Grading Standards - Academic Integrity

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Good afternoon fellow (pre)student nurses. I have a bit of a delema I was wondering if anyone might have an oppinion on the following:

I recently found out that a fellow student will be getting an A in Physiology - good for her but she actually earned an 87 with 10 points of extra credit on each exam and was graded on a curve. I am not debating the merits of extra credit, we all can use help in difficult courses, however my issue is with the fact that if this is true and if she is taking the same course we should be held to the same standards.

At mid-term I had a solid B with an 85 on two out of three exams. I received a C for the class. What my final exam grade was has not been communicated to me. I am not happy with this grade but that is what I earned. My class was not given extra credit options and was not graded on a curve. There were many students in my class who had to withdraw from the class because they were not meeting the standards required for admittance into the nursing program. However if they had the other professor then they may have ended the class with B's or A's. How can this be justified?

My GPA is now 3.75, which is not bad. However with the grade of a C in Physiology I can forget about being accepted through the merit based system. Another student who in reality earned a lower grade than I did but based on a curve and some extra credit will be allowed into the program before me or other students in the same situation. I believe there should be some uniformity to the standards of grading if the school is to expect the same integrity from it's students, especially if this affects a student's chances of admittance into a very competitive program. :madface:

I am going to find out about re-taking the class - although my stomach turns to think about taking it again right now:barf01: ... I know I could have done better on the final - I wish I could just take THAT over...

You could be right also about how hard the tests given by the other professor are. I really can't imagine any being more difficult than my professor (I know you probably think I am just saying that) but out of 35 students who started my class only 16 finished - I don't know how many actually passed out of that number.

Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

I am an older student and about 2 semesters in to my first degree, I learned quickly to ask around about professors for the upcoming semesters. You can learn SO much by just asking opinions from other students....they really are the ultimate litmus test for instructors....but I tried to get as many opinions as possible when there was going to be a choice of instructors. You don't always have the luxury of choice depending on schedule, etc. -- and in nursing school we have NO choice at my school -- but for the prereqs, etc., it was a great way to at least try to weed out some bad options!!!

Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.
You don't always have the luxury of choice depending on schedule, etc. -- and in nursing school we have NO choice at my school -- but for the prereqs, etc., it was a great way to at least try to weed out some bad options!!!

Uggg! I forgot about not choosing classes in nursing school and you don't have a choice in the professor either. It sucks.

Specializes in Cardiac.
I really can't imagine any being more difficult than my professor (I know you probably think I am just saying that) but out of 35 students who started my class only 16 finished .

Maybe that's why you had a harder time getting a better grade then.

I know the idea of re-taking the class sucks, but it will be easier the second time around, don't you think? Especially if you find an easier teacher.

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