Just took HESI A2. Thoughts and info

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So I just finished my HESI A2 test. I had to take the grammar, reading comp, math and A&P sections. I did very well on the test. I needed to score 75 on the first 3 and avg 75 on all 4 to pass. I did well beyond that.

Overall I had plenty of time for the test. I had 4 hours and only used about 2.5 hours. I think you get 1 hour per section you have to take. One problem I will note though is that I am a smoker and as far as I know there are no smoke breaks allowed. So after 2.5 hours of answering questions and no smoke my brain was pretty fried.

I'm gonna break down the sections I took and try to help everyone with some info and what I recommend for studying.

I'm going to preface all following material by saying that none of these questions are from the test but are just examples of the types of questions I recall seeing on the test. Specifically the A/P examples I am using are not copies from the test and as far as I know, no one owns a copyright to human anatomy and physiology.

**Grammar**

The guide sold by elsevier is exactly dead on for what you need to study for this section. The examples were of the same from as I saw on the test. The questions were different but same form.

This section wasn't overly difficult. It was 55 total questions all multiple choice.

Alphabetical order, need to know how to put stuff in alphabetical order. This was extremely easy.

Second type of question were of the form right out of the guide. Choose the word or phrase that makes this sentence grammatically correct.

Third type of question "Pick the word or phrase used incorrectly in the sentence."

These also are covered very well in the study guide.

Another type of question from the guide "Identify the (Adverb/verb/preposition/independent clause/direct object etc...)"

Overall the section was pretty easy and I think if you use the Elsevier guide and have taken a college level writing course you will be well prepared for this section.

**Math**

I scored 100% on the math section. It was extremely easy and the math was very very basic. The elsevier guide covers everything you need for this section perfectly. And I was provided with scratch dry erase board and a calculator.

You need to know how to work with fractions, especially mixed numbers like 7 1/7 and the like. You need to know how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators and mixed numbers. Basically if you can do every operation with fractions included reducing/finding common denominator you will be fine.

Conversions/military time/roman numerals

The conversions were extremely basic, how many liters is X milliliters etc...How many ounces in X amount of cups/pints/gallons. Convert kilograms to pounds. Roughly 30mL to 1 Fluid Ounce.

I would brush up on basic roman numerals from the Elsevier guide and know military time.

Proportions/%

Many questions were proportions in the form of 8172:81771=x:9188, what is the value of X. The numbers I used are just an example but expect to see many questions of that type. Also you must be able to make a proportion to find a %. Example is 57% of the class is male and the total number of students is 88, how many students are female?

There were a few other random type very basic word questions using addition/subtraction or multiplication/division thrown in, but if you have the Elsevier guide and can do the practice tests in it you will be absolutely fine.

**Reading Comp**

This section was the simplest but in my opinion also the most annoying.

Basically just like you would expect, it has you read a paragraph and answer 1-8 questions about it. One of the paragraphs I read only had 1 question for it and I was a bit annoyed at that.

The questions were of varying form and multiple choice.

"What is the author implying with X?"

"What can be inferred from this this reading?"

"What is the authors motivation?"

"What does X word mean?"

"What is the author trying to say in this sentence?"

And I could go on and on, but these types of questions are the basic idea of what you will be asked on the test.

I recommend doing some practice reading comp on the internet and do the reading comp stuff in the Elsevier guide and you should be OK.

**A&P**

Last but certainly not least the A/P section. This was my lowest score on the test, but it was also the fewest questions at 30, while all other sections were 55.

I had the most trouble trying to study for this section as A/P is such a broad subject and the classes I have taken for my nursing program took 8 months. With that said I have taken A/P 1 and 2, but both of them over a year ago.

I'm going to go over the types of questions I was given and then link a bunch of stuff I found and used to prepare.

Basic heart anatomy needs to be focused on. IE "Where does blood that enters the left/right atrium come from?" "The outer/middle/inner layer of the heart is called?"

Circulatory system, "Where does the liver get its blood from?" These were very basic type of questoins and if you know the major arteries and veins you should be fine.

Several questions about the endocrine system. The idea of the questions are like this "What gland secretes X hormone?", "What does X hormone do?", "How is X gland regulated (IE how is the anterior pituitary regulated)."

There was a question about joints also. IE "What type of joint is X" Just know the basic joints for this type question.

There was 1 or 2 basic muscle anatomy questions that I remember. IE "Where is X muscle located."

Skeletal system, I wouldn't spend time trying to memorize things like the "Greater trochanter of X bone" etc... Just know what bone is where and the 4 basic types of bones and where what type of marrow is located and what that type of marrow does.

Nervous system. There were several questions about the nervous system which I consider to be a weak area for myself. They were overall very basic though. "Hearing is processed by what nerve?" "What area of the brain handles speaking/hearing/memory etc..." A couple of the questions about different cranial nerves, which I remember being stressed in my A/P class, so I recommend knowing those pretty well. Also there were a couple of questions about the spinal cord, but again very basic level. Couple of questions about the ear and eye, know the basics of each of these organs and you will be fine. Like the bones of the ear, nerves of the ear etc... Also know how the anatomy of the eye and the types of cells in the retina/cornea etc...

Another form of question I recommend being ready for is "Where is X organ located?" "Where is X(insert very oddly named item) located?" "What system is X(Odd name here) part of."

The only curve ball that I wasn't expecting were questions about cell organelles. These questions also happen to be the ones I got wrong. So know the organelles of the cell and what they do. I wasn't expecting any questions like this because I thought cell structure is part of Biology section but I was wrong.

I feel like honestly I went a little overboard studying the A/P but I passed so it was worth it. Here is what I used to study for the A/P section specifically.

What I mainly did for studying was to do practice questions and to read the answers and explanations. I broke out my old anatomy text book for more in depth knowledge about certain things like hormones and heart anatomy.

One tip I offer is that when you take a practice test, read the explanation even for the questions you get right, because I found I could usually guess many answers correctly, but its worthless if I guess a question correct but don't read and understand again why it is correct.

BOOKS:

A/P for dummies - used the practice questions and skimmed the outline it had for A/P.

Cliffsquickreview Anatomy and physiology - Same thing, used practice questions and skimmed it.

Complete idiots guide to nursing school entrance exams - This book had a fairly large amount of practice questions and a decent section on A/P, I recommend heading to Barns and Nobles and taking a look at the practice tests.

Barrons Nursing School entrance exams and Mcgraw-Hill's nursing school entrance exams - Used both books to skim the A/P sections and I did all the A/P related practice questions.

Evolve Reach admission assessment exam review - Was ok, the practice questions were decent but not very many of them.

Websites I found particularly helpful -

https://sites.google.com/site/apinnerworkings/free-stuff/hesi-a2 - This site has alot of info about Hesi test and a great A/P section.

http://www.biologycorner.com/anatomy/index.html - This is a professors site for a class he is teaching and it is awesome.

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072351187/student_view0/ - This was the best site I found for practice questions. It is divided up into each system and has between 30-45 questions for each system. The answers are also well explained. Highly recommend you use these tests. Also there are quite a few good links on the left margin for flash card practice etc...

**Final thoughts**

I don't feel like the test was overly hard, but since I only get 2 shots at it so I went all out on the study in preparation for this test. Honestly can't think of much more to say except that I hope readers find this helpful in some way. If you have specific questions please PM me or leave a message in here with your email and I will get back to you.

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Hi, I just joined I have a question about the HESI. In here you didn't include the Biology section. Which I did horrible in. The second time around was it harder?

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Sorry I just have to say, they allowed you to have a calculator?? I'm jealous they didn't allow them on the PAX...

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I just wanted to say thank you for all your info! Your post was the most helpful--even though it's from a long time ago! Your advice helped me to supplement what the Elsevier study guide had for the anatomy section; I ended up getting a 100%.

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Thank you for this!

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