July 2011 Nursing Board Exam Results July 2011 Nurse Licensure Examination Results

Tales of cheating cast doubt on nursing exams

By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer

Published on page A1 of the July 24, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

ONE EXAMINEE got all the “answers” to the test questions just hours after the conclusion of the controversial nursing licensure exams on June 12.

Lined up at an Italian fast-food restaurant in a Quezon City mall, he was shown a handwritten copy of the supposed “answers” to all the 500 questions.

Introducing himself as another examinee, the stranger, still wearing his white nursing uniform, confessed to getting the “leak” three days earlier from his school in Sampaloc, Manila.

“Which correct answers would you like to find out?” the stranger asked the dumbfounded examinee, leafing through his copy.

Another examinee was told that in Batangas province, a CD supposedly containing similar leakage was being sold for P7,000 each.

Of the the 42,006 nursing graduates who took the board exams, 17,821, or 42 percent, passed, according to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Shortly after the official results were released last week, a woman who took the exams stormed the PRC office.

She couldn’t believe how her seatmate, who didn’t show up on the second day of the exams, passed. The seatmate missed at least two of the five tests given during the two-day exam, she protested.

In a prominent nursing college in Manila, at least seven passers curiously got identical 75-percent ratings in each of the five tests. Statistically probable, but highly unlikely, their peers said.

But they also wondered: Could it be that scores had been manipulated on top of the reported leakage?

Stories of cheating -- big and small -- continue to cast a cloud of doubt over the June 2006 nursing board licensure exams.

It’s this nagging suspicion that might unfairly put to question the competence and future careers of successful examinees that makes graduates like Faye Antolin want to take the board exams again.

Clear the air

Antolin, 27, who placed 10th in the recent exams, was all but unaffected by the controversy.

“I worked hard for it, didn’t go to any review center, and fortunately passed,” she told the Inquirer on Saturday. “I’m just saddened that our efforts are somehow affected by the controversy.”

“If only to clear the air, I’m willing to take the exams again,” said Antolin, a graduate of the Dr. Carlos Lanting College in Quezon City, who also holds a legal management degree from the Ateneo de Manila University.

More serious

The leakage suggested that the cheating was much more serious than the PRC had officially found out, one examinee told the Inquirer.

Copies of questionnaires -- more so the list of the correct answers -- are never returned to examinees, the nursing graduate said.

It was also very unlikely that one examinee, under time pressure, would be able to copy all 500 questions and supply all the correct answers afterward, the graduate noted.

Unless one had indeed gotten the questions and answers before the exams.

Strong connections

The examinee with a copy of the alleged leakage told the other examinee that he had copied it from a document provided by his school, three days before the board exams.

The stranger also purportedly bragged that the owner of the school had strong “connections.”

Convinced that the reported leak wasn’t serious enough to affect the integrity of the test, the PRC earlier released the official results and scheduled the oath-taking ceremony for Aug. 22.

Haste

The University of Santo Tomas College of Nursing earlier criticized the “subsequent haste” with which the PRC had apparently released the results while the controversy remained unresolved.

“This action raises more doubts not only on the integrity of our licensure examination but also on the quality of our country’s nursing graduates,” it said in a statement. “More specifically, this action tarnishes the image of all the nursing graduates who took (it) this year.”

The school wants the oath-taking ceremony suspended until the issue is settled.

After registering an average annual passing rate of 95 percent among schools with more than 100 examinees, UST suddenly recorded 84 percent, purportedly the lowest in its history. A total of 373 UST nursing graduates took the exams in June.

But with two graduates in the top 10 successful examinees, Rene Tadle, president of the nursing faculty association, said the school still performed quite “decently.”

Protect integrity of test

“It’s not about one institution getting a lower passing rate,” he told the Inquirer. “It’s our responsibility as an institution to protect the integrity of the test.”

The school isn’t buying the PRC decision to remove only 20 questions from Test 3 while supposedly crediting only 10 items in Test 5 because of the leakage.

The PRC computation showed that scores in Tests 1 to 4 were averaged to cover the missing 90 percent in the last test, according to Zenaida Famorca, a nursing teacher since 1978.

Test 5, she explained, was not a minor matter because it dealt with Psychiatric Nursing. It supposedly tests an aspiring nurse on therapeutic communication techniques or on how to deal with different kinds of patients to assess their condition and gather pertinent data.

Appalled

Famorca was also appalled by a seemingly subjective question as told to her by one examinee. The item supposedly claimed that “economic” was the primary reason Filipino nurses were leaving for abroad. It purportedly asked about the second most common reason.

“How do you answer that kind of question when it calls for an examinee’s opinion?” she said.

Tens of thousands of Filipinos, including doctors, are taking up nursing because of the huge demand for nurses in rich countries like the United States and Britain.

Last year alone, about 100,000 people graduated from 470 nursing schools nationwide, which had mushroomed over the past few years.

FROM: http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=11409

Posted by sweet_periwinkle on Monday, July 24, 2006 at 10:26 AM | Permalink

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i passed the exam, pero hindi po ako satisfied sa decision ng PRC na inilabas nila ang results na hindi pa naman tapos ang imbestigasyon. i hope.. maging united yung mga hindi nakapasa at yung mga pumasa hu r willing to retake the exam for the benefit of the greater number of our fellow nurse students who were cheated ... i saw the leakage din coming from PCHS.. skul ni cordero...!!!

Posted by Anonymous | 3:18 PM

i passed the exam but i really do my best to pass. nag aral ako mabuti to pass the exam. so pano naman un mga nag aral talaga tulad ko? sana na lang investigate mabuti kung san talaga lumabas un leakage

Posted by Anonymous | 6:32 PM

my daughter is depressed because she failed. her forte is psychiatric nursing, one of the subjects or tests supposedly discredited. i wonder if the manner of computing test results was fair. she also said that some of the test questions were those for which there were no right or wrong answers, just opinions required. how were these graded...? now im just working on restoring her damaged spirit...

Posted by Anonymous | 7:39 PM

i agree^ my forte is psyche nursing also. it's unfair that they credited only 10% of the exam.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:49 PM

i studied like crazy for that exam and yet failed. i reviewed at pentagon review specialists, where they take pride in their psychiatric whiz, mr. jimenez. i was hoping psych would pull my average up, kaya lang 10 questions lang ang na credit. where's the justice in that? may binigay din silang "leakage", pero di naman lumabas. and for those who did get leakage, it's not their fault that a leakage came out, and definitely not our (those without leakage) fault. why punish the students. restore all test scores to be fair. i really needed the psych part.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:20 PM

I passed the borad exam and got a high rate in all the parts except the most difficult part....

If the stranger is telling the truth, then he/she should have reported the case to a higher authority, maybe to the nearest PNA office and show the copies of the alleged leakage. He should name his school as well so that an authorized body will investigate if such is true or not! D BA! Come on --- maybe this stranger failed……

really!!!! Maybe those selling the CD’s were just telling that the contents are exact board questions para magka-pera sila --- haller!!! Where are we --- in the Philippines, right??? And moreover, bakit ngayon lang xa? Maybe he/she failed the exam …. Anyways, PRC doesn’t mind about these tales naman eh kase, they are just FAIRY TALES and RUMORS!!! Okay, alright!!! --- as in there are no evidences or facts supporting such confessions --- present first “beyond reasonable doubt PROOFS” before u burst out ma’men!!!!

About the seatmate who missed 2 parts of the exam yet passed….hmmm, tsk, tsk, this is something and very impossible….. really!!! I strongly don’t believe this … How can this be? Those 2 parts will have ZERO grades and grades below 65 = failed! Or will be conditioned if he got a 75-average, pero in this case, failed na talaga…Ewan ko ba, naggugulo lang yata ang ‘woman’ na ‘to…She became very very very desperate ---- I’m telling you that this is not true --- if u want to be sure then call PRC Manila --- MANIGURO and WAG basta basta MANIWALA okay, alright!!! These individuals are still on their DENIAL stage kaya maraming fairy tales na nyagon na kumakalat…..

Will it be possible that 7 or let’s say 100 examinees will have identical ratings in all the parts? YES OF COURSE, even if these examinees know each other or best friends. This doesn’t mean that they have the same correct and incorrect answers! NOT UNLESS, they are all seatmates and copied each others answer, this surely is a different case…. Hello, THINK as PROFESSIONALS or GRADUATES naman! If ako ang PRC, I will get the names of the 7 examinees and show them their papers as proof, buti nga pumasa sila eh….what more do they want!!! They want a higher average? Hahahahahaha, they should have done their best in all parts instead, D BA…anyways, we are living in a free a country --- we all have the right for FREE SPEECH………

Faye Antolin is making “hamon” ha….let’s see… based on the highest average and national passing --- I think a retest is very impossible --- if meron man, shempre ung pumasa lang and magretest just like what happened to the past board exams in other fields with a leakge issue also – kaya ung mga bumagsak, don’t hope that all the 42,006 will take the re-exam! Okay, alright!!!

FYI, maraming school na may strong connection sa PRC noh! Shempre all of these schools likes to go sa top………

UP and SLU are silent now because they have high passing marks. Now, UST nanaman! Ano ba, d ba natatapos ‘toh! Nagiging personal na yata ‘toh ah, tsk tsk tsk…. The 2 cumlaudes of UST failed kase and they can’t accept that and moreover mababa and passing nila…. My oh my! Porke ba UST na eh dapat perfect, wow hanep.….Parang ngayon lang nangyari…. Last year nga sa June and December exam eh maraming bumagsak na cumlaudes… this happen to other fields also, may magna cumlaude pa nga eh bagsak sa first take…Heller, they are taking advantage of the leakage issue if I know…..Alam ko mahigpit ang screening ng UST pero d lng naman sila ang ganito… other schools do this also, like SLU……

To the mother of the depressed daughter, I’m so sorry for your daughter. But for your information, test 5 is very easy. It can be answered for just 30-45 minutes if quick enough to shade the test papers. It’s not that challenging because some of the situations were past board exams. It’s but right that PRC removed that part because as I said – it’s very easy, you can answer it even if you didn’t attend a formal review. And moreover, PRC said that a review center ( they didn’t name it) have almost 90% leak of part 5… it’s not gapuz, I saw the notes given to the gapuz reviewees and the questions which came out on part 5 are 4 situations only as in 20 points lang and kahit wala ung notes na ‘yon eh masasagot pa rin nila ung questions kase nga madali lang and gapuz taught them a technique to answer psyche questions na kahit balibaliktarin mo ung question eh makukuha mo pa rin ang sagot…

I said lots and my head is aching already… Anyways, thanks to pinoybsn for giving me this space to voice out my thoughts ……… Gud luck to all those who passed and do your best on your next move…. GOD BLESS to ALL….

Posted by Anonymous | 4:44 PM

Posted by Anonymous | 4:45 PM

napansin ko lang, ung mga nakapassed ng board ayaw aminin na may leakage. and yung mga failed, sinasabi may leakage tlga. best tlga retake nalang dba. bakit natatakot ang mga pumasa? kala ko ba nagaral kayo. so dapat retake para mawala lahat ng irregularities na yan.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:19 PM

hindi nmn lahat takot. and if ever there will be a retake, passers nalang ang mag reretake. c:

thats what happened to the recent board exams of other professions that also had issues like ours.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:46 PM