HESI Exit

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Travel Nurse.

I need some advice because I am scaring the crap out of myself. I am in my last semester of nursing school and will be graduating with my BSN in two months. The only problem is I completely BOMB my HESI Exit each time I take it. I'm not even close to the passing 850 mark. The first test I got a 601 and the second test I received a 636. This is absolutely miserable and it is making me think that I have come all the way through this nursing program only to never be able to pass the NCLEX and become a nurse. I need serious help or suggestions. With these scores, this HAS to be a lack of knowledge, right? I don't see why I would be doing so miserable otherwise. Please......any advice from the nurses out there who may have struggled like this???

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Specializes in Critical care.

I took the exit HESI a couple of years ago. My program had us take a HESI at the end of every course with a clinical component. Have you been taking HESIs throughout the entire program? I ask this because there is certainly a style to HESI. My program made us take a couple of ATI exams and everyone in my group hated them because we were so used to HESI.

I've posted the info below in a previous thread a couple of years ago. I don't think it would have changed much, but just keep that in mind. I got the info and stats from instructors at my school that went over it all with us to help us prep for the exit exam.

I passed my exit HESI the first time with close to 1000. My best advice is to focus on areas you are weakest and pay particular attention to safety, fundamentals and leadership. There is also a HESI review book (it's not very large) that gives you "HESI Hints" which are great because they help you see what the exam is looking for. A lot of people I know loved the website YourBestGrade. I really liked Prioritization, Delegation, & Assignment by La Charity. It's a great book and helps so much. I noticed a big difference after working through it.

When I took my senior seminar class this is what we were told:

4 knows

· Know your material

o Leadership/professional- ~32 questions

o Fundamentals- ~44 questions

o Med surg- half the test ~80 questions

§ Patho

§ Electrolytes

§ ABGs, etc.

§ Pharm is spread throughout

· Know the rules

o Maslow's laws

o Nursing process

o ABCs

· Know how to read

· Know the test (numbers below are from old exam)

o Assessment- 24

o Analysis- 24

o Planning- 29

o Implementation- 65

o Evaluation- 8

o Safety and infection control à FUNDAMENTALS

o Physiological integrity à Med Surg

o Maternal health is only about 10 questions

Fundamentals

· Basic nursing skills- 30

o Safety

o Infection control

o Med admin

· Med math – 5

Professional issues

· Leadership – 20

· Legal & ethical issues – 13

Mental health- therapeutic communication!!

Med surg

· Cardiovascular- 16

· Endocrine – 10

· Resp- 14

· GI/Hepatic- 18

· Physical assessment- 14

· Growth and development - 2

Biophysical

· F&E!!! worth a lot of points – 8 questions

· Acid base- 9

· Mobility- 14 questions are worth moderate amount (not as much as F&E, but still significant)

· Comfort- PAIN!!!! VERY IMPORTANT

Psychosocial

· Developmental

Jevohah's witness and consent

Standard precautions and infection control

Go over electrolytes

Med reconciliation

Good luck! You can do it!!

PS. The NCLEX RN Mastery App (about $30) is a really great resource. Download it on your phone, so when you are out and about waiting around you are making the most of your time and answering questions (like when stuck in the line at the grocery store).

Edit: I'd also like to add that you can know your material but if you don't read the question in the right way (which is a skill in itself) then you will most likely do poorly. Your issue very well could be that you don't know how to take the test and not with the actual material.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the HESI forum

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I failed my HESI the two times we were allowed to take it. The second time I actually did worse and I studied the material. Honestly, if you feel it is a lack of knowledge then I would focus on that when you graduate and before you prepare for the NCLEX. Look into content review courses and such. Do you have to pass the HESI in order to graduate? Or is it used as in indicator for where you stand with the NCLEX?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Travel Nurse.

Aceofhearts, thank you so much for the advice. Snees46, it is just an indicator of where I stand for the NCLEX, but obviously I'm not in a good position according to the HESI Exit. It is really strange for me though, because every time I take the prep-u nclex rn practice exams I fall above the passing threshline. Usually around a 6 or a bit higher mastery level out of 8. So i'm lost to tell you the truth.

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I failed my HESI the two times we were allowed to take it. The second time I actually did worse and I studied the material. Honestly, if you feel it is a lack of knowledge then I would focus on that when you graduate and before you prepare for the NCLEX. Look into content review courses and such. Do you have to pass the HESI in order to graduate? Or is it used as in indicator for where you stand with the NCLEX?

Don't let it scare you. HESI gives you the areas you are weak in so start doing practice questions in those areas. I passed my NCLEX in 75 questions on the first time. Same with my closest peers and we ALL failed our HESI... twice. There was maybe 10-20 people out of our entire class of 56 that actually passed the HESI.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Travel Nurse.

The only reason the HESI scares me is because according to the test I'm weak in all areas....... :blackeye:

I mean, that pretty much has to be the case with scoring in the 600's.

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Please ignore my double post! I am still new to the site. I had peers in the 600's who passed the NCLEX. I am sorry it is stressing you out. The HESI is worded different than the NCLEX according to my instructors. Dont let it get you down. YOU GOT THIS! :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Travel Nurse.

Thanks for the kind words Snees46. I have an overall GPA of a 3.49 right now, and have all A's in this last semester which would bring my GPA up to around a 3.55-3.6 at the end of the semester, however, if we do not pass the hesi exit on our third attempt, they automatically drop your grades to the lowest possible (C-) but still allow you to graduate. So my GPA will suffer but at least I will graduate. Kinda sucks though if I decide I want to go into a masters program later.

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I need some advice because I am scaring the crap out of myself. I am in my last semester of nursing school and will be graduating with my BSN in two months. The only problem is I completely BOMB my HESI Exit each time I take it. I'm not even close to the passing 850 mark. The first test I got a 601 and the second test I received a 636. This is absolutely miserable and it is making me think that I have come all the way through this nursing program only to never be able to pass the NCLEX and become a nurse. I need serious help or suggestions. With these scores, this HAS to be a lack of knowledge, right? I don't see why I would be doing so miserable otherwise. Please......any advice from the nurses out there who may have struggled like this???

I'm in the same situation except for that I'm in an LVN program repeating the fourth term again because I failed the HESI exit to graduate with an 849. Yes, 849 strikes frustration in me till this day. However, two days prior I got a 667 and with an improvement I saw my mistake. My weakest areas were: Med Surg, Patho and Psych. Being that Med Surg makes up for most of the Exit Exam I look at what can cause the disease, signs and symptoms, and the nursing interventions and what I need to do for the patient. If you feel like that it's knowledge that's a problem I suggest that you practice questions and read your rationales. I never read my rationales until this time around and it's actually helpful because if you know why the answer is what it is then repetitive practice you will understand it. Reading any NCLEX Review book or even the HESI book will help you at times. Like when I took my Med Surg HESI and i bombed it I remember several of the questions and the correct answer in my HESI book so that was frustrating.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Travel Nurse.

Thank you for the advice!!

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Specializes in Emergency.

Get the HESI/Saunders Online Review for the NCLEX-RN by Elsevier. The program is amazing and many of the questions are based off of that resource.

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