Went in all confident and strong going to the Hesi exam until I got my score

[demeanor89]

This first semester has been rough..really rough for me and I just don't get it at all. I got great grades in high school and college but when entering nursing school, I'm hanging on with my fingers to stay in. Not doing bad, but had to dig deep and work my bum off to survive this program. All throughout the semester I have been hearing how the Hesi exam is a big grade booster and will help you if you do alot of practice questions. We have to complete a minimum of 500 questions to take the test, I have done 1400+ questions and read rationales to help and understood them. Lots of people were saying since I did alot I'll be doing well. I went all in all positive and confident and took my very first Hesi exam today only learn I got a 62.8 raw score !x. I was pretty shocked b/c one that really will bring my course grade down and two, was unexpected. I don't know how this happened but I am very worried about my nursing future. I have pangs and am worried about the rest of my exams and feel this is going to continue no matter how hard I crunch in. I also had feelings of just wanting to quit since maybe I'm not meant to be a nurse even if I wanted it and it's a "calling" for certain people. I'm aiming to finish strong, and will continue to study. Just need to vent it out.

[Peyton12]

I know exactly how you are feeling. We had to take a Hesi mid-curricular and I did poorly on it and had to do some summer remediation before starting 2nd year. I think I made around a 72. 1st semester was HARD for me. I too was always an A-B student and a good test taker until nursing school. They are a different kind of test. It will get better. I barely passed 1st semester. 2nd semester was better, but then I didn't do well on mid-curricular Hesi. Now, I just completed the program and took the Hest Exit Exam and scored 1001 with a conversion score of 88! It does get better...it's just an adjustment. You CAN do it. :-)

[sassynerd]

Unfortunately I have no words of wisdom to give you because I too went in all confident and came out with a 73 score. It felt even worse when everyone in class was celebrating how this will bump up their final grade and it looked like the majority of the class did well from all the high-fives and cheering. I feel defeated and also am having a moment of wanting to quit and perhaps nursing isn't right for me. I understand that this is a learning process and we are to look at our hesi score sheets and remediate in areas where we are weak. From my understanding, hesi is a test of how well you take a test and critical thinking skills. It is not a test of knowledge and information. There is too much information in the nursing world to know everything. So quite possibly, you will get a question you have never covered in class or clinical. The only thing I can say going forward is that I will work on my "test taking skills." I will be checking out some different books to try more practice questions. If I find any helpful I will come back and share on this post. I am feeling defeated but I hope that this shall pass. Don't give up and just keep your head up! I am going to do the same...