Gloucester County College Nursing HESI exam question

Skeletor · Jan 14, 2009

I would give it one more shot for a higher score if you'd like. When I applied, 900 others did as well and 130 were chosen. Good luck :wink2:

AtomicWoman · Jan 15, 2009

Be sure to check the last date for re-taking the HESI before applying; isn't it sometime next month or early March? I was accepted there (did not go there, though) and my composite was over 97%. But the people in the testing center told me that was really high. In conversations with people who did get in, I got the impression that 81% was a decent score. But since you have the opportunity to do better, take it again. Remember, you only have to turn in the official results from ONE test, so make it your best score. :)

Good luck!!

marygkk · Jan 15, 2009

Wow Atomicwoman, that is a very impressive score. Can you tell how you got such a good score, such as study tips etc? Thank you for your help and Goodluck in nursing school:)

Panthyr · Jan 15, 2009

I got a 92% and made it in, but I know people who are also part of the program and got 79% or so. 81% definitely has a shot, but the HESI isn't the only part of the equation. All the people I've mentioned so far received at least an A- in A&PI. I know someone who got an 80% on the HESI and got a much lower grade in A&PI and didn't make it in.

All that being said, that was last year, when they first implemented this exam; more familiarity with the exam may have raised the average scores required.

I would definitely give it a second try... I got 82% on my first try, and as you can tell, I raised my percentage quite a bit by knowing what to expect and what areas to concentrate on (Chemistry, my greatest foe...).

marygkk · Jan 16, 2009

Thank you Panthyr, and congratulations on getting into the program! Wow a 92% is amazing. I did get an A in A&P and will take the HESI one more time. What did you do to get such a great score second time around? Im stressing because I think i'll get the same score second time around? Any advice?

Thank you

Angie

ps. How do you like the program? Is is super stressful? How many days do you have classes? Clinicals? etc. :)

Panthyr · Jan 16, 2009

Thanks! I didn't really do too much different the second time around as far as math and reading went. However, knowing what they were looking for on the Biology and Chemistry helped. I did review a little more for the second time around in the subjects I was deficient on the first time around, but just knowing what to expect the second time around and feeling more comfortable may have made up a lot of the difference.

I like the program a lot. I think I was expecting it to be terribly hard and that I was going to be stressed all the time, and while there were definitely stressful moments, it wasn't as bad as my imagination had built it up to be! There was a lot of stuff to do, and a lot of material to cover; time management was definitely key, but other than that... it was interesting and fun.

I chose to split everything up into different days, so I had one day of lab, two days of lecture, and one day of clinical with Wednesdays off. I know some who choose to put lab on the same days as lecture, and thus have two days off, but I thought I'd do the four days a week thing so that next year, when there's no lab but two clinical days, I'd already be accustomed to four days!

marygkk · Jan 16, 2009

Thank you so much for your insight Panthyr!

AtomicWoman · Jan 17, 2009

Wow Atomicwoman, that is a very impressive score. Can you tell how you got such a good score, such as study tips etc? Thank you for your help and Goodluck in nursing school:)

One of the sites that helped me a lot was http://sparknotes.com. Poke around there and see what they have for bio and chem. The site was a huge help in helping me remember the "big picture" of DNA replication.

I was lucky in that I was actually taking Intro/Fundamentals Chemistry at the time I took the exam, so just about everything on the chem section was fresh in my mind. And I was taking A&P I at the time, so all that organelle structure and function stuff was also fresh. For the math and English/grammar part, I used the study guide as a guide and made sure I could quickly do all the fraction, percentage, Roman Numeral stuff, plus I studied their word list. A lot of the words were on the actual test. But I used to teach English Comp, so I probably had a little advantage there...

When taking the HESI, one strategy that worked for me (your mileage may vary) was to do the easy sections first so that I could relax and start breathing again. :) Then by the time I got to the Chem and Bio, I felt really confident. Also, you have plenty of time, so don't go on to the next question until you feel like you've made the best decision you can. Obviously, you don't want to get stuck on a problem that you are clueless about, but you don't want to say DOH! as the screen disappears and you realize you just picked the wrong answer!

Panthyr is right about the grades being really important. I know someone who had a HESI in the low 80s but didn't get in because she didn't have an A in A&P I. They look at so few variables: HESI and a couple science courses. So you want to do the absolute best you can.

BTW, when you get your letter telling you you got in, you have a week to get your deposit to them, or you lose your seat! Every other nursing school I was accepted to gave you a month, but not GCC. :rolleyes:

Panthyr · Jan 18, 2009

It's funny Atomicwoman should mention sparknotes, because I used the sparknotes Bio and Chemistry review guides that I picked up from Barnes and Noble, to get ready for it too. And A&P review on the Cell Organelles was extremely helpful! They were very small and just went over the large concepts, and I would definitely attribute my higher Chemistry score to that.

AtomicWoman · Jan 19, 2009

Sparknotes was also good for helping me remember the big picture of the Krebs/Citric Acid cycle. It's too easy to get caught up in all the individual steps without stepping back and saying, OK, what's going on? What is being input and what is being output at the major points in the cycle? Stuff like that helped me not get too mired in details. The HESI isn't very much (if at all) about tiny details.

Oh, and make yourself some flashcards with the big concepts. That helped me stay calm and focused and helped me refresh my memory right up to the last minute.

AtomicWoman · Jan 19, 2009

I just rummaged through my files on my computer and came up with 4 pages of single-spaced notes (lots of bold letters emphasizing major points!) from which I made flash cards before I took the HESI. The notes cover bio and chem. They aren't comprehensive, and I don't see that I wrote down how to make a Punnet Square (I guess I had that down and didn't think I needed to review it), but there's lots of succinct info in them. You could use them as a starting point for your own studying. If you want 'em, LMK and I'll upload the .doc document.