Most careers require a firm grasp of reading and writing. In nursing, having above
average reading comprehension skills is paramount to your success. If you cannot read
a chart, or worse yet, read a chart and immediately understand everything that is
written, you could be endangering the lives of your patients. Nurses need to read and
read at a high level in order to function in a professional manner.
The Reading Comprehension section of the HESI exam asks you to read a short
scientific paragraph and answer multiple questions about its content. Here are some
key concepts you should familiarize yourself with in order to do well on this portion of
the exam:
Main Idea
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The main idea of a paragraph is the essence of a paragraph. If you were to summarize
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a passage in a single sentence or idea, you would find that passage’s main idea. To
locate the main idea, read the entire passage and pay close attention to the last few
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sentences. Typically, the main idea is summarized at the close of the first paragraph, or
at the close of a paragraph. rs e
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Supporting Details
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Supporting details exist to support the main idea. In a paragraph format, these details
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come after the topic sentence―the first sentence in a paragraph, usually ―and before
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the final sentence. Supporting details serve as pillars to “hold up” the main idea of a
passage or paragraph, and could also be identified as proof or evidence of an idea.
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Author’s Purpose
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Author’s purpose can be difficult to figure out. It differs from a main idea, in that it is the
driving force behind the main idea rather than the primary focus itself. An author’s
purpose may be found by asking the questions “why” and “how.” Why is the author
is
composing this piece? How is the author going about it? Discovering why the work is
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being written and how it is doing so will identify the purpose of the piece; for instance,
you might find an author is writing a piece to inform his audience using persuasive
language. This answers the why (to inform) and how (persuade). From there, you can
determine that the author’s purpose is to sway the audience to a certain way of thinking.
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Tone of the Piece
The tone of a piece is the attitude with which the piece is treated. “Tone” encompasses
a wide range of descriptors, ranging from broad (formal and informal) to incredibly
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