This is a big issue, as described in the article below. At many colleges, nursing students who otherwise would meet all of the requirements for receiving a BSN are being denied their degree if they do not meet a minimum scored on the practice exam for the nursing certification exam. In some cases, colleges are trying to artificially increase their first time pass rate.
Some hospitals will hire nurses for some jobs who have a BSN but have not yet passed their certification exam. Many students pass the exam on the 2nd try, which can be taken 45 days later. However, these students are not given those choices.
Here is a naive question. What about a student that decides not to take the test because they are moving in to a different direction? Like not wanting to practice nursing but getting a master degree for a different subject or finding another job? Sorry if that sounds stupid.
That is an excellent question - those people are also refused BSN degrees if they do not do well enough on the practice test. I believe some schools may offer you a degree other than a BSN.
It certainly makes sense for nursing schools to put an emphasis on test prep. However, some of the colleges required an excessively high score on the practice test, or did not give students sufficient notice that their degree would be withheld. This denial of degrees used to happen with a couple universities, but now it is becoming common.
My daughter said that she was not approved by her college to take the NCLEX until after she did well on the practice test course and the practice exam. However everyone was still given a degree.
It is worth reading the fine print on this issue for colleges that you are considering attending. Here is how my daughter’s college addresses the issue:
"In each course, students will be required to complete assignments and take secure, proctored examinations that are nationally normed. Students are required to demonstrate NCLEX Readiness in order to successfully pass the final nursing course, Senior Practicum, and graduate with a BS in nursing.
NCLEX Readiness can be demonstrated by one of the following methods: 1) achieve a score of 900 or
greater on the HESI Exit Exam; or 2) achieve a score of 63 or higher on a Kaplan Secure Predictor Exam.
Failure to demonstrate NCLEX Readiness by one of the above identified methods will result in the
following consequences: 1) a grade of “I” (incomplete) in the Senior Practicum course and 2) withholding of notification to the appropriate State Board of Nursing that the educational program at the College has been completed.
To remedy the incomplete, the student must successfully complete and fully remediate a specified
assignment of Kaplan questions within a defined amount of time after completion of the regular
semester and achieve a score of 63 or higher on a second Kaplan Secure Predictor Exam. Inability to
score 63 or higher on the second Predictor Exam will result in failure of Senior Nursing
Practicum. "
http://umlconnector.com/2017/02/nursing-students-irked-by-hesi-score-requirement/
U Mass Lowell students need a 850 on the HESI to stay in the program.
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/hesi-petition-students-of-duquesne-university-2
More info on the Duquesne situation at the above link.
Ok, just throwing this out for discussion. What if we look at this another way. How is this different than failing any other required class within a major and not being able to graduate on time? Student would have to retake the course. This school is offering summer remediation and two more opportunities to retest, essentially a retake. Maybe the bar is set too high, maybe not. No nurse can practice without passing the NCLEX. And retaking the thing is not a simple wait 45 days and try again. I think the NCLEX cost us $400, so retaking it multiple times was not something anyone wanted. What’s wrong with making as sure as possible that a student can pass on the first try before issuing the degree?
I do not have a problem with a college requiring that a student take extra test prep if they have a low score on the practice test. The question is whether some colleges are overly strict in the scores they expect on the practice test, and whether they provide sufficient opportunities for the students to improve.
Also, it is a question of whether a college is trying to artificially inflate their pass rates, at the cost of students on the border who may have passed the NCLEX if given a chance. If a college reports it has a 100% NCLEX first time pass rate, be very suspicious - what did they do to some of their students in order to achieve that rate?
Apparently, the actual test fee is $200. There are other fees for state licensing.
^that’s true. Pearson gets 200 for the test, but the state BON (at least in my state) charges fees per attempt. Honestly, I think even schools with pass rates consistently in the mid to upper 90s are suspect. Of that initial cohort accepted into the major, how many are redirected?
There will always be some students who need to be kicked out of a nursing program because they don’t have the self-discipline, aptitude, seriousness, motivation, etc. to be a nurse. My daughter told stories about a couple people who had the completely wrong personality to be a RN, and the clinical system made it easy to identify them and tell them to hit the road. However, I would distinguish those people from ether students who successfully passed every class and every clinical, but then are denied a BSN degree because of one standardized test at the end.
[QUOTE=""]
I think even schools with pass rates consistently in the mid to upper 90s are suspect. Of that initial cohort accepted into the major, how many are redirected?<<There will always be some students who need to be kicked out of a nursing program because they don’t have the self-discipline, aptitude, seriousness, motivation, etc. to be a nurse. <<
[/QUOTE]
My son is looking at some nursing programs and one of them has and has had a pass rate in the high 90s. What is the best way to ask how they have such a high pass rate? And what should we be looking out for?
Start by a search of their website for policies on the HESI exit exam. Some colleges require an excessively high score (such as 950) and some require a more moderate score. Look for the policies about what is needed to get a BSN at the end and to be approved by the school to take the NCLEX exam. You may find this in a nursing student handbook. They probably will not include it in the admissions materials. If the policies are not clear, ask lots of pointed questions.
Thank you so much! I have run across mention of the HESI test, but I am wondering if there is more than one? I have seen this one: HESI-A2. It seems to be used as an admittance test to nursing programs. I take it the HESI test you are referring to is a different one? Sorry for the dumb question. This is all new to me.
I worked at a nursing school and before I left the staff was discussing a change in HESI testing policy We were facing very low NCLEX scores and trying to figure out why, (As the school’s main researcher I had ideas but I digress…)
One of our issues was that the school paid for all first NCLEX testing and the staff felt the students were not putting time into preparing because of low risk. Because it was not the student’s $200, the staff theorized that many used the first NCLEX it as a practice test. This gave us very low pass rates and put us at risk of losing accreditation. Forcing a high HESI before allowing graduation would resolve this problem.
I left before policies were put in place so don’t know what ever happened but this news does not surprize me. Those NCLEX scores are life or death to the school and low pass can cause a lot of problems.
2-2 nursing programs sometimes use a HESI entrance exam. That is different from the HESI exit exam that is used to predict whether a student will pass the NCLEX certification exam.
I can fully appreciate the need for nursing programs to emphasize test prep and to try to raise their pass rates. If their pass rates remain low, they can lose their accreditation. The issue is more about colleges that take extreme measures that are harmful to their students to achieve a 96% pass rate, instead of being happy with a 87 or 90% first time pass rate.
Statement of concern about some schools using high stakes testing to unfairly deny graduation or deny the ability of students to take the NCLEX exam.
this is shocking. we toured Duquesne and they had a great presentation that included a lunch with staff/current nursing students and admitted students and I don’t recall anything being said about getting a certain score or you can’t graduate. we did ask questions on how students are begin prepared. I loved the school but my daughter did not like the location and ended up at Univ DE. Nothing was said at tours about graduation being withheld if you did not get a certain score and I asked her now if it was in a handbook or discussed at the beginning of the semester (she started last fall) and said no.
I don’t have a problem with the policy but think students/parents should know this before applying.
Duquesne initially had an excessively high score required, which they since lowered, according to the news article.
Some colleges make students repeat one 3 or 4 credit college class if they do not do well enough on the practice test. That can mean graduating 6 months later than you had intended, because it is usually not offered by the college during the summer.