HESI Exams: Consequences and Remediation

A growing body of knowledge supports the use of Elsevier's standardized HESI exams as an admission criterion to evaluate ongoing student performance and curricular outcomes and to measure students' preparedness for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). Because a plethora of research indicates that the HESI Exit Exam (E²) is a valid predictor of NCLEX-RN success, faculty often designate a benchmark E² score that students are required to achieve. Students who do not achieve the faculty-designated benchmark score are required to remediate and retest with a parallel version of the E² to determine the effectiveness of the remediation and to reevaluate the student's preparedness for the licensure exam. This study compared mean E² scores of students who attended schools that attached consequences to E² scores with students who attended schools that did not attach consequences to E² scores. Based on data obtained from the Eighth Validity Study Questionnaire, findings indicated that E² scores were significantly higher (P < .01) in schools that associated consequences with failure to achieve the faculty-designated E² score and were also significantly higher (P < .01) in schools that required, rather than merely suggested remediation.