Standardized Testing Policy (BNP)

Purpose

To outline standardized testing requirements in the baccalaureate nursing program curriculum for individuals enrolled in the prelicensure baccalaureate nursing program.

Requirements

Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) examinations are nationally standardized examinations that are content-specific and based on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Testing Blueprint. HESI’s online exams test students on their skills in clinical application and critical thinking which are cornerstones of BSN student preparation. HESI provides institutional and student diagnostic reports that include an item-by-item topic comparison between Morehead State University’s BSN group’s percentage answered correctly and the national group norm answered correctly. Additionally, HESI provides an individualized detailed remediation plan for the students regarding their specific areas of weakness.

HESI exams are used throughout the curriculum within MSU’s BNP from admission through the capstone course. The rationale for utilizing the HESI series of examinations is to prepare the student for eventual NCLEX-RN ("Boards") success. The individual exams offered throughout the curriculum are provided as stepping stones which culminate in taking the HESI Exit Exam, which is a course requirement in the NURB 499C Advanced Nursing Practicum capstone course. Therefore, preparation, completion, and remediation as indicated on all of the HESI exams, are essential elements throughout the curriculum, and are performed in order to prepare the student for success.

Specifically, HESI exams are utilized in the following courses: NURB 262 Foundational Skills for Professional Nursing, NURB 264 Family Health Nursing, NURB 320 Care of Older Adults, NURB 322 Mental Health Nursing, NURB 324 Acute Alterations in Adult Health I, NURB 420 Acute Alterations in Adult Health II, NURB 422 Chronic Alterations in Health, NURB 461 Nursing Leadership, NURB 498 Nursing Senior Seminar, and NURB 499C Advanced Nursing Practicum.

Use of Standardized Testing Across the Baccalaureate Nursing Program Curriculum

In regard to remediation, following the completion of any HESI standardized examination, students who have not successfully met the course guidelines for the exam are required to be accountable for their remediation by accessing their individual HESI remediation plan via the Evolve website within two weeks of the availability of the exam score. Within two weeks of the beginning of the following semester, students are required to contact and schedule a remediation meeting with the course leader/designee of the course, in which the HESI was housed. A proposed remediation plan of action, based upon the students’ individual, identified deficiencies of the specific HESI exam should be completed prior to attendance at the remediation meeting. Failure to schedule a meeting or complete a plan of remediation may negatively impact the students’ success in courses throughout the BNP curriculum, success on the HESI course requirement housed within NURB 499C in the final semester of the BNP, as well as success on the NCLEX-RN (licensure exam).

In regard to scoring of the HESI examination, the scores range from 0 to over 1,000, and can be as high as 1,500 (depending on the difficulty level of the exam). An acceptable level of performance is 850. However, the recommended level of performance is 900 and above for all scores provided. Each school is responsible for establishing their specific standards related to outcome measures of acceptable scores. Many schools choose a certain overall score as a benchmark for progression, and such benchmarks are set at the discretion of the school’s faculty and administrators. However, when preparing for the NCLEX®, it is recommended that students seriously remediate any subject area category in which they obtained a score of less than 850. All test items are weighted according to their difficulty level. Each individual student score reflects application of the HESI Predictability Model (HPM) to the overall score and each subject area score. Research studies have found the HPM to be highly accurate in predicting NCLEX® success. The conversion score is a weighted percentage score that considers the average difficulty of the exam and the average difficulty of the test items answered. The HESI score is a better predictor of NCLEX® success than the conversion score because it reflects application of the HPM in its calculation, whereas the conversion score does not.

Note: Policy Subject to Change

6/26/12/BNP Faculty