HESI A2 – Chemistry

Chemistry was never my strong suit.  I took Honors Chemistry 101 my very first semester the first time I went to college to study Psychology (nursing was my second degree a few years later).  For my second semester I ditched the Honors class and took standard Chem 102.  I remember frantically studying for my final exam, as my smug classmate down the hall kept wandering in to tell me how he would have to get a -33% on the Final in order to fail the class (yes, if you’re paying attention, that it is impossible to get a negative score on an exam).  Needless to say, I needed a grade much higher than that, and I was more than a little nervous about it!

I passed both of my Chemistry classes with less than flying colors, so I was curious how much I would actually have to recall for the HESI A2.  Before I jump into the details of my HESI A2 Chemistry experience, I need to give a little disclaimer.  I never had to take HESI A2 when I applied to my nursing school, but I’ve gotten so many questions about it over the years that I signed up to take it earlier this year and I’m in the process of sharing my experience in a series of blog posts.

That being said…for those of you that are new to Your Nursing Tutor, I’m going to let you know up front that I think maintaining honesty and integrity are two of the most important things you need to do as a nurse.  And that includes not cheating on tests for any reason when you are a student nurse.   I will never share specific test questions, and I am not interested in buying or selling test banks for exams or textbooks.  If you email me to ask me for something like that, I’ll politely tell you no and refer you to this previous blog post.

Now that we’ve gotten that little disclaimer out of the way…

What is the HESI A2 Chemistry Section Like?

The HESI A2 Chemistry section has 25 questions.  There isn’t a time limit for each individual section on HESI A2, but your school will probably have a time limit for the entire test so it’s important not to spend too much time on any one section.  I took 11 minutes and 45 seconds to complete Chemistry, which means I averaged less than thirty seconds per question (about 28-29 seconds per question, to be exact).  I found that to be a pretty reasonable pace because these are not critical thinking type questions, so you don’t have to spend as much time thinking about them.  Once you read the questions and answer choices, you pretty much either know it or you don’t.   

What types of questions are on the Chemistry section?

In my opinion, the official HESI A2 Review book (update: Check out the Resources page for current study book recommendations) makes the chemistry section sound like it will be a lot harder than it actually is.  I made a note after the exam that there was some overlap with the Biology questions, although now I can’t remember exactly why I thought that.  I’m thinking it was probably because of questions regarding chemical reaction equations like cellular respiration (i.e. glycolysis, which is also covered in Biology), that ask something about the direction of the reaction and the Products vs Reactants.  Even if my memory is wrong on this point, it won’t hurt to review those topics anyway, since you’ll definitely need it for the Biology section.

Another funny thing in my notes that I initially had no clue what it meant was “Oil-Rig.”  I mean, how in the world did I expect to remember what that meant 10 months later? But while I was flipping through the Chemistry section of the official HESI A2 Review book a few minutes ago, I saw something that suddenly made it all clear:  “Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain.”  OIL-RIG.  A happy little mnemonic that’s included in the study book to help you remember something you need for the exam 🙂  Make sure you know what it means!

Also review neutrons, protons, and electrons.  Identify their relationships to each other, how they’re represented on the Periodic Table, and what happens when a molecule gains or loses them.  Bonds are also another major topic to review, specifically  the different types of molecular bonds and how they work.  The states of water was also a topic, which might be another reason why I though there was some overlap with the Biology section

So…What Was My Score?

I got 23 out of 25 of the Chemistry questions correct, which gave me a score of 92%.  To see how that compares to other HESI A2 test-takers, the minimum recommended score for the Chemistry section at this school was 80% (according to the official documentation, each school can set their own minimum recommended score).  My score report also stated that the National Average of all HESI A2-takers for Chemistry was a 75%, and the average of all HESI A2-takers at my school was a 74%.  So all things considered, I did pretty well.

Despite my traumatic past experiences in Chemistry, I apparently had retained a pretty good foundation.  Specifically, I had a strong memory about working with the periodic table, protons and electrons, and identifying atomic weight.  I feel like it was those topics that helped me the most to do well on this section, and that if I would have taken the time to study chemical bonds then I could have improved even more.  (I didn’t really spend any time preparing for HESI A2 since I was only taking it to see what it was like, and not to try and get into nursing school).

Nicole Whitworth

Nicole is a Professional Nursing Tutor with over 15 years experience, and the founder of Your Nursing Tutor. She has a BSN, and an MA in Clinical Psychology. Nicole specializes in providing easy-to-follow, proven study methods (like the Silver Bullet Study System) that transform frustrated nursing students into calm, confident nurses! When she’s not helping students through her Live Tutoring Membership, Nicole loves spending time with her husband, homeschooling their 6 kids, and staring at sunflowers.