I thought I would make this post because before I took my HESI I read A LOT (& I mean A LOT) of posts on here about other people's experiences, so I thought I would help somebody out with mine. one thing that I continuously read in everybody's posts that I 100% agree with was that the HESI is not an in-depth test! It's an overall test just to see if you're ready to go into the nursing field. What I I've learned that I can share with you is to not get stuck on trying to learn the details because that's where you are definitely going to go wrong on this test!
BTW , I PASSED !
Sidebar: I started writing this yesterday night but my brain was soo exhausted from the HESI & studying & everything that had anything to do with it that I fell asleep in the middle of making a title!
Anywho back to the nitty gritty , the nursing program that I applied to recommended that I study from the HESI Admission Assessment by Elveisor 2nd or 3rd edition , so I rented it, which may or may not been cheaper than actually buying the book , I'm not sure how much it costs. I highly recommend using other aides & study guides , do not stick to just the book ! I used four different websites , a lot of notes I had from previous classes , somebody suggested this channel on YouTube , etc etc.
Gosh , I hope I'm not rambling. . .
In my opinion , this book isn't really all that helpful , there's another book that I found out about the day before the test which a lot of people said was completely identical to the HESI ! This book isn't .
Because I don't want to make this post super long I'll get to the test and if you guys have any other questions feel free to leave a comment & I'll answer it!
My school required that I take every section EXCEPT Chemistry. You're able to choose which section you want to start with first , I started with the science sections first. I'll break down every section for you:
A&P: I took the science sections first because I knew those would be the hardest & I studied for those the most & they were fresh on my brain. I recommend having taken at least one A&P course within some point of your life before taking this. Luckily I had taken A&P so I was okay with this section definitely not great. Ill say about 10 things that I studied from the book was actually on the test. You definitely need to know the systems of the body & what are their functions. AGAIN , you don't need to get worked up over trying to learn the details , this is where you will go wrong! This is not an in-depth test! For example, learn what the digestive system does (which is pretty common sense), have a pretty good idea what organs are in this system but do not concern yourself with learning the whole process of how food goes in & what happens each step of the way! They will ask out of the park questions like "if a patient comes in & has broken his [insert some weird bone name here] which part of the body is the break in?". They'll ask easy questions like "where is the zygomatic bone located?"
Good thing about science is that if you have a broad understanding you can use your common sense to figure out the answers! Most of the bones/veins/arteries/muscles etc have the answer in their names .
Biology - this book is a little more helpful in the biology section because the test asks a lot about the basics. Every section in this book had at least one question on the test. I can't stretch this enough , AGAIN , you don't need to get worked up over trying to learn the details , this is where you will go wrong! This is not an in-depth test! I'm telling you , you'll thank me later. Yes , you should know the differences between binary fission, mitosis, & meiosis. Yes, you should know what Mitochondria & Chloroplasts are/do. Yes, you should know the stages of Cellular Respiration. But please don't concern yourself with learning all the layers of the dermis & what order they're layered in but have an idea of their names so you'll know them when you see them.
Math - Simple , Simple , SIMPLE . Watch out because there are a LOT of conversions on the test. So know the conversion table(volume). There are a lot of ratios & fractions also but they are super easy. Also, I had a lot of word problems but they were easy too! Example , "Barbara went to the store. She spent $48.79 at one store, $25.34 at another store, & $15.98 at the last store. She only had $100.00 , how much change did she have when she went home?"
Grammar - Simple stuff , don't even need to study for this!
Reading Comprehension - they ask simple questions , no need to study for this either! The passages are super short too.
Vocabulary and General Knowledge - simple stuff people , nothing but simple stuff. They asked me probably 10 words that were Medical Terminology but they weren't hard words. The rest were simple .
So there you go , I hope I helped . If you have any questions , feel free to ask & I'll answer them! Thanks for reading!
