Help!! I'm shut out of the NCLEX exam!

llg, PhD, RN · Jun 10, 2013

Have you met with representatives from the school to discuss if there is anything you can do to graduate? Will they let you take the course a 3rd time? or in some other way do additional work to receive credit for the course?

You would have to talk with the Board of Nursing to see if there is any option for you to take the NCLEX without graduating ... but I seriously doubt there is a way to do that. You will probably have to graduate from an approved nursing program in order to be eligible licensure.

If you can't make an arrangement with your current/previous school that will allow you to graduate, you will have to go to another school and take classes there to meet their graduation requirements -- which will probably involve taking several courses. (You might want to look into Excelsior, a distance-education program based in New York that has traditionally accepted students in your situation. Degrees form that program are not accepted everywhere, but they are accepted in New York.)

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jun 10, 2013

If you didn't "make the grade" that they were looking for to pass, you didn't pass. Therefore you aren't able to graduate because you "failed" the course. Even if by one point. A classmate of mine was required to repeat a course because he "failed" by literally 2 points. He was needed say 368 and he earned 366. It was less than 1%. They weren't going to round any grades up, so he had to repeat.

My suggestion is that you find a way to transfer to a different program or find a way to repeat that class at your current program so that you can repeat that course that you "failed" and then you may be able to take the NCLEX.

Those 2.5 GPA graduates obviously obtained passing grades/points throughout the program or they wouldn't have been graduated. And yes, it is very tough when you miss the mark by 1%.

NurseCookie2013 · Jun 10, 2013

As you might expect, the school has distanced itself. I doubt they even listened to my appeal. I contacted the people I was instructed to and then got the obligatory form letter saying appeal denied.

Transferring is very difficult now. With high demand, you have to live a county to even enroll or go on a waiting list.

I appreciate the honesty Akula, but you know what- I did pass the class. I got a 2.8 gpa. 18% of the students who take the NCLEX in the fall will have have a lower GPA. Some schools around the state only require a 2.0. It is a very very tough pill to swallow.

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2013

"I recently completed my RN program at a Community College in New York State. My final GPA was 2.8 but the school won't "graduate" me because I repeated a class and got 77, they were looking for a 78. The last class in the program, can you believe it?"

You might have obtained the GPA needed to graduate abut since you did not get the needed grade to pass the class, you technically did not compete the nursing program due to failing the class. Most schools have a set list of things needed to do/complete/obtain in order to 'graduate'. So yes I can believe that you have a passing GPA but they won't 'graduate' you because you did not pass the class with the required score.

My school requires a minimum GPA to graduate. I have a friend who had a 3.5 GPA which was well above the one needed to graduate. However the school also requires that an 80 or better average for all of the nursing classes. A 79 is failing the class. While it is a C+ grade which is not an F, it is a fail b/c of not having the 80 average. She has to repeat the class and get an 80 average or better before they will consider her a graduate and make her eligible to sit for the NCLEX.

OCNRN63, RN · Jun 10, 2013

You didn't pass because the course required you to obtain a 78 and you got a 77. Even if your GPA was high enough to graduate, if your school required you to pass that class you didn't meet their standard to graduate.

If they won't accept your appeal, then the only recourse you have is to repeat the class again if your school will allow it or find another school that will work with you.

That must be very crushing, and I'm sorry you're going through this.

DoeRN · Jun 10, 2013

So sorry you are going through this. Unfortunately having a 2.8 GPA has nothing to do with not passing the class. You can have any GPA but if you fail a class then GPA doesn't matter. The people with 2.5 graduated because they passed the required classes to graduate. You can not take NCLEX without being a graduate of a nursing program. The BON will verify your program. Or rather the program will have to send info to the BON and you will have to get an authorization to test. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I can't fully remember the process.

Your only other option would be to attend another school or see if your current school would let you repeat this class so you can graduate.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jun 10, 2013

As you might expect, the school has distanced itself. I doubt they even listened to my appeal. I contacted the people I was instructed to and then got the obligatory form letter saying appeal denied.
Transferring is very difficult now. With high demand, you have to live a county to even enroll or go on a waiting list.
I appreciate the honesty Akula, but you know what- I did pass the class. I got a 2.8 gpa. 18% of the students who take the NCLEX in the fall will have have a lower GPA. Some schools around the state only require a 2.0. It is a very very tough pill to swallow.

From your posts, I gathered that your program has 2 requirements to graduate: GPA and passing all courses with a certain minimum score. You have met the GPA requirement, however, you have not passed all courses with that certain minimum score, therefore you aren't eligible to graduate from the program. What the BON requires is that applicants have graduated from an accredited program (the school sends the info to them) and you haven't done that yet. Therefore they won't issue an ATT letter for you to take the NCLEX. Each school sets their own standards for graduation, unless the BON mandates a certain standard, and even then, the school could have a higher standard than what the BON requires.

Your options are going to be basically limited to attempting to retake that failed class (if they'll allow it) or transfer to a new program and become a graduate that way. The new program could very easily require that you attend the entire program coursework because their program setup may be sufficiently different that the classes don't transfer over.

It's an extremely tough pill to swallow. I know. If things had gone according to plan, I'd be a grad now. Instead, I'm on track to graduate next May.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2013

I appreciate the honesty Akula, but you know what- I did pass the class. I got a 2.8 gpa. 18% of the students who take the NCLEX in the fall will have have a lower GPA. Some schools around the state only require a 2.0. It is a very very tough pill to swallow.

GPA looks at all classes taken. Someone could get straight As in everything and get a 68 in nursing (fail) and have a good GPA but NOT graduate from the nursing program because s/he didn't pass the required nursing class. It sounds like that's what you're describing, though do correct me if I'm wrong-- your overall GPA was good but you did not meet the pass standard for the nursing class. So don't delude yourself that GPA alone is determinative and that someone with a 2.5 who passed nursing didn't do as well as you with a 2.8. You didn't pass the nursing program, sorry.

Try to repeat or do remedial work and see if they'll let you.

Caveat, though: If you were a borderline student all the way along, they are doing their gatekeeper duty. Tough to hear, tough to swallow, indeed.

NurseCookie2013 · Jun 10, 2013

All classes were passed- lowest grade was a 77-

I was thinking more along the lines of this. A lot of the schools/community colleges require a 2.0 and grade of C (70) in all their classes. My lowest grade was 77, the final class I took. There will be lots of people with 2.0-2.7 gpa's taking the NCLEX and I am not saying anyone is more or less. I just think I earned a spot at the exam table.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jun 10, 2013

All classes were passed- lowest grade was a 77-
I was thinking more along the lines of this. A lot of the schools/community colleges require a 2.0 and grade of C (70) in all their classes. My lowest grade was 77, the final class I took. There will be lots of people with 2.0-2.7 gpa's taking the NCLEX and I am not saying anyone is more or less. I just think I earned a spot at the exam table.

But by your own admission YOUR school requires a 78%. So it really doesn't matter what other schools do or do not require. According to the policies of the school you chose to attend, you did not 'earn a spot at the exam table'. You MUST come to terms with your situation, (difficult as that may be), do what you can to remedy this and move on. Until you start looking forward to remediation - you'll be stuck looking backwards- for loopholes.

RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2013

All classes were passed- lowest grade was a 77-

In your first post you said, "I repeated a class and got 77, they were looking for a 78." How does that count as passing the class?