77% Rule

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I was wondering if anyone has the same rule at their school. At the school that I will be attending for my nursing classes they have this rule that if you do not pass your final with a 77 or better you do not passt the course. They do not care if you have gotten a 100% in the class up to that point you will not pass. I have overheard other students saying that the rule is unfair and I know that some of the teachers want to bring it to the dean so maybe they can change it. One particular instructor says she disagrees with it because some of the best nurses were not the best students and it puts undue stress on students. What do you guys think or does your school have the same rule?

I wish my school had a 77% rule, it's 80% (which is really like a B anywhere else I went) where I go and our drug calc. test has to be 100% whew!

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Specializes in Psych.

Me too, I wish my school had that rule. Passing is 80% and drug calc test has to be 100%. Well, actually, I find that reasonable for all the reasons already posted here (won't bore you by repeating). I'm up for it. I have been told by the class a semester ahead though, that some will drop after every exam. They said look around the room, and several will be gone each time. Kind of concerns me. I was hoping that it would be tough just to get in (and it was, they accepted 100 out of 380 apps), and then they would structure it for us to succeed (I'm not saying easy). But the message I heard was "weed out".

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

77% is not passing w/flying colors - it's passing w/the minimum "C".

Let's translate this into working as a nurse - with a 77% performance you may not kill your patient. But that's not what you want to go home every day with - well, I managed not to kill anyone today.

Policies that may seem arbitrary and *unfair* serve a purpose - they prepare you for a field in which one error, one episode of carelessness, can have disastrous consequences. It's easy to whine "it's only one test ...". Translate that one test performance into one human being who is your patient and see if that changes your perspective.

We are all human ... but as a nurse you need to be aware of and prepared to live with the consequences of having an "off" day.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Post partum, peds, newborn nur.

Our school is 80% average on all test with a 80% on the math comp test. Anything under 80% average on the tests are considered an F.

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In my BSN program the minimum OVERALL grade was 75%, for any one course. In the MSN program a minimum of "B" was required to pass (80%).

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At my school we just had to pass each class with 75% and a 100% on our dosage calculation test (but we got 7 tries to do it).

I hope everyone realizes that because nursing schools are now getting lots of applications the faculty feels this is a good time to tighten the noose and raise their standards so they can get higher passing rates on the NCLEX (incidently, my school did this and their NCLEX passing rate went DOWN quite a bit).

...my friend's sister graduated in '97 and they only had to get a 68 each semester of their BSN program. ...aah the good ol' days.

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Our school is 80% average on all test with a 80% on the math comp test. Anything under 80% average on the tests are considered an F.

Same here for me, inodou.

We also have to pass an exit test our very last semester or we don't graduate. :no:

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For some unknown reason I smell a BSN in here.

Jerry

Uhhhhhh, I don't know what THAT means.... but it was funny that Dave turned out to be in an ADN program!! :lol2:

In my school you have to pass with an 80%. If you don't have an average of 79.5% or better at the end of the semester, you FAIL and have to repeat the entire level. I have classmates that have had to repeat with a 79.4% !!!! The good thing about it though, is that you don't necessarily have to pass the final... if you had a 90 average going into the final, as long as you made a grade on the final that kept you above an 80 average total, you passed. This was very good for me because I tend to get so burned out at the end of the semester and if I don't need but a 40 to keep an 80%.... I just sometimes will not study as hard.

Brina BSN GRADUATE DECEMBER 16, 2005 !!!!!!!

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100% on drug calc? I can see why that's important but if we did that in my school we wouldn't have any students left. An uncorrected mistake in lab or clinicals can get you booted out so ultimately you better know those calcs, but wow.

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Specializes in CVICU.
77% is not passing w/flying colors - it's passing w/the minimum "C".

Let's translate this into working as a nurse - with a 77% performance you may not kill your patient. But that's not what you want to go home every day with - well, I managed not to kill anyone today.

Policies that may seem arbitrary and *unfair* serve a purpose - they prepare you for a field in which one error, one episode of carelessness, can have disastrous consequences. It's easy to whine "it's only one test ...". Translate that one test performance into one human being who is your patient and see if that changes your perspective.

We are all human ... but as a nurse you need to be aware of and prepared to live with the consequences of having an "off" day.

I was just asking a general question. I am the last person to whine or complain about one rule. I think that if a nursing student asks a question or does not like a rule it is considered by others to be whining. I as well as most others know the rules when we apply to nursing school and we comply with them, but that does no mean we agree with them. In the same retrospect just because we don't agree with them does not mean one is whining. I have seen nurses that have come out of school with A averages and pass the NCLEX with flying colors but fail miserably when it comes to their patients. One nurse I know that graduated from school with a 4.0 came into our nursing home and overdosed someone on morphine. All I am saying is that grades and rules can not predict how someone will do in the real world when they are on their on. I interviewed with a nursing school and as I was sitting in the room waiting I overheard two people talking in another room with the door open. They were saying that two girls would not be able to contiune on in the program because they did not think they would be able to pass NCLEX on first try and it would bring down the schools pass rate. Just because these two girls might not pass the NCLEX on the first try does not mean that they will bad nurses. Some of the best nurses that I have seen have not passed the NCLEX the first time. I truly understand that the 77% rule is in place to help me and my classmates at my school, but there must be flaws in it somewhere if the teachers that created the rule are having second thoughts about it and want to bring it to the dean to get it possibly changed. Anyway it goes whatever rules that my school or any other school has I know that we all will kick butt in nursing school, because allnurses nursing students are the best!!! :D

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Specializes in M/S/Ortho/Bari/ED.

We have a 78% rule.... but it's for the final grade, not the final exam. My guess is since Finals are comprehensive, they figure if you don't get a 77 you are not ready to move on to the next level.

Believe me, we have alot of frustrating rules at my school too, but what I have found from chatting in here is that this is simply the nature of the nursing school beast.

I will give you some advice I learned the hard way.... Don't take lightly any "rules" about passing a course at your school. Those ladies don't kid around. I got burnt in a class by getting a 77.4% when the minimum was 78. So I spent a whole semester taking the class over.

Nursing schools have to keep a tight lid on the students so they're not sending people out there who lack the minimum knowledge and skills. Just try to stay on top of things, because once you start getting behind is when those little "rules" are more likely to burn you! Good Luck!

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We have to pass with a 78 or better. I am not a big fan of the new grading system. It is much harder to get an A , 94 and above.

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