Nursing Program Exam Policy

(rev. Nov. 2019)

Grading

Nursing faculty will outline the evaluation methods for each Nursing Program course in the syllabus. The grading criteria outlined in the course syllabus is used by faculty to determine final grades for each course.

Students must achieve a "C" or better in each class in order to remain in the program. The minimum passing grade for the Nursing Program is 75%. Students who receive a failing grade for any course will meet with course faculty to develop a remediation plan for potential readmission.

Letter grades will be derived from a calculation out to two decimal places to the hundredths; however, there will be no rounding up of scores. (Although rounding is a mathematical principle, the Nursing Program faculty believe there must be a minimum standard, based on the fact that in the nursing profession there are also minimum standards.)

Course faculty will not calculate a cumulative course grade for students at any point during the semester. Following the final exam item analysis, the final course grade will be available via the Canvas platform.

Grading Scale

A: 100.00–90.00 | B: 89.99–80.00 | C: 79.99–75.00 | D: 74.99–65.00 | F: 64.99–00.00

Exams

All Nursing Program courses have faculty-generated unit and final exams. At the completion of the Nursing Program, during NURS 274, students are required to take a "completion of Nursing Program" publisher-produced exam. Instructions will be provided to students during NURS 274.

For All Nursing Program Exams

Prior to the exams, students are encouraged as needed to seek clarification of the concepts from faculty, Nursing Program tutors and peers. Students are allowed 1.5 minutes per question.

For All Nursing Program Courses

Students are expected to demonstrate honesty and integrity and are not to utilize textbooks, notecards or personal assistance during the exam process.

  • Prior to on-campus exams: Cell phones are to be turned off or silenced. All books, coats, backpacks and other belongings will be placed at the front or sides of the classroom. No hats or sunglasses are allowed. No smart watches are to be worn during exams.
  • During on-campus exams: Students may not have any textbooks, notebooks, food or beverages on the desk at any time. Only issued calculators, scratch paper and pencils are permitted. Bottled water without a label is allowed. Students may not leave exams in progress for any reason unless accompanied by a proctor. 
  • Quizzes and exams will be administered online unless otherwise specified by faculty. At course faculty discretion, quizzes and exams may be administered in a proctored learning environment.
  • Students taking quizzes and exams online are required to work independently without the use of textbooks, notebooks, or audio, visual, or written input from others. Only the student enrolled in the course must take all exams and quizzes. Work submitted online must be work completed by the student only. Students should not be taking quizzes or exams with a partner.
  • Quizzes and exams that are given online will have date and time limitations for when the exam will be available. Exams will automatically be submitted at the end of the time limit indicated, whether or not the student has answered every question. Any student who fails to take the quiz or exam during the time frame allotted will receive a grade of zero for that assessment. Specific information will be outlined in course instructions.
  • Each quiz or exam may be submitted one time only. No re-take of any exam or portion of an exam is allowed.
  • If it is determined that the student has been dishonest, a grade of "F" will be issued for the course and the student will be withdrawn from the Nursing Program.
  • If a student misses a unit exam: The weighted percentage of the exam missed will be added to the comprehensive final exam percentage. For example if the missed exam is worth 20% of the grade and the final exam is 30%, the final exam weight would be 50%. 

"Select All That Apply" Questions

"Select All That Apply" questions are utilized on all Nursing Program exams. No partial credit is awarded for a partial answer. The student must have answered all of the correct options to receive credit for the question.

ADA Accommodations

Any student requiring ADA accommodation must provide documentation from the Disability Resource Center during the first two weeks of the semester. In the event that a student requires accommodations later in the semester, the faculty must be notified at least one week prior to an exam &/or quiz in order to arrange accommodation. Documentation received on the day of an exam or quiz will be not accepted. Documentation must be delivered to each theory course faculty via the online course platform or delivered to the theory course faculty TMCC mailbox as directed by faculty. Students are referred to the TMCC Disability Resource Center for more information. Students receiving ADA accommodation for the administration of exams will receive instructions from the course faculty as to the time and location of the exam. Students will not be able to ask questions to the course faculty during the entire exam period.

Extra Credit

No extra credit will be provided for students to raise their grade in Nursing Program courses.

Tardiness

If a student is late, he/she will only be allowed the allotted time remaining to complete the exam. Time limits for online exams will be enforced. Students who begin an online exam after the exam has started will only be allowed the allotted time to complete the exam, which will be automatically submitted when the time expires. Each exam may only be submitted one time only.

Threats of Violence

Any threat of violence directed toward any faculty, student, staff or administration (as outlined in the NSHE Code, Section 6.2.2), will be reported to TMCC Police Department.

Final Examination Rules

Absences

Students must notify all the course faculty of any absence prior to the start of the exam following instructions provided in the syllabus for contacting faculty.

  • Excused Absence: Absence from a final exam may be excused only for such reasons as a family death, court mandated appearance and personal illness (requiring HCP documentation). 
    Any absence must have appropriate documentation in order to be excused. All course faculty will make the determination of whether an absence is excused, if it meets the above criteria.
  • Unexcused Absence: No make-up exam will be scheduled for the final exam.
  • Make-Up Exams for Excused Absences Only: Faculty will determine the time of any make-up final exam. No matter the score achieved, a maximum of 75% will be recorded for any make-up exam, but there is no minimum. Students who receive a score of less than 75% will have that score used to calculate the final grade.

Computer Testing

  • At the discretion of the faculty teaching the theory class, that faculty will decide whether students will be able to go back and review previous questions.
  • Students will see only one question at a time.
  • Exams will automatically be submitted at the end of the time limit indicated, whether or not the student has answered every question.
  • Faculty teaching the theory course will determine whether students will be able to review the correct answers after the exam is completed.
  • Faculty teaching the theory course will determine if rationales will be given immediately after the exam for the questions that were missed by the student. This will occur after the exam has been submitted during the exam review by the student. If course faculty chooses to not allow students to view rationales immediately after submission of exam, then that faculty will determine when students can review rationales for questions missed.
  • The student is required to leave the room once the answer review has been completed, or if there is no review, then immediately after submission of exam.
  • Once a thorough item analysis is completed by the course faculty, the exam results will be posted to the related Canvas course site.
  • Specific information will be outlined in course instructions.

Group Exam Reviews

Nurses reading

A group exam review may be held on a date determined by course faculty. During the review, faculty selected questions will be presented for better student understanding. This group exam review will be the only opportunity to review exam questions. Students will not be allowed to review their exam booklet.

During exam reviews, students are not to have any materials on their desk including textbooks, papers, writing utensils, cell phones, laptops, recording devices or any other items to be determined by faculty. All exam reviews will be conducted in a professional and orderly manner in a controlled environment.

Respect and courtesy are to be demonstrated by both students and faculty. Failure to conduct oneself in a professional and courteous manner will result in the discontinuation of the exam review.

Exam Results

Exam results and the cumulative course grade will be posted on Canvas. The final exam results for each course will not be posted until all related nursing final exams are completed.

Students receiving below a 75% on an exam are encouraged to review course concepts individually and to also contact the Maxine S. Jacobs Nursing Program Tutor Coordinator for available tutoring options. Students are also encouraged to utilize the Elsevier site for remediation. If still needing guidance, contact faculty responsible for teaching the specific concept to request an appointment during their scheduled office hours. It is the student's responsibility to meet with course faculty within 5 academic days of distribution of exam results to the students.

Students who receive a failing grade for the course will receive an email indicating an assigned appointment time to meet with faculty to develop a remediation plan and discuss readmission options.

 

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