HESI Exam Overview

Those pursuing the nursing field will see the Health Education Systems, Inc. exams (HESI) on a regular basis. Many nursing schools require that the applicant take the HESI Academic Assessment (A2) Exam as part of the application process. Nursing schools use the A2 Exam to assess their applicants. There are eight different academic exam subjects, and each school chooses which subjects appear on its A2 Exam:

• Reading Comprehension
• Vocabulary and General Knowledge
• Grammar
• Basic Math Skills
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Anatomy and Physiology
• Physics (Radiology degrees only)

These eight subjects are general comprehension and place very little emphasis on nursing terms and procedures.

The student learning profile appears uniquely on the HESI. The school may choose to include one or both of the Personality Style and Learning Style sets on its exam. While there is no numerical grade for answers, the results provide both the school and the applicants with a personality and learning profile. This means that the nursing school will have documentation on each applicant’s learning style. Professors may then tailor classes and meetings to suit the students’ learning needs.

Individual scores are provided upon completion of the exam. One helpful aspect of the A2 Exam is that Evolve, the company facilitating the exams, offers remediation to the students. The applicants receive custom-made materials outlining their incorrect answers. This way, the applicant sees his/ her shortcomings and can immediately begin working on his/ her weakest subjects. Because immediate remediation is provided, most schools offer applicants a second chance to improve their A2 Exam scores.

Because the HESI Exam may be custom-made to meet a school’s needs, each nursing school will have its own test set. This means that most schools require the applicant to take its specific A2 Exam. Thus time limits, number of questions, and prices for the exam differ between nursing schools. Passing scores will be different at each school as well. There is also no set limit on how many times an applicant may take the A2 Exam because the school will set its own maximum limit.

A nursing school may choose to proctor the HESI in one of three ways: online on an applicant’s personal computer, through the school’s computer network, or at one of Prometric’s 300 testing centers.

To register for the A2 Exam, you will need to research how the school chooses to proctor the exam. Some schools may require you to register with them while others will want require to register with Evolve at Evolve.Elsevier.com. Your Evolve account will also hold all your remediation materials and test scores.