The Reasoning Behind Nursing Schools' Grading Scales

[WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

This topic is more out of general curiosity.

I am wondering why nursing school grading scales are, well, the way they are? I know it has been a long-standing practice as even when my mother was in nursing school (20+ years ago) she had a similar grading scale.

1. Why do many (if not all) nursing schools consider anything below a 77-80 failing?

2. Has it been proven that students that receive less than a 77-80 are less likely to pass the NCLEX on the first try?

3. Are they less likely to retain the information needed to progress in their program?

4. Are they statistically less competant if they school under 80?

5. It is an early precursor to how nurses should be held professionally?

6. It is to reflect on the hardships and difficultly of the profession?

7. Has the nursing grade scale always been like this?

8. Is this done in other non-nursing programs?

Do you think it benefits the student more in the long-run to have such stringent grading scales?

Honestly, myself, I really have no qualms about it. In fact, I think it encourages me to work ever HARDER for what I want. In my program, anything 79-below is failing. What is the failing grade in your school?

[mrsboots87]

Failing in our school is anything below 76 and proctored points are tallied first, then homework/project points added after to make the final grade. I never really looked into why the grading scale is the way it is, but I would think NCLEX pass rates play a role seeing as to pass the class, you have to take NCLEX style questions. If you cant get good grades on NCLEX style classroom tests, then how would one expect to pass the actual NCLEX. I would also imagine that it ensures that only students who study hard and are actually learning the material pass the courses. It is really not that hard to get a 70% in most classes. Many people can guess their way to a 70%. Just my two cents on possible reasons why. I never get close to 76% so the grading scale has never bothered me, but you raise a good question as to why it is the way it is.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day:

Our RN program considers anything below a 75% to be failing. A C is from 75% to 82%, a B from 83% to 90%, and an A is 91% to 100%. As per the previous poster, we were told that if you cannot maintain at least a C throughout the program, there would be little chance to pass the NCLEX. All of our classes, but one - Informatics - consistently uses NCLEX questions for quizzes and tests; so while I don't have a link or a handout as to how the research was done, it makes logical sense to me about their grading standards.

In the prerequisite portion of the classes, a C was 70% to 79%, a B from 80% to 89%, and an from 90% to 100%. The reason for the difference, in my opinion is that not everyone taking prerequisites is doing so to get into the RN program, and not everyone taking their prerequisites will be accepted into the RN program.

Thank you.

[augurey]

The program I just withdrew from had a grading scale of 80-84.5% - C, 84.6 - 92.5% - B, and 92.6+ - A. Anything below an 80% is failing. We had to maintain a GPA of 2.5+, so at minimum a mixture of Cs and Bs, so even though 80% is passing, getting an 80% in each course isn't good enough to continue the program. Also, a level 2 must be achieved on all ATI proctored exams.

I'm not sure about the new school I'm applying to.

I think it's primarily NCLEX driven. I don't know if their grading scale is across the board for all their programs (or if for nursing only), if the grading scale was newly implemented as they did recently increase the eligibility requirements and standards for this particular class (which I believe was to increase NCLEX pass rate based on the previous graduating classes).

I know a lot have complained about the grading scale, and yeah, it's hard when normally your B would have been an A, but it's not. Having that kind of grading scale has encouraged me to work a lot harder, knowing it can be a lot easier to fail. My whole life an 80% has been the lowest percentage for a B, not a C and just passing. It took a little to adjust to, but it's definitely encouraged me to work a lot harder, and I think I've done better because of it.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I have actually thought about this for many years. No one in academia could ever provide me with a logical answer. So here's my theory.

Nursing programs are heavily invested in the myth of egalitarianism .... "we welcome everyone" .... despite the fact that it actually takes quite a bit of intellectual horsepower to actually make it through the educational labyrinth and obtain a license. Sooo - - rather than take an honest approach and raise the baseline admission requirements, and raise the level of course content, they 'tweaked' the grading scale. It's been going on for a looong time; it was in place when I got my BSN in '78.

That's my theory

[augurey]

I think HouTx has a very good point with that. It made me think back to my former school's admission requirements.

They informed me that this year's class (those starting Sept 2014) were given higher admission requirements; however, it was actually pretty easy to get in still.

1. No pre-reqs required. They'll take you off the street. Though if you've had no medical background, they ask that you take their Medical Assisting course and then enroll in the Nursing Program after you graduate from Medical Assisting. The only thing that got my foot in the door was taking a Medical Assisting course for 2 years back in high school (over 10 years ago) and 8.5 years of medical billing experience (which didn't provide much of anything in preparing me for the nursing course). I remembered a little bit from my medical assisting class back in high school, but I otherwise had no background. One of my classmates was one of those that had to take Medical Assisting before she was allowed to enroll in the Nursing Program.

2. TEAS - TEAS were required. We were advised that the scored to get in had increased from previous years. The required scores were still very low. 45% for science, 50% English, 60% Math, and 65% Reading (something like that). 10 years since I've been in school and was told that I blew everyone else out of the water with my scores (and my scores were embarrassingly low per my standards, but not too shabby considering I had less than 2 weeks to get myself refreshed with material from over 10 years ago).

3. Essay - I'm not sure mine was even read.

4. Interview - It was just a bit of a chat on why I wanted to be there, weaknesses, strengths, etc. Was offered a seat by the end of the 10 minute interview.

We started out with 32 (or 34) people. They're down to 17. Half withdrew willingly (I was one of those), the other half didn't make the grades. Some people barely passed the first semester because of the GPA, even tough they passed the course. They stayed in the program by a thread.

Based on that theory compared to what I saw during my semester and a half, I would say that theory sounds pretty logical!

[Brannon Ferguson]

My issue with the answer is that it does not address why the adjusted grading scale continues into graduate school. Most nursing students working toward a master's or doctorate degree have already passed the NCLEX. My question is now: Why does it continue into graduate school?