HESI STUDY ADVICE

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Hi everyone,

Im a second year nursing student. In the spring I will be taking the HESI which is required to pass in order to move onto senior year. I know that I have a while until the test but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to study/prepare for the exam. Whats the best way to study. I don't whether to use my HESI book and study as we cover topics, doing a bunch of NCLEX questions or what because I feel like its overwhelming and I have no time. Any advice would be helpful. Thank You.

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Specializes in Acute Rehab, IMCU, ED, med-surg.

This is the resource I used, scored > 1000 on the HESE exit exam last spring: http://www.elsevier.com/books/hesi-comprehensive-review-for-the-nclex-rn-examination/hesi/978-0-323-06585-6#

You can buy the book/CD or just subscribe to the questions online, which is a bit less expensive.

These questions will help you on exams this year and in NCLEX preparation.

Good luck!

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Hi, I am a Senior II, graduating this December, I have recently taken my EXIT HESI and passed! I applaud you for starting to think about HESI early because honestly the earlier you start the better it will be for your nerves. What worked for me is supplementing with the HESI book. If we were assigned to read about heart failure, I would do the class reading but also review heart failure in the HESI book. The perks of this book is it summarizes the main ideas for you. ALSO if you have the HESI manual I encourage you to go onto evolve and do the practice questions that came with the book. If you have been studying all along it's now time to get into the habit of practicing questions and figuring out their "style." Likewise my Exit HESI was all inclusive, I am not sure what your second year hesi will be like, you should find out? for example we had a HESI for each semester; fundamentals, psychiatric etc. I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK. REVEIW THE HESI BOOK and HESI HINTS, BE CONFIDENT, GO WITH YOUR GUT. :)

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Practice questions practice questions practice questions practice questions. Practice Questions! It's too late to go back and read through and re-learn everything. My strategy was to do practice questions on the Evolve website (our school made us buy access to HESI RN Case Studies and HESI RN Practice Tests) and then read the rationales for every question - even the ones you got right. While I was doing that, I made a list of things I didn't know and I only looked up/read about those things. For example, If I got a question wrong because I forgot the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis or the normal range for albumin, I'd write that down. That strategy made me nervous at first because I felt like I was neglecting a TON of information, but I realized I remembered a lot more than I thought! So don't waste your time on stuff you know, do practice questions, read the rationales, and look up the stuff you don't know.

My instructors suggested we do at least 50 practice questions a day and no more than 150. I can't personally vouch for that because I hardcore love to procrastinate.....but if you're disciplined enough to do that I have no doubt you will at least pass, if not kick HESI in the butt. However, I definitely suggest doing a couple of practice tests that are 150 questions because HESI is 160. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but around question 120 I started misinterpreting some of the questions and making some silly mistakes. So practice taking longer tests and definitely take a little break in your seat halfway through if letters start turning into egyptian hieroglyphics.

Hope this helps! Good luck :)

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