HESI Petition: Students of Duquesne University School of Nursing

As a second degree student at Duquesne who had to take the med surg HESI twice within a ten day period, I can tell you how unreliable of a test it is. I did pretty badly on the first attempt, only scoring about 700. The second one didn't count for anything so I didn't study any more (since we had just taken 4 HESIs in a row and I needed a break) and ended up scoring over 1000. That was just over a week later. The HESI can show you your strengths and weaknesses, so I am not overall against it, but something that is obviously extremely unreliable in testing overall knowledge should not be used to hold students back from graduating if they pass all their other course work. Also, the national average is around an 840, so to have a "passing" score of 925 or even 900 is ridiculous, in my opinion. I hope something can be done about this.

The HESI is unfair!!!!!! Plain and simple.

"I agree 100%. I had an 85% in my nursing class, but failed the HESI by one question. Now I have to repeat 1st semester because of it. The HESI test does not show what knowledge we have retained as students, because a majority of the questions do not pertain to what we have learned. Almost 1/4 of my class has to retake the first semester due to this, it's absolutely ridiculous. We do not get judged on how well we perform in clinical, or on our class work, only on how well we perform on the HESI.

I had the exact same thing happen to me when I was a student at Duquesne. I met with the Dean of the Nursing School as well as multiple professors and was told I would never pass this exam and graduate. Well I did. Am. NICU Nurse and am a Certified ECMO RN. If so many people are unable to pass HESI wouldn't this have something to do with the curriculum at Duquesne that isn't preparing them for the exam? Maybe some students have test anxiety? There is a lot of pressure on an exam that doesn't necessarily guarantee passing NCLEX.

I had a high grade in my nursing course and then took the hesi exit and got an 849 and had to repeag the whole course that I passed with flying colors. This does not show my intelligence or how well i will perform as a nurse. I retook the course and got a 1,111 on the hesi the next time, but repeating the course did not help me a bit. it just showed me how to answer questions... i wouldn't want a nurse taking care of me that passed nursing school because they knew how to answer questions...

The HESI is not a true representation of my competency of being a nurse. I am intelligent and know that I will be an amazing nurse; the HESI exam should not dictate that success.

The Hesi does not measure my knowledge of nursing nor shall it predict whether I pass the program when I maintain a GPA in the program of a 3.10. I fortunately passed the Hesi exam but felt no reward as it does not pertain to my skills or health sciences knowledge!

Read the handbook. There's nothing about a HESI score being a requirement for graduation.

The HESI should be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the student and school. It should not be used to determine graduation.

This is a totally inappropriate way to discern if nurses will be able to pass the NCLEX!!!

I wish you guys the best

As a recent RN graduate, I can appreciate the reasonable request the students have made. A passing score of 800 should be an adequate score for an exit exam.

I agree

Grad said it perfectly there. Nursing school may seem stressful, but the real world will eat you kids alive if you don't buck up. 4 years behind an institutions wall will never be able to prepare you for what's in the trenches.

Let the students graduate

Ammend this a little I will consider signing but not as is. Thank you. Not fair to us who study hard for hesi

Let the graduation happen. The future is in their hands.

I strongly support this petition. Rooting for everyone who is fighting for this injustice! Keep the faith and persevere until this results in change.

The National League for Nursing in their 2012 statement does not agree with using the HESI exam as a graduation requirement based on extensive peer reviewed scientific literature.This quote is directly from their organization: “There is no debate about the need to protect the public through standardized evaluation measures of nursing competence and there is a clear understanding that licensure exams are themselves high-stakes for students, faculty, and schools of nursing. It is the prevalent use of standardized tests to block graduation or in some other way deny eligibility to take the licensing exam that is most concerning to the NLN.” If you would like to look up excellent literature please google Dr. Darrell Spurlock who has written extensively on this topic. In addition, the HESI organization on their own website states that the exam should not be used as a criteria for graduation, but as a tool to identify weak areas of study and then provide remediation.

9 years ago Featured

I finished nursing school in the end of February with honor roll and have still not been able to pass the Hesi. The school will not give me my transcripts to test for nclex unless I get a 900. Last time I took it I got an 889.