A six-week HESI A2 study plan that starts with your program's subtest list

The HESI A2 is not one exam. It is a kit of up to eight subtests, and your nursing program decides which ones you sit. So a HESI A2 study plan starts one step earlier than a TEAS plan does: before you study anything, you confirm your list. This plan assumes about an hour on weekdays and one longer block at the weekend, and it runs a simple shape: fix the list, find your weak subtests, rebuild them, then practise under a real clock.

Week 1: confirm your subtests, then diagnose

Open your program's admissions page and write down exactly which subtests it names, with the minimum score beside each. Most programs require the four academic subtests, Mathematics, Reading, Vocabulary, and Grammar, and then choose among the four sciences: Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. If you are still working out whether your school wants the HESI A2 or the TEAS at all, settle that first with our guide to TEAS vs HESI.

Every hour spent on a subtest your program does not require is an hour taken from one it does.

Then diagnose. Sit the free full-length HESI A2 practice test with only the subtests on your list selected. It runs each subtest on its own clock and reports a percentage per subtest, the same way Elsevier does, so the result reads directly against your program's requirement.

• Note each percentage and its gap to your cutoff. Many programs look for around 75 to 80 percent per section, but the number your school publishes is the one that counts.
• Pick your two weakest required subtests. They own weeks 2 to 4.
• Book your test date now if you have not. A fixed date turns "someday" into a plan.

Weeks 2 to 4: drill the weak subtests

This is the core of the plan. Each weekday, do one short practice set in a weak subtest and read every rationale, including the ones you got right. At the weekend, take a longer set that mixes your weak subtests together, and re-test the one you drilled hardest that week. When a set exposes a gap the rationale alone cannot close, read the matching lesson in the HESI A2 study guide; it is mapped to the same outline as the questions. If you prefer to warm up one subtest at a time, the HESI A2 hub links free practice questions for each.

Keep a short list of the mistakes you repeat. Patterns in your errors are worth more than your score. And because the subtests are built differently, aim your hours differently:

Physics is the outlier. It is the least commonly required subtest. Do not study it on spec; if it is not on your program's list, drop it and give the hours to a subtest that counts.

• Mathematics: 50 scored questions in 50 minutes. A minute a question, and the paper is arithmetic first: whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and the measurement conversions nursing school will keep asking of you. Drill those until they are automatic and the clock stops being a factor.