Quebec nursing students protest licensing exam
Nursing students are frustrated over the quality of the English translation of Quebec's nurse licensing exam and some say that if the exam doesn't improve, they will leave the province.
They held a protest in front of the Quebec Order of Nurses' building Friday to demand a say in how to fix the situation.
Gabriela Mizrahi is a nurse who wrote her licensing exam last fall and when she opened the exam, she was shocked.
“There were questions that were very confusing. We have one here: ‘What is your most hypothesis?’ It doesn't make sense,” said Mizrahi.
Mizrahi says one third of her class failed, including some of the best students.
Many nursing students who didn't pass blame the poor English translation and are asking the Quebec Order of Nurses to fix the exam.
"It's heartbreaking. Some of these people are at McGill. We got these results while we were starting final exams,” said Mizrahi.
She says students who failed the exam will have to pay $600 to rewrite it in March.
The order is meeting with schools next month, however students say that's not enough — they want to be at the meeting too.
“Just bring us into the conversation. We are the ones who wrote the exam. We can give you first-hand feedback on what can be improved,” said Mizrahi.
Eric Belkin wrote his exam this fall and failed.
He says if things don't get better soon he'll study elsewhere.
“It’s unreal. And a lot of us are even trying to get out of Quebec right now and register with Ontario, and then come back to Quebec,” said Belkin.
The Quebec Order of Nurses says it takes student complaints seriously.
The order would not say if it would invite students to the meeting with teaching institutions next month.
