HESI A2 guideScores & results
What Is a Good HESI A2 Score for Nursing School?
A good HESI A2 score is the one that meets and remains competitive under your programs’ published rules. Elsevier’s faculty bands interpret readiness; they do not rank applicants.
Short answer
A good HESI A2 score is the score that meets every confirmed program rule that applies to you and remains useful in that program’s admissions process. Elsevier’s faculty interpretation bands describe academic readiness ranges such as excellent, very good, and satisfactory. They are not a national ranking of applicants and they are not a substitute for a school’s cutoff or selection method. “Is 80 good?” depends on the exams you took and the programs that will read the report.
“Good” is relative to the programs that will read the report
Passing-score questions ask for the floor. This page asks whether a result is enough for the way those programs actually choose. If you do not yet have the floor, stop and read HESI A2 passing score. Then shape HESI A2 review toward the gap between your report and those rules in Passy.
Elsevier’s faculty bands, used carefully
Elsevier’s 2022 paper quotes Faculty Scoring Guide language:
- 90–100%: excellent
- 80–89%: very good
- 75–79%: satisfactory for associate or baccalaureate healthcare programs
- 70–79%: satisfactory for many certificate programs
- Below satisfactory: remediation may be needed for program success
Use the bands as a readiness translation, not as “80 always gets in.” A program can set a higher published minimum, use the score as one ranking factor, or require section floors that a composite hides.
“Is 80 a good HESI score?” is therefore incomplete until you know whether 80 is a composite, a Math score, or an A&P score, and whether the school uses that number as a gate, a ranking input, or both.
A practical decision framework
If you are below a confirmed published minimum
The score is not good enough for that application until a retake policy allows another attempt. See HESI A2 retake.
If you meet every confirmed minimum and the program is not competitive
Further testing may not change the decision. Confirm score age and whether they use the highest attempt.
If you meet the minimum at a program that ranks applicants
A higher score can still matter. Ask whether they publish average admitted scores or a points formula. Do not invent a nationwide “aim for 90” rule.
If two programs disagree
Keep a one-row-per-school table. Plan around the strictest confirmed rule that you still intend to use.
After the table exists, put extra HESI A2 time on the exam that would move a ranking or a section floor in Passy.
Composite averages can hide a weak assigned exam
Elsevier’s composite averages completed exams. A strong Reading score can lift a composite while Math remains below a section rule. “Good overall, weak Math” is a common reason an application still stalls.
HESI A2 results covers how reports typically appear in Evolve. The study guide is the preparation response.
If a section is the problem, review that assigned HESI A2 exam’s misses in Passy instead of retesting the whole stack blindly.
What this page will not publish
It will not list “typical BSN cutoffs” as if they were Elsevier policy. Individual schools publish their own numbers; those numbers expire. It will not convert a ten-item practice percentage into a competitiveness claim.
When the next sitting is justified, continue HESI A2 practice in Passy against the assigned exams, not against a motivational score chart.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.