HESI A2 for the entrance exam study guide, Gateway

rzyzzy · May 3, 2010

This is the book recommended by the college -

Amazon.com: Evolve Reach Admission Assessment Exam Review (9781416056355): HESI: Books

FYI - there are a couple of threads talking about what to expect on the test - I won't go into it too far, except to say, most people (myself included) get themselves waaay too worked up over this particular test - I bought three study guides and spent lots of hours trying to teach myself everything in all of them. This was way too much prep.

What to know:

You get to use the windows calculator for the whole test

Fractions - you'll see lots of them on this test - don't get yourself worked up over them, the answers can often be "eyeballed" without actually writing anything down - the answer choices are far enough apart that a "guesstimate" will narrow your choices significantly.

Know how to convert a fraction to a decimal, and a decimal to a fraction - know how to deal with a negative number, multiply fractions, and what the parenthesis means.

Roman numerals - if you can count to 100 using roman numerals, you'll prolly get them all right.

Military time - a couple of easy points there if you know how to tell military time.

conversions - 30ml to an ounce, how many ounces in a pint, quart, gallon...

The vocab/grammar is easy if you're someone who reads books alot.

Remember you're not doing the chemistry/biology sections of the test.

CAwant2be · May 7, 2010

thank you, rzyzzyfor your comment. i will review it and study the information. thanks again!:up:

hurrlybaby · May 10, 2010

Rzyzzy, I would like to ask you if you can tell me more about the vocabulary words, were the ones from the Evolve study guide used there in the test?, and grammar, how hard was it, can you give me more specifications. Also I would like to know more about critical reading, if the text is hard to read, boring, or if it is hard to come up with the main idea. How much time did you need to finish the test? I am taking the test next Monday, and I would like to know more details to prep my self. I am so scarred.

rzyzzy · May 10, 2010

While I'd love to be more detailed in my answer - I didn't see anything directly from the study guide in the test as far as grammar and vocabulary. The questions are REALLY basic - pick the best sentence - a sentence either flows right or it doesn't. The comma is in the right spot or it isn't.

Seriously, if you have the math under control, I doubt you'll have problems with the other areas - I was in a group of 25 people who took the test, all of us had been out of school for 10+ years on average. I believe 2 "failed" the hesi, and one of those missed ONE area by ONE point. You can retake the hesi in 60 days if you don't pass, but realize that most people DO pass. This isn't a test you cram for.

I missed 3 questions in "reading comprehension/conclusions" - and personally, I believe the questions were borked, and I know at least one of the math questions didn't have a correct answer in the available choices.

The very premise of the reading comprehension test is really kinda silly - write a really BAD paragraph, that the reader can't follow... then mark them wrong if they didn't get "the main idea"...

Look over your evolve study guide - you'll find lots of typos, spelling errors and grammar errors - those are the same folks writing this test.

hurrlybaby · May 11, 2010

Rzyzzy, thank you .

Did you take it at Gateway Community College in Arizona?

So, if the words from the vocab section of the test are not similar to the ones from the Evolve, how did you study for this section?

What did you use in order to do good on this kind of test?

English is my second language, can you give me some advice regarding how I can prepare my self better.

Math is no problem for me, metric system is what I used in Europe all the time (until I finished High school)

and I studied the American system really well, so I am OK with math, but there is a question did you have to transform anything in teaspoon or all this small measurements?

I am worried about the English comprehension section. So, you are saying that the reading comprehension section was really confusing even for you. Gees, is there any details that you can remember from any of the exam sections, please let me know cause I am starting to panic.

PreNurseEsthieNyAz · May 12, 2010

I am taking the exam tomorrow, i will message back what i know can help you. Try reading some short stories to yourself, the outloud, and finally to another person. That way you may be able to grasp the flow of the grammar. Thats whats helping me learn spanish for an upcoming trip to Spain. If its similar to the NET(nursing entrance exam), its a paragraph on something irrelevant. I will cut and paste a sample question from a NET test study guide. My guessing is most schools are eliminating the NET test because too many nursing students were having difficulty with the grammatical skills required for nursing school. IF you are worried your english isn't that great, take a few more classes, or pay a friend to help you. I watch Sesame Street and Discovery Channel programs in Spanish to help me learn, as i was told the telenovellas (spanish soap operas) aren't the best way to learn Spanish :-)

ANYWAYS theres a paragraph like the one i pasted below, and about 7 questions referring back to the paragraph. Some are easy, and some make you really sit there and think. But i will let you know tomorrow or so how the HESI A-2 exam is compared to the NET!

*********sample paragraph from website---> Reading Comprehension Practice Questions - Help your Reading Comprehension Exam Score with free Practice Test Questions

In the sixteenth century, an age of great marine and terrestrial exploration, Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail around the world. As a young Portuguese noble, he served the king of Portugal, but he became involved in the quagmire of political intrigue at court and lost the king's favor. After he was dismissed from service to the king of Portugal, he offered to serve the future Emperor Charles V of Spain.

A papal decree of 1493 had assigned all land in the New World west of 50 degrees W longitude to Spain and all the land east of that line to Portugal. Magellan offered to prove that the East Indies fell under Spanish authority. On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain with five ships. More than a year later, one of these ships was exploring the topography of South America in search of a water route across the continent. This ship sank, but the remaining four ships searched along the southern peninsula of South America. Finally they found the passage they sought near a latitude of 50 degrees S. Magellan named this passage the Strait of All Saints, but today we know it as the Strait of Magellan.

One ship deserted while in this passage and returned to Spain, so fewer sailors were privileged to gaze at that first panorama of the Pacific Ocean. Those who remained crossed the meridian we now call the International Date Line in the early spring of 1521 after ninety-eight days on the Pacific Ocean. During those long days at sea, many of Magellan's men died of starvation and disease.

Later Magellan became involved in an insular conflict in the Philippines and was killed in a tribal battle. Only one ship and seventeen sailors under the command of the Basque navigator Elcano survived to complete the westward journey to Spain and thus prove once and for all that the world is round, with no precipice at the edge

hurrlybaby · May 12, 2010

PreNurseEsteilNyaz,

I appreciate your help, thanks so much. I will wait to see how was the test for you, and how did you do.

Please let me know each detail you remember from the test.

PreNurseEsthieNyAz · May 12, 2010

Exam was easy for math. Brush up on military time "What is 11:00 am in military time", on roman numerals "what does MCMXII mean" or write 19 in roman numerals....there were two grammar/vocabulary sections...one was referring to sentences like "The nurse gave the patient a COMPREHENSIVE exam" what does the word "comprehensive" mean. And a paragraph which was easy to read and a few questions based on it. That was difficult because there were many confusing words that sound the same and are written the same way but may mean the same thing. Take some advanced english courses to brush up on the confusing aspects of the language. and good luck!

hurrlybaby · May 12, 2010

Can you tell me if there were any words from the Evolve Study guyde in the Vocabulary section, and also are you talking about the simmilar words like amount-number, lay vs lie, among between ,affect vs effect, bad vs badly, fewer vs less, hear vs here, who vs whom, its vs it's ?

hurrlybaby · May 12, 2010

Is there a possibility for you to enter on yahoo messenger, so I could ask you some other questions?

PreNurseEsthieNyAz · May 12, 2010

No im sorry im using my iphone to write these messages. One passage i remember was about the summer olympics in china in 2008, and how many athletes want to represent their country etc. And many citizens of the countries with participating athletes attend the games to *root* for their country. Questions asked "where were the olympics held in 2008" (obviously the answer was china) one asked what is the meaning of "root" in the last sentence. The answers were along the lines of to rub your snout in the ground, the base of a tree, to cheer someone on, and one other choice i forgot. See the word root, spelt the same exact way has many different meanings and there were a lot of questions similar to the "root" question.

I did not read any study guide, i have been a "bookworm" since i was a child, always reading books so my grammatical skills are ok (but not so much when typing on an iPhone!) and ive taken a few math classes recently and remembered how to add multiply and divide fractions, convert fractions to percents, and fractions to ratios. There were math problems like x:6 :: 7:42 what is x.

I scored an 89 on the total exam. Seriously thought about you when taking the grammar section. You would benefit from an advanced english class i am certain!