Hello, I am a nursing student at Rhode Island College in Providence, RI. I have just recently been denied graduating and receiving my degree from the RIC School of Nursing due to being unable to reach a set cut-score, or benchmark, set by the college on a Progression Policy, high-stakes, standardized comprehensive exit exam called the HESI. I made it all the way to the end of the four-year program, with honors in Sigma Theta Tau and a 3.527 GPA, just to be told that I cannot receive my degree because I didn't reach this benchmark set by the college. This is not a national exam, and in some literature, the HESI exit exam has been proven to be an inaccurate predictor of who would pass or fail the NCLEX examination. It has also been said that schools who use the HESI as a requirement to graduate from their programs are just using this measure in order to "protect their NCLEX pass rate". In my opinion, the schools should be providing a sufficient education to their students for them to be able to pass the NCLEX and not have to rely on a third-party vendor test making company to prepare its students for the NCLEX. This is an injustice being done to myself, other students at the college, and many other students throughout the country. We have all spent thousands of dollars and years of our lives devoted to these nursing programs, just to be denied our degree and graduating due one test that has nothing to do with the curriculum provided by the program. Not to mention, myself and all of my classmates were completely unaware of the HESI until we were at least half-way through the program. This sneaky, underhanded practice needs to stop, so I have attached the link to a petition that I have just started to stop the HES exit exam as a requirement to graduate from Rhode Island College's Nursing Program. Maybe if I can make a difference at my school the effects will reach other schools and we can all put an end to this problem. We all deserve a chance to fulfill our dreams of becoming nurses and don't deserve to be robbed of this right by these nursing programs. Thanks for reading and please help by signing my petition!! You can be anonymous, and its free!! Thanks!!!
Stop the HESI exit exam at Rhode Island College!
This is the link to the petition. Thanks for signing!!!!
I disagree with the HESI exam and believe it should be illegal for any nursing program to administer it. You pass you classes, graduate, and take your boards.
If you don't pass and the college has to remediate then that falls under the category of too freaking bad. Listen to your students and put your egos aside....they will tell you what they need. There are many programs that have excellent pass rates that don't use the HESI. It artificially skews the pass rates if the school only graduates those that pass it and prevents the schools with the substandard nursing programs from being shut down.
The problem isn't the students it's the curriculum.
In my program, we were required to make a set score on the HESI entrance exam to even get into the nursing portion, pass a subjective HESI at the end of each class (2-3 per quarter) with only 2 tries. If a passing HESI score was not achieved, you failed the class, even if you had a 100% average. We also had a Midcurricular HESI and an Exit HESI. We lost many students this way but our school also has a 98% NCLEX pass rate, and in my opinion, the HESI was easier than boards. I recommend the HESI Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN, you can get it inexpensively from Amazon. I used it throughout my program, only had to retake 1 HESI, and passed my Exit with an 1150. Good luck with your future endeavors.
But your school doesn't have a 98% pass rate when it dropped students along the way on an outside test that the school never developed. Some students are just good test takers.
That 98% doesn't reflect the quality of the program.
Jory, thank you so much! Finally, a voice of reason :)
So Jory is the voice of reason because someone finally told you what you wanted to hear? My school used HESI and I went to a great school with a great reputation. Pass rate at my school before the HESI was in the upper 90s and has stayed that way.
You are fighting a losing battle. You failed the test. You are putting all this energy into fighting the HESI when what you need to be doing is studying so you can pass.
But your school doesn't have a 98% pass rate when it dropped students along the way on an outside test that the school never developed. Some students are just good test takers.
That 98% doesn't reflect the quality of the program.
My school uses HESI and offers remediation. It however does not preclude use from graduating. The faculty uses it to gauge the curriculum. I think it is unfair that some school's use it to improve their pass rates and not for its intended purpose - to prepare you for the NCLEX. But alas, it's all about the money. High pass rates bring in students and keep the program funded.
I just don't think its right that school's are taking people's money and letting them get all the way to the end of the 4-5 year program, and not giving them anything to show for it. It is just a shame that in this country, things like this can happen to people. If they want to justify holding someone's degree from them, than this HESI should be a national standard... Someone's life and future should not be allowed to be held in the hands of people who don't have their best interests in mind and at heart...
I just don't think its right that school's are taking people's money and letting them get all the way to the end of the 4-5 year program, and not giving them anything to show for it. It is just a shame that in this country, things like this can happen to people. If they want to justify holding someone's degree from them, than this HESI should be a national standard... Someone's life and future should not be allowed to be held in the hands of people who don't have their best interests in mind and at heart...
It's the school's requirement, which it is allowed to set. We have people who post here that they got all the way through school and missed passing one course in the last semester by a fraction of a point, and now they're not going to be allowed to graduate, it's unfair. It's painful and frustrating, sure, but, if you don't meet the requirements and standards set by the school for graduation, you don't graduate.
Would you feel differently if the school required a comprehensive final exam that they had written themselves, and whether or not you graduated and were eligible for boards depended on passing that exam? Why or why not? (And, BTW, I can pretty much guarantee that an exam written by the school faculty would not be as well written as the HESI and other "third party" exams are -- the questions have been nationally tested and validated over time, which would not be true of an exam written by your school's faculty).
And where did you get the notion you express in your last sentence? A good deal of adulthood consists of having your life and future in the hands of people who are not particularly interested in your best interests. That's just how life and society work.
I disagree with the HESI exam and believe it should be illegal for any nursing program to administer it. You pass you classes, graduate, and take your boards.
If you don't pass and the college has to remediate then that falls under the category of too freaking bad. Listen to your students and put your egos aside....they will tell you what they need. There are many programs that have excellent pass rates that don't use the HESI. It artificially skews the pass rates if the school only graduates those that pass it and prevents the schools with the substandard nursing programs from being shut down.
The problem isn't the students it's the curriculum.
ATI is not a predictor nor is the HESI.
For what it's worth, this is almost word for word the argument against licensure exams themselves when they were first proposed. "I already did(the old way), so I think it's wrong to have to prove it(the new way)." "Passing a state board exam doesn't mean somebody will be a good nurse, so why do it?"
Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM
1,486 Posts
I disagree with the HESI exam and believe it should be illegal for any nursing program to administer it. You pass you classes, graduate, and take your boards.
If you don't pass and the college has to remediate then that falls under the category of too freaking bad. Listen to your students and put your egos aside....they will tell you what they need. There are many programs that have excellent pass rates that don't use the HESI. It artificially skews the pass rates if the school only graduates those that pass it and prevents the schools with the substandard nursing programs from being shut down.
The problem isn't the students it's the curriculum.
ATI is not a predictor nor is the HESI.