First time HESI taker experience

Nursing Students HESI

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Hi!

I took my first attempt at the HESI exam today with ProctorU and wanted to share some tips with future test takers. I have been out of college for 2 years, and was only able to study for 2 days because my advisor wanted me to schedule the exam ASAP. So, naturally, I was extremely nervous and not feeling confident at all. My school required 7 sections (Reading, Vocab, Grammar, Anatomy, Biology, Chemistry, and Math). I used the HESI Admission Assessment Exam Review fourth edition book, as well as pocket app to study from.

First of all, let me start off with my experience with ProctorU. HORRIBLE. Just horrible. On their site, they have MacBook listed as one of the devices you can use to take exams. I ran all the tests they have to make sure that everything works fine a day before the exam. I was scheduled to take my exam at 1:50pm, and right at the beginning something went wrong with the camera. I had to call ProctorU and they helped me fix that issue. Then I go back to start the exam, and it wouldn't let me in. I thought it was because I was 30 min late because of the camera issue, so I called them again. This time they say that I would need to use a different computer. I'm glad I had another computer to use at the time, but what if I didn't? Anyway, after all those glitches, I was finally able to start the exam a whole 1 and 30 minutes late. They still gave me the full 5 hours to take the exam, but I completed it in 3 hours.

I started off with reading, and honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought. The passages aren't as long as the ones in some of these practice exams. There were a lot of questions that had the answer in the passage, you just have to read carefully. Go through each answer choice, and eliminate the ones that are definitely not the right answer. I scored a 94% in reading.

If you study from the HAER book and pocket app, you will be fully prepared for the grammar and vocabulary portion of the exam. I scored a 98% in grammar and 86% in vocabulary. Seriously, focus on the HAER book for this part because everything you need to know is right there.

For biology, Chemistry, and anatomy, I will say the HAER book and pocket app did not help me. I scored a 76% in biology, 56% in Chemistry (yikes, I know), and 76% in anatomy. I haven't taken these science classes in years now, so whatever score I got is thanks to HAER book and pocket app, but I feel like there might be better resources for these sections.

Math is seriously so basic, which is not necessarily a good thing. For this section, you really need to know fractions, ratios, and metric conversions. There were just a few simple subtract this from that, and add this to that type questions. I honestly could not remember how to add fractions, so I converted them to improper fractions and then turned them into decimals. I scored a 94% in math.

My composite score was 83%. I wasn't expecting to get higher than a 70%, only because I haven't been in college for 2 years, and I took science classes about 5 years ago. With 2 days of studying, I think I did pretty good. I am planning on retaking it next week to see if I can score a little bit higher. I hope this information helps someone out there. If you have any questions, let me know ? Good luck to all exam takers!

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Thank you for your information. It is very helpful. 

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Hi ? 

what school did you take your HESI exam with? I’m looking forward to taking it online too!

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8 minutes ago, dmikedan said:

Hi ? 

what school did you take your HESI exam with? I’m looking forward to taking it online too!

Hi!

I took the exam for Chamberlain University. When are you taking it? Good luck to you! 

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3 hours ago, newtonursing55 said:

Hi!

I took the exam for Chamberlain University. When are you taking it? Good luck to you! 

How much are they charging? I’m from CA and looking to apply out of state and none of the schools here even require HESI so I’m looking to take it with all of the subjects so I can apply to more schools. It’s been such a struggle for me ? 

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1 hour ago, dmikedan said:

How much are they charging? I’m from CA and looking to apply out of state and none of the schools here even require HESI so I’m looking to take it with all of the subjects so I can apply to more schools. It’s been such a struggle for me ? 

Sometimes they have a waiver for this, but they didn't when I applied. So, it was $95 for the application fee + 2 attempts at HESI. I just took it once though.

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Specializes in Home health.

Sorry I can't find the HAER book.. Or app? 

It's that spell correctly... Please help

 

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Hey! The HAER book that I was referring to is called the HESI Admission Assessment Review 4th edition. It's about $30-40 on amazon. Great resource! Highly recommend it! Good luck :)

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Specializes in Home health.

Thank you so much..! ?

 

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