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How to Practise for the HESI A2 Nursing Entrance Exam with Practice Quizzes

September 24, 20265 min readEmily Chen · Cognitive Psychology Writer & Study Skills Coach

In this article

1.The HESI A2 at a glance
2.What the format means for how you practise
3.Why quizzes and spaced review
4.A 6-week HESI A2 practice plan
5.How to build HESI A2 practice sets with SimpleQuizMaker
6.Worked example: a math skill used in nursing
7.Vocabulary: learn health terms by their parts
8.Common mistakes
9.Frequently Asked Questions
10.Keep going
11.Sources

Short answer. The HESI Admission Assessment, usually called the HESI A2, is Elsevier's entrance exam for nursing and health-professions programmes. Elsevier describes it as covering math, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology. The big difference from the TEAS is that your programme sets many of the details, including which subject exams you take and what score you need. Your first step is to get that information from the school. Your second is to quiz yourself subject by subject, with spaced review.

Checked against Elsevier's HESI pages on 24 September 2026.

The HESI A2 at a glance

What Elsevier lists as covered:

Area	Subject exams
English language	Reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar
Math	Math
Science	Anatomy and physiology, biology, chemistry

What to confirm with your programme, not with a prep website:

which subject exams you are required to take,

the time allowed and the testing arrangements (Elsevier offers HESI exams in person and with live remote proctoring, depending on the programme),

the minimum score, overall or per subject, and your retake policy.

We have left out question counts and time limits on purpose. They are not published in one official place for every programme, and figures copied from third-party sites are often out of date.

What the format means for how you practise

Only the required exams count. If your programme does not require chemistry, do not spend a week on it. Ask for the list first.

English is learnable in small steps. Vocabulary and grammar suit short daily quizzes and flashcards. Reading comprehension improves with regular practice on unfamiliar texts.

Math is mostly accuracy. Fractions, decimals, ratios, proportions, conversions and basic algebra are foundations for later dosage calculations. Practise until they are routine.

Anatomy and physiology is the largest body of facts. Organise it by body system, and review every system you have covered on a spaced schedule so earlier ones do not fade.

Why quizzes and spaced review

Practice testing and distributed practice were the two most useful techniques in the review by Dunlosky et al. (2013). For an admission exam that covers several subjects, that means short quizzes several times a week, with each subject coming back regularly.

A 6-week HESI A2 practice plan

Week 1: get the requirements and take a baseline. Get the list of required exams and the target score from your programme. Take a practice set in each required subject.

Weeks 2–4: build the subjects.

*A&P:* one body system every two days. Review it, take a 10-question quiz, then quiz again three days later and a week later.

*Math:* a 10-question quiz every other day, rotating through fractions, ratios, conversions and algebra.

*Vocabulary:* 20 flashcards a day, especially health-related terms.

*Grammar:* a short quiz three times a week.

*Reading:* two unfamiliar passages a week, followed by questions.

*Biology and chemistry,* if required: two topic quizzes a week each.

Week 5: a timed practice run of every required subject in one sitting.

Week 6: taper. Short quizzes on your two weakest subjects, plus flashcards.

How to build HESI A2 practice sets with SimpleQuizMaker

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Subject quizzes. For example, "HESI A2 anatomy and physiology: the respiratory system, 10 questions with explanations." The free plan works from a topic or pasted text, with up to 10 questions per quiz and 5 generations a month.

From your prerequisite course notes. Paste your A&P or chemistry notes so the questions match what you studied.

Chapter sets on Student. For $2.99 a month you can upload PDFs, Word files and images and generate up to 100 questions per quiz.

Templates: anatomy and physiology, biology midterm, chemistry periodic table, fractions and decimals, grammar and punctuation.

Flashcards for terms and conversions, using the flashcard maker.

See the HESI A2 exam page and the quiz maker for nurses.

Worked example: a math skill used in nursing

Ratio and proportion problems appear in admission math and again in dosage calculations in nursing school. A sample practice question written for this guide:

> *A recipe for a saline solution uses 9 grams of salt per 1 litre of water. How many grams of salt are needed for 250 mL?*

The answer is 2.25 grams. 250 mL is 0.25 L, and 9 × 0.25 = 2.25.

Turn it into practice:

Put the conversion on a flashcard: 1 L = 1,000 mL.

Generate 10 proportion problems mixing mL and L, g and mg, and simple dosage-style ratios.

Re-quiz in three days and again in a week.

Vocabulary: learn health terms by their parts

Much of the health vocabulary you will meet is built from prefixes, roots and suffixes. Learning the parts helps you work out unfamiliar terms:

Prefixes: hyper- (above), hypo- (below), brady- (slow), tachy- (fast).

Suffixes: -itis (inflammation), -ectomy (removal), -algia (pain).

Put each part on a flashcard, then quiz yourself on whole words built from them.

Common mistakes

Studying every subject equally when your programme requires only some of them.

Relying on question counts from prep sites. Ask your programme for its current arrangements.

Leaving anatomy and physiology until last. It is the largest body of facts to learn, so start it first and keep reviewing it.

Skipping math practice because it feels easy. Careless conversion errors cost points, so check units every time.

Not asking about retakes early. Some programmes limit retakes or set a waiting period, which affects when you should test.

Treating a practice score as a guarantee. Practice sets from any source, including ours, only estimate readiness. Leave a margin above your programme's minimum.

Frequently Asked Questions

What subjects are on the HESI A2?

Elsevier describes the Admission Assessment as covering math, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology. Your programme decides which of these you take.

How many questions are on the HESI A2 and how long is it?

Your programme's instructions are the reliable source for this, because arrangements vary. Do not rely on numbers copied from prep sites.

What HESI A2 score do I need?

Each programme sets its own minimum score, sometimes per subject. Ask the admissions office.

Is the HESI A2 the same as the TEAS?

No. They are different exams from different publishers, ATI for the TEAS and Elsevier for the HESI. Take whichever one your programme requires. See our TEAS guide.

Can I take the HESI A2 online?

Elsevier offers HESI exams with live remote proctoring as well as in person. Whether you can test remotely depends on your programme.

Are AI-generated HESI questions official?

No. They are practice questions written by an AI. Use Elsevier's official review materials to check your readiness.

Keep going

TEAS practice guide

NCLEX-RN practice guide, for after nursing school

HESI A2 practice quizzes

Sources

Sources: Elsevier: HESI exam solutions and Admission Assessment · Elsevier: Admission Assessment Exam Review, 6th edition. Checked 24 September 2026.

*SimpleQuizMaker is not affiliated with or endorsed by Elsevier. HESI is a trademark of Elsevier. Quizzes described here are AI-generated practice, not official HESI questions.*

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Emily Chen

Cognitive Psychology Writer & Study Skills Coach

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