HESI A2 — All Questions

Read the passage: 'Some claim that memory works like a video recording. In fact, each time a memory is recalled it is rebuilt, and small details can change with every retelling.' What is the author correcting?

• a.The belief that memories can be recalled at all
• b.The belief that video recordings are accurate
• c.The belief that people lie about what they remember
• d.The belief that memories are stored unchanged✓

The phrase in fact signals that the video-recording comparison is the mistake being corrected. The passage accepts that recall happens, makes no claim about actual video, and describes unconscious change rather than deliberate lying.

Read the passage: 'The trail rose gently for the first mile. After that it turned to loose rock, and the last half mile required both hands.' What can you conclude about the trail?

• a.It is dangerous from the very beginning
• b.It is shorter than most local trails
• c.It is impossible without climbing equipment
• d.It grows harder as it goes on✓

The description moves from a gentle grade to loose rock to scrambling, so difficulty increases with distance. The first mile is explicitly gentle, no other trail is mentioned for comparison, and using both hands is not the same as needing equipment.

Read the passage: 'Keep the dressing dry for forty-eight hours. If it becomes wet, or if you see redness spreading from the edge of the wound, call the clinic.' What should a patient do if the dressing gets wet?

• a.Remove the dressing and let the wound air dry
• b.Call the clinic✓
• c.Wait forty-eight hours and then check it
• d.Apply a second dressing over the wet one

The instruction names two situations that require a call, and a wet dressing is one of them. Removing the dressing, waiting, or layering a second one are all actions the passage never authorises.

Read the passage: 'Rosa has worked at the plant for thirty years. She trained half the crew on the floor, and when a machine jams it is her name that is called.' What can you infer about Rosa?

• a.She is about to be promoted to supervisor
• b.Her coworkers respect her expertise✓
• c.She is the oldest worker at the plant
• d.She prefers machines to people

Being the trainer of half the crew and the first person called shows earned authority. No promotion is mentioned, length of service is not the same as age, and nothing indicates what she prefers.

Read the passage: 'The report states that 62 percent of respondents skipped breakfast at least three times a week. The author concludes that the modern workday has become too rushed for a morning meal.' Which part is the author's interpretation rather than data?

• a.That 62 percent of respondents were surveyed
• b.That respondents skipped breakfast three times a week
• c.That the report exists and was written
• d.That the workday is too rushed for breakfast✓

The survey result is a measurement; the reason offered for it is the author's inference and is not established by the number. The percentage, the frequency it describes, and the existence of the report are all stated facts.

Read the passage: 'Bring photo identification, your appointment letter and a list of current medications. Applicants without identification will be rescheduled.' What happens to an applicant who forgets identification?

• a.The appointment is rescheduled✓
• b.The appointment goes ahead as planned
• c.The applicant is turned away permanently
• d.A medication list is accepted instead

The passage states plainly that applicants without identification will be rescheduled. It does not permit the appointment to continue, does not bar the applicant for good, and never offers the medication list as a substitute.

Read the passage: 'Honeybees communicate the location of flowers by dancing. The angle of the dance relative to the sun gives the direction, and the length of the run gives the distance.' What does the length of the dance tell other bees?

• a.Which direction to fly
• b.How much nectar is available
• c.Which flowers taste best
• d.How far away the flowers are✓

The passage pairs the angle with direction and the length with distance. Direction is given by the angle instead, and the amount or quality of nectar is never mentioned.

Read the passage: 'The gymnasium had not been cleaned in weeks. Dust lay thick on the bleachers, a broken window let in the cold, and the scoreboard had gone dark years ago.' What mood does the passage create?

• a.Excitement
• b.Calm
• c.Neglect✓
• d.Nostalgia

Dust, a broken window and a dead scoreboard together build a sense of abandonment. Nothing is lively enough to be exciting, the details are too bleak to read as calm, and no fond memory of the past is offered.

Read the passage: 'A tornado watch means conditions are favourable for a tornado to form. A tornado warning means one has been spotted or detected on radar and people should take shelter at once.' What is the difference between a watch and a warning?

• a.A watch is issued only at night
• b.A warning covers a larger area than a watch
• c.A watch means people should shelter immediately
• d.A warning means a tornado has actually been detected✓

The passage draws the line at detection: a watch describes possible conditions, a warning an observed tornado. Time of day and size of area are never discussed, and immediate shelter belongs to the warning rather than the watch.

Read the passage: 'Mr. Alvarez waved off the wheelchair, said he had walked into the hospital and would walk out of it, then gripped the bed rail with both hands to stand.' What can you infer about Mr. Alvarez?

• a.He is completely recovered from his illness
• b.He has never used a wheelchair before
• c.He values his independence more than his comfort✓
• d.He dislikes the staff caring for him

Refusing help while visibly struggling shows pride in doing things himself. His grip on the rail suggests he is not fully recovered, his history with wheelchairs is unknown, and nothing is said about his feelings toward the staff.

Read the passage: 'The new policy requires two identifiers before any medication is given: the patient's full name and date of birth. A room number is not an acceptable identifier.' Which identifier does the policy forbid?

• a.The date of birth
• b.The patient's full name
• c.The medication label
• d.The room number✓

The passage states directly that a room number will not do, because patients move between rooms. Name and date of birth are the two the policy requires, and the medication label is not offered as an identifier at all.

Read the passage: 'Glaciers in the range have retreated an average of forty metres a year since 1980. Photographs taken from the same ridge in 1905 and last summer show the difference plainly.' What is the primary purpose?

• a.To argue for a change in government policy
• b.To describe the beauty of the mountain range
• c.To explain how glaciers are formed
• d.To present evidence of glacial retreat✓

Measurements and paired photographs are offered as evidence, and no action is urged. No policy is proposed, the scenery is not described, and glacier formation is never explained.

Read the passage: 'The soup was served lukewarm, the bread was stale, and yet somehow the meal was over in eleven minutes flat.' What is the tone?

• a.Sincerely grateful
• b.Coldly factual
• c.Openly furious
• d.Wryly critical✓

The complaints are real but the closing phrase turns them into dry humour, which is wry criticism. Gratitude is absent, a purely factual report would not add the ironic timing, and the mild register falls well short of fury.

Read the passage: 'Every county in the state reported a rise in flu cases last week except one. Public health officials expect that county's numbers to follow within days.' What do officials expect?

• a.The last county's cases will also rise✓
• b.The outbreak has already peaked statewide
• c.The last county has better public health measures
• d.Flu cases will fall in the other counties

Officials predict the remaining county will follow the same upward pattern. The passage gives no sign of a peak, never credits that county with better measures, and says nothing about cases falling anywhere.

Read the passage: 'Although she had cooked for crowds her whole life, Nadia measured each ingredient for the competition twice and set a timer she did not need.' What does this suggest about the competition?

• a.It was the first time she had cooked for others
• b.She expected the judges to be unfair
• c.The recipe was unfamiliar to her
• d.It mattered enough to change her habits✓

A cook of long experience taking extra precautions shows the stakes were unusually high. She has cooked for crowds for years, no complaint about the judges appears, and nothing indicates the recipe was new to her.

Read the passage: 'Store insulin in the refrigerator until it is opened. Once opened, a vial may be kept at room temperature for twenty-eight days and must then be discarded.' How long may an opened vial be kept at room temperature?

• a.Until the expiry date printed on the box
• b.Twenty-eight hours
• c.Twenty-eight days✓
• d.Only while it remains cold

The passage gives a clear limit of twenty-eight days after opening. The printed expiry date governs unopened vials, the unit is days rather than hours, and the whole point of the sentence is that room temperature storage is allowed.

Read the passage: 'Ninety percent of dentists surveyed recommend this toothpaste. Your smile deserves nothing less than the best on the market.' Which statement from the passage is opinion?

• a.That your smile deserves the best on the market✓
• b.That ninety percent of dentists were surveyed
• c.That dentists were asked for a recommendation
• d.That the product is a toothpaste

What a smile deserves is a value judgement no survey can establish. The survey figure, the fact that a recommendation was sought, and the nature of the product are all checkable claims.

Read the passage: 'The first drafts of the constitution were written on rag paper, which survives centuries. Documents from only fifty years ago, printed on wood-pulp paper, are already crumbling.' What conclusion is supported?

• a.Older documents are always better preserved
• b.Wood-pulp paper was never widely used
• c.Constitutions are printed on special paper today
• d.Rag paper lasts longer than wood-pulp paper✓

The contrast between centuries and fifty years points to the material rather than the age. Age alone is not the cause, wood-pulp paper is clearly common enough to hold many documents, and present-day printing is not discussed.

Read the passage: 'Turn the patient every two hours. Skin that stays under pressure loses its blood supply, and tissue that loses its blood supply begins to die within hours.' Why must the patient be turned?

• a.To make the patient more comfortable
• b.To keep the bedding from wrinkling
• c.To restore blood flow to compressed skin✓
• d.To check whether the patient is awake

The passage traces a chain from pressure to lost blood supply to dying tissue, so turning relieves the pressure. Comfort, bedding and level of consciousness are never given as reasons.

Read the passage: 'The ferry runs hourly from June through August. In the off season it sails only on Saturdays, weather permitting.' A traveller wants to cross on a Tuesday in October. What can be concluded?

• a.No ferry will be running that day✓
• b.The ferry will run but only in the morning
• c.The ferry will run if the weather is good
• d.The ferry runs hourly all year round

October is outside the June to August season, so service is Saturdays only, and Tuesday is not a Saturday. The weather condition applies only to Saturday sailings, and the hourly schedule is limited to the summer months.

Read the passage: 'The lecture hall seats four hundred, but only a dozen students came to the optional review session. Those twelve later scored, on average, a full letter grade above their classmates.' What can you infer about the review session?

• a.It was useful but poorly attended✓
• b.It was required for all students
• c.It was cancelled for lack of interest
• d.It made no difference to the final grades

Twelve out of four hundred is sparse attendance, and the higher scores show it was worth attending. The passage calls the session optional, it clearly took place, and the grade difference contradicts any claim that it did not help.

Read the passage: 'Smoke rises from a fire because hot air is less dense than the cooler air around it. The same principle keeps a hot-air balloon aloft.' What is the relationship between the two sentences?

• a.The second contradicts the first
• b.The second defines a term used in the first
• c.The second gives another example of the first✓
• d.The second describes what happened next

The balloon illustrates the same principle of density already stated. Nothing is contradicted, no term is defined, and the sentences are not events in a sequence.

Read the passage: 'She said the shift was fine. She said it twice, without looking up from the chart, while her hands shook enough to rattle the pen against the desk.' What does the passage suggest?

• a.She was cold from the air conditioning
• b.The shift was not fine at all✓
• c.She had already forgotten the shift
• d.She was angry with the person asking

The trembling hands and avoided eye contact undercut the words, which is the point of the description. Cold is never mentioned, she plainly remembers the shift, and the passage shows distress rather than anger.

Read the passage: 'Both aspirin and acetaminophen reduce fever. Only aspirin also thins the blood, and aspirin is avoided in children with a viral illness because of the risk of Reye syndrome.' Which statement is supported?

• a.Acetaminophen thins the blood as well
• b.Neither drug is safe for children
• c.Aspirin is the stronger fever reducer
• d.Aspirin and acetaminophen do not have identical effects✓

The passage names one effect aspirin has that acetaminophen does not, so the two drugs differ. It does not attribute blood thinning to acetaminophen, restricts only aspirin in children, and never compares the strength of the two against fever.

Read the passage: 'In 1854 John Snow removed the handle from a London water pump. Cholera deaths in the surrounding streets fell sharply, and the idea that the disease travelled through water gained ground.' What was the significance of removing the handle?

• a.It supported the theory that water carried cholera✓
• b.It proved that cholera spreads through the air
• c.It was the first public health law ever passed
• d.It cured the patients already ill with cholera

Deaths fell once the water source was cut off, which is evidence for waterborne spread. The passage argues against an airborne route, describes an action rather than a law, and says nothing about curing the already sick.

Read the passage: 'Reading aloud to a child for twenty minutes a day exposes them to roughly two million words a year. Children read to daily arrive at school with far larger vocabularies than those who are not.' What is the main idea?

• a.Daily reading aloud builds a child's vocabulary✓
• b.Twenty minutes is the ideal length for a story
• c.School vocabulary tests are unfair to some children
• d.Most parents do not read to their children

Both sentences connect the daily habit to vocabulary size, which is the main idea. The twenty minutes is an example rather than an ideal, no test is called unfair, and how many parents read aloud is never stated.

Read the passage: 'The committee's report was voluminous, running to nine hundred pages with appendices.' In this passage, 'voluminous' most nearly means:

• a.carelessly written
• b.kept secret
• c.very lengthy✓
• d.highly persuasive

The page count immediately after the word shows it refers to size. Nothing in the sentence comments on the writing quality, its availability, or how convincing it is.

Read the passage: 'Wear gloves when handling the specimen. Dispose of them in the red container, never in the regular waste basket.' What is implied about the specimen?

• a.It is potentially infectious✓
• b.It is extremely fragile
• c.It is expensive to replace
• d.It belongs to more than one patient

Gloves plus separate biohazard disposal are precautions against infection. Fragility would call for careful handling rather than special waste rules, and neither cost nor ownership is mentioned.

Read the passage: 'First the power failed. Then the backup generator started, but it powered only the east wing. By midnight, staff were carrying supplies from the dark side of the building by flashlight.' How is the passage organized?

• a.As a comparison of two buildings
• b.As a list of solutions to a problem
• c.As an argument with supporting reasons
• d.As a sequence of events✓

First, then and by midnight mark a chain of events in time. The two wings are part of one building rather than a comparison, no solutions are listed, and no position is argued.

Read the passage: 'The bus leaves at 6:10, not 6:15 as the old timetable showed. Passengers arriving at the former time have been left behind twice this month.' What is the author's purpose?

• a.To complain about the bus company
• b.To explain how timetables are made
• c.To persuade readers to drive instead
• d.To warn readers of a schedule change✓

The passage corrects a time and shows the consequence of not knowing, which is a warning. There is no complaint about the company, no explanation of timetable design, and no suggestion of another way to travel.

Read the passage: 'No two fingerprints have ever been found to match, even among identical twins, whose DNA is the same.' What does the mention of twins add?

• a.It shows fingerprints are not determined by genes alone✓
• b.It proves that identical twins are not truly identical in DNA
• c.It suggests fingerprints change over a lifetime
• d.It explains how fingerprints are collected

Twins share DNA yet differ in prints, so something beyond genetics shapes the pattern. The passage states their DNA is the same, says nothing about prints changing, and never describes collection methods.

Read the passage: 'The chef insisted the kitchen close at ten. The owner wanted to serve until midnight. In the end the kitchen closed at eleven and neither of them was satisfied.' What kind of resolution is described?

• a.A complete victory for the chef
• b.A compromise✓
• c.A complete victory for the owner
• d.A refusal to decide anything

Eleven o'clock sits between the two positions and leaves both parties unhappy, which is what a compromise looks like. Neither side got the hour it asked for, and a decision clearly was made.

Read the passage: 'The label warns that the tablets may cause drowsiness and advises against driving. It says nothing about taking them with food.' What should a reader conclude about food?

• a.The tablets must be taken with food
• b.The tablets must be taken on an empty stomach
• c.Food makes the drowsiness worse
• d.The label does not address it✓

The passage states only that food is not mentioned, so no instruction about it can be drawn from the label. Requiring food, forbidding it, or linking it to drowsiness all read in information the label does not contain.

Read the passage: 'Volunteers planted six hundred saplings along the creek. Within three years the bank had stopped washing away during spring floods.' What relationship do the two sentences show?

• a.Comparison and contrast
• b.Problem without solution
• c.A list in order of importance
• d.Cause and effect✓

The planting came first and the stabilised bank followed, which is a cause producing an effect. Nothing is compared, the problem is in fact solved, and no ranking is offered.