Hmm... well when I took the class at a CA Community College as well it was very crowded. They had even taught upwards of 50. They said they would no longer do that, if you wanted to be added in the class they would sign you in after 2 or 3 weeks, you had to have perfect attendance or don't even bother. I had perfect attendance and got signed in, didn't matter, by that first 2 weeks people had already dropped off.
A pregnant lady (very small and round, months along) came the first day, she dropped out and would try again next year. :/
One guy had a pregnant gf, she had the baby b/c he missed 2 nights towards the end which were ALL DAY LAB/SKILLS, I thought he was going to drop out but he didn't, and he passed!
We had 4 university students including myself, 1 dropped out, leaving us 3. We didn't even know each other and got close towards the end. It was hard but we all finished but one of the other 2 told me later she didn't pass the class (because of the final).
One person started working as a Medical Assistant in the middle of the semester and their grade plummeted. They also were getting a lot of lates because work ended at the same time class started, and 2 lates could equal an absence if you were late enough because the teacher was going exactly by the hours you completed. So they dropped out.
I think we need to have ~150 or ~156 hrs including lab and even if you miss 2 whole days you could get that exact amount of time in. As it got closer to the end... People in the 40s% 50s% and 60s% started to drop like flies because there was no way to pull up your grade. It was embarrassing to have the teacher call people outside for conference because you knew what was up. A hard head makes a soft behind, like my mom always said, and a lot of people the teacher "suggested they drop" continued on but didn't step their game up didn't study harder, only to get forcefully dropped at a grade cut off, or make it all the way to the end and not pass. What really got people messed up was being late b/c we would have pop quizzes and if you were late you would miss the quiz and get a 0. If you came late and the quiz was still on you would get the quiz but you wouldn't get extra time, so some people would stroll in, see a quiz, go get it from the teacher who would look like :/ :? o __O :/
Give them the quiz. When they sit down the teacher says: "You have 3 minutes left...."
Very sad there was this nice person was in the 54-55-56% range. Anyways, I studied with then, we would text with each other before the exams to refresh memory of topics. They started to sit with the A-B students. They worked their butt off to the high 60s and even broke 70s percentile. To pass the class you need to get at least 75% in the final exam. The exam was 200 questions. They got a 73% in the final! I was crushed I felt so bad for them! So close, but no cigar! I thought that was foul but then I realized that this is skills that are need to save someones life. Do you really want someone who got a C- or a C to be your medic? When you look at it in that perspective, then it all makes sense.
So we started with 45+ and ended with 27ish? And on the night of the final 24 passed the class in the end. The class was hard because there was a lot of information, and pop quizzes, you needed to do. Even missing 1 night could be disastrous if it was a lab skill day and a pop quiz. People dropped out because they were lazy, late, not fully committed, or had other life circumstances like work and babies to take care of. The people who passed either had perfect attendance or were perfect and saved the days or half days they missed for the times the really needed it (I had to catch a train one day, someone had a baby, etc.) Another thing is that people did not take book learning as serious, when most of the class and grade is based on the book!!!!
