HESI Exit Exam

Silverdragon102, BSN · Dec 1, 2008

Hi and welcome to the site

Suzanne's first tip should help you pass HESI and you just need current Saunders. Check out the sticky https://allnurses.com/forums/f197/07-08-revision-suzanne-s-first-tip-314448.html

suzanne4, RN · Dec 1, 2008

Best suggestion is my first tip that is posted on this forum in a sticky. It has worked for everyone that I know of that had to write that exam.

Best of luck to you.

(p.s. That exam is not impossible or there would not be so many that actually pass it the first time that they test.) :nurse:

tma0312 · Dec 3, 2008

I probably shouldn't be one to give advice, since I got an 1100 on HESI last week with minimal amounts of studying, but one book I found particularly helpful throughout nursing school is the NCLEX comprehensive review by Mary Hogan. Its called "the big red book" at my school.

The questions are ridiculously hard, but I found that many of the HESI questions were eerily similar!

p.s. if you can get an NCLEX blueprint showing the percentages of question topics they will have on the exam, focus your studying to the areas that you will be most likely to be tested on.

Good luck, you will do fine!

suzanne4, RN · Dec 3, 2008

Sorry, but there is no blueprint for what will have on their exam. There are about 2500 questions actually in the question bank that the computer can chose from. And it will choose based on how one answers the previous question.

There is no pre-made exam for anyone before they sit down to test. Everything is dependent upon how the questions are answered, nothing more than that.

And it will focus on your weaker points in most cases, so you cannot just prepare for one area or a few. You can be tested on absolutely anything and all of it is fair game for the exam.

This exam is extremely different than anything that you have seen before. Best of luck on your exam.

tma0312 · Dec 3, 2008

thats funny, because I got a printout from my instructors that contains a breakdown of NCLEX questions based on topics. its something like 30pages long.

maybe i'm confused?

pomlover08 · Dec 5, 2008

i took HESI two weeks ago and got a 1010. see if you can get your hands on a review called "Hurst Review". AWESOME!! Everything is explained thouroughly.

as far as hesi: the one we took was pretty difficult. they had us calculate celcius to farenheit for goodness sake!! but there were oodles of priority questions (which is covered pretty well on Hurst).

when it boils down to it pick the SAFEST answer. thats what i went by, and i guess it worked!!

best of luck! our pinning is next friday and graduate next saturday!!! i'm soooo excited.

hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2008

thats funny, because I got a printout from my instructors that contains a breakdown of NCLEX questions based on topics. its something like 30pages long.
maybe i'm confused?

Suzanne said there's no NCLEX blueprint. What you're referring to is something produced in your package with evolve/Elsevier after taking the HESI, where they break down how you did across not only subject, but nursing step so you can see where you need to improve, right?

jjlaman · Dec 9, 2008

i will be graduating next week and now am staring the joy of the hesi down as it is required for me to take the test before my school will authorize me for the nclex. trying right now to build up my 15 posts so i can get my hands on suzannne's tips.

for me right now, i am not overly worried. i figure that i have gotten through the hard-part. i know what i know and have a strategy for studying that saw me through my program and besides, not that i want to but even if i fail the hesi, i can take it a million times and it has no bearing on my degree.

i will have graduated anyway and know that when i do pass the hesi that for the most part, i wont have anything to worry about after that. something like 96% of people who pass the hesi go on to pass the nclex.

i try to do everything with a positive attitude (i think that is what has gotten me this far in life :specs: ) and i look at the hesi as an opportunity to really find out what i know and what i need to focus on.

tolerantgirl · Dec 9, 2008

Do not stress out. I know that is easier said than done, but the HESI was not bad. After I took the test, I thought it was exactly how I was tested in nursing school on other exams. For me, I did nclex questions from Saunders and NCSBN and I read all the rationales. I believe it helped a lot. At least it makes you more comfortable because you have answered many questions. You can narrow the questions down to 2 answers. I scored an 877. We had to make an 850 to pass. Please the most important thing to remember is to not stress out and do not listen to people who say it is impossible to pass. Think positive. You will do well.

sandycassidy · Dec 12, 2008

The HESI was the HARDEST exam I have ever taken. We are 45 students in my class and only 9 (YES, ONLY NINE) students passed (thank God I was one of them). I scored 943, which seems to be a good score. What did I do? I used Saunders NCLEX review and focused on those subjects that NOBODY reads, because when you take a class or a review course, everyone talks about Cardiac, respiratory, neuro, etc. BUT the 'weird' diseases that we never cover during nursing school, those are the ones that came on the last HESI. Believe me, this exam is a 'killer' so do not get discouraged if you do not make it the first time. My school requires to pass this HESI exit exam to send out the papers so you can take the NCLEX. You have 3 chances. If you do not pass them, you can still go to the pinning ceremony and get your pin, but you will have to go to school again and take the nursing seminar (or NRS V) the whole semester and try the HESI 3x again... really a pain!!!

sandycassidy · Dec 12, 2008

Forgot to mention that you can buy the HESI NCLEX review book and also a HESI PRACT TEST acces code for the evolve.elsevier webpage. YOu get to practice tons of questions there. Allthough to tell you the truth, none of those questions came on the last HESI. We took the exam at the same time, we all got the same questions (160) and you have 4 hours to finish it. I finished in 1 hour and it took me like 15 minutes to hit the last key to know my score.. i was so scared, but once again, thank God because I PASSED!!!