In this instructional video, the presenter walks nursing students through the HESI Exit Exam, explaining that it serves as a predictor of NCLEX performance and mirrors the NCLEX with NGN‑style items such as bow‑tie, highlight, and drag‑and‑drop questions. The exam scores range from 0 to 1500; scores of 950+ are considered excellent, 850+ indicate NCLEX readiness, and lower scores signal the need for remediation. The test is divided into three content domains—nursing process, client needs, and specialties—with a total of 150 questions for RN programs (LPN programs have 75 or 150). After completion, students receive a detailed score report that breaks down performance by domain and sub‑category, allowing targeted study. The presenter shares personal experience of taking the exam twice while pregnant, emphasizing the importance of taking the exam seriously the first time. Study recommendations include starting early, leveraging material already covered in nursing school, focusing on weaker areas identified in the score report, reviewing school‑provided HESI materials, and completing a large volume of practice NCLEX‑style questions. The video concludes with encouragement to become the nurse each viewer is meant to be.
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If you're in a nursing program that uses the hesi, you're probably well aware that you eventually need to take the HESI exit exam. I had to take this in nursing school too. So I'm going to walk you through what worked for me and what didn't work for me. There were a few things and how I prepared for it and all of the things so that you can feel more confident when you take your HESI exit exam. Let's dive in. So first things first, what can you expect on the HUSIE exam? What is the HUSI exit exam anyway? So think of it as a test for how well you might do on the nclex. It's an NCLEX predictor exam. So it's basically trying to just gauge how well you're going to do on the NCLEX. It's dynamic like the NCLEXes. So it's really similar in a couple of ways and those are really important for you to know. The HESI test items are going to be very similar to what you would see on the nclex, including the NGN question types like bow tie items, highlight items, and drag and drop in those dropdowns. So it's giving you all of the different types of NGN questions so that it can determine how ready you are to take the nclex. So the better you do on the HESI exit exam, the more likely you are to pass the NCLEX. And here's a breakdown on the scoring for the HESI. The HESI exit exam scores range from 0 to 1500. And if you score above a 950, that's amazing. According to the HESI exam, scoring a score of 950 and above that means that you're going to rock the the NCLEX. Now, a 900 to 949 gives you a really good chance of passing two and then an 850 to an 899 is an average chance of passing. This is actually the cutoff that they consider NCLEX ready. So if you score an 850 or above, they consider you ready to take the NCLEX. An 800 to an 849 is a below average chance of passing. And you can see the scores below that would tell you that you need more studying and remediation in order to get prepared for the nclex. So you would want to do some extra practice if that's the camp that you fall into. And although the HESI exit exam is another exam that you have to take in Nursing school, you really should take it seriously. At least more seriously than I did. I did not do super well on it, honestly. It was the last term in nursing school. I was super pregnant and just tired. I was so, so done. So I think I scored in like the 800s and I'm not even sure that I scored above an 850 the first time because I did have to take it twice, but I definitely passed the second time. Did end up passing the NCLEX the first time. So maybe the HESI exit exam did do something, I don't know. But it's definitely better to take it seriously the first time you take it. So maybe you won't have to retake it like I had to do. So what is going to be on the HE exit exam anyway? What can you expect? So you're not the only one wondering this, I promise you. I wondered this too. Now, the HESI exit exam, it's broken up into three main parts. You'll have the nursing process, client needs and specialties. Now, there's a lot of things that fall into each of those categories and I'm going to put these up here on the screen for you. But those are the three core areas or subjects that you'll be tested on with the HESSIE exit the nursing process, client, needs and specialties. So as you're studying for the HESI exit exam, you'll want to focus on whatever areas that you struggle with the most. And in a minute I'm going to get to the study strategies that helped me the most. So we will walk through all of that in a minute. But let's say you struggle with pediatrics or med surg the most. Well, then those are the areas that you will want to make sure that you spend the most time on before the exam. You want to get ready for it, right? And there's a total of 150 questions for the HESI exit exam for RN programs. And the HESI LPN exit exam will have either 150 or 75 questions. And honestly I have no idea how they figure that out because that is a huge range. So I don't know how that all works. And then after you take the exam, you'll get a printed out breakdown of how you scored in each of those three categories and their subcategories. So you'll be able to really see the areas that you're strongest in and what areas you are the weakest in. This is really helpful. At least it was helpful for me. That way you'll be able to focus your study time on the most for your weaker areas. And that's really a big thing, I think. Spend some time reading over your results of your husband exit exam and even if you don't have to do a retake or remediation, it will at least give you something to go off of when you are studying for the nclex. Because when you're prepping to take the nclex, you don't want to spend a ton of time practicing or studying the things that you're already good at, right? You want to focus on the areas that you're struggling with. So the HESI report that you get after taking it, that's going to be super helpful for you when you're studying for the nclex so you can see what areas and the topics that you need to really focus more study time on. That was super helpful for me and I really appreciated that. So now let's walk through some of the study tips for how to prepare for the HESI exam. Now the biggest one is to start early. Of course, like I said, I did not take the hussy seriously enough as I should have. I should have started studying a lot earlier than I did, which was a big mistake, especially because I ended up having to take it twice. So really, I really should have studied well the first time so I didn't have to waste time studying for it all over again. Which of course was not super fun. But I also want you to know that the studying that you've done all throughout nursing school is going to be beneficial as you study for the HESI exit exam. So it's really not like you have to start all over and none of the work that you've done so far matters. No, that's not how it is. That's nothing like that. It's just that now with the HESI exit you, you'll be focused on your weaker areas and the things that you need to refresh on. And we'll get to that in a minute. This is a common thing I hear from nursing students who have to take the HESI exam. They feel like they need to study all new material, but that's really not the case. You've studied your booty off this whole time through nursing school, right? And all that hard work, it still counts. So a big thing that I did to prepare was go through the online hessey materials and the slides, whatever my school gave us. But, and this is a series, but I skimmed over the things that I already had a solid handle on. I think this is really where a lot of nursing students go wrong is that they try to do all of the things right all of the time, and then you just don't have time to get to everything or to do practice questions or critically think about things. That leads me to the next big thing. I did practice questions. Now, I honestly could take or leave practice questions as you go through the majority of your nursing classes. If you want to do them, great. If not, that's cool too. For me, personally, I honestly didn't find them super helpful until I was really toward the end of my nursing program. But when it comes to the HESI exit exam, I do really suggest that you do practice questions and a lot of them. And in this video here, I walk you through my top tips for answering nclex style questions, which is what the HESI exit exam is going to test you on so you'll be way more prepared for it. And of course, subscribe to my channel if this was helpful for you. I have a lot of videos coming up that I'm really excited about and I don't want you to miss those. And as always, my friend, go become the nurse that God created only you to be. And I will see you over there in that next video.
