rounding up grades

[ro2878]

Just curious - does your school round up when calculating your grade for the block?

Just finished Block 3 (got an "A" and also got an "A" for Block 2. Just missed an "A" by 0.6 in Block 1). One of my close school mates, who also works very hard, just missed her "A" by 0.4! I felt so bad for her since I know how it feels to come so close after working so hard. This would have been her first "A." Normally, she gets high "B's."

I just don't understand why nursing schools don't round up. Also, why do nursing schools use an elevated grading scale? Nursing school is hard enough!!

Finally, does your school take into account your care plans or clinical performance when considering your final grade? Our school just gives either a pass or a fail for clinical and then our grade for the block is based upon test grades, skill check-offs, and written/oral assignments.

Thanks for the feedback.

[jess~n~kids]

They do round up at my school. Passing is a 77% and is strictly based off of test scores.

[Despareux]

For us, it depends on your instructor. Some round up your final grade, some round up every grade for the class, and others refuse to round up at all.

[W'sMama]

No rounding...ever! 77 is passing, 85 is a B, and 93 is an A. Our clinicals count for grades which is nice because they're always worth more credits than the lecture.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

My instructors round on individual tests. (We always have an odd number of questions so you can end up with 78.5 which would be rounded to 79 but 78.4 would be 78). 75 is passing. Final grades are never rounded because individual grades are rounded. So if your final average is 74.9% you fail.

[Nurse Kyles, BSN, RN]

At my school, We need a 80% to pass. It depends upon the teacher whether they round up or not. I know of several people failing with a >79.5%. In my program there is absolutely no extra credit or participation points. Clinicals do get letter grades based on the evaluation tool, but individual assignments in clinical (ie process recordings, teaching plans, or daily homework) do not get a grade. Those assignments are just critiqued and handed back.

[akanini, MSN, RN]

70% in LPN school. ROUNDED UP.

77% in RN school. NO ROUNDING.

[pockunit, ADN, RN]

We round, and for some people it means passing.

I'm within .2 of an A- in one class and that's going to be my ticket to a slightly better gpa. I'll take it, and gladly. Our A goes to 93, and 79 is failing, fwiw.

[ParkerBC,MSN,RN, PhD, RN]

No rounding at my school. I have a 94.96%, still got an A- Care plans and written assignments are part of our final grade, but only a small total percentage, life about 15% of the total grade. The majority of the final grade comes from exams.

[cgravier]

nope. you get a question wrong you lose 3 points. Even if its mulitple choice and you get 2 out of 3 right you still lose 3 points. The only thing they did to help was immediately after each test we got in groups and retook the test, if the group test score A each member got 3 points added on to the grade, B=2, C=1

We only had 30 minutes and there was always a few questions nobody agreed on, but my group always got the A.

[pitaya]

I'm not sure if my school rounds up or not, but I think they do. But as far as passing goes, one must have an 80%; an 80% is a B and a 90% is an A. This means that no one gets a C, so everyone who graduates will have at least a 3.0.

[caliotter3]

The grading policies must have been made clear in the beginning and they should be written in the nursing school handbook or in the school catalog, so there should be no surprise when grade time comes around. Best to be happy that one is successful, it could always be the other way around.

[sandyfeet]

nope. you get a question wrong you lose 3 points. Even if its mulitple choice and you get 2 out of 3 right you still lose 3 points. The only thing they did to help was immediately after each test we got in groups and retook the test, if the group test score A each member got 3 points added on to the grade, B=2, C=1

We only had 30 minutes and there was always a few questions nobody agreed on, but my group always got the A.

That's a great idea because talking out the questions will really help you remember the information, especially if you are arguing about it! This is basically what my class does in the hallway after tests anyways. Did you get to pick the groups? Do you get to do this for the midterm and final?