Almost half of nursing students failed the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) final exam last September. Distraught future nurses struggle to understand what happened.
Posted at 4:34 pm
“I studied 40 hours a week all summer. I failed the exam with 51%. My friends also failed at 52%, 53% or 54%. However, we girls did well in their DEC. I’m working on my baccalaureate and I also have very good grades,” Amelie drops Joll over the phone. 55% pass in exam.
The OIIQ on Friday revealed that the pass rate for first-time candidates in the September exam was 51.4%. On an average, over the past four years, the success rate has been over 82%.
Photo provided by Amelie Zoll
Amelie Joll
A young woman who had her college education at Segep de Sherbrooke, currently working at CHSLD and studying for a bachelor’s degree at the University of Sherbrooke, is inexplicable. “I was really wondering why the test was so difficult,” she said.
Pandemic pointed out
Chantal Lemay, director of admissions and registrarship at OIIQ, attributed the drop to the pandemic. “The group that sat for that exam did most of their studying during the pandemic,” she said, adding that students had to juggle the effects on online classes and their internships.
The exam consists of 134 multiple-choice questions and lasts throughout the day. Mme Lemay believes the September test is designed similarly to the past few years.
Photo courtesy of Jean Plourde
Jean Plourde
Jean Plourde failed the exam for the second time. She scored 54%, 1 point short of the pass mark. “When I saw the result, I was shaking and I started crying. My roommates were trying to comfort me. I double checked that this is really my result. “I have never cried so much,” she said.
She bemoaned the fact that students’ clinical judgment was judged by their choice of answers. “We’re in a room for seven hours, ticking off answer choices that don’t fit our work environment,” she says.
Students who do not get a passing grade in the professional exam can re-write in March. Candidates can take the exam maximum three times. If they fail, they may have to divert themselves to another profession or start their studies all over again.
A petition was circulated on social networks on Friday to lower the pass mark to 50%. “What we teach in school is not like an examination system. I believe it is important to fine-tune the way we teach and the nursing college exams,” wrote petition organizer Joel Girard. By the end of the day, the petition had gathered more than 3,000 signatures.
