Student Not Eligible for NCLEX

[Nurse Beth]

Dear Nurse Beth,

My daughter graduated with a BSN. Transcript shows degree awarded. However, she didn’t make the school's required minimum on the HESI. Now the school has decided to administer ANOTHER test in a month, which will interfere with her job offer. At what point does something give and the school no longer hold the control to hold not releasing graduates to sit for the NCLEX?

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Dear Daughter Held Back,

Most nursing schools require their students to pass the HESI exam prior to graduation. The HESI exam is a valid predictor of the student's ability to successfully pass the NCLEX.

The HESI exam consists of 150 questions and is designed to test critical thinking and application.

Nursing schools have the right to hold students to conditions of successful completion of the nursing program. Students who do not successfully meet requirements of completion are not eligible for the NCLEX.

The best thing for your daughter to do is prepare to successfully pass the test.

A BSN has no value to employers without an RN behind it.

Her job offer is certainly contingent on her passing the NCLEX, and the first step towards passing the NCLEX is passing the required exit exam. At some hospitals, the applicant's exit exam scores are looked at along with their GPA when hiring.

In other words, although you could choose to fight and appeal the school's decision, your energy is better spent on encouraging and helping your daughter pass. There are a lot of helpful study aids out there.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"...and your next!

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

On 6/15/2019 at 12:01 PM, Jory said:

There is actually no correlation between passing the HESI and NCLEX. This is one of the controversies of the exam. There are schools that administer the HESI to evaluate their own program, but do not require a passing grade in order to graduate/sit for NCLEX and many students that do poorly go on to do well on the NCLEX.

I always wondered if the HESI and ATI were actually predictors. I just graduated from my ADN program with a B average throughout. We had 4 chances to past the exam or we are required to redo our classes again which equals out to another year of classes. The current valedictorian is current on her fourth try, if that says anything.

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

On 6/15/2019 at 11:20 PM, napswithcats said:

Without HESI, I probably wouldn't have passed the NCLEX as it encouraged me to study harder. I LOVED it, it offers remediation and it tells you what your weak points are and what you should focus on which is different for EVERY student. It encourages accountability because at the end of the day, in every nursing school there are going to be some amazing professors, terrible ones, and some who's teaching style does not suit you personally but it is each student's responsibility to do what they have to do to acquire the necessary knowledge to be a safe nurse and HESI is a great tool to identify those knowledge gaps.

Loved it? Wow. Never thought I see the day when someone say they loved the exit exam. Gives me hives just thinking about it.

[Sour Lemon]

I went to school with a girl who failed all three HESI exit exam attempts. They did make an exception for her in the end, although I'm unsure how that was decided.

She did pass NCLEX on the first try when she was finally cleared to take it.

[L-ICURN, BSN, RN]

My program required it and made no secret about that HESI. You took it the first time in February of your last semester in school. You had 4 times you could take before graduation. I knew 2 students who had to return in the summer to take it again, before finally passing it. Only then would the school release their transcripts to the state.

It sucks but you have to get past that test to get your transcripts released.

[llg, PhD, RN]

In my undergrad says (back in ancient times), my school did not use any sort of exit exam. However, every test in every course consisted of NCLEX-style questions. They were designed that way to get us used to that sort of question. You had to face that type of test multiple times per semester. If you struggled with the type of thinking required, you failed out. Our NCLEX pass rate was always above 95%.

I've always thought schools need to set higher standards in the early coursework -- to identify those who need remedial work early -- and then give them a chance to remediate and improve, or to fail out before they waste their time and money on finishing the program. That's why I have never liked exit exams.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

If I recall correctly from studies I have read, passing these types of exams is an accurate predictor of passing the NCLEX, but failing them did not correlate well with NCLEX failure.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

On 7/28/2019 at 6:03 AM, NICU Guy said:

Schools want to limit the number of graduates that take NCLEX to those that are likely to pass NCLEX. You want to catch the ones that will not pass NCLEX and give them additional instruction before they pay for NCLEX and BON fees.

It's not about passing vs not passing. It's about passing on the first attempt. What school are you going to trust more, the one that 25% of people passed on their second attempt, or the one that 95% of people passed on their first attempt?

THAT is what the exit exam accomplishes. It lets a school market a high rate of first attempt pass rates by only letting the people likely to pass on the first attempt take the test.

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

6 hours ago, tonyl1234 said:

It's not about passing vs not passing. It's about passing on the first attempt. What school are you going to trust more, the one that 25% of people passed on their second attempt, or the one that 95% of people passed on their first attempt?

THAT is what the exit exam accomplishes. It lets a school market a high rate of first attempt pass rates by only letting the people likely to pass on the first attempt take the test.

Your absolutely right