You have studied hard for an upcoming exam. Even, you feel confident that you understand your material and you are ready to see your perfect score when you submit your answers. By the way, what happens if you fail exam at Penn Foster? Of course, you are going to shock and disappointed. What do you do if you fail a Penn Foster exam?
What happens if you fail an exam?
Whether you are considering enrolling in a Penn Foster program, or you are currently working on a course, you might be very nervous about what happens if you fail an exam. Do you fail the whole class? Do you must start over? With the flexibility of a self-paced, online program, you are able to take the time you need to study and understand the material the first try, but things happen. Here is what you can do if you do not pass exam for the first time.
Penn Foster High School, Career School, and College – Multiple Choice Exams:
For each lesson which has a multiple choice exam, you have the option to retake that exam if you get less than a perfect score. Whether you think you are able to do better or you need to get a passing grade, you are going to have the option to go back to your notes, study guides and try again. Remember that your retake options have an expiration date. You should retake your exam within 30 days of the first time you took it. For note: You are only able to do one retake for each exam. Penn Foster will consider the higher grade the official grade on your transcript.
Penn Foster High School, Career School, and College – Written Assignments & Projects:
Some of your courses are going to have writing assignments or projects which will be submitted through the Student Portal. Those assignments are able to be returned without grading and with instructor feedback if your submission did not follow the guidelines.
Penn Foster College Proctored Exams:
Proctored exams are finals exam that the students have to take at the end of particular courses, or at the end of the semester in a college degree program. The rules for retakes on failed proctor exams differ, thus if you are worried you might not pass the exam, ensure to check in with your instructor through the Help Center on the Student Portal.
Before beating yourself up for failing a Penn Foster exam, here are some things that you should know about failure and what you can do about it.
Failure does not have to be a bad word.
When you think about the word failure, there is nothing positive which comes to mind. Immediately, it becomes a bad word, a word which makes you cringe and do everything in your power to avoid it. Of course, it is uncomfortable. It is very ugly. No one wants to fail. However failure is a part of being human and an important part of the learning process. When you do not pass your exam, or have a project returned to you as it needs to be redone, thinking of it as a failure immediately puts the opinion in your head that you are a failure, that is absolutely not the case! Thus, before doing anything else after failing, you have to take a deep breath and remember that failure does not have to be a bad thing.
Failing helps you learn
If you did everything perfectly on the first exam, what would you learn? Through failure, or mistakes, you are going to learn what not to do and can go back adjust your process for the next time. You may not have gotten something right on the first exam, however you have learned what not to do. That is a step in the right direction.
Your attitude will determine how you bounce back from failure.
You do not feel good after you have failed something or when you make a mistake, however your attitude about how you are going to deal with it will be able to impact how successful you are. If you fail and immediately decide to give up, you are not going to learn from the experience and you are not going to move forward. If you are able to think positively and push onward to retake the exam you failed, or learn from a mistake and try again, you will not only get it right, you will also prove to yourself that you can do it. That is not only trying to fake positivity till you make it a reality.
Penn Foster College Grading System
Degree and Undergraduate Certificate Programs
Penn Foster College utilizes a number-letter system of grading. The letter grade for each course is calculated by counting average of lesson examination grades as two thirds of the course grade, while the proctored examination grade as one-third. The letter grades are converted to quality points for computing the Quality Point Average (QPA) for each semester and the cumulative Quality Point Average for more than one semester. For note: The quality points range from 4.0 for an A grade to 0.0 for an F grade.
Your examinations and projects are going to be graded on the following scale:
| Lesson Grade (%) | Letter Equivalent | Rating | Quality Point Average |
| 90-100 | A | Excellent | 4.0 |
| 80-89 | B | Good | 3.0 |
| 70-79 | C | Average | 2.0 |
| Below 70 | F | Failing | 0.0 |
You have to pass all courses and get a cumulative Quality Point Average (QPA) of 2.0 or higher in all studies to graduate and get your associate or bachelor’s degree. For your information, Penn Foster College is licensed by the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education.
Career Diploma Programs
Your examinations and projects are going to be graded on the following scale:
| Lesson Grade (%) | Letter Equivalent | Rating |
| 90-100 | A | Excellent |
| 80-89 | B | Good |
| 70-79 | C | Average |
| 65-69 | D | Passing |
| Below 65 | F | Failing |
An overall program average of 65%, or above, is required to graduate and get your diploma or certificate. While an overall program average of 70%, or above, is required for the Pharmacy Technician Professional program.
