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RECALL, THEN CHECK

HESI A2 Flashcards & Study Review

Read 12 sample cards from the 12-card HESI A2 foundation collection. Try recalling each answer before checking the explanation.

Version 2026-10-27 · Original foundation materials · No sign-up

What this collection covers

Twelve actual guide units, not a complete course or 200-question bank. School-selected sections, timers, calculator rules, cut scores and admission criteria remain institution-specific. Not HESI Exit, NCLEX, clinical practice, dosing advice, secure-item recall or a pass/admission prediction. Qualified educator review pending..

The cards preview selected ideas; they do not measure readiness for the whole examination. Your personal review schedule is available in the review tool.

Author-reviewed learning materials. Independent educator review is pending; question difficulty has not been calibrated with learner results. Check coverage and gaps before planning your preparation.

Sample flashcards, with answers

CARD 01 · Reading

How can you distinguish a passage’s main idea from its general topic?

Answer & explanation

The main idea states the point that organizes the important details; the topic merely names the subject. Test whether the candidate explains most of the passage without adding a new claim.

Learn: Set your scope,then identify the main idea
CARD 02 · Vocabulary

What should you check before assigning a familiar meaning to an unfamiliar word in a sentence?

Answer & explanation

Check the surrounding definition, contrast, example or consequence. Substitute the proposed meaning and confirm that the nearby sentences still fit; context can narrow the intended sense.

Learn: Recover word meaning from its local context
CARD 03 · Grammar

In the pattern “to sort, to count, and___,” what form should the final coordinated action match?

Answer & explanation

An infinitive phrase such as “to file.” The matching relationship is to-plus-verb; another sentence could correctly use gerunds instead, but this list has already established its pattern.

Learn: Preserve grammatical form across a list
CARD 04 · Mathematics

When a second fraction applies to what remains after an earlier removal, which base should you use?

Answer & explanation

First calculate the remainder, and multiply the second fraction by that remainder. Label the removed part and the final retained part separately to avoid reporting the wrong quantity.

Learn: Track which quantity a fraction acts on
CARD 05 · Chemistry

What counts define atomic number, mass number and net charge for a particle made of protons, neutrons and electrons?

Answer & explanation

Z=protons; A=protons+neutrons; net charge in elementary-charge units=protons−electrons. An excess of electrons gives a negative ion without changing proton-defined identity.

Learn: Separate proton identity,nuclear mass count and charge
CARD 06 · Biology

For cargo explicitly following rough ER→Golgi→secretory vesicle, what extra timing fact matters when predicting a newly labeled signal after an ER-to-Golgi block?

Answer & explanation

Whether label existed before the block. If labeling starts only afterward, there is no preexisting labeled downstream pool; new ER cargo cannot cross the stipulated complete block. This does not describe every protein pathway.

Learn: Follow newly labeled cargo through a specified pathway
CARD 07 · Anatomy and physiology

In an unreversed frontal view of a figure facing you, does the figure’s anatomical left become anatomical right because it appears on your right?

Answer & explanation

No. Anatomical left stays attached to the figure; only its position in the observer’s view is on the right. Keep the subject’s coordinate frame separate from the observer’s.

Learn: Keep anatomical directions attached to the subject
CARD 08 · Reading

What does a blank observation field prove when the text defines it as “not yet visited”?

Answer & explanation

It proves only that no visit is recorded under that definition. It does not establish good conditions, bad conditions or closure; keep the inference within the passage’s evidence.

Learn: Limit an inference to the evidence given
CARD 09 · Mathematics

A price is reduced by 20% and then a fixed charge is added. What order reverses those operations?

Answer & explanation

Subtract the fixed charge first, then divide by 0.80 to recover the original base. Adding 20% to the reduced amount uses a different base and does not undo the reduction.

Learn: Reverse a percentage change in the correct order
CARD 10 · Chemistry

What must remain fixed when balancing a chemical equation, and why?

Answer & explanation

Coefficients can change the number of formula units. Subscripts stay fixed because changing them changes the chemical species. Check atom totals for every element, then reduce a common coefficient factor.

Learn: Balance coefficients without changing the species
CARD 11 · Biology

Under an undivided-centromere chromosome-counting convention, what does DNA replication change before sister chromatids separate?

Answer & explanation

The number of sister chromatid copies doubles, but the joined chromosome-unit count is unchanged until separation. For example, 4 joined units become 4 replicated chromosomes with 8 chromatids. A later stage needs a new count.

Learn: Count joined chromosomes and copied DNA separately
CARD 12 · Mathematics

For a rectangle with width: length=3: 5, how can its perimeter be written using one positive scale factor k?

Answer & explanation

Width=3 k and length=5 k, so perimeter P=2(3 k+5 k)=16 k. Include both copies of each side; the ratio alone does not determine k.

Learn: Use both a ratio and a geometric constraint

Use the cards as a recall routine

  1. Read the prompt and explain your answer before looking below it.
  2. Compare your reasoning with the saved answer, then revisit the linked lesson if a distinction is unclear.
  3. Use the spaced-review tool to schedule another attempt; its personal state stays in your browser.

Sources and preparation route

These prompts and explanations are the site's original learning materials. The reference links below support the selected skills; they are not endorsements or official examination questions.