HESI Admission Assessment Scores: Predicting Student Success

This study investigated the value of administering Elsevier's HESI Admission Assessment (A2) to associate degree nursing (ADN) school applicants. The relationship of A2 scores—composite scores and 5 component scores: basic math skills, reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary & general knowledge, and anatomy & physiology—with final course grades in 3 first-semester nursing courses was investigated. Findings indicated that composite A2 scores and all 5 component A2 scores that were administered to the ADN applicants were significantly related (P < .01) to final course grades in 2 of the 3 first-semester nursing courses, Nursing Process I and Nursing Process II. All A2 scores except reading comprehension were significantly (P < .01) related to final course grades in the Pharmacology nursing course. The mean A2 scores of students who completed all 3 of the first-semester nursing courses were compared with the mean A2 scores of students who did not complete one or more of these courses. Findings indicated that the mean composite A2 score and the mean score for each of the 5 component A2 exams were significantly higher (P < .01) for those students who completed all 3 nursing courses than for students who did not complete one or more of these courses. The faculty concluded that A2 scores were useful in predicting students' success in the first semester of the nursing program, which is when most of the attrition occurs, and that screening applicants based on A2 scores can help promote student retention.