HESI A2 guideScores & results
HESI A2 Passing Score: What Score Do You Actually Need?
There is no universal HESI A2 passing score. Elsevier publishes interpretive bands for programs; each school sets the admissions number you must meet.
Short answer
There is no single HESI A2 passing score for every nursing program. Elsevier reports percentage scores by academic exam and a composite of completed exams, and it publishes faculty interpretation bands for academic readiness. Each program decides which exams count, whether a composite or section minimum applies, and what number it will accept. The score you need is the current requirement published or confirmed by every program you plan to apply to.
Eligibility is a school rule, not a national HESI pass mark
This page is about the minimum a program says it will accept—not whether a score is competitive among qualified applicants. Confirming that floor gives HESI A2 planning in Passy a real target instead of an internet cutoff. For interpretation after you have a report, use What is a good HESI A2 score?.
What Elsevier actually publishes
Elsevier’s 2022 scientific-evidence paper describes A2 results as percentile performance scores for each academic exam, plus a composite that averages completed exams. It also quotes HESI A2 Faculty Scoring Guide language:
- 90–100%: excellent academic ability to support future program success
- 80–89%: very good preparation for success
- 75–79%: satisfactory for applicants to associate or baccalaureate healthcare education programs
- 70–79%: satisfactory for certificate programs such as practical nursing or medical assisting
- Below those satisfactory ranges: applicants may need educational remediation
Those bands help faculty interpret academic readiness. They are not a promise that every BSN uses 75%, every PN uses 70%, or that meeting a band admits you.
Programs studied in that paper used different minimums; Elsevier did not replace school policy with one cutoff.
How to find the number that actually gates your application
Check each target program’s current admissions information, then ask admissions to clarify anything ambiguous. Record:
- overall / composite minimum, if any
- per-exam minimums (Math and A&P are commonly singled out when they exist)
- which academic exams must be on the same sitting
- accepted testing locations or remote options
- score age
- attempt limits and waiting periods
- whether the latest, highest, or first attempt is used
- the deadline for the score to be on file
Do not rely on a classmate’s cutoff from a previous cycle. Save the current page or written reply.
After the floors are written down, build HESI A2 practice around the exams behind those floors in Passy.
Composite versus section minimums
A program can require a composite, a set of section floors, or both. Elsevier’s composite is an average of completed exams. If you were not assigned Chemistry, that exam is not part of your average unless the school required you to take it.
A 78% composite with a 68% on a required Math exam can still miss a program that floors Math separately. Read the policy, not only the headline percentage.
HESI A2 results explains where reports typically appear. Retake rules stay school-specific.
If several applications disagree, plan around the strictest confirmed rule that still matters to you, then review the assigned exam that would miss that rule in Passy.
Practice percentages are not admissions results
A short mixed set is a study signal. It is not Elsevier’s reported score and it is not a school decision. Do not convert ten items into “I passed HESI.”
When the real floors are known, keep HESI A2 repair inside the exams those floors use in Passy.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.