HESI & NCLEX Advice

Nurses New Nurse

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My pinning was this past Thursday, yaaaayyyy! :D On Jan. 15th, we're taking the HESI and then after that, we'll be able to take the NCLEX. I've heard of a lot of people failing the HESI...some have failed 3 times so far (from the previous grad. class). I'm a pretty strong student and I don't have too many problems doing NCLEX questions over and over again. Anybody else have any advice besides getting the HESI NCLEX book?

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Specializes in telemetry, ortho, med-surg.

A former classmate who passed the NCLEX this spring advised me to invest in the Kaplan Qbank and just do questions. I don't know if you are willing to invest the 300 bucks in such a short period of time. He failed the HESI exit exam twice before he tried the Qbank. He also said that the NCLEX-RN was much "easier" than the HESI. Good luck to you and congratulations!

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I recently took the HESI (passed the first time) and this was our exit exam we had 2 attempts to pass then we have to take a review course and you can take it one more time before you have to repeat the last semester. We do not recieve a pin if we don't pass the HESI exit exam. This was a paramedic to RN bridge program and it was the first time the college had taught the class. The college was very disorganized and did not know how to handle paramedics.. If I had it to do over I would have taken a traditional class and NEVER EVER told anyone I was a paramedic. But to the question at hand how to prepare for the HESI.. take as many questions as you can and learn how to eliminate the wrong from the right. I used the Saunders book and kept taking the questions from the CD and reading the rationals.. this helped me the most and I made a 1034 not spectacular but it was the highest in my class. We had to make a 900 to exit nursing school... only 7 of 17 ppl have passed so far and several are taking it again in Jan. I DID NOT like the hesi review for NCLEX it did not really help me...(as far as the HESI test)... it really confused me more than anything and several in my calss said the same thing. This is just our opinion and we know everyone has one... hopes this helps

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Specializes in Psych.

I just recently took the Hesi, Dec 8th. I found what helped me the most was the Mosby Elsevier Hesi NCLEX-RN Exam book. It was made just for the Hesi. It came with a CD with a bunch of test questions. I took them over and over and actually seen some of them on the actual exam. The Hesi is much harder than the boards. Be sure to read the question and decide exactly what it is asking you to do. Hope this helps and good luck.

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I passed Hesi with a 921, after failing the ATI exit exam 2 times.... I purchased the Hesi NCLEX book by Elsevier and tried to get through most of the chapters. I ran out of time so I skimmed the last couple and just paid attention to the HESI hints, and I went through the questions and answers at the end of each chapter. I also did the practice CD over and over again until I read every single rationale for each question. Although the questions were not the same on the exam, they were very familiar and I don't think that I could have passed the exam without this book. Good luck and congratulations on your accomplishments. I don't know about you, but I really feel that these exit exams are so unfair. There are so many people in my program that are still trying to pass the exit exam in order to sit for the boards. :nurse:

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

To be honest, I barely studied for the HESI - the night before, I did approx 100 practice questions from an NCLEX cd-rom, and that was it. I scored an 1100 (900 was passing), which was 96th percentile. I thought it was relatively easy.

Good luck! :-)

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Congrats on your accomplishment! As far as the HESI/NCLEX, I can remember being a nervous wreck. I really did not study much for either one, just did a few practice questions. I did however keep this info in mind that was passed on to me.

Pay particular attention to the nursing process order. Look at what the question is asking. While questions may have several correct answers, the actual question will determine the answer, i.e., are you assessing? If so, you do not need to address implementation answers, planning answers, or evaluation answers (even thought you would perform those particular tasks).

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. While several answers might be correct, what order do the needs fall in.

Review patient safety (patient first, then equipment)

Hope this helps. Have faith in yourself and the knowledge you have obtained.

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I took the HESI and passed with 921 the first time. I used NCLEX HESI elsevier and concentrated on HESI hints. In addition, I also committed myself in doing 200 questions a day for three weeks. I'm glad that I did that because I only studied for a week for NCLEX examination which I took yesterday. I'm crossing my fingers as I wait for the results in CA.

PS: In my opinion, HESI focuses more on critical thinking while NCLEX is more content-based. Goodluck to all HESI test takers!!!

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Personally I chose NOT to study for the HESI and not because I was lazy but because I wanted to know where I was at, what I was strong with and what I needed to improve on. It worked for me.

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Specializes in l.p.n.

I am confused what is HESI? I live in pa and never heard of that

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I found out today that I passed the NCLEX. Yipppppeee! Studying for HESI really paid off.

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Specializes in telemetry, ortho, med-surg.

Congratulations!:yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah:

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