One thing I learned today is that honesty will get you nowhere in Nursing School.

Hpy_Vly_RNBSN · Apr 16, 2014

Seriously... She denied you the exam. I would take it above her to the Dean or some other higher up. Crap happens and one thing you need as a nurse is understanding If it was your first time missing a test or over sleeping I don't see why they would deny you a retake.

somewhereinla · Apr 17, 2014

Although I am not in nursing school yet (hopefully that changes soon as I applied for this fall), I lurk this forum every so often.

Your honesty is very admirable but I can see perhaps where your instructor was coming from. For my Microbiology class, a student was in the same situation as yours. She arrived in tears as we were taking our exam and explained her situation to the professor (in front of everyone); the professor simply told her she should have put two alarms, as you can never fully rely on technology.

Sorry to hear about your situation. Hopefully you can pull a B.

frivoloussal · Apr 17, 2014

Unfortunately, "truth" is not synonymous with"valid."

Missing an alarm is not a valid excuse, even if it is the truth. Better to find that out now, than in a hospital setting, where patients and staff actually depend on you.

Rotten luck, though :-(

NuGuyNurse2b · Apr 17, 2014

I think the real lesson here is that you shouldn't depend on your phone as an alarm clock. I learned that the hard way by coming to just a lecture 1 hour late and I felt the eye of Sauron looking into my soul. If you can squeeze by with a B by working hard, or even a C by being average, you should stay in the program. I would hate to make up a full semester, cause at my school it's a rolling admissioin - you drop out or fail out one semester, you wait a whole year until the next time it comes around again.

LineaAspera · Apr 17, 2014

alright...buying a few alarm clocks for school now

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · Apr 17, 2014

I can't imagine that waking up late would ever be considered a "valid" excuse for missing an exam- at least not in nursing school. And any better "story" you might have come up with would have likely required proof. I'm thinking car accident, trapped in a well, kidnapped at gunpoint, etc...

I do feel your pain, though. Good luck with the rest of the semester.

Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN · Apr 17, 2014

This happened to a classmate, her husband had an emergent appendectomy the night before her exam. She informed the professors and they said they would give her a make up exam.

Turned out the make up exam was the day program's exam which is taught and made up by completely different professors. She ended up failing with a 50.

But in your case I would bring it up to the Dean, at least have a shot at taking someone else's exam.

lovemyjoblandd · Apr 17, 2014

That is life and believe me, your coworkers would be no more understanding than your instructor. You made a mistake, you pay the consequences. Your instructor is teaching you a valid lesson.

erifica · Apr 17, 2014

That is life and believe me, your coworkers would be no more understanding than your instructor. You made a mistake, you pay the consequences. Your instructor is teaching you a valid lesson.

This advice bothers me. I'm not saying that the original poster doesn't have to deal with the consequences of what happened; but life happens. Alarm clocks don't work sometimes; keys get locked out of cars, etc. I have less than a month of nursing school left and it is very disheartening how nursing students can be treated sometimes. Nursing is supposed to be a caring and compassionate profession! Granted, yes, it is a profession so we have to own up when we make mistakes but the compassion is so often lost!

Original poster: this is a hard situation you are in now because of what happened; but don't give up. Try your best. It is better to have tried than to just give up because of ONE mistake.

morte, LPN, LVN · Apr 17, 2014

OP, I doubt the instructor believed what you said. Probably thought you were out too late the night before. I would not be pleased the instructor thought it appropriate to tell you to drop out, and would ask the instructor why (s)he said that.

elkpark · Apr 17, 2014

"The very thing I immediately did was explain my situation honestly to my instructor and what happened. Our Syllabus policy states that we are able to make up an exam with a VALID excuse before the test, but I of course decided to be honest, and well, guess what? I was denied my exam and got a big fat 0."

Are you directly quoting the policy in your syllabus? I've taught in a few different nursing programs over the years, and, in my experience (as a student and as faculty), a statement like that would mean if you contacted the instructor prior to the exam with a valid excuse about why you weren't going to be able to be there (like, "Gee, Ms. elkpark, I'm really sorry, my appendix ruptured during the night" or something like that). In my experience, if you just don't show for the exam, you better have a darned good, life-or-death excuse afterwards (with documentation or corroboration) or, as you experienced, you get a 0.

And, as others have pointed out, there is no scenario in which oversleeping is a "valid" excuse for missing an exam.

Sorry you had a bad experience, but honesty is the best policy, in nursing school and in nursing practice. People's lives depend on our honesty and personal integrity. Losing a letter grade isn't the end of the world. If I were in your situation, I would just dust myself off, press on, and get a dependable alarm clock (I went through nursing school (in the dark ages) with an old-fashioned wind-up one just because I was paranoid about the electricity going out and my clock radio not waking me up on time (I'm a pessimist by nature; I assumed something like that would happen on the worst possible day). I wound the mechanical one up every night before I went to bed, and it woke me up reliably every morning. :))

Best wishes for your journey!