Gateway LPN Fast Track

Marlene39 · Nov 26, 2011

ok, good lord so i am in the lpn gateway fast track. graduating dec 15 =] my hesi pn is dec 6...ok now they want 850 for block 3. i have yet to fully start my studying, i whipped out all my notes, nclex stuff, cna stuff yada yada. but now my mind is in a brain freeze. i still am in peds, finished clinicals...i dont know where to start for my hesi pn. I REALLLY WANNA GET INTO BLOCK 3 SOMEHOW. talked to a advisor the other week at pvcc, she told me theres no wait list u have to sell yourself and get good hesi scores and all. ugh! right now in block 2 im getting a 92.4 lol block 3 i got a 83 i think? lol can someone pls tell me how the hesi pn is and any advice on where to study and all? i only have 2 weeks to do so and im stressing haha. any advice is grand. im sure ill be ok but again i dont want to wait im sure ima have to but I really want a 950 or higher! =]

You are doing fine, just relax. I was about where you are last May so I know how you feel. The HESI was kind of weird, but it wasn't that hard. The areas I struggled with were areas I didn't have much experience with in clinicals like tube feeding and IM injections. Just do as many NCLEX questions as you can to prepare. I used the Saunders book that came from the book box and also the Prentice Hall and Lippincott books. I just did about 300 questions a day for the two weeks preceeding the test and got a 1122 on the HESI. I don't think my score had anything to do with getting into block 3 however since my HESi score was high and I got an A in Block 2 (all while working fulltime with a basketball team of kids at home). There were NO slots at Gateway for our Spring graduating students so no one got in, we all went elsewhere including the students who barely passed the HESI. I think one person got a slot in the Banner Fellowship program, but that's it. I'm sure those students who didn't get into block 3 somewhere else will fill up the only slots in January at Gateway (if there are any). They told us a lot of falsehoods in the LPN program when it came to how many points you needed on your HESI to be placed in Block 3 at Gateway. Don't believe it - if there are no slots it doesn't matter what your score is and the people still waiting from last semster will be the ones who get in). Do your best and then hope that some college out there somewhere has a space for you. If PV has space, I'm sure they will take you as long as you pass your HESI. I called numerous times, sent emails and did my best to get placed in the colleges of my choice and never got answers from any of them. CGCC called me and I jumped at the offer. About 10 of my fellow LPN students got in there as well. We just got lucky because they had about 19 people fail block 2 there the previous semester which opened up slots for us.

Don't get wrapped up in your score equaling Block 3 placement. Just try to get a good score so you will get the full 15 points and have a better chance of keeping that A for the semester. An A in nursing school is a huge acheivement and you should be very proud. A B is a huge acheivement... actually passing is a huge acheivement!! :clown:

pinklady8888 · Nov 26, 2011

thank you for the info. i just feel like i lost alot of details already from block 1 and they said cna stuff is on it and yada yada, is it the same type of testing as the normal tests we have?

Marlene39 · Nov 26, 2011

thank you for the info. i just feel like i lost alot of details already from block 1 and they said cna stuff is on it and yada yada, is it the same type of testing as the normal tests we have?

I actually don't remember any strictly CNA questions. There may have been one about enemas, but the test changes for every class. The questions were all NCLEX style questions with a few select all that apply and some that were alternative style questions like having to pinpoint on the body where something was. You might look at the alternative questions from the Saunders CD-ROM just to get a feel for how they are. The great thing about studying for the HESI is that if you take the NCLEX right away you won't have to study again for that. I had about 3 weeks in between the two tests and didn't open a book for the NCLEX and passed with the minimum number of questions. Oh, and by studying for the HESI you will know everything for the final as well. The final was a little bit hard, but doable. I didn't study specifically for the final at all, just did NCLEX questions in general. If you did okay on the tests for the semester you will do fine on the final. The teachers are pretty fair in that regard. Peds is my worst subject by far (this semester too) and I still got an A on the final. Oh, study up on HIV. It seemed to show up on every test I took that last week and on the NCLEX.

Good luck!!

miteacher, ADN, MSN · Dec 1, 2011

How many questions did most people miss on the final? The final will be 75 questions, and I'm nervous. There is so much information to review, and I'm not sure how to cover all of the information. I can miss 45 points, and we have 120 points left in the class.

Marlene39 · Dec 1, 2011

How many questions did most people miss on the final? The final will be 75 questions, and I'm nervous. There is so much information to review, and I'm not sure how to cover all of the information. I can miss 45 points, and we have 120 points left in the class.

I think you are pretty safe with a 45 point safety zone. A lot of people went into the final with only 2 or 3 points they could miss. Some passed, some didn't. It was very much like all the tests you have the whole semester. I think you are home free, just study like you've already done and you will do fine.

Good luck!

pinklady8888 · Dec 5, 2011

anyone recently taken the hesi pn exit and have any advice? im just doing bunch of nclex questions and my test is on tuesday and i need a 850 for bridging...how many questions are there and what is a "850" is that like a B? or?

pinklady8888 · Dec 7, 2011

just took the hesi exit...got a 774 1st try...let me tell you it is NOTHING like the nclex. I did over 1000 nclex questions a DAY and breezed through them...and i was beyond nervous going into the test and Its completely different than nclex. its more critical thinking and i kept second guessing the right answer..if i didnt over analyze i would of prob got well over 900.. sucks =/. now i have my peds test tom, final on tues and grad thurs. god. doess anyone know how long the wait is to retake the hesi in gateway?

miteacher, ADN, MSN · Dec 8, 2011

How is block 2 different than block 1? What did you think about the block 2 instructors? Do you have to retake the hesi to get into block 3 or do you just go into block 2? Did most of the students get over 850?

pinklady8888 · Dec 9, 2011

block 2 is med surg and ob and peds. med surg was a breeze and i loved the teacher, very structured and organized and stuck with the same concept on each system. ob was eh, teacher was more into "i believe in teaching every differnet style" so her style was all over the place..go straight from the FON book and study the tables for ob. now peds....peds was a terror. just took my ped test today got a 90 but the teacher is soooooooo annoying. she canceled bth lectures and we pretty much taaught ourselves it. and the test got combined to 1 big ped test so that was very nerve wrecking. but thank the lord it was super easy. now hesi, hesi sucks. idk i was told you can retake it for block 3 1 time if you were in the lpn class then if you fail u got to wait 6 months to take it a 3rd time...kinda sucks so ima just wait till i grad next thurs take the nclex prep course then retake the hesi. hmm i think about 45 percent of the class passed. and there is a 1 yr wait list for block 3 apparently who knows..

miteacher, ADN, MSN · Dec 9, 2011

block 2 is med surg and ob and peds. med surg was a breeze and i loved the teacher, very structured and organized and stuck with the same concept on each system. ob was eh, teacher was more into "i believe in teaching every differnet style" so her style was all over the place..go straight from the FON book and study the tables for ob. now peds....peds was a terror. just took my ped test today got a 90 but the teacher is soooooooo annoying. she canceled bth lectures and we pretty much taaught ourselves it. and the test got combined to 1 big ped test so that was very nerve wrecking. but thank the lord it was super easy. now hesi, hesi sucks. idk i was told you can retake it for block 3 1 time if you were in the lpn class then if you fail u got to wait 6 months to take it a 3rd time...kinda sucks so ima just wait till i grad next thurs take the nclex prep course then retake the hesi. hmm i think about 45 percent of the class passed. and there is a 1 yr wait list for block 3 apparently who knows..

1 year! They are telling us that most students get in right away, or wait 1 semester at the most. Also, is it okay to send you a message to see what instructor you had? did you think the 104 class was helpful in block 2?

We switched instructors during the last few weeks of the semester. The instructor we had normally teaches block 2, and she is very organized. I have heard bad things about the instructor who teaches peds and ob. Wow, that's crazy only 45% of the class passed the hesi test.

TinkRN8 · Dec 10, 2011

There is a HESI PN study guide, by Elsevier that i used for my exit HESI. it has a disk with practice questions. I did the questions on the disk several times, plus hundreds of NCLEX questions. Did very well on HESI. In regards to block 3. When I graduated in May 2010, Gateway told our class there would be absolutely no spots available until January (2010), and then only maybe a few of us would get in based on HESI scores. I didn't want to wait, so i turned in my application and then started calling and emailing all the colleges: scottsdale, MCC, PVCC, PCC, CGCC, etc. I just kept emailing and calling, even when they told me no spots available. When time came for selections, I actually got a call from Gateway, Phx, and CGCC within a 24 hr period. I ended up selecting CGCC because of clinical sites and distance from where I lived. So, don't let them tell you 1 yr wait. If you are proactive and work at making contacts, you will get in right away. Just be persistent. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know in my case they did look at my HESI score. In fact, I had to submit that with my paperwork for block 3.

I have since graduated with my RN (May 2011) and now working on a PCU. So all you students don't give up, it can be done!

Good luck to all!

vega03 · Jan 9, 2012

i am going into block 3 (got bridged over, yay!).

i have orientation thursday for the rn program.

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