Behind on clinical hours near the end of an Olivet course
In an Olivet Nazarene University online course the end date does not bend: each week closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time on Sunday, and Olivet accepts nothing after Day 7 of the final week. If your logged hours trail the weeks already gone, two questions matter. How many hours per remaining week does it take to finish, and which of Olivet's tools applies if that number is out of reach?
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Olivet program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Olivet course.
Work out the pace you need
Divide the hours still owed by the full weeks left. The table sets an even eight-week pace beside the pace you would face with half the hours left and three weeks to go. Olivet runs its online courses in eight-week sessions and states that length for NRSG 620; it does not publish the length of each FNP clinical in weeks, so check your syllabus dates.
| Course | Hours | Even pace over 8 weeks | Half left, 3 weeks to go |
|---|---|---|---|
NRSG 636C Adult and Older Adult | 240 | 30 a week | 40 a week |
NRSG 637C Women's Health | 135 | About 17 a week | About 23 a week |
NRSG 638C Pediatric | 135 | About 17 a week | About 23 a week |
NRSG 639C Across the Lifespan | 240 | 30 a week | 40 a week |
NRSG 665A to NRSG 665F (current curriculum) | 120 to 125 each | About 16 a week | About 21 a week |
NRSG 620 NEL practicum | 120 | 15 a week | 20 a week |
NRSG 604 Population Health | 30 direct clinical | About 4 a week | 5 a week |
If the right-hand column already looks heavier than your preceptor's schedule allows, act this week rather than next.
Olivet's tools, and which course each one fits
Olivet gives different relief to different courses, and students lose days assuming one tool works everywhere.
- The X grade, for
NRSG 620. NEL practicum hours still open after eight weeks earn an X and eight more weeks. At 16 weeks the course turns non-passing and must be retaken, with tuition charged again. - An Incomplete, for graduate courses. The instructor grants it with Program Director approval, and it is reserved for serious illness or a late-course delay nobody could avoid. Ask no later than seven business days ahead of the final course day; it runs up to 60 days and then turns into an F.
- RN-BSN, new curriculum. Hours you miss are made up inside the course timeframe, and the grade reads Incomplete until every hour is finished.
- FNP clinicals. These are graded Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, with an 83% average on graded work and every hour documented as satisfactory. The handbook sets out no X grade for them.
The leave and delays page sets these beside leaves of absence and withdrawals.
The deadline hiding in week 7
Count seven business days back from the final day of an eight-week course and you land in week 7. If the course ends on a Sunday, count back the five weekdays of week 8 and then Friday and Thursday of week 7: the latest day to ask for an Incomplete is about Thursday of week 7. By the time the final week opens, that option has passed.
So the conversation with your course faculty belongs in week 5 or 6, while every option is still available. Bring numbers, not worries: hours logged, hours left, the schedule your preceptor can offer and your plan for closing the gap. Your faculty judge the outcomes and can ask your preceptor what they have seen, so a plan the two of you agree on carries weight.
Going silent is the worst choice. More than 29 days absent without contact means administrative withdrawal, which Olivet counts as a failure.
Ways to add hours before the course ends
The fix is nearly always more supervised time, found quickly and approved properly.
- More days with your current preceptor. Ask for extra shifts or longer clinic days in the weeks left, and record each encounter in Project Concert the same day rather than in a rush at the end.
- A second preceptor. Olivet's handbooks are silent on two preceptors sharing one course; check with the SON Clinical Coordinator before you arrange it. Any added preceptor needs Olivet's approval before those hours count.
- A busier site in the same population. A practice with more patients can give you more encounters per shift, provided Olivet has approved the preceptor and you have finished that site's onboarding.
- Clear the calendar. RN shifts, travel and family commitments compete with clinical days; move what you can out of the final weeks.
What missing the hours can cost
A failed FNP population-focused course, clinical or didactic, is retaken in full and its paired course is audited. The audit can require repeating up to half of that course's clinical hours, as directed by the FNP Program Director working with the SON Clinical Coordinator, and it needs 83% as well. A gap of over a year before you come back to it can turn that audit into a full retake.
The limits compound. Olivet's MSN lets a student repeat at most two different NRSG courses, once each, and a cumulative 3.0 GPA is needed to stay in the program and to graduate. Failures include an F or a U, and also an administrative withdrawal or withdrawing while failing. Full rules are on grades and progression, and delayed graduation shows what a repeated course does to your finish date.
Why Olivet students who fall behind choose us
When the gap is real, what you need is supervised time with an approved preceptor, found fast. We look for preceptors in your area with room in their calendar for the weeks you have left and a practice that fits the course population, and we prepare everything Olivet's approval asks for so the review can start at once.
We also plan past the current course so the pace problem does not repeat: the next clinical's preceptor lined up and approved before that course opens, with compliance renewals and the drug screen window on the calendar. Olivet decides on every preceptor, and we see to it that what lands on Olivet's desk is complete and within its rules the first time it is read. If your preceptor has left rather than slowed down, see preceptor dropped out.
Questions Olivet students ask
Can I log clinical hours after an Olivet course ends?
Not as ordinary course work. Olivet's MSN handbook puts clinical and practicum assignments due by 11:59 p.m. CST on the last course day and accepts no work after Day 7 of the final week. Extra time comes only through a granted Incomplete or, for NRSG 620, the X grade.
Can FNP students get the eight extra weeks NEL students get?
Olivet's handbook writes the X grade and its eight extra weeks for NRSG 620, the NEL practicum. For FNP clinicals the published route is an Incomplete, granted for serious illness or an unavoidable delay near the end, with sign-off from the instructor and Program Director. Ask your faculty early rather than assuming either one applies.
How many hours a week should I log in a 240-hour clinical?
Spread evenly over eight weeks, 240 hours comes to 30 a week. Olivet does not publish the week length of each FNP clinical, so work from your syllabus dates. Logging more in the early weeks leaves room if a preceptor cancels a day or your RN schedule shifts late in the course.
I'm behind in NRSG 604. Does the same X grade apply?
Olivet's handbook describes the X grade only for NRSG 620. NRSG 604 Population Health carries 30 direct clinical hours and needs a B- or better, so the shortfall is usually a handful of days with your preceptor. Close it as soon as you see it slipping, and talk to your faculty if you cannot.
Will falling behind affect my next clinical course?
It can. The FNP clinicals run in a fixed sequence, each tied to a didactic course, so an Incomplete or a retake shifts everything after it. Lining up the next preceptor now keeps one late course from turning into two, and keeps your compliance dates matched to the real schedule.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Olivet's own handbooks, program pages, fee sheet and licensure disclosures. Your handbook version, your Canvas clinical requirements course, your faculty and the SON Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Olivet asks you to start with your own network. We make the search the easy part of your program.
Tell us your Olivet track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, inside Olivet's approved states, and prepare everything Olivet's approval and the site's onboarding need.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adults and older adults for
NRSG 636C, women's health forNRSG 637C, children forNRSG 638C, education and leadership forNRSG 620 - Credentials, license and site details ready before your clinical course opens, with the drug screen timing on your calendar
- In your own community, in Illinois or any state Olivet approves for your clinicals
Start your placement plan
Track, city and start date is all we need to begin.