To whom it may concern:

We are the students enrolled in the BSN program and we are writing to you today to plead for a change on how the Hesi exam weights on our final grade.
There are a few concerns that we would like to address with you today and respectfully ask that you acknowledge our request and provide us with a response.
The first thing we would like to bring up, is that we, were never informed upon enrolling in the school, of the existence of a Hesi exam that we would have to take every semester. This was something that we found out upon starting the nursing program without any prior notification. We had no other choice but to accept it and move on.
It is our understanding that the Hesi exam is a practice exam, intended on preparing nursing students to eventually take the NCLEX. Additionally, the HESI provides key insight into how well a student may do on the NCLEX. Why is it then, that the Hesi exam represented 20% of our grade for the Mental Health Class this semester? How is that fair? It is supposed to help us!! And it’s only putting pressure and stress on us.
At the beginning of the class the Syllabus stated that Hesi would be 10% of the grade, which we acknowledged and agreed to, then it was changed to 20% without even an explanation. Many of us have studied hard, been present in every class, done our work and gotten above 90 in every quiz, midterm and final exam, but we still passed with a very low grade because of the Hesi or in some cases didn’t pass the class. So you are telling us that, being in class every day and doing all of our work and studying hard for every test doesn’t count if we don’t pass the Hesi exam?
We would like the school to take a look at our grades and analyze how the 20% for the Hesi is affecting many of us. Next semester is going to be a very busy semester, many hours, and some of the most difficult classes, we feel that 20% of our grade depending on the Hesi is just too much and pedagogically wrong.
We hereby would like to officially request from the faculty to take a look at this issue and re-consider the percentage that the Hesi represents in our final grade. If this exam is supposed to help us prepare and to practice, then why is it such a determinant factor in our grades?
Don’t hesitate to contact us for additional information or concerns, we appreciate your assistance and support in this matter.
Your BSN students,