How To Pass The HESI APRN Exam

Licensing, certification, approval ratings-these terms are used in various industries to signify excellence and competency. However, the healthcare field is one of the few career paths in which licensing and certification can be a matter of life and death. One way of ensuring that our hospitals and acute care centers are staffed with highly-trained, knowledgeable, and effective medical care professionals is requiring nursing students to pass tests like the HESI APRN exit exam. If you are a student in an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse program, you will likely be required to get a substantially high grade on the HESI APRN exam. The first step is not to panic. At Exam Edge, we can help you learn everything you need to know about passing your HESI test.

What are the HESI exams?

The HESI offers an assortment of exams designed to show how you will perform on upcoming official licensing exams like the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). Originally developed by Health Education Systems, Inc., the exams are now provided by Elsevier. These tests are often required by nursing programs as a way to gauge current students' readiness for the licensing test or as a prerequisite for entering higher-level coursework.

The HESI exams are a rite of passage for many nursing students across the country, so there are plenty of resources available to current students worried about passing. If you're at the APRN coursework level already, you've likely had some experience with these tests before.

The HESI APRN Exam and Why It's So Important

Any current nursing student enrolled in an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse program should take the HESI APRN exam. The test is less expensive than the official licensing exam, but it is designed to mirror the actual certification test so closely that it offers an accurate sample of how you'd perform on your official exam. You don't want the official test to be your first crack at these types of questions!
Like all HESI exams, the HESI APRN exam is primarily multiple-choice, with questions that dive into the complexities of the specific areas of study required for APRN students. For example, you can expect to see questions about:

• Advanced pharmacotherapy (cutting-edge theory and practice on the use of new medications and therapies to manage chronic pain and illness)
• Advanced health assessment protocols (the ability to analyze current patient health status and predict future health risks)
• Advanced pathophysiology (identifying and assessing the earliest stages of disease in patients)

How to Prepare for Your HESI APRN Exam

There are plenty of tried and true ways to prepare for your HESI APRN certification test. Nurses have had plenty of success by using flashcards, quizzing each other on difficult topics, forming study groups, and using HESI APRN study guides. Those are all great methods, but we suggest an even better one: taking several APRN practice tests prior to your exam date.
Exam Edge provides students with a wealth of tools for studying and improving their HESI score. Our practice exams are designed to mimic the pacing and structure of the real HESI APRN exam, complete with a bank of HESI APRN practice questions that are similar to what you'll face when you take your certification test.
Practice exams give you instant feedback on how well you're stacking up against the actual bank of test questions. While studying for several hours per week, quizzing your colleagues, and going over flashcards can help you memorize the content, taking practice exams lets you know exactly where your strengths and weaknesses are. Then, you can double-down on the areas in which you need extra help. Our practice tests are also scored just like the real APRN certification exam, so you can see what kind of score you'd get if you took the HESI APRN exit exam today.

How to Prepare for Your HESI APRN Exam

You can find a host of resources online to help you formulate proper study sessions, allocate your study time, and even interact with other APRN students for tips on the test. Elsevier also provides online resources such as the HESI Next Generation portal, where you can find information on previous tests/scores and read case studies on the test's efficacy, and more.
Still, we think our selection of practice tests is the way to go. Exam Edge offers over 20 different exams using a test bank of 2,000 APRN practice questions. The exams are timed just like the HESI test, and the breakdown of questions is highly similar. We're confident that You'll boost your score into the passing range and above after completing some of our practice exams. Want to try it out? You can get a sample HESI APRN practice test today!