HESI A2 Score Requirements: Why Your Weakest Section Decides Everything
The HESI reports a score per section rather than one composite, and most programmes set a minimum on each. That single design choice makes it less forgiving than the TEAS. Here is how the scoring works and what schools ask for.
Key point: strong nursing writing makes every clinical conclusion traceable to assessment data, relevant evidence, and a defined outcome.
Section scores, not a composite
The HESI A2 reports a percentage score for every section you sit, plus a cumulative average across them. Most programmes set a minimum on each required section, and many set one on the cumulative score as well.
This is the difference that matters. On a composite exam a strong section subsidises a weak one. On the HESI, if your programme requires 75 percent in every section, a 95 in Reading cannot rescue a 72 in Anatomy and Physiology.
Your weakest required section is therefore your effective result. Plan your revision around that fact: time should go to whichever section sits furthest below its floor, not to the subject you find most interesting.
The best academic structure does not decorate the clinical reasoning—it makes that reasoning visible.
Typical minimums
Most programmes ask for 75 to 80 percent per required section. Competitive and accelerated programmes commonly ask for 80 to 90. Some practical nursing programmes accept lower, often around 70.
Cumulative requirements, where they exist, usually sit close to the section requirement — a programme asking 75 per section will often ask 75 cumulative rather than something markedly higher.
As with the TEAS, clearing the floor is not the same as being competitive. Where admission is by ranked score rather than threshold, the practical target is well above the published minimum.
Find out which sections you must sit
Because the HESI is modular, your first task is establishing exactly which sections your programme requires. The pool includes Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary and General Knowledge, Grammar, Biology, Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology and Physics.
Most nursing programmes require Mathematics, Reading and Anatomy and Physiology at minimum, frequently adding Grammar and Vocabulary. Biology and Chemistry appear at programmes with heavier science prerequisites. Physics is comparatively rare.
Preparing for a section your programme does not require is pure waste, and it happens often. One email to admissions prevents it.
Anatomy and Physiology is usually the binding constraint
Where it is required, Anatomy and Physiology is the section most applicants score lowest in and the one programmes weight most heavily. It expects real familiarity with structure, function and the interaction between systems.
If your diagnostic shows you below the floor in this section, treat it as the whole project rather than one item on a list. It is usually the difference between an offer and a rejection, and it takes longer to move than Grammar or Vocabulary.
Learn systems as processes rather than parts lists. Trace circulation, trace filtrate through the nephron, trace an impulse from stimulus to contraction. HESI questions are built along those pathways.
The Learning Style and Personality Profile
Many programmes include a Learning Style assessment and a Personality Profile alongside the academic sections. These are not scored against a minimum and you cannot fail them.
Their purpose is advisory: programmes use them to shape study support and, occasionally, cohort placement. Answer them honestly rather than strategically, because there is no advantageous answer to give.
They do consume testing time, so factor them into your schedule for the day even though they require no revision.
Retakes: check whether you re-sit everything
Elsevier does not impose a universal attempt limit; programmes do. Two or three attempts within an admission cycle is common, usually with a waiting period of 30 or 60 days between sittings.
One rule catches applicants out badly: some programmes require you to re-sit the entire required battery rather than only the section you failed. That turns one weak section into a full repeat exam, with all the risk that carries for sections you previously passed.
Establish this before your first attempt. If your programme requires a full re-sit, a first attempt taken speculatively is considerably more expensive than it appears.
What to ask admissions
Ask which sections are required, what minimum each carries, whether there is a separate cumulative requirement, how many attempts are permitted and with what waiting period, whether a retake means re-sitting everything, and which attempt is counted.
Also ask what the average accepted score was last cycle. The distance between the published minimum and the actual average is the most honest picture of what you need.
Get it in writing. Programme websites lag behind policy changes more often than admissions offices do.
A Quick Quality Check
Use these signals when reviewing your own draft before submission.
Clinical Focus
Strong: The population, setting, and priority problem are explicit.
Revise: The discussion could apply to any patient or setting.
Evidence Link
Strong: Important claims are connected to an appropriate source or assessment cue.
Revise: Recommendations appear without a rationale or traceable evidence.
Measurable Result
Strong: The reader can tell what success looks like and when it will be assessed.
Revise: The conclusion uses broad words such as “better” without a measure.
References and Further Reading
- Elsevier. HESI Admission Assessment Exam scoring documentation.
- Minimum scores and required sections are set by individual programmes; confirm with your admissions office.
About the Author
Mitchelle, Nurse Educator
Mitchelle is a nurse educator on the NursingAnswers team. She writes and reviews the study guides and question rationales used across our NCLEX-RN, TEAS and HESI banks.
View Author Profile