Whats so hard about the HESI?

XYcsccSN · May 2, 2009

I also though that HESI was hyped up. I did review some stuff from earlier quarters for the mid curricular but I only spent a couple of hours reviewing. I scored a 1056 and was the 1st one out the door.

goodstudentnowRN · May 2, 2009

Good job! I believe anxiety causes some people to score low. It is so sad, because I believe I am not a very good test taker too. However, I am doing fine with my tests and have a decent GPA.

NoviceRN10 · May 2, 2009

I did really well on my mid-curricular HESI. I am, however concerned about how my exit HESI will be. I have a whole 12 weeks off this summer to FORGET everything I learned up to this point (three semesters of material)! Then I go back for one more semester and have to take the exit exam. We have been told we better study all summer long (we were told NOT to study for the mid-curricular exam). We have to pass the exit HESI with I think 900 or better or my school will not release students to take their NCLEX, even if you have graduated the program. They will make us take a study course like KAPLAN if we don't get at least 900.

loveshospital · May 2, 2009

Well, I just took my mid curricular HESI, which covered patho/pharm/foundations/psych/OB/Peds today. I scored a 950 and did a whole 40 practice questions... I basically did not study. So many people in my program talked about doing 1000's of practice questions and ended up scoring about the same or less. I truly believe the secret of nursing school is to just relax and take things for what it is. Me and some friends have GPAs of 3.5+, study before tests, do our projects/papers, and just don't think about this stuff. If you are stressing, just relax.

I agree,I didnt find Hesi to be chalenging at all,I was fed with all the horrible stories how everyone fails Hesi (even the nurses at the Hospital were saying the same thing) and when I took it I was really surprised by how easy it was.I didnt even open the book and I did maybe NCLEX style 800 questions.If Hesi is suppose to be harder the NCLEX that I'm really dissapointed!:)

HumptyDumpty · May 4, 2009

I agree,I didnt find Hesi to be chalenging at all,I was fed with all the horrible stories how everyone fails Hesi (even the nurses at the Hospital were saying the same thing) and when I took it I was really surprised by how easy it was.I didnt even open the book and I did maybe NCLEX style 800 questions.If Hesi is suppose to be harder the NCLEX that I'm really dissapointed!:)

Haha, I agree. I was so sick of hearing everyone freak out about some test. They say something that like if you score above a 900 on the hesi, you have like a 90% chance of passing the NCLEX... Kind of dissapointing that all this time in nursing school spent grinding questions and preparing for some test seems to be complete overkill. I wish they would just skip the BS, train us to be RNs in 6 months, and let us take the NCLEX. You learn everything on the job anywho :icon_roll

camiluvsNURSING · May 5, 2009

That's why I love this site. My classmates and I were stressing after our last exam because now our Mid Curricular Hesi is included in our grade (it wasn't before this semester.) I plan on studying something but at least I know I don't have to be stressing out. Thanks everybody! :yeah:

P.S.

I just need a 70 to pass

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 5, 2009

I am not a good test taker, I am not sure if their is anyway to work on that. I do well on everything but exams. I don't freak out about exams either though, I never have. I haven't done the HESI I don't start nursing school until August. I freak out about some things, tests just aren't one of them.

Than again I don't freak out when my kids fall or get scraped and so on.

ErinJane · May 6, 2009

I think its just that not everyone is good at taking tests.

I know alot of people in our program who are awesome in class, but totally blew the HESI.

It's awesome that you too did well, but for some people it isn't simple for them.

XYcsccSN · May 6, 2009

I am not a good test taker, I am not sure if their is anyway to work on that. I do well on everything but exams. I don't freak out about exams either though, I never have. I haven't done the HESI I don't start nursing school until August. I freak out about some things, tests just aren't one of them.
Than again I don't freak out when my kids fall or get scraped and so on.

Our school has a program in the computer lab that teaches test taking strategies. Basically, it teaches you to read the question, find the "stem", look for any qualifiers (never, always, and best), rule out any "distracters", and choose the best answer. If you are not a good test taker, I suggest finding a resource like this. You should be able to find a book at Amazon or Barnes and Nobles pretty cheap. This will help you not miss questions that you know the answer to but just didn't read the question right. Once you start NS, use NCLEX books to practice answering questions as you learn the material. Almost every nursing school will have NCLEX style exam questions for exams since this is the test that will determine if you will become an RN, so practicing questions in the same style will help you prepare for what to expect on exams.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 6, 2009

Our school has a program in the computer lab that teaches test taking strategies. Basically, it teaches you to read the question, find the "stem", look for any qualifiers (never, always, and best), rule out any "distracters", and choose the best answer. If you are not a good test taker, I suggest finding a resource like this. You should be able to find a book at Amazon or Barnes and Nobles pretty cheap. This will help you not miss questions that you know the answer to but just didn't read the question right. Once you start NS, use NCLEX books to practice answering questions as you learn the material. Almost every nursing school will have NCLEX style exam questions for exams since this is the test that will determine if you will become an RN, so practicing questions in the same style will help you prepare for what to expect on exams.

Thanks for the information, we do have a learning opportunity center at our school and you can go in and do assessments to learn good study habits (I need to do this as well, I never had to study in JHS and HS and get to science classes in college and it doesn't come naturally and I had such a hard time studying, would just get so bored and distracted) so anyway, I am going to go do these assessments for that before August and I will see if they have test taking things as well.