HESI Passed Today!

[NurseME17]

I am posting my scores and experience for others. These boards these boards got me through some tough anxiety during test prep, and I hope I can provide that for some of you now! I relied on the Admission Assessment Exam Review, 4th Edition and the HESI Pocket Prep app.

My school admits on a point system, so I will include my score equivalent. Basically, earning 90-100 earns you 4 points, 80-90 earns 3 points and 75-79 earns 1 point. To be considered for admissions, a student must earn 75% or high on reading, grammar, math and vocab.

Cumulative Score: 90.86%

Points Earned @ School: 24/28

Time Used: 150 Minutes, 2 Seconds

Reading Comp: 90%

Grammar: 98%

Vocabulary: 96%

Biology: 96%

Chemistry: 76%

A&P: 80%

Math: 100%

Critical Thinking: 980/1000

Learning Style: Kinesthetic/Analytical

Personality Style: Creative/People

Reading Comp - I read through the section in the review book, and nothing more. I have always been fairly good with comprehension so I didn't spend much time here. Looking at my score though, perhaps I would have scored better if I had spent more time reviewing. I still got my full 4 points though! This section is exactly what it sounds like - read a passage and answer some questions about it. Be sure to know main ideas, inferences and conclusions.

Grammar - This test made me nervous. It has been 11 years since I left high school and some of the terms in the review book seemed almost foreign to me. A quick review of the section in the review book jogged my memory, and then I relied on quizzing myself in the Pocket Prep app. I kept selecting the option to make my own test, and would test myself on huge chunks of grammar only. Even with my review, I wasn't really confident. I was very relieved to get all 4 points here. I had many subject-verb agreement questions.

Vocabulary - I am pretty confident in my vocabulary. Even without knowing the words, I am pretty good at eliminating the words that wouldn't fit. I credit my high school Latin teacher for teaching me many word roots and how to dissect vocabulary. I did make Pocket Prep exams for just vocab and completed all words in the app once. 4 points! I did not see any words from the app on the actual exam, but I still see it as helpful to use the app. The words I received were a grab bag. Many questions featured the word in a sentence, allowing use of context clues.

Math - I don't know how that 100 happened ... I did try all 10 exercises of every problem provided in the review book. I did not study conversions and regretted it as soon as my group sat for the exam. All of the other students were talking about conversions and quizzing each other. Here I am, earning all 4 points though! I had mostly ratio and proportion questions. Make sure that you know how to work with fractions and decimals too. As for conversions, I had two questions that I was able to make educated guesses on.

** SCIENCES** My study strategies for the sciences were all the same. I was crunched on time, so I went through the review book and made a note card for EVERY main idea. I even worded questions for myself to answer later. After I completed my review of my note cards, I took the Pocket Prep tests in each subject.

A&P - I am disappointed with this score, and may retake this section to bump my 3 points up to 4. I have taken A&P I and just started A&P II. The review book and pocket prep filled me in on a lot of material that we will be covering this semester, but not quite enough to get full points. Know the parts of the inner ear, know organs within each body system. I recommend that you use more than just the book and Pocket Prep too.

Biology - Many of the questions here had to do with cells. Know the organelles, details about the membrane, and what sets prokaryotic cells apart. Study DNA, RNA and genotype vs phenotype. The review book covered everything that I needed here. 4 points!

Chemistry - Well, I knew I wasn't prepared. I may take this section again as well, to bump my score from 1 to 4. I had a surprising number of questions that involved knowledge of specific elements and I was not prepared for that. Other than that, I'd recommend spending some time with cellular respiration, photosynthesis and chemical bonds.

Critical Thinking - I did not prepare at all for this, as I wasn't aware that my school administered this section. The section gives you a patient and a problem, along with 4 options to solve that problem. To find real advice, I would suggest checking out others who researched more. I did manage to get a good score by asking myself what was most important, eliminating unnecessary actions, and always choosing a response that took personal responsibility.

I hope this helps some of you. Overall, it was not nearly as terrifying as I anticipated! If you put in a little bit of work, you can do it!

[doanpham]

Hello, thank you for the detailed experience you gave. Congratulations on your grade too, I wish I would be able to do the same. I want to ask some questions about the test.

1. Was the A&P questions really in-depth (muscle types, where does it belong)?

2. Do we have to study the periodic table for Chemistry, and what specifically was truly difficult that causes you trouble?

Thank you.

[CN101, BSN, RN]

Congrats on your great score!

I just have one question: did you get asked what muscle does what? Ex. What does the teres major muscle do?

[NurseME17]

Hello doanpham, and thank you!

A&P questions were not terribly in depth. I did get one question asking me to name a particular muscle based on its movement description, but I did not have any origin/insertion questions. Almost all of the questions I had were general and about the systems as a whole. From all posts that I have read, and my exam experience, knowing the ossicles of the ear is a must.

I did not do well at chemistry, and I didn't expect that I would do great. It was the last subject that I reviewed and I only went over the section in the review book. I wish that I would have spent more time reviewing chemical bonds. I really need to spend more time with this material. Its helpful to know the structure of the periodic table (what are rows called? columns?) and how it is arranged. Knowing the properties of more common elements would have helped me out a lot too.

Good luck!

[NurseME17]

Thank you! I had just one question that gave me an action and asked me to give the name of the muscle responsible for it.