HESI A2 Vocabulary Practice Test: Free Timed Drill

What is on the HESI A2 Vocabulary section?

About 55 questions in 50 minutes, 50 or so scored, on 5 topics: health care terms, general academic words, words with two meanings, look-alikes, body directions.

HESI A2 Vocabulary, as schools describe it, with where each fact comes from
Questions	55 shown, about 50 scored; the unscored pilot questions look the sameReportedGateway Technical College, HESI A2 testing (questions and minutes per section)
Time	50 minutes on this section's own clockReportedGateway Technical College, HESI A2 testing (questions and minutes per section)
Even pace	About 55 seconds a question (50 × 60 ÷ 55)LifeScore
Scoring	Percent correct for the section, shown on your score report with a cumulative scoreReportedCentral Texas College, HESI A2 information sheet (on-screen calculator, score report)
Required?	Only if your program lists it: each program picks the sections and sets the minimumReportedChamberlain University, HESI Admission Assessment (A2) exam FAQs
In our full mock	10 questions in 10 minutes, the same pace on a shorter sectionLifeScore

Elsevier does not publish one public spec sheet for the HESI A2, so the question counts and times here are the ones schools publish for their own candidates, labelled Reported. On 20 October 2026 our build environment could not open Elsevier's or most schools' pages directly, so each was read through search-result text from the named page. Your program's own testing page always wins.

What does each HESI Vocabulary topic ask?

Three kinds of word: health care terms, general academic words, and words with two meanings where the sentence decides.

The topics follow the chapters of Elsevier's Admission Assessment Exam Review. "What it covers" is the content; "how it reads" is our description of the questions you will meet, from writing and checking hundreds of them.

Health care terms
What it covers: Words used in charts and handoffs: acute, chronic, edema, febrile, dyspnea, syncope.
How it reads: A clinical sentence with the word in quotes. Word parts usually give the meaning away.
General academic words
What it covers: Words educated readers know: concise, pertinent, ambivalent, inevitable.
How it reads: An everyday sentence; the trap is a word that sounds similar.
Words with two meanings
What it covers: Words whose meaning depends on the sentence: void, patent, discrete.
How it reads: "The nurse asked the patient to void" is not about contracts.
Look-alikes
What it covers: Pairs such as discrete and discreet, afebrile and febrile, hypo- and hyper-.
How it reads: One letter or prefix flips the meaning; read slowly.
Body directions
What it covers: Anterior, posterior, proximal, distal, lateral, medial.
How it reads: Short definition questions with no sentence.

What do HESI A2 Vocabulary questions look like?

Three original questions: a word in context, a definition and an opposite. Each shows how the word parts point to the answer.

Try each one before you open the answer. They are original, written by us in the HESI A2 style, and are not real HESI items or questions from our mocks. The first is worked open.

HESI A2-style question 1 · Word in context
What is the best definition of the word "ingested" as it is used in this sentence? The toddler may have ingested some of the cleaning fluid.
1. ABreathed in
2. BTaken in by mouth
3. CSpilled
4. DTouched
Worked answer
B: Taken in by mouth. To ingest is to take something into the body by swallowing it. Breathing in would be inhale.
1. Read the sentence: a toddler and cleaning fluid suggests swallowing.
2. Word parts: in- (into) and gest (carry), as in digest.
3. Taken in by mouth fits; inhaled would be breathed in.
The trap: Choosing "breathed in", the meaning of inhale, because both start with in-.
HESI A2-style question 2 · Definition
Select the best definition of the word "hematoma".
1. AA blood clot in the lungs
2. BA cancer of the blood
3. CA low red blood cell count
4. DA collection of blood outside a blood vessel, forming a swelling
Show the worked answer
D: A collection of blood outside a blood vessel, forming a swelling. Hemat- means blood and -oma means a swelling or mass, so a hematoma is a pocket of blood under the skin or in tissue.
1. Split the word: hemat- (blood) + -oma (mass or swelling).
2. Find the option that is a mass of blood.
3. A low count would be anemia; a cancer of the blood is leukemia.
The trap: Assuming -oma always means cancer. It means a mass or swelling, which is often harmless.
HESI A2-style question 3 · Opposite
Which word means the opposite of "proximal"?
1. ADistal
2. BLateral
3. CMedial
4. DSuperior
Show the worked answer
A: Distal. Proximal means nearer to the point of attachment, such as the shoulder for the arm; distal means farther from it.
1. Proximal: close to where a limb attaches (think proximity).
2. Its pair is distal: far from the attachment (think distance).
3. Medial and lateral are a different pair, toward and away from the midline.
The trap: Choosing lateral, which pairs with medial, not proximal.

Make Vocabulary a section you bank

Twelve questions show the gap. 4 more Vocabulary drills and 8 full seven-section mocks close it.

The HESI A2 Pass Pack gives you 8 full mocks on the real clock, 28 drills of 12 questions for the sections that cost you points, and a predictor that turns your mocks into the odds of reaching your target. One payment, no subscription, and your free score stays free.

Prep courses for these tests usually cost $19 to $129. The HESI A2 Pass Pack is US$39 (£29), once.

See the HESI A2 Pass Pack How our questions are built and checked

8
timed mocks: 28
topic drills: 1
score predictor

Which word parts should I learn for HESI A2 vocabulary?

These twenty. They turn hundreds of unfamiliar health terms into ones you can work out in a few seconds.

Our list of high-value prefixes, roots and suffixes
Word part	Meaning	Example
hyper-	above, excessive	hypertension
hypo-	below, deficient	hypoglycemia
tachy-	fast	tachycardia
brady-	slow	bradycardia
dys-	difficult, painful	dysphagia
a-, an-	without	afebrile
peri-	around	pericardium
sub-	under	sublingual
intra-	within	intravenous
inter-	between	intercostal
cardi-	heart	cardiac
hepat-	liver	hepatitis
nephr-, ren-	kidney	renal
hem-, hemat-	blood	hematoma
oste-	bone	osteoporosis
-itis	inflammation	arthritis
-ectomy	surgical removal	appendectomy
-algia	pain	neuralgia
-pnea	breathing	dyspnea
-emia	blood condition	anemia

How should I pace the HESI Vocabulary section?

Aim for about 55 seconds a question on average: faster on the questions you know, so the hard ones get the time they need. Use these checkpoints.

Our checkpoints, from the reported 55 questions in 50 minutes
When	Where you should be	What to do
13 minutes in	Question 14	On pace: keep going
25 minutes in	Question 28	Behind by 3 or more? Guess and move on from any question past a minute
38 minutes in	Question 41	Leave the last minutes for a guess on every blank

Vocabulary is the fastest section if you know the word: 10 to 20 seconds. Do not spend a minute on a word you have never seen; split it into parts, eliminate, choose and move on.

Read the sentence even when you think you know the word. A handful of questions use a second meaning, and the sentence is the only clue.

A wrong answer and a blank both score zero on a percent-correct score, so never leave a question empty when the clock is about to run out.

What traps cost the most points on HESI Vocabulary?

Vocabulary misses are rarely about effort. These are the patterns that cost marks.

Choosing the meaning of a similar-looking word: ingest and inhale, discrete and discreet, afebrile and febrile.
Ignoring the sentence when a word has two meanings (void, patent, labile).
Picking an option that fits the sentence but is not what the word means. Test the option against the word, not just the sentence.
Reading hypo- as hyper- under time pressure. Slow down for one-letter differences.

How should I study for HESI Vocabulary?

Fifteen to twenty-five minutes a day: twenty new words, the word parts behind them, and a quick timed review.

Our plan, with minutes a day

Day 1
20 min
Take the free drill above. Write every word you missed or guessed.
Day 2
20 min
Learn the twenty word parts in the table. Make one example for each.
Day 3
20 min
Twenty clinical terms: acute, chronic, edema, distended, lethargic and the like.
Day 4
20 min
Twenty general academic words; use each in a sentence.
Day 5
20 min
Look-alike pairs and two-meaning words.
Day 6
25 min
A timed set at about 50 seconds a question, then review.
Day 7
15 min
Review only the words you missed twice.

How much does Vocabulary count for nursing school admission?

Vocabulary is required by most programs and often counts in an English composite with reading and grammar.

Because vocabulary is fast to score well on, it is the section that can lift an English composite most in a week. FSCJ's dental hygiene program, for one, averages vocabulary with reading, chemistry and anatomy and physiology. See the HESI A2 passing score page.

Many of the same terms appear in the anatomy and physiology section, so the word-part table pays twice.

Scores reach your Evolve account within about 24 to 48 hours, with a percentage for each section and a cumulative score. Retake rules are set by each school. Baylor, for example, allows at most three attempts with 60 days between them.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on HESI A2 vocabulary?

Schools list 55 questions in 50 minutes, with about 50 scored.

Is there a HESI A2 vocabulary list?

Elsevier does not publish one. The words tested are health care and general academic terms; learning word parts covers far more of them than any list.

How can I improve my HESI vocabulary fast?

Learn the common prefixes, roots and suffixes first, then practise words in sentences on a timer. Twenty new words a day for a week is realistic.

Is the free vocabulary drill the real HESI?

No. It is 12 original HESI A2-style questions at the real section pace. LifeScore is not affiliated with Elsevier.

All seven sections, on the real clocks

8 full HESI A2-style mocks, 28 section drills (4 for Vocabulary) and every answer worked, in one payment with no subscription.