Exam Tainted; Students Must Retake Final

All Saddleback College nursing students who planned to graduate this month must retake a final exam in an advanced course because the original test was “compromised,” officials said Thursday.

College officials stopped short of calling the incident cheating, but they refused to fully explain the problem until a meeting with students today. Vice President of Instruction Bill Andrews said through a spokeswoman that the situation raised questions about whether all 48 students had “equal access to information in preparing for exams and thus equal opportunity for success.”

Student Deborah Nicholson, who brought the issue to administrators’ attention, said that several students obtained a “study sheet” based on the transcript of a tape-recorded study session at the home of the professor giving the Advanced Nursing exam. The tape and transcript were made by a student and distributed to an undetermined number of others, she said.

Nicholson, one of two students who failed the exam and complained to administrators, said she learned of the study sheet after the exam when other students began bragging about their success on the test. One student, she said, told her “we knew we had an A before we went in.”

Nicholson said only the 12 students assigned to the professor’s “clinical group”--students are divided into four such groups for closer interaction with staff--were invited to the study session.

Although she did not want everybody in the class to have to retake the exam, Nicholson nevertheless said she “felt cheated. It wasn’t a fair opportunity.”

A source familiar with the situation said the professor did not provide answers to the exam but “did go over thought processes. She would ask, ‘In a clinical situation, what would you do about this or that.’ As people answered, she said go that direction or this direction. She went over the study guide and gave better direction on critical thinking.”

All the students in the class are seniors. Aside from delaying their graduation, the action has delayed for some students the issuance of interim state permits that allow them to work in hospitals and clinics under close supervision while they prepare for the national licensing board exam. Others already received permits because of their good grades before the exam but they cannot take the next step toward certification--the national boards--until they pass the final and graduate.

College officials did not know how many students have interim permits.

Some students were angered that they will have to endure the exam again.

“I did my homework; I did what I was supposed to,” said student Leslie Quiett, who has an interim permit and is waiting to take the boards. “I don’t think I should have to retake this final.”

The second test will be administered Wednesday. Susan Brank, a spokeswoman for the state Board of Registered Nursing, said interim permits will remain in effect pending the results of the second test. She said she believed all students holding interim permits had passed the May 19 test.

Those students who had applied for permits but had not yet received them do not need to resubmit paperwork, and their cases will be expedited once the school faxes the results of the test, Brank said.

Nicholson said she had no regrets over her complaint. Providing students with information not given to others, she said, is “not only unethical, it’s downright cheating.”