Q's about Hesi A2 critical thinking portion !

Nursing Students HESI

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Hi everyone! I'm in the middle of doing my prerequisites for my BSN and about to take the Hesi A2. Can someone please tell me what kind of critical thinking questions will be on the test? I'm so nervous!

Thanks

Ps. Anyone applying for UT Houston - UTHSC for Fall 2013? ?

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Hello, I applied to UTHSC Houston for spring 2013 and am waiting to hear back from them (November can't come soon enough!!). I took the HESI back in July. This is the info I was given along with my critical thinking scores...

"This exam is a four-choice, multiple-choice test. All answers are correct. However, each choice reflects a different degree of critical thinking skills.

Scores range from 0-1000. The higher your score is, the better your ability to think critically within the discipline of nursing.

In addition to a total score on this exam you will receive scores on five sub-categories of critical thinking:

- Problem Solving: These questions refer to the process of inquiry in which the nurse seeks multiple facts to remove obstacles or resolve patient care problems.

- Biases and Ethical Dilemmas: These questions address ethical, legal, and moral issues, as well as biases nurses may have about patients and others.

- Argument Analysis: These questions refer to situations in which the nurse seeks to resolve conflicts or disagreements by considering multiple points of view.

- Analysis of Data: These questions address the need to interpret patient data correctly, and decide if further nursing action is required."

The fifth sub category is "Prioritization of Care" which isn't listed here, but the title is pretty self-explanatory.

There were 30 questions on the critical thinking portion. But it's been a few months since I took the test, so I don't remember the questions that I had.

Many people found the book "Fundamentals Success A Q&A Review Applying Critical Thinking to Test Taking" helpful in studying for this section. I bought this book as well, but unfortunately this was after I already took the test. ;) I can see how it would help you to prepare for the types of questions given on the HESI, though.

Basically, you need to try to think like a nurse. Before you do anything else, make sure you understand what the question is asking. Read it CAREFULLY, recognize the keywords in the question, and recognize who the "client" is in the question. Then critically analyze each of the options in relation to the question. You can usually eliminate at least 2 of the answers fairly easily.

For "prioritization of care" questions, remember ABC (airway, breathing, then circulation). Meet the patient's physiological needs before psychological ones (like safety/security).

Best of luck to you! Hopefully we'll both make it into UTHSC. :)

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Thanks Oceanise!!!! That is really helpful! Did you hear anything back from them? Wow isn't November a bit late for hearing back about Spring acceptance :S ? I mean I'm going to apply for next September but from what I've read on here people hear back around April May-ish? I don't know but good luck though!! Where did you do your prereqs?

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bobo21 said:
Thanks Oceanise!!!! That is really helpful! Did you hear anything back from them? Wow isn't November a bit late for hearing back about Spring acceptance :S ? I mean I'm going to apply for next September but from what I've read on here people hear back around April May-ish? I don't know but good luck though!! Where did you do your prereqs?

Thanks! Nope, nothing yet. A lot of the fall applicants received transcript evaluations by now but I'm still waiting for mine. ? Oh well. Our deadline was September 1st. I took my pre-reqs at HCC.

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Thank you for the helpful information and good luck!!

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thanks oceanise for your info. I was reading few others about the critical thinking and one person recommend me that book also; so I just purchase it on amazon. so thanks again

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Specializes in L&D.

Hi! I am applying for the accelerated 15 month spring '14 start BSN program at UTHMC! Praying that I'm accepted! I take the critical thinking section of my HESI tomorrow. Not gonna stress too much over it though, just gonna go out and give my best ya know? Has anyone heard back from admissions yet?

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How were you able to take just the critical thinking portion?

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Hi! Today I took my hesi and passed with overall 85% but unfortunately I got 720 on critical thinking and UTHSC recommends 750. The critical thinking score did not show up on my score sheet so I was wondering can that be a main factor for being denied for spring 2014 semester? I currently have a gpa 4.0 so I am hoping I can still possibly get accepted.

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I passed my hesi with overall 85% and passed each section with 75% and higher but for critical thinking I scored 720 could that automatically give me a denial even though I passed the other sections and also have a 4.0 gpa

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I just took this exam. I got an 870 on the critical thinking (equivalent to an 87%) - good enough, but lower than what I got on anything else. I'm really confused about this section. It was entirely questions where you are a nurse and what would you do in this given scenario, which would be a great question for people who have at least had a nursing fundamentals course. I have not, and neither will most applicants. I am very good at A & P (I scored 100%) but how the hades am I supposed to know if a guy hallucinating from alcohol poisoning should be attended before or after a teen with lots of blood in her urine from a kidney infection? I got that book everyone recommends (see previous posts) but it only has about 20 pages on strategies (and they are not really helpful if you are already good at taking tests) and the rest of that book is nothing but practice questions that assume you know the fundamentals of nursing (just like this section). My best guess is the only way to do better on critical thinking is to study from a nursing fundamentals book, since all the questions seemed to assume we already know some of that stuff.

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I can see this isn't a new post, but I'll still ask a question. Maybe this is obvious, but for this section do we need to be studying things like lab ranges, familiarize yourself with different diseases and symptoms, etc in able to do well on this section? Thanks

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