Professors fail everyone?

ChooSoul · Dec 3, 2014

What are you, 12?
You're adults. Act like it. If you don't meet the standard, you fail. Period. I certainly won't be whining like a child and trying to rack up sympathy points when I'm in school next year. I wouldn't even advise my second grader to try such a strategy, because her teacher deserves more respect than that.

desperate times call for drastic measures. dont be hating.

you apparently dont know the effects of just having sympathy points. being able to express to the professor alone has some good personal effects.

other role of a teacher is to counsel and give advice to their students.

students can do whatever they want, they can cry, whine, whatever. how to respond is up to the professor.

if youre going to school next year, i suggest studying therapeutic communication in advance. you clearly need it. I am not 12. :cyclops:

RunBabyRN · Dec 3, 2014

desperate times call for drastic measures. dont be hating.
you apparently dont know the effects of just having sympathy points. being able to express to the professor alone has some good personal effects.
other role of a teacher is to counsel and give advice to their students.
students can do whatever they want, they can cry, whine, whatever. how to respond is up to the professor.
if youre going to school next year, i suggest studying therapeutic communication in advance. you clearly need it. I am not 12.

Sympathy points don't help with the NCLEX or in clinical practice. Few things would irritate me more as a manager (or instructor) than someone trying to appeal to my sympathies in order to pass in nursing.

Counseling and advising does not mean making exams easy to let people pass. That doesn't help when it comes time for the NCLEX or in clinical practice, either. It does, however, mean brainstorming with a student and going over what they need to work on and offering suggestions for how to improve and retain the material or how to answer NCLEX-style questions, whatever the issue is.

I had one exam that I'd studied my butt off for, and I KNEW the material. However, that morning I woke up very ill, and I rushed through the exam. You could tell by my answers that I knew the material (selecting the one wrong answer instead of all that apply that would be correct, that sort of thing). Did I even consider asking my instructor to adjust my grade? Nope. She was understanding and did offer me some extra credit because she could see that I knew the material. I still took a hit with my grade, JUST below the mark, but again, it's the grade I earned. Sometimes in life, you have to suck it up. That's not a lack of therapeutic communication, that's being an adult and having some accountability.

Nienna Celebrindal · Dec 3, 2014

Sympathy points don't help with the NCLEX or in clinical practice.

Word, forgive me but I'm going to be frank. The NCLEX doesn't give a flying **** what your issues are, what you have on your plate, whatever you think your sob story is. If you can't pass your classes you will not pass the NCLEX. The end.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Dec 3, 2014

desperate times call for drastic measures. dont be hating.
you apparently dont know the effects of just having sympathy points. being able to express to the professor alone has some good personal effects.
other role of a teacher is to counsel and give advice to their students.
students can do whatever they want, they can cry, whine, whatever. how to respond is up to the professor.
if youre going to school next year, i suggest studying therapeutic communication in advance. you clearly need it. I am not 12.

Good luck with that strategy on NCLEX. There is no professor to whine to. There is only the computer and it cares not if you cry when it shuts off at 75 questions because you're so far below the passing standard or because you're there to the time limit trying to answer 265 questions.

Professors don't fail students. Students fail classes when they don't score a passing grade. The end. Sometimes you try and still fail. I could try to be in the WNBA and I will fail every time- I am 5'4" and can't shoot a basket to save my life. It doesn't matter how hard I try or if I cry, I will never be given a WNBA contract. Passing classes in nursing school SHOULD be objective. Sympathy and tears need not apply. Do the work, learn the material, apply it and pass the class.

Peanut&Buttercup · Dec 3, 2014

You are four percentage points from passing? On my school's grading scale, that's half the distance between two grades.

If a 92% is the lowest A and 85% is the lowest B, would you ever try to convince your instructor you should get that A, if you had an 88%? It's only 4% off from an A.

sjalv · Dec 3, 2014

I can't tell if this is a serious question. You get the grade that you earn. That is almost always determined by how well you do on assigned papers / lecture exams. The effort you put forth is a benefit to yourself because it usually translates to a better score on a given assignment. Your professor would be demonstrating a lack of integrity if she were to 'bump up' your score (which is what you're hinting at) based on what you perceive as 'trying hard'.

ixchel · Dec 3, 2014

some professors round up your grade so you can pass.
some are just mean! you should bother your professor but dont be annoying. tell that prof that youre doing your best and get sympathy points. she might then help you. if a lot of people in your class are in danger, she might give an extra credit assignment for the whole class.
or if shes really nice, she might make the final exam super easy so every can get an A. this happened when i was in OB semester. OB is just not my specialty... my prof made the final super easy and i literally needed an A to pass the class, and i got A because i did pass the class.

Giving a student a grade that they earned is not mean. It's reality.

Learn this now: nursing is not a career that rewards effort. Your boss will not continually reward you for your effort. The dead body on the table that you just spent coding for 30 minutes will not reward you for your effort.

I am all for arguing points back when there are ambiguous questions that were poorly written. But I do not agree with simply asking for a curve for yourself in nursing school. This isn't Lit 101, where knowing the theme of the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel won't matter in 6 months. You HAVE to know this information. Literally, lives depend on it. It's not even about the NCLEX, even though that's important, too. If you fail a class, you need to try again. This is why I find it likely you will not find a nursing professor to change your grade.

strawberryluv, BSN, RN · Dec 3, 2014

No, a grade is dependent on your thinking skills and proficiency in applying the knowledge you've gained to the clinical scenario you likely will see in the nursing world.

With that said, if you have failed to earn the grade that minimally meets the standard for passing then you should not be

passed.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Dec 3, 2014

A classmate (from my 1st cohort) failed out of nursing school by literally 2 points, not 2 percentage points, I mean literally 2 points. If passing was 470, he got 468. Nursing instructors present the information to the students and it's up to the students to make the grade... literally. In his case, since he was less than 0.5% away from a passing grade, he would have passed had they practiced rounding or if the instructors were to add some "instructor's points" for effort. They don't play that game. You pass or fail completely on your own. I'm glad to say that he was allowed to re-enroll in school and while he wasn't the best student, he passed every exam that he took and passed the NCLEX on his first try. He's been working for just over a year now and love what he does.

While it seems harsh, they set standards and require that students meet those standards. As soon as they start becoming a bit flexible with passing standards, then they open themselves up to having students that aren't able to actually meet minimum standards pass the course and can't pass the NCLEX or they end up being potentially dangerous to patients.

Mind you this is very different from instructors adjusting exam grades because the exam itself had flaws. That happened occasionally during school, and they would refine their test questions continually to reduce the number of "bad" questions. If you had a grade increase due to this, it was never personally just for you.

ExpBrittany · Dec 3, 2014

Lol seriously? Hun, you're not even IN a nursing program. I have this thing about people who try to give advice & speak on situations they have never experienced. Not saying your opinion doesn't mean anything, but how much weight does it hold? That's like me talking to a mother about giving birth. I've heard countless stories. Guess what? I'm not a mom. So for me to speak on delivering a baby, I'll only be able to speak about what I've been told. I don't know. I could never say what I would or would not do until that time.

Anyway

To the OP, I will have to agree with others here babe. 4 points vs 4%????? As one poster said: Students fail students. Nobody wakes up failing a class. It sounds like you've been struggling & haven't been able for whatever the reason "keep up". You gotta get help early. I mean after the first exam results. Utilize your resources.

Some instructors may help, most don't. As far as nclex, don't worry about that. Focus on doing the best you can NOW. If you do that, you won't have to worry about nclex when the time comes.

ExpBrittany · Dec 3, 2014

Sorry guys, haven't been here in awhile. Didn't quote correctly. So I just copied the post

4:00 am*by*Red Kryptonite

Quote*from jetro

some professors round up your grade so you can pass.*

some are just mean! you should bother your professor but dont be annoying. tell that prof that youre doing your best and get sympathy points. she might then help you. if a lot of people in your class are in danger, she might give an extra credit assignment for the whole class.

or if shes really nice, she might make the final exam super easy so every can get an A. this happened when i was in OB semester. OB is just not my specialty... my prof made the final super easy and i literally needed an A to pass the class, and i got A because i did pass the class.

What are you, 12?

You're adults. Act like it. If you don't meet the standard, you fail. Period. I certainly won't be whining like a child and trying to rack up sympathy points when I'm in school next year. I wouldn't even advise my second grader to try such a strategy, because her teacher deserves more respect than that.

smf0903 · Dec 3, 2014

Our program will not round...at all. And any extra points earned (non-exam points) are only added into your grade after you've achieved a passing mark based on exams alone. Here's the thing, when this is all said and done, we are taking care of people. If we don't know what we're doing, heaven help the patients we're taking care of! People get a bit hot under the collar about med math exams (we have to have a 90% on ours to continue in the program). But think about that: in school we're allowed to be wrong 10% of the time. Can we be wrong 10% of the time on the floor? Absolutely not. Granted, taking exams also includes knowing how to answer the questions, but if we can't put the information together then that's a big problem. Maybe my thinking is a bit melodramatic, but I don't want someone taking care of me or someone in my family who passed through school because of their niceness. I want someone who knows their stuff! I truly do wish you the best and hope you ace your final :) I just think that looking at the big picture in these instances kind of puts things in a better perspective.

Good luck on your final!! I hope you knock it out of the park