“ A student is almost always motivated to practice, if they leave their lessons feeling capable”   -Frances Clark-

Students who work very hard to study all semester long should not have to completely re take a class that they are passing because of a HESI score that is weighed at 35% of their grade when students aren’t provided the necessities to be successful in scoring above and beyond! This is not only devastating to students but it puts them in state where they feel like they are failures even though they have maintained a high grade and/or academic excellence until test day.

Currently Nightingale’s NCLEX pass rate is at 79% which is low compared to other BSN Programs. This alone shows that HESI’s are not working as they are intended to due to the lack of materials and/or resources provided to be successful in passing them. If HESI’s are going to be weighed so heavily at Nightingale,  students should be provided with the necessary tools/ materials by the school to study for these exams so that the students succeed in passing them, can meet the national standard and feel confident in doing so. The HESI should not be a pass/fail, or 35% of the students grade. The students work very hard to earn and maintain those high grades and should be given a converting score at 750 and above since 750 is half of the possible 1500 points. Scores between 790-799 should be reviewed based on students academic history.  

If things do not change the NCLEX pass rates will continue to drop. Nightingale’s reputation may even be at stake. Word travels fast and a lot of people when considering a College will decide based on the majority of experiences that they’ve  heard about and because HESI’s are such a big deal at Nightingale they are the biggest talk right now and there aren’t a lot of good experiences out there based off of HESI’s alone. Also, by requiring students to retake classes due to this may cause financial hardship and makes them ineligible for some scholarships. They did not fail at performing skill competencies, they did not fail at VCBC’s, they did not fail at DFC’s. So why are they failing the whole class from a HESI specialty exam? Please look into this to see how both the students and Nightingale could benefit from a change! Meet somewhere in the middle so that both students and the college are successful as a unit! 

We need more support and more resources to meet the standard. 

Now is the time to make the change, help students feel supported and that they are being heard! Help them be successful and not feel set up for failure. 

“ All students can learn and succeed, but not in the same way and not on the same day”.    -William G Spady-