Scary...is it fair?

queenjean · Sep 23, 2007

Nope. You have to draw the line somewhere. If a school has 40 students per class, with several running to the dean every time they got a score that they feel doesn't represent their knowledge or that it is almost a passing score, the dean would be overrun with students and wouldn't have time for anything else.

You pass or you don't. NCLEX doesn't let you run to the board if you miss by .1% points, right? So then why would the program setting you up to take the NCLEX do things differently?

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2007

I can beat that. A girl in our class had a 74.9..one-tenth of a point from passing. Our school doesn't round up or down..your grade is what it is. Each time someone failed a course, the staff pulled all the old tests for that semester to make sure nothing was marked wrong that wasn't. They checked and double checked and triple checked those tests. Her grade remained at 74.9. Sadly, she (the student) was her own undoing. She missed 3 labs @ school. With 3 absenses the school takes 3 full points from your final fundemental grade. She would have had a 77.9 (which is above the passing) but she had missed those classes and in turn lost those points.

another one in class, failed out by nano points too. Her undoing? she didn't hand in two homeworks..(it was a 100 given for handing it in and completing it or a 50 for 1/2 done or a 0 for not done/not handed in).

Its sad when people are nano points from passing..but if I were the Dean, unfortunatly, I would not allow her to pass to the next term. Just because she has mulptiple degrees doesn't mean she should be passed on to the next term when someone else who doesn't have other degrees should fail.

Its always sad to see, but it happens. You are too much of a softie..I'd want to pass the person too. But rules are rules.

eta..typo, I meant to say you ARE NOT too much of a softie.

SA2BDOCTOR · Sep 23, 2007

Yeah I know It kinda reminds me also, this is a totally different scenario btw, but I was in a store and I was short 3 pennies and the sales clerk wouldnt sell the item to me.

eldragon · Sep 23, 2007

Our grade has to be 80 or above to advance to the next level or class. We have had several students fail with 79.9.

While you do have to draw the line someplace, it is actually the students fault, right?

To be on the safe side, it's better to study harder, never miss class or clinical or be late coming in, and to be meticulous about your projects, getting them all in on time, if not early.

Make sure you aren't near that failing mark.

MB37 · Sep 23, 2007

I agree...if they pass a 74.23, then what about the 74.1 next semester? Then the 73.99? You really have to draw the line somewhere if you're going to draw the line at all. 75 is passing at my school, but they DO round. It was clearly explained to us at orientation that 74.50 will round to 75 and pass, while 74.499 will not. If you're borderline after the first few exams they recommend that you drop the course and sit out a semester and try again (pending available space, of course). You can do this for two classes (so really just one semester) without extenuating circumstances, or else you're out of the program. Did this girl have the option to drop earlier in the semester when she knew she was hovering right around failing? If she has previous degrees, she has less of an excuse for not passing - with a lot of college experience, she should have been able to understand the policies. This may sound really harsh, and I don't mean it to be, but if we make mistakes once we graduate people die. She might be a great nurse someday, once she better learns the material/critical thinking, but you do have to set some kind of standards while in school.

allthingsbright · Sep 23, 2007

A fellow classmate got 74.23%..nano points from 75% and did not make the class. If you were the Dean would have allowed passing? Factoring in mind that the individual has many other degrees..
Maybe I am just a softie at heart.............

Nope, I agree, the line has to be drawn at some point--otherwise, EVERYONE would make it with ANY grade. I am a softie too, but I also work very, very, very hard to get above the cut off. If I fail, I take responsibility for that and move on. (Please God dont let me fail! )

Our school does not round, BTW and it has unleashed he** on my GPA. Oh well...I've made what I've made, I suppose.

DaFreak71 · Sep 23, 2007

I've had classmates in this very same position too. It is sad because as we know, we develop bonds with our classmates and it sucks when they don't get to move along with you.

I've never been in danger of failing, but perhaps this is due in part to my strategy, which is I bust my hump hardcore until slightly after midterm and when the "end of the semester blues" are kicking in, I relax and take time for myself. This ensures that I'm in no danger of failing and it gives me breathing room at the end of the semester, when it's needed most.

With regard to the poster who said that her school takes points off for missing class, wow...that seems hardcore. I mean, what if a family member died or you got sick to the point where you would be endangering your patients during clinical? In my opinion, it would be irresponsible to show up for clinical under those conditions and by shaving points off of the students overall grade for making a responsible decision really sort of sucks. Seems like turning in a doctors note would make the staff less inclined to take points away from the students.

I am in total agreement with the other posters though...the line does have to be drawn somewhere and outside of tragedies or forces beyond the students control, it is usually always attributable to their own procrastination or lack of understanding the material. If someone is one point or even a tenth of a point away from passing, they were barely scraping by throughout the whole semester. If they bombed one test but did reasonably well the rest of the time, they would have passed.

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2007

With regard to the poster who said that her school takes points off for missing class, wow...that seems hardcore. I mean, what if a family member died or you got sick to the point where you would be endangering your patients during clinical? In my opinion, it would be irresponsible to show up for clinical under those conditions and by shaving points off of the students overall grade for making a responsible decision really sort of sucks. Seems like turning in a doctors note would make the staff less inclined to take points away from the students.

I was that poster who said school takes points off for missing class. It was the lab skills portion of Fundementals that is held during class time. It was not clinical (out rotation) there you are allowed 3 absenses. On out rotation at the clinical site we are allowed 3 clinical absenses, after that you are dismissed from school. Its not so much our school..its the State mandating how much time each student is to be at the clinical sites.

3 hours IS a lot to miss in lab since we didn't have that many hours in each mod (and lab was only during the first two mods (a mod is like a semester). And in lab is where we were lectured on skills, had them shown to us, practiced and then we did a demonstration of the learned skill and were checked off to do it at the clinical site. There is only a couple of available hours to do makeup skills you orignially missed during the lab .

If your sick, then you're sick. But most of the people who missed time in lab were in class all day and blew off lab AFTER they demonstrated their skill and were checked off. They weren't sick, they were bored (since once you are checked off, you have to stay in lab and do any homework, studying etc you want to do..but you aren't to leave) or it was a nice day and they didn't want to be in lab or they went out the night before, got home late, up early, were usually hungover and wanted to go home to sleep.

I happen to agree with taking points off a final average for missing too much time from the lab. It certinaly detered a lot of people on the pass/fail line from leaving. and those are the people who should be spending as much time in lab and class as possible.

GeauxNursing · Sep 23, 2007

I happen to agree with taking points off a final average for missing too much time from the lab. It certinaly detered a lot of people on the pass/fail line from leaving. and those are the people who should be spending as much time in lab and class as possible.

I totally agree. The ppl who leave early in my skills lab are the ones who are failing anyway. Not only does the state mandate the hours at clinical sites, but also the classroom hours. So if you keep leaving early from class/skills lab, you will not only fail from lack of knowledge/experience, you won't be able to sit for boards or even graduate due to lack of contact hours.

MikeyJ, RN · Sep 23, 2007

Same thing at our school -- we had a girl fail patho/pharm our first semester with a 74.97. Does it suck? Heck yes it sucks. But it is what it is.

donsterRN, ASN, BSN · Sep 23, 2007

Our grade has to be 80 or above to advance to the next level or class. We have had several students fail with 79.9.
While you do have to draw the line someplace, it is actually the students fault, right?
To be on the safe side, it's better to study harder, never miss class or clinical or be late coming in, and to be meticulous about your projects, getting them all in on time, if not early.
Make sure you aren't near that failing mark.

I totally agree that one has to draw the line somewhere.

In my school, we're graded on a cumulation of points, not an averaged score on tests, quizzes and projects. It was stressed early on that the more points you accumulate now will help provide a cushion for when you need it. As the course work gets more intensive and challenging, one might find the cushion of points to be worth having.

A friend of mine attends a diploma program in the area. They work on an average, and they round up at 5, and down at 4, as necessary. Lowest passing grade is an 80. One person received an average of 79.4 and her friend received a 79.5. 79.4 = 79, 79.5 = 80. I guess the yells and shouts got a bit messy, but the girl with 79.4 wasn't allowed to continue. It was sad, but you have to draw the line...