HESI A2 math, make sure you know ratio word problems

[orangetoledo]

Hi all. a lot of people ask me when I my test and wanted to come say how glad I am that I overstudied math in my study sessions. That section is no joke. Anyone know the breakdown of the math section? I feel like ratios were everywhere.

Anyways, I feel great about my score. I used readyforthehesi.org like a few others here and have nothing but good stuff to say about that prep. In fact, I've heard from others that the official Elsevier prep they used did NOT highlight ratio word problems as well as the prep I used so I'm here post-test with pointers.

Basically, what I saw was that they present the problem in all sorts of ways, but what it boils down to is that you need to figure out how many times the first number contains the second number. That might seem confusing so here are a few examples (note these are not the problems from my test - that would be highly unethical).

There are 3 oranges for every 1 apple.

Another way to write this is the ratio of apples to oranges is 1:3 or 1/3.

Seems simple right? It's not so straightforward on the test. On the test, it looks more like,

Sara buys a mixed bucket of fruit that has a total of 100 pieces. If the ratio of apples to oranges is 1:3, how many oranges are there?

So, to solve this, let's call apples X and oranges Y. We know that,

X + Y = 100

And

Y= 3X

So we can combine the two equations by plugging Y= 3X into the first one:

X + 3X = 100

4X = 100

X= 25

Then plug X into the second equation:

Y=3(25)

And we've solved the problem. There are 25 apples and 75 oranges. You can check this by simplifying the ratio:

25:75 = 1:3

Another way I've seen the questions written is where they give you pieces of the problem but not the actual ratio. What you need to do is create proportions and set them equal to each other,

To make 30 shirts, 3 yards of elastic is required. How many yards would be needed to make 120 shirts?

The first proportion is 30:3 and the second is 120:X. So,

30/x = 120/x

30x = 360

X= 12 yards.

Hope I was able to explain it well. Regardless of whether or not you understood my post, the takeaway message here is do not underestimate the ratio word problems! You can't hide from them! Haha. And if you want to crush the test like I did, then make sure you practice ratio math word problems.

This is the study guide I used just for math:

HESI A2 Math E-Study Guide: Download and study right away! – Ready For The HESI

It's like almost 100 pages and I didn't even get through all the practice problems but it helped me a lot. It's pricy but worth it if you're struggle with math. Oh and even if you don't get it, it's worth getting their free hesi practice test cos they have some math question in their too

Message me or comment for any questions!!

-Future RN OKURRRR! lol