What it takes to fail

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hi everyone. it seems i have read through a lot of threads about failing lately. so i'm curious, what does it take to fail... ie, get kicked out? i know every school/program is probably different, but what's it like in your school? i'm going into ns in the fall. is it taking a test twice and failing? failing a class? is it really super easy to get kicked out of the nursing program? this worries me much. :banghead:

thanks,

jenna

At my school you can repeat the coorifice. It has been said that 50% of students fail out of the program.

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Specializes in Peds HH, LTC.

In my school (Vocational) you have to maintain a 75% average in each course (although now I think the new class has to maintain 80%).

You have to show competency and professionalism in clinical.

And you cannot have any convictions.

During first level, we had a student who maintained in the mid 90% average, but she lacked clinical/bedside manner and was asked to leave. It doesn't always matter how high your average is if you can't grasp the concepts.

The underclass in our program had a student convicted of DUI while in school, and he got kicked out.

These are all matters that should be in the student handbook, so you will be aware of them from day 1. Can you fail a test and pass? absolutely. One bad test will not get you kicked out, unless it's the final, and that may be the school policy.

All I can say is this - don't get discouraged. If you want something bad enough, you do what you need to do. Good Luck!! :)

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Specializes in OB.

My school was 78 percent on theory grades- this doesnt include papers/clincial worksheets etc is required or you are failed and have to start over from first semester, even if you are in the last 3 weeks of school- you start from page one, and thats IF they reaccept you. Math/medication tests must be passed with 100 percent, you get 2 tries, or again, you are removed from the program.

You can also get kicked out for poor clinical performance and that can some times be as black and white as poor pt care, medication errors or as subjective as an instructor thinking you arent "right" and making a case against you to get you removed. Seen this happen first hand to 2 girls in one of my clinical groups.

Welcome to the trenches!

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This past spring was our second semester of NS. A girl in a different clinical from mine was with us until the first week of April (we only had two weeks of clinical left at that time). She had mentioned to several of us that she was to have an unexpected meeting with her clinical instructor, advisor and program director and acted like she had not a clue as to why. The next week she wasn't in class and subsequently never returned. Apparently during a clinical day she dissapeared off the floor without notifying any one and couldn't be found for several hours after being looked for and paged. There are many ways to be asked to leave a nursing program, most of them being grades and not following the rules.

Keep your grades up and don't think that the rules don't apply to you, and you will do just fine.

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- Failing grade = below 78, for the semester.

- Cheating on any test

- Clinical error causing harm // medication error

- Lying about doing something during clinicals (several students were kicked out last year when they said they were doing AM care and they weren't).

- Being unprofessional, inappropriate, offensive, etc. to a patient or health care worker in clinical setting.

- Failing clinical skills testing

- GPA below school's requirements

There are no make-up exams in my nursing program. Usually if a student is on the verge of failing, the student is given advance notice of what they need to do to pass/succeed.

Be honest, do the assignments, study, study, study, and you will do great!

Good luck to you.

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Thank you for all the responses and encouragement! Being a single mom, I took all of my pre-req's through distance learning. The thought of actually having to go to class is pretty scary! I go to oreintation on June 18th, so maybe I'll see then what our schools policy is... though there are slight differences it sounds like it's pretty similar throughout the schools.

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I am on the Eastern Plains of Colorado. Work in Wray go to school in Fort Morgan, Co at Morgan Community College....You?

Sorry, I forgot to answer this. I am in Northwest Colorado near Grand Junction.

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Where I am you have to make a 78% to pass the class. Which means if you fail a couple of tests, it's hard to pull up your grade. Strive to pass every test. If you fail a skill you have only one more chance to pass or you're booted, same goes with the math tests (usually only have 10 or 20 questions on those). Mostly everyone who gets into the nursing program got there because they work hard, so most do just fine. Yes, we've had many fail or drop, but more that passed and are succeeding. If you want it, you'll do fine. Work hard. GL!

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Specializes in AGNP.

These are some of the things that get you an automatic failure in our program:

-exam average below 76%

-don't pass the med math exam in 3 tries

-don't pass your physical assessment evaluation

-don't pass your skills evaluation

-clinical errors

-being late 3 times

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There were a couple things that could get you kicked out at the school I went to:

- Failing grade = below 75 for the semester. No make up exams and course grade was based 100% on exams.

- excessive absences from class or clinical. Class we were allowed 2 absenses - people took more than that and weren't called out though. Clinincal only 1 absence which had to be made up with a term paper. If you had more than 1 clinical day missed you needed a really good excuse and had to make arrangements to make up all the missed time.

- Cheating, plagirism, etc.

- Clinical errors or being really bad in clinical - patient safety issues, not knowing basic skills, etc

Good luck!

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AnnaN5

-exam average below 76%

-don't pass the med math exam in 3 tries

-don't pass your physical assessment evaluation

-don't pass your skills evaluation

-clinical errors

-being late 3 times

Oh yeah I forgot to mention the drug math test. Aren't those great. We could only miss 2 questions this past semester and next semester we can only miss 1! These are given at the beginning of every semester for each class taken. The test are very nerve racking, but I can see why they are so important. We are given 3 attempts as well. All the above apply to our school as well except our cutoff is 77%. Our school is tough on us, but if that is what they need to do to get us to pass the NCLEX then bring it on!!

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Specializes in Step-down ICU.

In my particular program (ADN) your test average(after 4 tests) had to be 80%. We also had a research paper, and six online assignments that would only be factored in if your test average was 80%.

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