HESI A2 Exam Prep: Build the Plan Your Nursing Program Actually Requires

Written by the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team · Last verified: August 21, 2026

“2026” here is when we checked these facts. It is not the name of an Elsevier exam version — there is no “2026 HESI.”

The HESI A2 has no national passing score and no single national sitting length. Elsevier publishes seven academic exams: four with 50 scored items, three with 25, and 285 estimated minutes if all seven are administered. Your nursing program chooses the modules, the clock, the score rule, the retake rule, and whether your result is even treated as a pass/fail threshold.

So the first job of HESI A2 exam prep isn't studying. It's finding out what you're actually taking.

We checked 22 program configurations at 21 nursing schools on August 21, 2026. Published numeric requirements or recommendations ranged from 60% to 85%. Published retake waits ranged from 3 calendar days to 3 months. Score validity included one, two, three, and five years — plus no expiration. Pensacola State publishes a different section list and score floor for its RN applicants than for its LPN applicants.

That's the part nobody tells you. The rest of this page is what to do about it.

Start with the planner below. Choose a verified school preset or enter your own section list. It gives you Elsevier's scored-item count and estimated time, solves plain-average and per-section score rules, refuses to invent math for weighted or ranking formulas, builds a dated study plan, and calculates a screen-pace ratio only when your program publishes both its total items and its clock. Free, no email, nothing to buy.

✅ This page is for you if

• Your nursing or health-sciences program requires the HESI Admission Assessment (A2) — the entrance exam, taken before you're admitted.
• You're preparing for a first attempt or a permitted retake.
• You need to know which sections you sit, what score clears the bar, and what to study first.

❌ This is the wrong page if

• You're studying for the NCLEX-RN, the licensure exam you take after you graduate. → Open the NCLEX-RN exam hub
• You're taking a HESI Exit Exam (E2) or a HESI specialty exam inside nursing school. Different exam, different purpose. Go to your program.
• Your school requires the ATI TEAS, Kaplan, or NLN PAX. Different companies entirely. Confirm which one before you buy anything.
• You want real, recalled, or leaked exam questions. We don't publish them and never will.

HESI A2 admissions checklist

My selected academic sections: Not entered
My selected additional components: None entered
My program clock: Not entered
My program-published total items: Not entered

Questions to confirm in writing:
1. Which HESI A2 sections must I complete for this program and application cycle?
2. Is the score rule a minimum in each section, an average, a ranking formula or a recommendation?
3. How many attempts may I take, and what wait applies between attempts?
4. How long are scores valid, and are scores from another institution accepted?
5. If I test more than once, does the highest, most recent or last attempt count, and may section scores be combined?
6. What is the complete cost, including scheduling, proctoring and transcript fees?
7. What timer, calculator and accommodation settings apply to my assigned exam?

Castleport Test Prep is independent. My program's current written instructions control.

Four steps: match your sections → calculate the right score rule → protect your retake window → allocate your study hours. No sign-up. Nothing for sale. Where a rule depends on your school, the planner says so instead of guessing.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher. Our methodology maps official platform facts to the organization that controls them, maps school rules to the school that publishes them, and dates every verification.

And here's the damaging admission: we don't sell anything for the HESI A2. No book, no question bank, no course, no HESI diagnostic, and no commission on anyone else's materials. We can't hand you a Castleport product at the end. What we can hand you is Elsevier's published exam arithmetic, twenty-two real program configurations, and a planner that refuses to substitute one school's rules for yours.

What should you do before you start HESI A2 exam prep?

Get seven facts from your program before you study anything. Which sections you're assigned. The score rule. Your test date. Your application deadline. How many attempts you get. How long you wait between them. How long a score stays valid. Without those, you'll study subjects you won't be tested on — and miss the rules that decide your cycle.

We're not being dramatic about this. Consider two real programs we checked on the same day:

• Pensacola State College assigns its RN applicants five sections and requires 75% in each one. It assigns its LPN applicants three sections and requires 65% in each one. Same school. Same exam name. Different test.
• Chandler-Gilbert Community College publishes a configuration with no science sections at all — math, reading, vocabulary, grammar, plus the learning-style and personality components and critical thinking.

If you studied anatomy and physiology for the Chandler-Gilbert configuration, you studied for an exam you're not taking. If you targeted 65% for the Pensacola RN track, you'd miss by ten points.

Where to get the facts, in order

1. Your program's current admission page — the one for your cycle, not last year's.
2. The program handbook or catalog.
3. The registration email or link the school sent you.
4. Written confirmation from an admissions contact when something isn't published.
5. Elsevier's documentation for platform-level facts only — how the exam works, not what your school requires.

A prep company doesn't override your school. Neither do we. Neither does a Reddit thread, even a helpful one.

What to ask when a rule isn't published

Copy this. Send it. It takes ninety seconds and can prevent an avoidable lost application cycle:

Which HESI A2 sections must I complete for this program and application cycle? What score rule applies — a minimum in each section, an average, a ranking formula, or something else? How many attempts am I allowed, and how long must I wait between them? How long do my scores stay valid, are outside scores accepted, and if I test twice, which attempt counts?

The planner formats this list for you at step 3.

→ Build your section list and pace in the planner

Why is the HESI A2 different at every school?

Because the HESI A2 is modular by design. Elsevier says programs can administer all seven academic exams or customize the number used. Its current faculty guide also shows that programs configure settings such as the timer, calculator, results, and remediation. Then your program decides how those scores affect admission. Two layers of choices — and neither one is made by a generic prep checklist.

Think of it as three layers stacked on top of each other:

Layer 1 — Elsevier's platform. Which academic exams exist, how scores are reported, how a composite is described, and which settings a school can configure. This is the platform layer.

Layer 2 — Your nursing program. Which sections you're assigned. What score you need and how it's measured. How many attempts. How long you wait. How long scores last. Whether outside scores count. This layer changed across the programs in our register.

Layer 3 — You. Your starting skills, your test date, your deadline, and the gap between where you are and where your program's number is.

Most HESI advice online lives entirely in layer 1 and pretends layer 2 doesn't exist. That's why generic advice feels vague — it's describing a test configuration that may not be yours.

Elsevier's current HESI NG faculty guidance verifies the configurable platform layer. The school register below verifies the program layer.

The right prep path isn't the same for every candidate — it depends on which exams your program requires, the score rule it applies, your test date, and how far you are from that number today. Elsevier's published exam description and your nursing program set those requirements, not a checklist. Because a general answer can't resolve them for you, use the free HESI A2 Exam Planner above and see exactly where you stand before you spend anything.

Which HESI A2 sections will you actually take?

Elsevier publishes seven academic exams. They are Grammar, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary and General Knowledge, Basic Math Skills, Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, and Chemistry. Four have 50 scored items each. Three have 25. Your program chooses which ones to administer. In our 22-configuration register, published academic section lists ranged from three to seven.

Here is the current public structure from Elsevier's A2 scientific-evidence white paper:

The scored-item counts and estimated minutes are Elsevier's. The planning-seconds column is Castleport arithmetic on those two published figures. It is not a universal promise about how many items appear on your screen.

Why the question counts you find online never match

Because “scored items” and “total items on one school's screen” are not the same claim. Elsevier's public table publishes 50 scored items for each language/math exam and 25 for each science exam. It also says every item is pilot-tested before it becomes scored and that multiple forms exist. It does not say in that public table that every school, section, form, and delivery route always adds exactly five unscored items.

Some schools do publish that larger configuration for their own candidates. Southern Arkansas University and the current South Texas College PDF describe 55-item language/math sections and 30-item science sections with five pilot items. Indian River State College publishes its own 55-, 30-, and 14-item module totals. But Northcentral Technical College publishes a four-exam configuration totaling 147 questions, including 47 Reading questions — proof that one local total cannot be promoted into a national rule.

So use the right number for the right job:

• Use Elsevier's scored counts to understand the official academic structure.
• Use your school's published total to calculate actual on-screen pace when the school gives you one.
• When your school does not publish a total, do not let a prep site invent it for you.

The sections that may or may not exist for you

Critical Thinking. Some programs assign a critical-thinking component. Here's the trap: it may be reported on a different scale. UTRGV publishes a required Critical Thinking score of 750 alongside percentage requirements for academic components. 750 is not 75%. Don't convert it, don't average it into a percentage composite, and follow your program's threshold exactly as written.

Learning Style and Personality Profile. Some programs assign these learner-profile instruments. They are not among the seven academic exams in Elsevier's published table. Follow your program's instructions and answer honestly. There's no correct personality.

Physics. This one deserves its own section, below.

→ Select your assigned sections and see the verified scored count

Is there physics on the HESI A2?

Only if your program requires it. Physics is not one of the seven academic exams Elsevier describes in its 2022 A2 white paper. And the Physics chapter that appeared in the fifth edition of the official review book is absent from the sixth. Some programs still mention Physics, so confirm your own configuration in writing before you study it.

This is the clearest version-change fact on the page:

What we will not tell you: that Elsevier retired the Physics exam. We looked for an official retirement announcement and did not find one. The verified fact is narrower: Elsevier's current seven-exam description excludes Physics, and the current official review book removed the chapter.

What that means for you: if your program assigns Physics, the current official review book will not cover it. You'll need the source your program recommends, your prerequisite material, or another physics refresher. MTSU's current Spring 2027 block tells applicants to complete assigned sections except Physics, which proves that programs still make an explicit configuration choice around it.

Don't study Physics on spec. Ask.

What HESI A2 score does your school require?

There is no universal HESI A2 passing score. Across the 22 configurations below, published numeric requirements or recommendations ran from 60% to 85% — but those numbers do not all do the same job. Some are hard section floors. Some are averages. One changes with GPA. One is a recommendation. Three programs in the register publish no hard numeric HESI floor at all.

Before you look at any number, understand which kind of number you're looking at. This trips up more applicants than the math does.

Two real examples show why the labels matter. Cizik publishes 85% or higher as a recommendation in each section, not as a stated universal minimum. UTRGV publishes percentage requirements for its academic components plus a separate 750 Critical Thinking score and uses HESI in ranking. Those instructions cannot be collapsed into one “passing score.”

What Elsevier itself says a score means

Separate from any school's cut score, Elsevier publishes interpretive bands for A2 performance in its 2022 white paper, attributed there to the HESI A2 Faculty Scoring Guide. The bottom band splits by program level:

These are interpretation bands, not passing scores. Elsevier does not decide whether your program admits you. If you're an ADN or BSN applicant wondering how Elsevier labels 76%, the published answer is “satisfactory.” Your school can still require 80, 85, a ranking score, or no numeric floor.

Elsevier also reports KR-20 reliability estimates of 0.90 to 0.99. Those are high internal-consistency estimates for the exams; they do not create a national cut score or predict an individual admission outcome.

Does meeting the minimum get you in?

No. Clearing a published score threshold usually makes you eligible. Admission can still depend on seat availability, GPA, prerequisites, a ranking formula, and your deadline. Several programs in our register use the HESI result as one input in a competitive calculation rather than a pass/fail gate.

→ Enter your program's score rule and see the gap

What do real nursing programs actually require? (Our 22-program register)

The same exam name produced 22 different candidate plans. We normalized each program into the fields that actually change what you study and when you test. Every source link below goes to the institution's own page, catalog, or current program PDF. “Not published” means we did not replace a missing rule with a guess.

Verified August 21, 2026. This register is an original Castleport comparison of current published rules, not a national survey or substitute for your own program's instructions. The current Chamberlain and MTSU pages contain internal conflicts; the table exposes those conflicts instead of silently choosing one block. South Texas College's current hosted PDF is undated, so the row says that rather than inventing a revision date.

The five numbers that vary most

Pull the register apart and the decision facts get sharp:

• Published numeric requirements or recommendations: 60% to 85%. That is a 25-point span, but the endpoints are not the same kind of rule.
• Academic sections assigned: 3 to 7. More than double the material under the same exam name.
• Published retake waits: 3 calendar days to 3 months. The wait can make a low score a short detour or end the application cycle.
• Published score validity: one, two, three, or five years — plus no expiration. East Carolina's ABSN FAQ says its scores do not expire.
• Which score counts: highest section, highest average, most recent, last attempt, no superscoring, superscoring allowed, failed sections only, or no outside scores.

Two findings candidates rarely see placed side by side:

• Arizona College changes the weighted score requirement with GPA: 60% at a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or higher, 75% below 2.75.
• Chamberlain, East Carolina ABSN, and Ball State do not publish a hard numeric HESI floor in the sources we checked. Chamberlain uses committee review, ECU uses ranking points, and Ball State gives HESI 35% of the application score.

Your friend's rules are not your rules. Someone in your prerequisite class can tell the truth about their program and still be wrong for yours by ten points, four sections, or an entire retake window.

→ Load a verified school preset or print the questions for admissions

How is the HESI A2 composite score calculated?

Elsevier calls the composite the averaged performance score from all completed academic exams. Under that plain-average description, a 25-scored-item science exam counts as much as a 50-scored-item math exam. One weak science score can pull the average down just as hard — even though the section has half as many scored items.

Here's what that looks like with real numbers. Say you've finished three of four assigned exams:

• Grammar: 88
• Math: 92
• Anatomy and Physiology: 71

Composite so far: 83.67%. (88 + 92 + 71, divided by 3.)

If that average were weighted by Elsevier's scored-item counts — 50 items for Grammar and Math, 25 for A&P — it would be 86.20%. It isn't. Elsevier's published composite description averages the completed exams, not the item counts. That 2.53-point difference is the price of the rule in this example.

Then the practical question: with one exam left, what do you need?

• To reach 75% composite: 49% on the last exam.
• To reach 80%: 69%.
• To reach 85%: 89%.

That last line is the one worth sitting with. Three strong-to-decent scores, one exam left, and an 85% average already requires 89% on the remaining section. Knowing that before you sit it changes how you spend the week.

The planner does this arithmetic on your numbers and tells you plainly when a plain-average target is no longer reachable without a retake or a different controlling rule.

One warning about the word “composite”

Programs use it to mean different things. Some average every assigned academic section. Some require a minimum in each section and never use one overall average. Baylor names Math and the English composite as separate requirements. MTSU's Spring 2027 block names Math and A&P as the two selection scores.

Those are different admission rules applied to similar score reports. Get yours in writing.

→ Select average or per-section scoring and solve your gap

How long is the HESI A2, and how fast do you have to work?

Elsevier estimates 285 minutes for all seven academic exams, but your program controls the actual sitting. The official estimates create a useful planning ratio: six exams allow 60 seconds per scored item, while Reading allows 72. That ratio is not necessarily your on-screen pace because your school may publish a different timer, a different total item count, breaks inside the clock, or additional components.

The missing number is total items on your screen. When your school publishes that total, combine it with the school clock. Two verified configurations show why:

• Chamberlain publishes 170 items in 3 hours including breaks: about 63.5 seconds per screen item before any break time is subtracted.
• Northcentral Technical College publishes 147 questions in 4 hours: about 98.0 seconds per screen item.

Same exam family. More than half a minute of screen pace between those two published configurations. That comparison did not exist until the school rules were normalized side by side.

Use Elsevier's 60/72-second ratios as a scored-item planning baseline. Use your school's total and clock for actual screen pace when both are published. The planner keeps those two calculations separate.

Check your program's clock against the exam's own estimate

Add the estimated minutes only for your assigned academic exams, then compare that sum with the clock your school gives you. A shorter school clock means you need to rehearse the school pace. A longer clock may include additional components, check-in behavior, breaks, or simply more room. Do not infer which explanation applies — ask.

Accommodations are separate. Elsevier's current time-accommodations faculty guide shows institution-configured options up to double time. Eligibility, documentation, approval, and scheduling belong to your school. Start that process before you book.

How much does the HESI A2 cost, and how do you register?

Elsevier does not publish one national candidate price. Your program and delivery route do. In the official program sources we checked, published amounts ran from $45 to approximately $125, and several schools split the exam, scheduling, proctoring, application, or transcript charges.

These are program-specific figures, not a national fee schedule. “About” and “varies” preserve the institution's wording.

The two-bill trap: a school can show one charge while scheduling or proctoring creates another. Ask for the total cost before you schedule, including any fee to send an official score to another institution.

How registration actually works

Most candidates start with an Evolve account and a registration link, course, or department ID supplied by the school. Some programs route candidates through an institutional testing center. Others use an approved remote or third-party testing route. Your program decides the route; you do not get to substitute another school's instructions.

Don't pay until your program has told you which route, department code, exam configuration, and application cycle apply. A wrong registration can be fixable and still cost you the seat or the deadline.

Can you take the HESI A2 online, and what happens on test day?

You can test remotely only when your program authorizes that route. Elsevier's current guidance separates institution setup from student delivery: the program selects modules and settings, and a candidate follows the route attached to that program's exam.

For programs using Elsevier's current ProctorU route, the official student guide calls for:

• An Evolve account and the program's assigned course or exam.
• A ProctorU account and the program's remote-proctoring route.
• The Guardian browser and Elsevier Secure Browser.
• The required equipment and compatibility checks before test day.
• The exact scheduling, ID, room, and check-in instructions shown for that route.

Open Elsevier's current remote-proctoring student guide. Do not use a different school's checklist as a substitute for the instructions attached to your appointment.

The current faculty guidance also shows that the program can configure the timer, calculator, results, and remediation access. Calculator availability is therefore not a universal candidate fact. Ask your program or read the assigned exam instructions.

Accommodations must be approved and configured through the institution. Results and remediation may appear in Evolve when the program enables them. We found no official basis for promising every candidate free remediation or claiming how many candidates use it.

The rule that catches people out

Remote logistics that look universal are often school-specific. Allegany College, for example, tells its candidates to create and pay for accounts at least 72 hours before the requested testing time to avoid availability problems and extra cost. That is a published Allegany rule, not an Elsevier rule for every HESI candidate.

Chamberlain publishes another local deadline: a remote attempt must be completed within two business days after access. Put your own program's access window, scheduling lead time, and score deadline into the planner. Do not borrow someone else's.

What is HESI A2 V1 versus V2?

V1 and V2 are first-attempt and repeat-assessment forms, not yearly editions. Elsevier's current faculty guide describes Version 1 for first-time testers and Version 2 for second-time testers. Elsevier's white paper also states that multiple versions of each exam are available when repeat assessment is needed. There is no “2026 HESI.”

What that means in practice:

• V2 is not a yearly update. A 2026 verification date on this page does not rename the form.
• Multiple forms do not create retake permission. Your school still decides whether, when, and how often you may test.
• Do not assume exact item repetition or exact non-repetition. The official public sources support multiple forms; they do not promise that no candidate will ever encounter the same question twice.
• Use the score report and any remediation your program enables. If those resources appear in your Evolve course, they are a better retake starting point than re-studying every subject equally.

What happens if you don't hit your school's score?

Your program's policy decides the retake, not one national HESI rule. In our register, published waits ran from 3 calendar days to 3 months. Attempt structures ran from one per application period to multiple attempts within a year, and programs disagreed on whether the highest, most recent, last, or combined section scores control.

First: a low score on one section is not a verdict on your preparation. It's data. Work the problem in this order.

1. Read the score report before you buy anything. Which required sections fell below the rule? Are there repeated error types? Does your program require you to repeat every section or only the sections you missed? Trocaire states that PN applicants retest only the sections below its benchmark. Cizik says a missing required section means retaking the entire test. Different task, different plan.

2. Find out which attempt counts. This changes your entire strategy:

• If your program takes the highest section score across attempts, you can target one weak section hard.
• If it takes the most recent score, a retake puts your strong sections at risk too.
• If no superscoring is allowed, you need one strong sitting, not a patchwork.
• If the last attempt is official, a worse retake can replace a better first attempt.

3. Calculate your last safe attempt date. This is the calculation almost nobody does, and it's the one that ends application cycles:

Application deadline − score/processing buffer − required retake wait = last safe date for attempt one

With a 60-day wait, a 7-day processing buffer, and a March 1 deadline, the last safe first attempt is around December 24. Sit in mid-January and a low score may have nowhere to go.

The planner computes the date from the numbers you enter. It labels the result as planning arithmetic, not an official deadline, because only your program can tell you the real score-release and processing buffer.

4. Don't re-study everything equally. Prioritize required sections you missed, then the largest gap to the target, then the foundational skill beneath the repeated error. Rebuilding a section you already scored 91 on is how people burn the waiting period.

→ Calculate your last safe attempt date

Which HESI A2 section is hardest?

Elsevier does not publish an official national “hardest section” ranking. The strongest public signal is narrower: in the studies Elsevier reviewed for its 2022 white paper, Anatomy and Physiology had the lowest mean score, 72.94. Grammar and Basic Math had the highest means, 88.53 and 88.00.

From Table 4 of Elsevier's 2022 A2 white paper. These are means from the studies reviewed, not national norms, cut scores, or a prediction about you.

Why the small sections are the dangerous ones

Put three verified facts side by side:

1. If your program uses Elsevier's plain composite, a 25-scored-item science exam has the same section weight as a 50-scored-item Math or Grammar exam.
2. A&P had the lowest mean in the studies Elsevier reviewed. Chemistry and Biology were also below the language and Math means.
3. Many programs use a minimum in each section. Under a per-section rule, a strong Math score cannot erase a low A&P score.

Our editorial call: if A&P is assigned and your baseline does not identify a larger weakness, give A&P the first study block. That's Castleport judgment built from the facts above, not an Elsevier directive. Your own baseline beats the general rule every time.

What does good HESI A2 exam prep actually look like?

Verify the exact exam, measure only the sections you're assigned, repair the biggest gaps, rehearse against the right clock, and leave room for a permitted retake. That's the whole method. It's ours, not Elsevier's, and it works because it refuses to spend a single hour on content you won't be tested on.

We call it Match → Measure → Repair → Rehearse → Buffer.

Match. Confirm your program, cycle, sections, score rule, attempt number, delivery route, and deadline. Write them down. This is step 1 in the planner, and it's the step everyone skips.

Measure. Take a short baseline on your assigned academic sections only — nothing else. You're looking for a starting point, not a prediction. Be honest that a handful of questions can't tell you whether you'll pass; it can tell you where to start.

Repair. Prioritize in this order: required sections first, then the biggest gap to your target, then foundational skills other topics depend on, then your most frequently repeated error type. Not alphabetically. Not by what's most comfortable.

Rehearse. If your school publishes total screen items and a timer, rehearse that screen pace. If it does not, use Elsevier's 60-second-per-scored-item baseline for six exams and 72 seconds for Reading, then keep enough margin for navigation and uncertainty. Review every rationale, including the questions you got right by guessing.

Buffer. Work backward from your deadline so a permitted retake still fits. See the calculation above.

Keep an error ledger

Five columns, one line per missed question. It's the highest-return study habit we know and it costs nothing:

“Why I missed it” is the column that matters. Careless, didn't know it, ran out of time, and misread the question are four different problems with four different fixes. Lumping them together as “I got it wrong” is why people plateau.

How long should you study?

There's no honest universal number, because candidates take between three and seven academic sections and start from wildly different places. But here's a framework by the time you actually have:

→ Set your test date and get your weighted study hours

How should you study each section?

Each section rewards a different method. Math improves through worked problems and sorting errors by type. Reading improves when you point to the words that prove the answer. Vocabulary needs spaced retrieval. The sciences need concept maps and recall, not passive rereading.

One tip that applies to every Math plan: Elsevier explicitly names fractions, decimals, ratios and proportions, and household measures. If conversions or setup errors keep appearing in your ledger, fix the underlying unit relationship before adding more question volume.

How do you choose a HESI A2 study guide?

Judge a study guide by one thing first: does it cover the sections your program assigned? Not the biggest question count. Not the strongest guarantee. We don't sell one for this exam, so here is the test we would apply.

Ask these four things:

1. Which of the seven academic exams does it cover, and does that match my assigned list? If you're assigned four and the book covers seven, you're paying for material you may never use. That's fine if you know it.
2. Which edition is it, and does its contents still include Physics? A year on the cover is not proof of a current table of contents. Compare it with the official fifth-to-sixth-edition change above.
3. Can its practice mode match my school's clock? A resource that hardcodes one universal total or timer cannot reproduce every configuration in the register.
4. Whose rule is it quoting? Any resource stating one passing score, fee, retake wait, score-validity window, or total question count as national fact is turning a local rule into a platform rule.

The official option, described plainly: Elsevier publishes the Admission Assessment Exam Review, currently in its sixth edition, dated March 26, 2024. Its table of contents matches the seven academic exams in Elsevier's white paper and excludes Physics. It is the exam maker's own review book, which makes it the most source-aligned baseline available. It still cannot tell you which sections your school assigned, what score it requires, or which retake rule controls. We have no affiliate relationship with Elsevier and earn nothing if you buy it.

What a third-party resource can genuinely add: more practice volume, video instruction, flashcards, or analytics. Those can be real advantages. Check the section match, current edition, access term, renewal price, refund policy, and whether the resource distinguishes Elsevier facts from one school's rules.

Where we'd push back: a universal 55/30-item claim, a national passing score, an invented HESI pass rate, a guaranteed outcome, or “real exam questions.” Those are not small style problems. They are reasons not to trust the resource.

→ Compare any study guide against your assigned sections

How we verified this guide

We split the facts by who controls them. Elsevier controls the platform and published academic structure. Each nursing program controls its own admission configuration. Castleport controls only the planner arithmetic and editorial study framework. We checked each claim against the controlling source and dated the check.

🔍 What we actually verified on August 21, 2026

• Elsevier's A2 exam table — seven academic exams, scored-item counts, estimated minutes, composite description, score bands, reliability, pilot-testing process, and multiple forms, from the official 2022 white paper.
• Current HESI NG faculty and student guides — configurable modules, timer, calculator, results/remediation settings, V1/V2 use, the ProctorU delivery route, browsers, system checks, and institution-configured time accommodations.
• The official review book's fifth- and sixth-edition tables of contents and dates, from Elsevier's own product listings.
• 22 configurations at 21 institutions, each read on the program's own page, catalog, or hosted PDF.
• Castleport's live status before release — no paid HESI A2 product, no HESI diagnostic, no pass guarantee, and no affiliate link on this page.

All Castleport arithmetic is exposed: planning seconds per scored item, school screen pace when the user supplies a published total and timer, composite solving, score gaps, study-hour allocation, and the last-safe-attempt formula. None is described as an Elsevier prediction.

What we are not claiming: that the register is nationally representative, that Elsevier retired Physics, that every section universally adds five unscored items, or that a national HESI A2 pass rate exists. We found no official national pass-rate publication and did not invent one.

Read how Castleport verifies exam claims and how corrections are logged. The verification date changes only when we actually recheck.

HESI A2 exam prep FAQ

Your next step

You came here to prepare for the HESI A2. The most useful thing you can do in the next ten minutes isn't studying — it's finding out what you're actually studying for.

Open the planner. Load your school if it appears in the register or tick the academic exams in your admission instructions. Compare Elsevier's scored count and estimated time with your school's clock. Enter a school-published total only if the school actually gives you one. Then select the score rule, enter your baseline, and work backward from the application deadline.

If you don't know the section list or controlling attempt rule, copy the admissions checklist and send it today. Everything else can wait until that reply lands.

→ Build your HESI A2 plan — sections, score gap, retake buffer, and study hours. Free, no email.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent publisher. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by Elsevier, HESI, any nursing school, testing vendor, or admissions body. Exam and organization names are used descriptively. Castleport claims no ownership in third-party names or marks.

Castleport publishes and sells its own study materials for other exams. It publishes no paid HESI A2 product, operates no HESI A2 diagnostic, takes no commission on anyone else's materials, and includes no affiliate links on this page.

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Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team · Last verified: August 21, 2026