What is on the HESI A2 exam, and which subtests you sit

The HESI A2 is not one fixed exam. It is a kit of eight subtests, four academic and four science, and your nursing program decides which of them you sit. Most programs require the academic four, Mathematics, Reading, Vocabulary, and Grammar, then choose among the sciences. Sat in full, the kit runs to 297 scored questions across 335 minutes, but almost nobody sits all of it. So the first thing on the HESI A2 is a question for your admissions page, not for you: which subtests does your program require?

The eight subtests at a glance

Each subtest runs on its own clock, reports its own percentage, and also carries a few unscored pilot questions you are never shown apart from the rest.

Subtest	Scored questions and time	What it covers
Mathematics	50q, 50 min	Whole numbers, fractions, decimals, ratios and proportions, percentages, and the measurement conversions behind dosage calculations.
Reading	47q, 60 min	Main ideas, supporting details, inference, sequence, and an author's purpose and tone, read from health-flavoured passages.
Vocabulary	50q, 50 min	General and healthcare vocabulary, meanings fixed from context, and words built from prefixes, roots, and suffixes.
Grammar	50q, 50 min	Parts of speech, subject and verb agreement, sentence structure, and the commonly confused pairs.
Anatomy and Physiology	25q, 25 min	Anatomical terminology and the body systems: skeletal, muscular, nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, and more.
Biology	25q, 25 min	The scientific method, cells, macromolecules, genetics, and microorganisms.
Chemistry	25q, 25 min	Matter and measurement, atomic structure, the periodic table, bonding, reactions, solutions, and acids and bases.
Physics	25q, 50 min	Motion, forces, energy, waves and optics, and electricity and magnetism. The least commonly required of the eight.

The academic four: where the volume lives

Roughly 200 of the scored questions sit in Mathematics, Reading, Vocabulary, and Grammar, which is why nearly every program requires them. None of the material runs past a strong high-school level. The mathematics is arithmetic rather than algebra for its own sake, the reading passages are practical rather than literary, and the vocabulary and grammar reward steady, spaced revision more than talent. If your preparation time is limited, these four repay it question for question.

The sciences: chosen by your program

Why 25 questions matter. A science subtest is short, so each question carries real weight in your percentage. There is little room to shrug off a topic.

The four science subtests are where programs differ. Anatomy and Physiology is the most commonly required and the most memorisation-heavy, a minute a question of straight recall. Biology and Chemistry appear on many lists; Physics is asked for least often, usually by programs with a radiography or similar slant. Do not study a science your program does not require, and do not skip one it does. The list decides everything, so read it from the program's own admissions page.

How it is scored, briefly

There is no composite pass mark. Each subtest reports its own percentage, and your program sets the requirement, commonly somewhere around 75 to 80 percent per required subtest, often higher at competitive programs. A strong subtest cannot rescue a weak one, so your target is the requirement in every required column, not a good average. For a fuller read on difficulty and the scoring, see our honest take on how hard the HESI A2 is.

If your search results keep returning three-figure benchmarks such as 850 or 900, you have wandered into a different exam. Those belong to the HESI exit exam, which graduating students sit to gauge NCLEX readiness, and its scale has nothing to do with A2 percentages.

Turn the map into a plan

Until you know your program's subtest list, you do not know your exam. Find the list first, and the HESI A2 shrinks to its real size.

Once the list is fixed, work it in order. Sit a free HESI A2 practice test with exactly your required subtests selected, and read the percentage on each. Rebuild the weakest ones with the HESI A2 study guide, which carries a lesson for every objective in the table above, and drill the rest with HESI A2 practice questions by subtest. Then put the whole thing on a calendar with our six-week HESI A2 study plan, and the exam becomes a list of topics you have already met.