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HESI A2 · Physics section

HESI A2 Physics Practice Test: Motion, Forces, Energy, Waves, Light and Circuits

Practice set 1 has 20 HESI A2 physics questions on an exam-style screen, from speed and Newton's laws through work, energy, momentum and fluid pressure to waves, light, heat and electric circuits. Each answer comes with an explanation and a note on every option, and a one-table physics review with the formulas sits further down the page. Texas State Technical College's library guide lists 25 physics items plus 5 pilot items and says only a few programs require the module, so check your own program's list first. These questions are free, with no sign-up.

Practice sets

HESI A2 physics practice sets

Three sets of physics questions. Each opens on an exam-style test screen, one question at a time: answer, select Check answer, and see the correct answer, the explanation and a note on every option before you go on. Untimed, and your progress is saved in this browser.

Set 01Free

20 questions

Motion, forces and gravity; energy, momentum and fluids; waves, sound and light; heat and electricityNot started
Set 02Free

20 questions

Motion, forces and gravity; energy, momentum and fluids; waves, sound and light; heat and electricityNot started
Set 03Free

20 questions

Motion, forces and gravity; energy, momentum and fluids; waves, sound and light; heat and electricityNot started

Set 1 spreads its 20 questions over ten topics; the topic cards below show how many fall in each group. The physics section of Practice Exam 1 suggests about 60 seconds a question; your school or testing site sets the real timing (Texas State Technical College's library guide suggests 50 minutes for 25 physics items plus 5 pilot items). When the sets feel easy, take the full-length HESI A2 Practice Exam 1, with each section on its own clock.

Sample HESI A2 physics questionFrom practice set 1, with the answer and a note on every option

A bicycle traveling east slows uniformly from 10 m/s to 4 m/s in 3 s. Taking east as positive, what is its acceleration?

Answer: -2 m/s²

Acceleration is change in velocity divided by time: (4 - 10)/3 = -2 m/s². The negative sign means acceleration points west while the bicycle is still moving east.

Why each option is right or wrong

-2 m/s²: Correct. The eastward velocity decreases by 6 m/s over 3 seconds.

-1 m/s²: This divides the velocity change by twice the elapsed time.

2 m/s²: This drops the negative sign and gives the opposite acceleration direction.

6 m/s²: This reports the speed change without dividing by time.

Motion, forces and gravity · Speed, velocity and acceleration

Content

What the HESI A2 physics section covers

Schools describe the A2 physics section on their own pages, and of the schools cited here only one includes it. The practice sets here draw on the topics below, in four groups that run from motion to electric circuits.

Questions
25
In Practice Exam 1 here; TSTC lists 25 plus 5 pilot items
Suggested time
25 min
Your school or testing site sets the limit
Per question
60 s
At the suggested time
Calculator
None
In this section of the practice exam
Set 1 here: 6 of 20 questions

Motion, forces and gravity

How fast and in which direction: speed against velocity, distance against displacement, average speed over a whole trip and acceleration as a change in velocity. Then the three laws of motion, from balanced forces at constant velocity to F = ma and the force pairs of the third law, and the forces met most often: weight, friction and air resistance up to terminal speed.

  • Speed, velocity and acceleration
  • Newton's laws of motion
  • Gravity, friction and weight
Set 1 here: 6 of 20 questions

Energy, momentum and fluids

Work as force times distance, kinetic and potential energy and how one turns into the other, power and efficiency; momentum, impulse and what is conserved when carts collide or push apart; then pressure as force over area, pressure that grows with depth and the buoyant force that decides whether an object floats.

  • Work, energy and power
  • Momentum
  • Pressure and fluids
Set 1 here: 4 of 20 questions

Waves, sound and light

Transverse and longitudinal waves, frequency, wavelength, period and wave speed; what sets the pitch and the loudness of a sound and why sound cannot cross a vacuum; then light: the law of reflection, refraction toward or away from the normal, total internal reflection in a fiber, a prism's spectrum and the images lenses form.

  • Waves and sound
  • Light and optics
Set 1 here: 4 of 20 questions

Heat and electricity

Temperature against heat, thermal equilibrium, conduction, convection and radiation, the heat to warm a sample (Q = mcΔT) or to melt it (Q = mL); then current, voltage and resistance with Ohm's law, power in a circuit, and series and parallel connections.

  • Heat and temperature
  • Electricity and magnetism

What schools say about the physics section

HESI A2 physics: published facts
SourceWhat its page says
Texas State Technical College (Library Guides)Its HESI A2 study guide puts physics in a science part with biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology, and says only a few programs require the physics module: 25 physics items plus 5 pilot items, with 50 minutes suggested, where each of the other three sciences gets 25. Its physics topics are speed, velocity, acceleration and friction; momentum; Newton's laws; linear and rotational motion; kinetic and potential energy; the force of attraction; density and buoyancy; wave classification and theory; optics; static electricity; electric fields and charges; and currents, voltage and resistance.
Chamberlain UniversityIts HESI A2 page notes that the HESI Admission Assessment Exam Review guide has sections on mathematics, chemistry and physics, and answers the question of whether applicants take those exams with a no: its BSN applicants sit four exams, reading comprehension, vocabulary and general knowledge, biology, and anatomy and physiology.
Tarrant County CollegeLists five sections, none of them physics: reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and math (55 questions each) and anatomy and physiology (30). It names biology and chemistry as sections it does not offer.
Central New Mexico Community CollegeTests six sections (grammar, reading comprehension, vocabulary and general knowledge, biology, chemistry and math), and physics is not one of them. It provides a calculator, pencils and paper and allows no outside materials.
Germanna Community College (Academic Center for Excellence)Its guide (updated January 2023) lists six sections: reading comprehension, vocabulary, math, chemistry, anatomy and physiology, and critical thinking. Physics is not among them, and the guide mentions a basic on-screen calculator for the math portion.
Quincy College (Academic Division of Nursing)Its guide (updated December 2024) names biology and anatomy and physiology, 30 items each, as the sub-categories of its science part; physics is not among its sections.

Sources: Texas State Technical College Library Guides, Study Guide: HESI A2; Chamberlain University, HESI Admission Assessment (A2) Exam; Tarrant County College, HESI A2 Exam Information; Central New Mexico Community College, HESI A2 Exam; Germanna Community College, HESI A2 Nursing Entrance Exam Preparation Guide (PDF, updated January 2023); Quincy College Academic Division of Nursing, Preparing for the HESI A2 Admission Exam (PDF, updated December 2024)

Question formats

How HESI A2 physics questions work

Each question here is right or wrong, with no partial credit. In Practice Exam 1 you can flag a question, see which are still blank and go back to any question in the section until you end it. Testing sites differ here: Germanna Community College's guide says its students cannot skip a question or go back to one they have already answered.

Physics question formats
FormatHow you answerIn set 1 here
Multiple choiceChoose the one correct option of four20 of 20

Every question in set 1 here is multiple choice with four options. About half the questions across the physics sets here need a short calculation: an acceleration or an average speed, a force from F = ma, a weight, work, power or efficiency, a momentum or an impulse, a pressure or a buoyant force, a wave speed or a period, the heat to warm or melt a sample, or a current from Ohm's law. The rest ask you to explain a familiar situation, such as why a falling object stops speeding up, which way light bends as it enters glass, or what happens to one lamp when the other parallel branch opens.

Calculator: ask your testing site

Where the school pages cited here tie a calculator to a section, it is math: Texas State Technical College's library guide and Germanna Community College's guide name a basic on-screen calculator there. Central New Mexico Community College hands out a calculator without naming a section, but does not test physics. Check your own testing site's rules before test day. The physics section of Practice Exam 1 here has no calculator and no formula sheet, so its arithmetic goes on scratch paper, and the questions that ask for a typed answer take a longer multiplication or division. In the practice sets here, a question that needs the acceleration due to gravity gives its value, usually 10 m/s², and the numbers are chosen to work by hand.

Sources: Texas State Technical College Library Guides, Study Guide: HESI A2; Germanna Community College, HESI A2 Nursing Entrance Exam Preparation Guide (PDF, updated January 2023); Central New Mexico Community College, HESI A2 Exam

Method

How to prepare for HESI A2 physics

What to study first and how to pace the section, for physics in particular.

  1. 01Check that your program wants physicsBefore any study time goes into physics, look up your program's list of A2 sections. Of the six schools cited on this page, only Texas State Technical College lists physics, and its guide says only a few programs require it. If your program does, plan for it as a section of its own; if not, the hours belong to the sections it counts.
  2. 02Learn each formula with its unitsMost calculations here use a short list: speed = distance ÷ time, acceleration = change in velocity ÷ time, F = ma, weight = mg, work = force × distance, power = work ÷ time, KE = ½mv², PE = mgh, momentum = mv, pressure = force ÷ area, wave speed = frequency × wavelength, Q = mcΔT and V = IR. Learn the unit beside each one (a newton is a kg·m/s², a joule a newton-meter, a watt a joule per second), because a unit that does not come out right flags a wrong step.
  3. 03Put every number in SI units firstTurn grams into kilograms, centimeters into meters and minutes into seconds before you substitute. Melting 200 g of ice with a heat of fusion given in J/kg needs 0.200 kg in Q = mL; leave it as 200 and the answer is a thousand times too big.
  4. 04List the forces before you calculateName every force on the object and find the net force. Balanced forces mean no acceleration, so an object can be moving and still have zero net force: a falling object at terminal speed, or a cart rolling at constant velocity. When a pull and friction act together, subtract friction first, then divide the net force by the mass.
  5. 05Answer "what if it doubles" from the formulaMany questions change one quantity and ask what happens to another. Write the formula and change only that factor: kinetic energy grows with the square of speed, gravity weakens with the square of distance, the same force gives half the acceleration to twice the mass, and at a fixed voltage twice the resistance carries half the current.
  6. 06Follow energy and momentum from before to afterEnergy changes form but the total stays the same: a rising ball trades kinetic for potential energy, and friction turns motion into heat in the surfaces. Momentum is conserved when no net outside force acts, so two carts pushing apart from rest leave with equal and opposite momenta, and carts that stick together share one velocity.
  7. 07Ask what a wave keeps and what it changesThe source sets a wave's frequency, so a sound that passes from air into water keeps its frequency while its speed and wavelength change. Pitch follows frequency and loudness follows amplitude. Light entering a slower material bends toward the normal, and sound, unlike light, needs a material to travel through.
  8. 08Pace at 60 to 100 seconds a questionPractice Exam 1 here suggests 25 minutes for 25 physics questions; your school or testing site sets the real timing. Texas State Technical College's library guide suggests 50 minutes for 25 physics items plus 5 pilot items, about 100 seconds an item if the pilot items share that time and twice what it suggests for each of the other sciences. Questions about ideas take seconds, which leaves time for the ones with numbers; if a calculation stalls, choose the most likely answer and move on.
HESI A2 chemistry practice test, for states of matter, heat and energy from the chemistry sideHESI A2 math practice test, for the ratios, decimals and conversions physics problems lean onApplying to TEAS schools too? TEAS science practice test, a section with no physics area of its own

Physics review

HESI A2 physics review: the formulas and ideas in one table

A summary written for this page, not a list of what the test asks: the laws, formulas and units behind the topics schools list for the section and the topics in the practice sets here, checked against the US government and LibreTexts pages named under the table.

HESI A2 physics review
TopicWhat to know
UnitsPhysics answers carry SI units. Length is in meters, mass in kilograms and time in seconds; from these come the newton (N = kg·m/s²) for force, the joule (J = N·m) for work and energy, the watt (W = J/s) for power, the pascal (Pa = N/m²) for pressure and the hertz (Hz, one cycle per second) for frequency. Electric current is in amperes, potential difference in volts and resistance in ohms (Ω)
Speed and velocitySpeed is distance traveled divided by time. Velocity is speed in a stated direction, so it is a vector; displacement is the straight-line change in position, with its direction. A runner who finishes a lap where they started has run the lap's distance but has a displacement, and an average velocity, of zero. Average speed is total distance divided by total time, not the average of the speeds along the way
AccelerationAcceleration is the change in velocity divided by the time it takes: a = (final velocity − initial velocity) ÷ time, in m/s². Slowing down is acceleration opposite to the motion, so with the direction of motion taken as positive it comes out negative. An object moving in a circle at constant speed is still accelerating, because its direction keeps changing; that acceleration points to the center of the circle (centripetal acceleration = v² ÷ r). From rest at constant acceleration, v = at and distance = ½at²
Newton's first lawAn object stays at rest, or keeps moving in a straight line at constant speed, unless an unbalanced (net) force acts on it. This resistance to a change in motion is inertia, and an object's mass measures it. So constant velocity means zero net force: the forces on the object balance; they do not vanish
Newton's second lawNet force = mass × acceleration (F = ma), and the acceleration is in the direction of the net force. The same net force gives twice the mass half the acceleration. One newton gives 1 kg an acceleration of 1 m/s². When a forward pull and friction act together, the net force is the pull minus the friction
Newton's third lawWhen one object pushes or pulls on another, the second pushes or pulls back with a force of equal size in the opposite direction. The two forces act on different objects, so they never cancel each other: a block pushing down on a table is pushed up by the table, and a hand pushing a wall is pushed back by the wall
Gravity and weightWeight is the force of gravity on a mass: W = mg, with g about 9.8 m/s² near Earth's surface (the standard value is 9.806 65 m/s²; the questions here use 10 m/s²). Mass stays the same everywhere, but weight changes with gravity: on the Moon an object weighs about one sixth of its weight on Earth. Without air resistance, all objects fall with the same acceleration whatever their mass. Newton's law of gravitation: the pull between two masses is proportional to the product of the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers, so tripling the distance cuts the force to one ninth
Air resistance and terminal velocityAir resistance (drag) opposes a falling object's motion and grows as the object speeds up. When drag equals the object's weight, the net force is zero, the acceleration stops and the object falls on at a constant speed, its terminal velocity
FrictionFriction acts along surfaces in contact and opposes sliding. Static friction holds a resting object in place by matching the push on it, up to a maximum; past that, the object slides and kinetic friction acts, equal to the coefficient of kinetic friction × the normal force (on a level surface, the object's weight). Sliding friction turns mechanical energy into thermal energy, warming both surfaces
Work and powerWork = force × distance moved in the direction of the force, in joules: a 10 N push that moves a box 3 m does 30 J of work. A force that moves nothing, or acts at right angles to the motion, does no work. Power is the rate of doing work, power = work ÷ time, in watts. Efficiency = useful energy out ÷ energy in × 100. Every real energy conversion turns part of the input into forms that are not useful, often heat, so the useful output is always less than the input
Kinetic and potential energyKinetic energy is the energy of motion: KE = ½mv², so doubling the speed gives four times the kinetic energy. Gravitational potential energy is energy of position: PE = mgh, for a height h above a chosen level. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, only changed from one form to another: a ball thrown upward trades kinetic energy for potential energy as it rises and gets it back as it falls
Momentum and impulseMomentum = mass × velocity (p = mv), in kg·m/s, in the direction of the velocity. Impulse = force × time, and it equals the change in momentum, so a larger force or a longer push changes momentum more. With no net outside force, the total momentum of a group of objects stays the same: two carts pushing apart from rest leave with equal and opposite momenta, and carts that stick together after a collision share the total momentum over their combined mass. An elastic collision also keeps the total kinetic energy; an inelastic one does not
PressurePressure = force ÷ area, in pascals: the same force on a smaller area gives a higher pressure. In a liquid, pressure increases with depth; the pressure due to the liquid itself is density × g × depth (ρgh). Water's density is about 1,000 kg/m³ (1 g/cm³), and standard atmospheric pressure is 101,325 Pa. Pascal's principle: pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is passed on through all of it, so a hydraulic press multiplies the force by the ratio of the piston areas
Density and buoyancyDensity = mass ÷ volume. A fluid pushes up on anything in it with a buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces (Archimedes' principle). An object floats if its average density is less than the fluid's, and a floating object displaces its own weight of fluid, so the fraction of it below the surface equals its density divided by the fluid's. An object weighs less in water than in air by exactly the buoyant force
WavesA wave carries energy from place to place without carrying the material along. In a transverse wave the material vibrates at right angles to the wave's travel, as on a shaken rope; in a longitudinal wave it vibrates along the direction of travel, in compressions and rarefactions, as in sound. Frequency is the number of waves per second, in hertz; the period is the time for one wave (period = 1 ÷ frequency); wavelength is the distance between neighboring matching points, such as crest to crest; amplitude is the size of the vibration. Wave speed = frequency × wavelength. When a wave passes into a different material, its frequency, set by the source, stays the same while its speed and wavelength change
SoundSound is a longitudinal wave that needs a material to travel through, so it cannot cross a vacuum. In air at 20 °C it travels at about 340 m/s, in water at about 1,480 m/s, and faster still in a solid such as steel. Pitch depends mainly on frequency and loudness mainly on amplitude; sound level is measured in decibels (dB). People hear roughly 20 to 20,000 Hz, and ultrasound lies above that range. A source moving toward a listener sounds higher in pitch, and one moving away sounds lower (the Doppler effect)
Light and the spectrumLight is an electromagnetic wave and needs no material, so it crosses empty space; in a vacuum it travels at 299,792,458 m/s, about 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s. From the longest wavelengths and lowest frequencies to the shortest and highest, the electromagnetic spectrum runs radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. In visible light, red has the longest wavelength and violet the shortest
Reflection and refractionLaw of reflection: the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, both measured from the normal, a line at right angles to the surface. Refraction is the bending of light as it passes into a material where its speed is different: into a slower material, such as glass or water, it bends toward the normal, and into a faster one away from it. Light inside glass that meets the surface at more than the critical angle is totally reflected, which keeps it inside an optical fiber. A prism spreads white light into colors because each wavelength bends by a different amount (dispersion)
Lenses and mirrorsA converging (convex) lens brings rays parallel to its axis together at its focal point and can form a real, inverted image on a screen; with the object closer than the focal point, it gives a virtual, upright, enlarged image. A diverging (concave) lens spreads rays apart and forms a virtual, upright, reduced image of a real object. A flat mirror gives a virtual image the same size as the object; a convex mirror gives a virtual, upright, reduced image
Temperature and heatTemperature rises with the average kinetic energy of a substance's particles; heat is energy that flows from a hotter object to a colder one until both reach the same temperature (thermal equilibrium). The heat to change a sample's temperature is Q = mcΔT, where c is the specific heat. Water's specific heat is high, about 4,186 J/(kg·°C), so the same heat warms water far less than the same mass of iron
Changes of stateWhile a pure substance melts or boils, its temperature stays constant: the heat goes into the change of state. The heat needed is Q = mL, where L is the latent heat; melting ice takes about 334 J per gram (334,000 J/kg)
Heat transferConduction passes heat through a material, or between objects in contact, from particle to particle: a metal rod heated at one end warms along its length. Convection carries heat by the movement of a fluid, as warm air or water rises and cooler fluid sinks. Radiation carries energy as electromagnetic waves (from warm everyday objects, mostly infrared) and needs no material: it is how the Sun's light and heat cross space
Electric chargeCharge comes in two kinds, positive and negative: like charges repel and unlike charges attract. Static electricity is charge built up on an object, usually when rubbing moves electrons from one material to another. The force between two charges is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them (Coulomb's law). Conductors such as metals let charge move freely; insulators such as rubber and wood do not. An electric field is the region around a charge in which another charge feels a force
Current, voltage and resistanceCurrent is the rate at which charge flows, in amperes; voltage (potential difference) drives it, in volts; resistance opposes it, in ohms. Ohm's law: V = IR, so 9 V across 3 Ω drives 3 A, and at a fixed voltage doubling the resistance halves the current. Electric power P = VI, in watts
Series and parallel circuitsA series circuit has one path: the same current flows through every part, the resistances add (4 Ω + 8 Ω = 12 Ω), and a break anywhere stops the current everywhere. In a parallel circuit each branch has the full voltage across it, the branch currents add up to the total, the combined resistance is less than the smallest branch's (1/R = 1/R₁ + 1/R₂), and opening one branch leaves the others working
Magnetism and inductionA magnet has a north and a south pole; like poles repel and unlike poles attract. An electric current produces a magnetic field, which is how an electromagnet works. Moving a magnet into or out of a coil of wire induces a current in the coil, and reversing the motion reverses the current (electromagnetic induction); generators work this way, turning motion into electric current
TorqueTexas State Technical College lists linear and rotational motion among its topics; the practice sets here touch rotation only as motion in a circle at constant speed. Torque, the turning effect of a force, equals the force × its perpendicular distance from the pivot (the lever arm), so a door swings with a smaller push far from its hinges than close to them

Sources for this table: NIST Guide to the SI, Chapter 4: The Two Classes of SI Units and the SI Prefixes; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 3.2: Motion with Constant Acceleration; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 4.1: Motion in Two Dimensions; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 6.3: Uniform Circular Motion; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 5.1: Newton's Three Laws; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 5.2: Force; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 5.3: Mass and Inertia; NIST: CODATA Value, standard acceleration of gravity; NASA Glenn Research Center: Weight Equation; NASA Glenn Research Center: Free Falling Objects; NASA Glenn Research Center: Falling Object with Air Resistance; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 7.1: Work; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 8.3: Mechanical Energy and Conservation of Energy; U.S. Energy Information Administration: Laws of Energy; U.S. Energy Information Administration: Forms of Energy; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 10.1: Momentum; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 10.2: Collisions; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 15.1: Pressure; NIST: CODATA Value, standard atmosphere; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 15.2: Buoyancy; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 14.1: Characteristics of a Wave; NOAA Ocean Explorer, Sound in the Sea: Ocean Acoustics (archived page); NASA Cosmicopia: Ask Us, Waves, Light and Sound; NASA Glenn Research Center: Doppler Effect; NASA Science: Anatomy of an Electromagnetic Wave; NASA Imagine the Universe: Electromagnetic Spectrum, Introduction; NASA Science: Visible Light; NASA Science: Infrared Waves; NIST: CODATA Value, speed of light in vacuum; LibreTexts Conceptual Physics (Crowell), 13.2: Images by Reflection; LibreTexts Conceptual Physics (Crowell), 13.4: Refraction; LibreTexts UC Davis Physics 7C, 10.6: Lenses; LibreTexts Calculus-Based Physics (Schnick), 35A: Temperature, Internal Energy, Heat and Specific Heat Capacity; LibreTexts Calculus-Based Physics (Schnick), 36A: Heat: Phase Changes; NOAA JetStream: The Transfer of Heat Energy; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 16.1: Electric Charge; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 16.2: The Coulomb Force; LibreTexts Introductory Physics (Martin, Neary, Rinaldo and Woodman), 16.3: The Electric Field; LibreTexts Conceptual Physics (Crowell), 10.1: Current and Voltage; LibreTexts Conceptual Physics (Crowell), 10.2: Parallel and Series Circuits; U.S. Department of Energy: How Do Holiday Lights Work?; U.S. Energy Information Administration: Magnets and Electricity; NASA Goddard, The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere: Electro-Magnetic Induction; NASA Glenn Research Center: Torque (Moment)

FAQ

HESI A2 physics: questions people ask

Is physics on the HESI A2?
Only if your program asks for it. Texas State Technical College's library guide lists a physics module and says only a few programs require it. Tarrant County College, Central New Mexico Community College, Germanna Community College and Quincy College list no physics section, and Chamberlain University's HESI page says its applicants do not take the physics exam even though the HESI Admission Assessment Exam Review guide has a physics section. Check your program's list of sections; Practice Exam 1 here lets you leave physics unticked.
How many physics questions are on the HESI A2?
Among the schools cited here, only Texas State Technical College publishes a count: its library guide lists 25 physics items plus 5 pilot items, with 50 minutes suggested. The physics section of Practice Exam 1 here has 25 questions and a suggested 25 minutes, about 60 seconds each; the real limit is your testing site's.
What physics is on the HESI A2?
Texas State Technical College's library guide lists the topics: speed, velocity, acceleration and friction; momentum; Newton's laws; linear and rotational motion; kinetic and potential energy; the force of attraction; density and buoyancy; waves; optics; static electricity; electric fields and charges; and current, voltage and resistance. The practice sets here cover speed, velocity and acceleration; Newton's laws of motion; gravity, friction and weight; work, energy and power; momentum; pressure and fluids; waves and sound; light and optics; heat and temperature; and electric circuits.
Is the HESI A2 physics section hard?
In Texas State Technical College's guide it has as many items as each of the other sciences but twice the suggested time: 50 minutes, against 25 for biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology. About half the questions in the sets here need a formula and some arithmetic. If you have not taken physics before, the formulas in the review table on this page and a few practice sets go a long way, because a short list of formulas carries most of the calculations.
What formulas do you need for HESI A2 physics?
The ones the practice sets here use most are speed = distance ÷ time, acceleration = change in velocity ÷ time, F = ma, weight = mg, work = force × distance, power = work ÷ time, kinetic energy = ½mv², potential energy = mgh, momentum = mv, impulse = force × time, pressure = force ÷ area, wave speed = frequency × wavelength, Q = mcΔT, Q = mL and Ohm's law, V = IR. The physics review table on this page gives each with its units and what it means.
Do you get a calculator for HESI A2 physics?
Ask your testing site. Where the school pages cited here tie a calculator to a section, it is math: Texas State Technical College and Germanna Community College mention a basic on-screen calculator for the math portion, and Tarrant County College has an on-screen calculator in math. Central New Mexico Community College hands out a calculator without naming a section, but does not test physics. The physics section of Practice Exam 1 here has no calculator, so work its arithmetic on scratch paper; the numbers in the practice sets here are chosen to work by hand.
How do you study for HESI A2 physics?
Confirm first that your program counts physics. Then learn the formulas with their units, work a practice set without notes, and read the note on every option you missed: common slips are a skipped unit conversion, a dropped minus sign and a squared term treated as if it were not squared. Mix in the idea questions (forces at constant velocity, which way light bends, series against parallel circuits), and finish with the timed physics section of a full practice exam.
What is a 70% on the HESI A2 physics section?
A physics score counts only at a program that asks for it, and the program that asks for it sets the minimum; some programs set one for every section they count. Central New Mexico Community College, for example, asks for 75% on each of its sub-tests, though physics is not one of them. If your program requires physics, its admissions page or advisor gives the figure; the HESI A2 practice test page has more on scores.
Is there physics on the TEAS?
Not as an area of its own. The TEAS Science section has 50 questions in 60 minutes across four areas: human anatomy and physiology, biology, chemistry and scientific reasoning. So a student applying to both kinds of school studies physics only for the HESI A2 programs that require it; the TEAS science practice test page covers the TEAS side.
Is there a free HESI A2 physics practice test?
Practice set 1 is free, with no sign-up. HESI A2 Practice Exam 1 also has a free physics section of 25 questions: tick only physics on its start screen to take it alone, with 25 minutes suggested. For a book, Chamberlain University's HESI page notes that the HESI Admission Assessment Exam Review guide has a physics section.
Are these real HESI A2 physics questions?
No. They are original practice questions built on the physics topics schools list for the section; none is copied from an Elsevier exam or book, and NursePracticeTest is independent of Elsevier. Each one has an explanation and a note on every option.

Keep practicing

Next practice exercise

HESI A2 Math, practice set 1: 20 questions on the same screen. Take the sections your school requires first, then come back to the one you find hardest.

Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Elsevier. HESI® is a trademark of Elsevier and is used here only to name the exam. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Assessment Technologies Institute, LLC (ATI). ATI TEAS® and TEAS® are trademarks of ATI and are used here only to name the exam.

Pages this page relies on: Texas State Technical College Library Guides, Study Guide: HESI A2; Chamberlain University, HESI Admission Assessment (A2) Exam; Tarrant County College, HESI A2 Exam Information; Central New Mexico Community College, HESI A2 Exam; Germanna Community College, HESI A2 Nursing Entrance Exam Preparation Guide (PDF, updated January 2023); Quincy College Academic Division of Nursing, Preparing for the HESI A2 Admission Exam (PDF, updated December 2024); Western Technical College Library, Nursing: TEAS Prep Guide

Checked against the schools' pages and last reviewed November 4, 2026. Found an error? Tell us.