What Is on the HESI A2? Sections and Subjects Explained

Elsevier supplies the exams. Your program assigns the set.

“What is on the HESI A2?” is two questions. The first is Elsevier’s academic map. The second is the subset printed on your admissions page. Start with the map, then practice only the HESI A2 academic exams your school listed in Passy →.

Elsevier’s 2022 scientific-evidence paper is explicit: programs can administer all seven A2 exams or customize the number so the exams match the program. That is why Passy will not invent a single universal form.

The seven academic exams Elsevier describes

English Language

• Reading Comprehension: health-related reading scenarios used to identify main ideas, understand passages and words in context, and make logical inferences.
• Vocabulary and General Knowledge: words used in healthcare and general settings.
• Grammar: important grammatical terms and uses, common grammatical errors, and parts of speech.

Math

• Basic Math Skills: basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, decimals, ratios and proportions, household measures, and related arithmetic.

Science

• Anatomy and Physiology: general A&P terminology, anatomical structures, and systems.
• Biology: water, biological molecules, metabolism, cells, cellular functions, and photosynthesis, as described in Elsevier’s exam overview.
• Chemistry: physical and chemical matter, the periodic table, chemical equations, reactions, and bonding.

Current sixth-edition review materials cover those same seven academic areas. How to prepare for them is the job of the HESI A2 study guide.

What this page is not claiming about item counts

Elsevier published scored-item and estimated-time figures for each academic exam in that 2022 paper. Those figures describe the exams when they are administered. They do not mean every candidate receives the sum of every row.

Candidates may also see unidentified unscored or pilot items; Elsevier notes that items are pilot tested before they become scored components. Your live total can therefore differ from a scored-item table even when the same academic exams are assigned.

For totals, use How many questions are on the HESI A2?. For seat time, use How long is the HESI A2?.

Modules you may hear about that are not the seven-exam map

Physics. Fifth-edition Elsevier review copy listed physics. The current sixth edition does not. If a program still assigns physics, that is a program decision to confirm.

Critical Thinking / A2CT. Prometric lists a HESI Admission Assessment with Critical Thinking (A2CT) as a distinct exam type alongside the A2. Do not assume every A2 sitting includes it.

Learning style or personality profile. Some schools publish unscored diagnostic modules. Treat those as that school’s add-ons, not as Elsevier’s seven academic exams.

After the assigned list is clear, check a mixed HESI A2 preview in Passy → to see which academic skill actually stalls.

Delivery is also configured, not universal

Prometric currently offers A2 and A2CT at testing centers and, where the program enables it, through remote ProProctor. Other cohorts register through Evolve and may test on campus or with a different remote vendor. Registration and remote versus center testing cover those paths.

If you are deciding between publishers, HESI A2 versus ATI TEAS compares purpose and structure without ranking which exam is easier.

When the map is confirmed, put the next assigned HESI A2 exam into focused practice in Passy → rather than studying a chart meant for someone else’s program.

A missed distinction only matters if that academic exam is actually on your list.

Return to a missed academic distinction in Passy → only after you know that exam is actually on your list.