Nursing School Grading Scales

[Jonathon256]

Is anyone else worried about the effect brought on by the grading scale in nursing school? The scale at my school is as follows:

A 100-95 (4.0 for GPA points)

A- 94-93 (3.7)

B+ 92-90 (3.3)

B 89-87 (3.0)

B- 86-84 (2.7)

C+ 83-81 (2.3)

C 80-78 (2.0)

My school is known for having a "great nursing program", "produces good knowledgeable nurses", "they work you hard" etc. My worry in this program is that by the time you graduate your GPA will have taken some serious hits. The grade in classes is essentially assessment based only and sometimes exams in Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, Research, Nutrition have only 30 NCLEX style questions per exam so if you miss 3-5 every exam that gets you a B/B-. Is it this way everywhere? Many of my peers and I get 84-87 in the nursing courses and the instructors tell you fantastic work. The smartest hardest working girl in my class only gets 91/92 in the courses. Over three years you might graduate with a 3.1 when you went in with a 3.6-3.7. On paper, admissions for a graduate program might say, "Oh this candidate is weak on his/her transcript, I don't think he/she could handle this program."

[Stella_Blue]

One of my teachers once told me there is no such thing as a straight A nursing student. She wasnt a tough teacher or anything either. Its just that nursing school is tough, and so is the grading scale. I have seen tougher grading scales. This was how mine was as well. If nuraing school were easy, everyone would do it. I managed to make a few A's in nursing school, mainly in clinical. I got mostly B's in the high credit classes. I got 1 C ever between both my LPN and my transition class. I do beleive my GPA is still in the mid 3.0 something. I will look it up shortly and let you know.

[Stella_Blue]

Ok after both of my nursing programs I graduated with a 3.53 and like I said I only made A's in clinicals and labs which were lower credit courses. Nursing school dis drop my GPA a little. I do beleive I stated out somewhere around 3.7ish. So just do your best and you will be fine.

[jaycam, RN]

Pretty similar to what my school's grading scale is and yes my, just one quarter in, my GPA has taken a hit. Our first quarter professor warned us it would happen. I think it takes a type A personality to maintain what you need to get it, but that's also the same person who stress out when it drops.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

That's similar to our grading scale. I started the program with a 4.0 GPA. I'm in my final semester and my GPA is now 3.93. I had hoped to make it all the way through with a 4.0, but our no-rounding policy ended that. I missed a 4.0 in one class by 0.3 and in another by 1 point. It is what it is. I think most graduate programs understand how tough the grading scales are in nursing school.

Our program also changed the minimum passing grade from 76% to 81%.