Rev September 2022 MassBay Reserves the Right to Change without Prior Notice
HESI ADMISSION ASSESSMENT™ (A²)
ENTRANCE EXAM FOR PRACTICAL NURSING EDUCATION PROGRAM - FALL 2023
For more information, contact Heidi Mackey, Senior Admissions Counselor, at Tel. 508-270-4016 or Email hmackey@massbay.edu
The HESI Admission Assessment™ (A²) is an internet based, timed (4-hour), multiple choice exam evaluating your knowledge in four
major categories: English language, math, science, and personality. For MassBay’s Practical Nursing (“PN”) program, these exams
include five academic subjects: reading comprehension; vocabulary and general knowledge; grammar; anatomy and physiology; and
basic math skills. The exam also offers an optional opportunity to evaluate your personality and learning styles, although these
components are not required or considered in the admission decision. The exam is taken at a Prometric Test Center of the applicant’s
choice. Prometric operates a network of 8,000 test centers making it easy for test takers to find a site near them. There are several
Prometric Testing Center locations provided for you to pick from, located in the greater Boston and surrounding area. The HESI A2
exam that MassBay PN program applicants take is only administered at Prometric Testing Centers. It is not administered or taken at
any MassBay campus location. You will need the following exam sub-test modules for MassBay’s PN program:
Reading Comprehension: 50-item exam. Provides reading scenarios in order to measure reading comprehension, including:
identifying the main idea, finding meaning of words in context, passage comprehension, making logical inferences, etc. The reading
scenarios are provided as screen pop-ups, and students can move around the windows to see the entire scenario.
Vocabulary and General Knowledge: 50-item exam. Contains basic vocabulary terms that are commonly used in both general
English speaking and in the health care fields.
Grammar: 50-item exam. Contains basic grammar, including: parts of speech, important terms and their uses in grammar, commonly
occurring grammatical errors, etc.
Anatomy and Physiology (A&P): 25-item exam. Provides coverage of general terminology and anatomical structures and systems.
Math: 50-item exam. Focuses on math skills needed for health care fields, including basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions,
decimals, ratio and proportion, household measures, general math facts, etc.
Note: Although a covered topic in the HESI Admission Exam review book, MassBay does not require applicants to take the Physics sub-test.
2023 PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
HESI A² Requirements for MassBay Practical Nursing (“PN”) Program
Minimum HESI A2 Sub-Test Scores Required
Program
Reading
Comp
Vocabulary
Grammar
A&P
Math
Overall
Composite
Practical Nursing ("PN")
*
*
*
*
*
70%
* No minimum sub-test score is required. However, HESI (A²) exam scores of 70% or better in Overall Composite (all five subjects combined/averaged)
is required.
