“Make-up” Examinations

Abstract

Background: Nursing faculty may have concerns about unfair advantages and inflated examination grades when students take an examination late. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare make-up examination scores with on-time examination scores to determine whether scores were higher in students who took an examination late. Methods: A descriptive, comparative study using retrospective examination scores from a large nursing program was analyzed. Late examination scores were compared with the student's individual on-time examination average and the class's average of on-time examination scores. Results: A total of 156 examinations were taken late. There were no statistically significant differences between students' late examination scores when compared with the student's on-time examinations or the class average of the examination. Conclusion: Students do not appear to gain an advantage when taking an examination late. Findings may assist faculty in developing policies for taking make-up examinations.