HESI A2 Study Guide

Biology:

1. Which method of glucose conversion generates the most usable and efficient form of ATP within the human body?

• A. Lactic acidosis
• B. Fermentation conversion
• C. Anaerobic respiration
• D. Aerobic respiration

Answer: D. Aerobic respiration produces roughly 36–38 ATP per glucose molecule, far more than anaerobic pathways like fermentation or lactic acid production, which yield only 2 ATP.

Biology:

2. A hypertonic solution has what concentration of solutes compared to the cell?

• A. Same
• B. Higher
• C. Negative
• D. Lower

Answer: B. A hypertonic solution has a higher solute concentration than the cell, causing water to move out of the cell by osmosis.

Reading Comprehension:

Passage excerpt: "...clouds become so heavily laden with liquid droplets..."

3. Which sentence uses "laden" the same way as in the passage?

• A. The bowl of cereal overflowed when it became too laden with milk.
• B. The laden trumpets sounded when the stadium became crowded with fans.

Answer: A. In the passage, "laden" means weighed down or loaded with something (liquid droplets); the cereal bowl becoming "laden with milk" uses the word the same way, while the trumpet example misuses it.

Grammar:

4. Which sentence is grammatically correct?

• A. He done good on his diet.
• B. He done well on his diet.
• C. He did well on his diet.

Answer: C. "Did" is the correct simple past tense of "do" (not "done," which requires an auxiliary verb like "has"), and "well" (adverb) correctly modifies the verb "did," rather than "good" (adjective).

Grammar:

5. Which sentence is grammatically correct?

• A. The toy raccoon is missing it's left ear.
• B. Our dog took it's toy with him.
• C. Its the toy that looks like a raccoon.
• D. Its plastic eye is hanging by a thread.

Answer: D. "Its" (no apostrophe) is the correct possessive form; "it's" (with apostrophe) is a contraction for "it is" and is misused in the other options.

Math:

6. A nursing school enrolls 89 students, and 7 out of 8 are female. What percentage of the class is female?

• A. 65.3%
• B. 78%
• C. 87.5%
• D. 98%

Answer: C. The fraction 7/8 converts to a decimal of 0.875, or 87.5%.

Math (dosage calculation):

7. The label of an injectable drug states that each 1 mL of solution contains 500 mg of the drug. How many mL contains 1.5 grams?

Answer: 3 mL. 1.5 grams = 1,500 mg. Since each 1 mL contains 500 mg, 1,500 mg ÷ 500 mg/mL = 3 mL.