breakdown
HESI A2 scores: cutoffs, composites and retakes
There is no national HESI A2 passing score. Two nursing programs' published rules side by side: Arizona's 75% average across four sections, Baylor's 80 on both composites, the retake rules, validity — and why a scale quoted for another HESI exam is not this one's.
There is no national passing score for the HESI A2. The exam is ordered by a nursing program, and that program decides which sections it requires and what number it will accept — so the only score that means anything is the one the school you are applying to has published, in the version it has published this year.
That is not a shrug. It is the fact the whole page rests on, and it is why two programs can both be right about a cutoff that looks comparable and is not: the 75% and the 80 are built by different formulas — an average across four sections in one, a minimum on each of two composites in the other. What follows is two named, dated examples with their own words, the rules they attach to retakes and validity, and the one thing you can do without either of them: ask.
Two programs, side by side
| University of Arizona College of Nursing | Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing | |
|---|---|---|
| Sections that count | Reading, Vocabulary, Math, Biology | Math and English, as composites |
| The number | a 75% average of the four required sections | 80 or better on both the Math composite and the English composite |
| Formed how | average across the four | two separate composites, each needing 80 |
| Attempts | up to 2 per application cycle | once per semester, three in total |
| Spacing | any distance allowed between the two | a 60-day wait between tests |
| Best score? | the highest eligible attempt counts | scores cannot be pieced together |
| Validity | 1 year, and still valid on the application deadline | not stated on the page |
| Captured | 2026-10-27 | 2026-10-27 |
Arizona says it in one paragraph of its own: the only sections needed are Reading, Vocabulary, Math, and Biology, the score is the average among the 4 required sections, with a minimum score required of 75%, and additional sections, such as Chemistry or Physiology, will not be utilized in your score average for the application. Baylor publishes a different shape entirely: minimum scores of 80 or better on both the HESI A2 Math and English Composite portions, and HESI A2 scores cannot be pieced together — meaning a strong Math sitting and a strong English sitting taken separately are not a strong application.
Read the rows, not just the numbers. Baylor never names a science section. Arizona counts biology and not chemistry. A third school, Tarrant County College, publishes the sections its testing center delivers and says individual programs will determine the sections required for application — a sentence that is the general rule behind both examples above.
What "composite" means, and why it changes the arithmetic
A per-section score is one percentage for one section. A composite is one number built out of several sections, and different programs build it differently: an average of the four (Arizona), or a Math composite and an English composite, each of which has to clear the bar on its own (Baylor).
The practical consequence is that a percentage on a practice set is not a score, and averaging your own section percentages is not a composite either — the composite is the program's formula over the program's sections, computed from the sitting the program ordered. A high Biology percentage cannot lift a low Math percentage at Baylor, because there is nothing to lift: they are separate numbers with separate cutoffs.
Retakes, which are three different rules
Retakes are the place where the two programs and the one testing center diverge most, and the divergence is the point:
- Tarrant County College limits a candidate to 1 time per TCC application period, and a second sitting must be at least 60 days after the first. The two clauses answer different questions: the limit is per application period, so a new application period resets it, while the 60-day gap is the minimum spacing between two sittings within one period — it does not shorten or extend how long a score stays valid.
- Baylor requires a 60 day waiting period between tests, allows one sitting per semester, and caps the total at three.
- Arizona allows up to 2 attempts per application cycle, regardless of how close in time attempt #1 and #2 are, and lets an applicant utilize the highest score between all eligible attempts, rather than the most recent score.
The highest-of-attempts rule is the one worth checking first at any school. Where it applies, a second sitting is a second chance; where it does not, the most recent number may be the number that counts, and a retake taken to improve one section can cost you another.
How long a score lasts
Arizona publishes one year: HESI scores expire after 1 year and must be eligible on the deadline of the application applicants are applying for, and it gives the arithmetic — a score taken November 1, 2025 expires November 1, 2026. Baylor's page does not state a validity period. Nothing about the exam makes these agree, so the validity period is a question for the program, and the date to check is the application deadline rather than the sitting date.
When the result arrives
Tarrant County College publishes results of the test will be available 48-72 hours after your test. Arizona says payment for the exam and proctoring is due before scheduling; Baylor says its exams are currently being offered online through ProctorU. Timing and delivery are the center's, so the same enquiry covers both: who sees the score, when, and through what.
Other HESI exams report scores on different scales
Elsevier describes three separate HESI exam families — Admission Assessment (A2), Specialty, and Exit — and no A2 page we checked reports any scale other than a percentage per section. A scale quoted for one of the other HESI exams is not an A2 score, and it is not a conversion of one. Until your program names the number it reads, the only A2 figure to work from is the percentage on your own section report.
What "a good score" means here
Good means meets your program's cutoff with margin, and there is no average to compare yourself against: neither Elsevier nor the schools quoted above publish a mean A2 score, so an "average score" you see quoted comes from a prep company's own users rather than from the exam's owner. What you can do instead is work to the cutoff you were given. If Arizona needs a 75% average over four sections, a 74% in Math is not offset by 90% in Reading unless the average still clears. If Baylor needs 80 on both composites, each composite is its own gate.
Margin matters because a practice percentage is not the sitting. The bank you practice from is written by this course, not by Elsevier, and the items you meet on the day were written by someone else, so treat a comfortable practice score as evidence you know the material rather than as a prediction of the number the program will read.
What this page will not do
It will not print a passing score, because there is no national one and the examples above disagree on everything except that their own program decides. It will not convert a practice percentage into an A2 score. It will not sum one college's section counts into an exam length. And it will not average the retake rules of two programs and one testing center into a general rule — a rule that is true of Arizona and false of Baylor is not a rule.
What it will do is tell you what to ask for, in one sentence: the required sections, the cutoff, how the composite is formed, the retake rule and the validity period, in writing, before you book. Then study the sections on that list. The study guide covers every area the exam can ask about, how many questions explains why the counts are the school's, and the exam format covers the sections and who chooses them. If you are deciding between this exam and the TEAS, the comparison is here.
HESI A2 is a trademark of Elsevier Inc. Elk Ridge Academy is not affiliated with or endorsed by Elsevier.
Source: University of Arizona College of Nursing HESI policy page — four required sections, the 75% average, two attempts per cycle, the highest eligible attempt, the one-year validity, payment before scheduling; Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing HESI A2 page — 80 on both the Math and English composites, the 60-day wait, three attempts, scores cannot be pieced together, ProctorU; Tarrant County College HESI A2 exam information page — one attempt per application period, 60 days apart, results in 48-72 hours, programs determine the sections; Elsevier's own account of three HESI exam families (Admission Assessment, Specialty, Exit). Neither Elsevier nor the schools quoted publish a national cut score or a mean score. (Arizona and Baylor pages captured 2026-10-27; Tarrant County College accessed 2026-10-23; Elsevier accessed 2026-10-23)