Failing or repeating an Ohio University clinical course

The School of Nursing's rules, in its own words

The Knowledge Center's Important Dates page sums up the grading policy from the Graduate Student Handbook. These are its sentences, quoted exactly:

• "withdrawing from a Nursing course will mean that the course must be repeated."
• "Any single course may only be repeated once."
• "A grade of WF (withdrawn failing) is considered a failed attempt at a course, so the student must retake the course and be successful to remain eligible to continue in the program."
• "A student is permitted to have a total of two failed attempts over the course of their program and remain eligible to continue. Upon a student's third failed attempt, they will be dismissed."
• "Retaking a graduate course does not remove the WP/WF on your academic record."

Read together, the two-attempt allowance covers your whole program, not each course. A student who stumbles in NRSE 6841 and later in NRSE 6842 has used both, and a third failed attempt anywhere ends the program. The full policy is in the handbook.

The catalog's "May not be retaken" line

The 2026-27 Graduate Catalog entry for each nurse practitioner, Emergency NP, Nurse Leader and DNP practicum, NRSE 6840 for example, carries the note "Repeat/Retake Information: May not be retaken." Taken literally, that clashes with the Knowledge Center's one-repeat rule. The Nurse Educator practicums, NRSE 7940 and NRSE 7941, are the exception: "May be repeated for a maximum of 8.0 hours."

The catalog's own academic policies hint at how the two might fit. They say that when a graduate student "must take a class again to achieve a sufficient grade," the earlier grade stays on the transcript and in the GPA, and that "Non-repeatable graduate courses will earn credit only once." On that reading, the practicum note limits earning credit twice rather than banning a second attempt after a failure. That is an interpretation, though, and Ohio University does not state it.

Plan around neither reading. Ask graduatenursing@ohio.edu for the handbook's grading policy, and if a repeat is coming, ask the School of Nursing in writing how the rule applies to your course.

If a practicum goes wrong mid-term

1. Speak up earlyTell your course faculty and your assigned clinical supervisor as soon as hours slip or feedback turns negative, not in the final weeks.
2. Know where week 10 fallsAfter 5PM Friday of week 10, withdrawal is closed except by petition; before it, a WF still counts as a failed attempt. Decide with both facts in view.
3. Ask about an IncompleteAn I needs your instructor's permission. Archived forms lists also show a Graduate Clinical Hour Completion/Extension form, so ask faculty whether it fits your situation.
4. Get the next term in writingIf the course has to be repeated, ask for your revised program of study so you know which term the repeat lands in.
5. Fix the causeIf the first attempt faltered because of the preceptor or the setting, secure a better fit for the repeat well before its clinical packet deadline. The behind on clinical hours page helps if hours were the problem.

Setting up the repeat to succeed

A repeat is a fresh start, and the preceptor is the piece you can change most. If the first attempt suffered because a preceptor left mid-term, the site did not match the course, or the weekly days never added up to 250 hours, a new placement can put each of those right.

That is where Ohio University students bring us in. Your placement advisor sources a preceptor and site suited to the repeated course, confirms the full hour commitment and weekly schedule for that term, and assembles the credentials, license and site details faculty review, so the repeat's packet goes in complete and early. Approval stays with Ohio University faculty. Should a preceptor step away mid-term, we reopen the search immediately; the preceptor dropped out page explains how. Tell us about your repeat in the form below.