HESI vs NCLEX

Nurses New Nurse

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ok- need some opinions. Which was harder, HESI or NCLEX?

cuz I took the HESI and got a 1052 last semester. Should I be ok for the NCLEX? or are they 2 totally different beasts???

Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/ER.

I thought the HESI was one of the hardest tests I had to take. I took it after each semester.....hated them! We had to score 900 or 950 can't recall. It also counted for a % of our grade, and if you did not score the required minimun in the last semester you did not graduate. I was really worried about taking the NCLEX because of all the stuff I had heard....it was cake compared to the HESI!

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What is a HESI? Is there a book for that? Where can I avail it?

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It seems that HESI is very helpful in preparing for the NCLEX...What is HESI??? Just veru curious... Thanks!

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

i did horrible on my hesi i think i got a 708 or something.. i had no trouble w/ boards.. i passed w/ 75 questions. i am glad my school did not require me to pass hesi to graduate.. i think i hurried through it and did it in 45 minutes. i thought the nclex was alot different.. and harder.. glad thats all over.. whew

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Specializes in OB.

okay, i was the OP of this thread. To answer my own question, the HESI was study-able. I did Saunders and Kaplan and felt I knew the answers to what they asked. The NCLEX was a whole different story. never before on any test I have ever taken have I felt so dumbfounded and lost. There were probably 10 of my 75 questions that I knew right off the bat, the rest were a total guess, including the 11 meds I got, one of which I knew. the rest- I was sitting there thinking "you have GOT to be sh*ttin me" I used process of elimination so many times

"this cant be right because" and ulitmately passed with 75 questions

so... HESI vs NCLEX.. nothing alike cept the format!

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Specializes in ICU.

I got 1083 or so on HESI. I did well and was up from the first years HESI. I myself found NCLEX harder. After the HESI talking to people we all had the same questions granted they were in different orders but they were the same. HESI asked questions from every sections of nursing school. As for my NCLEX i had 75 questions and passed taking it in an hour and 30 mins or so. Granted my NCLEX asked question from most of the sections but found these questions harder. For me I felt the first 10 Questions were kind of easy after that it was questions i had to really think about maybe it was because i was getting them right i have no idea but i really found the NCLEX hard and walked out not knowing either way until 2 days after. Good luck.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.
okay, i was the OP of this thread. To answer my own question, the HESI was study-able. I did Saunders and Kaplan and felt I knew the answers to what they asked. The NCLEX was a whole different story. never before on any test I have ever taken have I felt so dumbfounded and lost. There were probably 10 of my 75 questions that I knew right off the bat, the rest were a total guess, including the 11 meds I got, one of which I knew. the rest- I was sitting there thinking "you have GOT to be sh*ttin me" I used process of elimination so many times

"this cant be right because" and ulitmately passed with 75 questions

so... HESI vs NCLEX.. nothing alike cept the format!

Thank you for sharing your experience!

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thanks for the posts, may i ask which is harder.. HESI or KAPLAN?

and whihc is the closet to NCLEX?

thanks.

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wats HESI? sorry but im not familiar...

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LOL I got all you beat... I scored a 61,818 on my mid-curricular hesi. The Computer lab people, instructors and customer service were dumb-founded. I took the test because we had to as an afterhtought to our final (didn't count for anything). The instructors said I scored

As for the poster above me- the HESI is an exam many schools use as some sort of cummulative final exam for RN students (maybe LPNs too?). It is NOT written like NCLEX if the mid curricular was any indication. It is not the same format as NCLEx where if you get a question right it gives you a harder question on the same subject. HESI is ajust a bunch of random questions.

I liek what someone in another thread said- HESI and the schools tell you its a good indicator for passing the NCLEX... but no one knows if its a good indicator of if you will fail the NCLEX.

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I didn't really study for the NCLEX. I did about 200 questions from the Saunders book on the flight home from my honeymoon.

I thought HESI was 'harder'. I guess I should say, I found the NCLEX easier.

NCLEX is interactive. I know if I got the last question right/wrong based on the next question the I received. You start to get a 'feel' for what the test is looking for. Once I fugured out what the NCLEX wanted out of me, it was really easy.

HESI was just a bunch of questions. We all got the same questions, and they didn't change depending on if I got the previous question right or wrong. You get no feedback from HESI-until the end.

I got a 1098 on HESI, and passed NCLEX in 75 in under an hour. I think you'll do fine...

yay...i got a 1098 on HESI too..taking NCLEX july 5. ill keep studying but this is still very reassuring !

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Hi you guys,

Did any of you who took the NCLEX take a HESI online prep course as well? Are there any of those available? and if there are, would you have any recommendations?

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