I have been a lpn for 2 years and want to go on to get my RN online. I have never heard of the HESI EXAM. If it is important to get into a RN program lpn student should at least be aware of it. Some LPN's do not want to go on and get their RN.

the nursing school i am almost finished with makes us take the hesi exam as a exit exam. We are required to make an 850 or better. To me the hesi exam really tests things that we rarely discussed in class. To me its quite hard.

There are a number of Comprehensive Predictors that will give an indication of one's liklihood to pass the NCLEX.  My class took a battery of tests from a company, ATI, that is supposed to give an accurate forecast of one's chances. The tests were not, however, a course pass/fail criterion.  I wonder if the schools are pushing some of the work of testing the aggregate knowledge of potential grads from the educational staff to private concerns.  I would find this objectionable if one's graduation were held up based on these test scores.

On the other hand, before we began our coursework, we took the TEAS (Test of Essential Academic Skills) as a screening tool.  While our class was not, again,  held to a pass/ fail for admission to the course, the next class will be.  That is to say, the prospective students will take the TEAS, and if they are not able to pass, they will not be admitted to the course.

While I find the use of a commercial test that may or may not be fair, based on the focus of the course work studied, as a graduation pass/fail criterion to be both unfair and self serving on the part of nursing school involved,  the use of the TEAS, or an equivalent, is, in my opinion, a good idea.  I have run across too many LVN's, and RN's who cannot spell or put together a sentence that means what they wish it to mean.  Sorry, but that's the truth...   With the shortage of nurses, and the shortage of slots in nursing schools, along with the cost to the state of putting a student through a program, there needs to be a way to winnow out those who are not up to the task, for whatever reason.