Okay, so I really just need everyones opinion on this issue. Every semester we have a pass/fail pharmacology exam that you have two attempts to receive an 80% on. I have always passed these exams on the first try however this semester several of us missed the first one by 1 question and did not pass it the second time. However on the first exam i have valid documentation from several sources that show that the question did not go into enough detail and that in fact my answer was also correct. Now, let me also tell you that a student in my class also had this issue with another question on the exam so she was given credit for her answer as well, which made her 75% go up to an 80% and she passed. However when me and another student show our documentation supporting our answer, the director says that in that case the question would be thrown out (which would not help because that would give us a 78.9% so we wouldn't have an 80). So can I have your input? Do you think its fair that this other student got credit for her answer and she simply doesn't want to do the same for us? Btw, when confronted with that question her only response is "I cannot discuss another students situation with you". I just want her to be fair in how she handles the matter.
Oh and might I add that this ONE exam in our LAST semester is trying to fail us in TWO classes (meg surg 2, where the exam was given, and internship). We were informed by the DIRECTOR that it would not affect our internship and now she is going back on that word saying that it will. With that being said, this will give us 2 F's, when we have never failed a class before, and we would have to appeal at the end of the semester to be let back into the program and finish our last semester.
Because I've been on AN long enough to know that some people will focus on OP's underlying academic issues, my disclaimer here is that I'm going to answer without regard to OP's performance in general, and just focus on the issue of awarding points fairly on a given exam.
PP is right that your instructor indeed cannot talk with you about another student's test. To do so would violate that student's educational privacy. However, you can discuss the implication of a tossed question on the rest of the class in general.
OP, the only hope I can think of for you is if your instructor is going to throw out a question on the exam because she has deemed it a faulty question (rather than believing you having a second correct answer), then you need to ask if she plans to truly throw out the question. Because, from where I'm sitting, if you're throwing out the question, then you need to go over EVERYONE'S test, and throw it out completely because the question is faulty. This means there are probably some people in the class who passed, but who would now be failing if there were no points awarded for that question. Is the professor willing to deal with that mess?
As things stand now, it sounds like the instructor's solution would be that OP would have her question tossed, but someone who got the first correct answer would continue to benefit from the points that go with the question. Ergo, the question isn't actually being tossed if people with one correct answer get points and people with another correct answer do not. OP, you can absolutely discuss this with your professor without violating anyone else's privacy.
Very nice loophole (for lack of a better word). OP, I think this will be your best bet with the disputed question. PP makes a great point in that it truly would be completely unfair and likely against school policy to throw out a question for only a select few students. And by throwing out the question for the whole class, those who scored an 80% have now failed. I can imagine an instructor not wanting to have to contact students who thought they passed and deal with the backlash of telling them they actually failed.
I think that if a question is worded in a way that it can be interpreted different ways and yield different 'correct' answers, then the question is faulty and should be thrown out. I'm sorry that ends up the same way for you.
I do think that two F's is harsh though. We had to take a dosage calc (not pharm) test every semester and get 100% on it. If you didn't, you were withdrawn from the classes that semester. You did have to leave both classes since they are always coreqs, and you can't take one without being enrolled in or already having credit for the other.
Thank you for all your input. I should have been more clear on my main concern. My concern is that I'm failing 2 classes. We have always had a separate med calc and pharm exam for every course that had a clinical (I know every school is different). But thats how it's always been for us. What isn't making sense is how you can fail me in BOTH classes, however we have some students that decided to split this semester up, and are only taking internship, and are not even in med surg, therefor, they didn't take the exam at all. It's just very unorganized and frustrated how they do things.
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It sounds like the reason two classes were involved is that they were co-requisites. They have to be taken together. So, if one class is failed, the other is done too...and both need to be retaken at the same time if the student continues. This happens alot with theory and clinical courses for the same specialty.
i think the person who initially told you you had only failed one course just made a mistake, and when she found her mistake, she corrected it. What's your school's policy on such things? You should have a copy of the school's handbook, either in paper or online form. If what happened is according to policy, there's nothing you can do. If it's not..then maybe you have a case.
Is internship the clinical part of the med surg part? If so, often the clinical must either be taken after or at the same time as the lecture part of a course. If those students already took med surg, they already took the pharm test. they don't need to do it again. It depends on the school. Again, refer to your school's policy.
It sounds like the reason two classes were involved is that they were co-requisites. They have to be taken together. So, if one class is failed, the other is done too...and both need to be retaken at the same time if the student continues. This happens alot with theory and clinical courses for the same specialty.
i think the person who initially told you you had only failed one course just made a mistake, and when she found her mistake, she corrected it. What's your school's policy on such things? You should have a copy of the school's handbook, either in paper or online form. If what happened is according to policy, there's nothing you can do. If it's not..then maybe you have a case.
Is internship the clinical part of the med surg part? If so, often the clinical must either be taken after or at the same time as the lecture part of a course. If those students already took med surg, they already took the pharm test. they don't need to do it again. It depends on the school. Again, refer to your school's policy.
No, they are not co-reqs (refer to my post just before yours); and we have student's that are taking internship and not even taking med surg. So they didn't even take the exams. So it just doesn't make much sense, at all.
mrsboots87
1,761 Posts
Very nice loophole (for lack of a better word). OP, I think this will be your best bet with the disputed question. PP makes a great point in that it truly would be completely unfair and likely against school policy to throw out a question for only a select few students. And by throwing out the question for the whole class, those who scored an 80% have now failed. I can imagine an instructor not wanting to have to contact students who thought they passed and deal with the backlash of telling them they actually failed.