situation. Many of us "book-smart" folks also have a ton of common sense and practical wisdom, too.

If *anybody* scored well on the test then anybody else *could've* scored well on the test.

Streamline2010 · May 16, 2011

My final was earlier in May, and exactly the same horse manure that the OP describes happened. (Where is the thread topic icon "steaming pile of horse manure?") I actually believe that test was comprised of every test bank question that instructors had rejected for exams I through IV, because the question's topic was so obscure or so trivial that it didn't make the cut.

The A students got no better than 89% on the final. Many C students were suddenly flunked out because of the final. B students dropped to C. It was a "hard" test only because its content was material that had been ignored or glossed over for the entire semester, only to appear on the final.

Several students fought instructors on a couple of questions that we, as older adults, knew the "correct" answer could not ever happen in today's hospitals for any number of legal and hospital policy reasons, and they certainly taught us those things in class. And still they would not give us credit for choosing the second-best answer, based on their own TEACHINGS! :mad: :mad: :mad:

I really felt bad for the students who really worked had all semester, only to be tossed out of the program by that witch of a final exam.

eta: I agree that the culture of "don't help 'em" is the wrong customer-focus approach for nursing schools to take. I have passing grades, but I am less than impressed with the dogy women's club that seems to dish out more punishment than teaching. This, combined with the lack of nursing jobs and the (let's face it) loss of the lucrative signing bonuses and the uptick in short-staffing and the push to convert RN from full time to part-time positions makes me want to tell all y'all nursing school admins to go find some other sucker / fool who'll grovel through your program and kiss posterior. I just take it one semester at a time, always looking for that better ship to jump to.

(Yes, I did bring my potty mouth along from my other career. hahahahaha!)

Music in My Heart · May 16, 2011

That means our instructors can make up any old answer they want and we have no opportunity to have questions overturned.

Right... because nursing instructors just love to be arbitrary and fanciful who are in their roles simply to exercise their sadistic whims upon hardworking, bright, excellent students.

If a student's grade hinges on a few debatable answers then said student really has nobody to blame but themselves.

ggmugsy · May 16, 2011

I see your point . . . but . . . every question counts, and every question should be fair. If a student can prove that two answers are equally correct, we should have the opportunity to do so on every exam, including the final.

vizzle · May 16, 2011

I some how passed for the semester...Holy moly..Maybe they curved it...But somehow I passed.

Music in My Heart · May 16, 2011

I some how passed for the semester...Holy moly..Maybe they curved it...But somehow I passed.

Perhaps your instructors aren't as malicious nor capricious as you thought.

vizzle · May 16, 2011

Perhaps your instructors aren't as malicious nor capricious as you thought.

lol idk

ggmugsy · May 16, 2011

Congratulations vizzle!! BIG HUG and best wishes!

vizzle · May 16, 2011

Thank you! Appreciate the words of encouragement! I just gotta do better next semester! Wow what an emotional roller coaster!

Moogie · May 16, 2011

Where is the thread topic icon "steaming pile of horse manure?"

Would you like me to suggest that to the administrators? Just kidding!

Seriously, I do agree with your observations. Someone who has maintained a B throughout the course should reasonably expect a final exam grade of a B if the testing has remained consistent and the student has put forth the same amount of effort. I don't think a final should be weighted so heavily that it can cause someone who has an A or a solid B to fail the course.

My first graduate course was like what the OP described. I had a low A going into the final, which was open-book, open-note. Out of a class of 80-90 students, half of us failed the final exam. After the exam, which was weighed very heavily, my A dropped to a C. It doesn't reflect very well on instructors when half of their class fails the last exam, so they decided to grade on a curve. I ended up getting a B but I felt pretty angry about the course for quite a while. I wasn't the only person. Several students decided it was too much, ahem, barnyard waste material, so they dropped out of the program. Eventually I did, too, because it just wasn't a very good program.

I know that schools have to weed out students who aren't going to succeed. Not every person who starts a nursing program at any level should finish. However, I honestly think that schools need to be more rigorous in their admission policies rather than brutally "weed out" students who have already started. If half the class fails an exam, either the students should not have been in the course in the first place or they are not being taught or tested appropriately. When schools weed out those students who simply were not taught adequately or tested accurately, it's a waste of school and student time and money and a loss to the nursing profession.

I am glad to hear the OP passed. It's a huge relief, isn't it?