The HESI A2 is a nursing school entrance exam built from up to eight academic sections — Math, Reading, Vocabulary, Grammar, Biology, Chemistry, A&P, and Physics — but your school chooses which sections you take (usually 4–6), the time limit (typically 2–4 hours), and the passing cutoff (75–80%+ is competitive). Cost is school-set, roughly $40–110. Step one of HESI prep is always the same: get your program's exact section list.
The HESI A2 (Health Education Systems, Inc. Admission Assessment), published by Elsevier, is one of the two dominant nursing school entrance exams. Like the TEAS, it measures academic readiness rather than nursing knowledge — but its defining feature is configurability. Elsevier offers a menu of sections; each program assembles its own exam from that menu. Two applicants at different schools can both "take the HESI A2" and sit meaningfully different tests.
That configurability is why generic HESI advice fails. Studying physics for a program that doesn't test it wastes weeks; skipping vocabulary for one that requires it is fatal. Your program's admissions page — specifically its required-sections list and per-section minimums — is the actual syllabus.
| Structure | School-selected sections (usually 4–6 of 8) |
| Academic sections | Math, Reading, Vocabulary, Grammar, Biology, Chemistry, A&P, Physics |
| Extras (some schools) | Personality style & learning style assessments (unscored for admission) |
| Questions per section | ~25–55, multiple choice |
| Time limit | School-set; typically 2–4 hours total |
| Passing score | School-set; 75–80%+ competitive, often per-section |
| Cost | School-set; roughly $40–110 (+ possible proctoring fee) |
| Calculator | Built-in on-screen calculator for the math section |
The four near-universal sections are Math, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar. Math is heavily practical: fractions, ratios, proportions, and conversions — the arithmetic underneath dosage calculations. Vocabulary leans medical and health-context, which surprises applicants expecting general SAT-style words. The science sections appear program-by-program: Anatomy & Physiology is the most commonly required (and the most failed), Biology and Chemistry follow, and Physics is rare outside imaging/radiology programs. Unlike the TEAS, the HESI doesn't let you return to previous questions — answer and move.
The average cumulative score across all test-takers sits far below what programs require — most schools want 75%+ while the typical result lands well under that — so the HESI functions as a genuine filter, not a formality. Its difficulty concentrates in two places: A&P sections that go deeper than most prerequisite courses did, and per-section minimums that remove the ability to let a strong Reading score carry a weak science one. Every required section is its own pass/fail gate at most programs.
Plan 4–8 weeks and 40–70 hours, weighted by your section list. Take a diagnostic first, then apportion: A&P usually deserves the largest block, math the most consistent daily drip (conversions decay fast), and vocabulary responds best to short spaced sessions over many days — exactly the pattern cramming can't replicate.
HESI material is memory-dense: hundreds of vocabulary terms, A&P structures, and conversion facts that feel familiar after a read-through and vanish under a section clock. Familiarity isn't recall. What builds recall is testing yourself before you feel ready, spacing reviews so each fact resurfaces right before you'd lose it, and immediately re-learning every miss — the three techniques with the strongest evidence base in learning science.
Trelos is built entirely around those techniques. It teaches each concept, drills it with HESI-style questions section by section, and schedules your reviews so the material sticks — so you can weight your prep to your program's exact section list.
Start the HESI A2 on Trelos — freeNo credit card. Feel the retention engine work in your first session.Scores appear immediately on completion, section by section, and Elsevier delivers a remediation-oriented report afterward. A strong HESI gets you in the door; the licensure exam at the far end of the program is the NCLEX — our NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN guides cover that side of the journey.