HESI A2 Reading Comprehension Practice Pack
LATEST UPDATE
HESI A2
Reading Comprehension Practice Pack
4 Passage Reviews + 72 Questions with Answers, Rationales & HESI Skills
All That Jazz • Glass • Robert Wadlow • Changing
Passages Included
Time / Daylight Saving Time
Main Idea • Details • Vocabulary • Inference • Tone •
Skills Covered
Author’s Purpose
Passage review, multiple-choice practice, answers,
Study Format
rationales, and quick notes
HESI A2 entrance exam reading comprehension
Best For
review
File Type Printable PDF + editable DOCX version
Clean • Printable • Student-Friendly • Etsy-Ready
ChangeLivesDigital |
ChangeLivesDigital | Independent Study Resource | Page 1
, HESI A2 Reading Comprehension Practice Pack
How to Use This Pack
Student Study Method
1) Read each passage once without checking answers. 2) Answer all questions. 3) Review the rationale for every
missed question. 4) Re-read the passage and underline the sentence that proves each answer.
Important Note
This is an independent practice and review resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by HESI,
Elsevier, or any testing organization. It is designed for reading comprehension practice and concept review, not as a
guarantee of exact exam content.
What This Pack Helps Students Master
HESI Reading Skill What the Student Should Do
Main Idea Identify what a passage is mostly about.
Stated Details Find facts directly stated in the text.
Vocabulary in Context Use surrounding words to determine meaning.
Inference Draw a logical conclusion from passage details.
Author’s Purpose Decide why the author wrote the passage.
Tone Recognize the author’s attitude toward the topic.
Pronoun Reference Identify what words like it, its, they, or this refer to.
ChangeLivesDigital | Independent Study Resource | Page 2
, HESI A2 Reading Comprehension Practice Pack
HESI A2 Reading Practice Passage: All the Jazz
Jazz has been called "the art of expression set to music", and "America's great contribution to music". It has
functioned as popular art and enjoyed periods of fairly widespread public response, in the "jazz age" of the 1920s,
in the "swing era" of the late 1930s and in the peak popularity of modern jazz in the late 1950s. The standard
legend about Jazz is that it originated around the end of the 19th century in New Orleans and moved up the
Mississippi River to Memphis, St. Louis, and finally to Chicago. It welded together the elements of Ragtime,
marching band music, and the Blues. However, the influences of what led to those early sounds goes back to tribal
African drum beats and European musical structures. Buddy Bolden, a New Orleans barber and cornet player, is
generally considered to have been the first real Jazz musician, around 1891.
What made Jazz significantly different from the other earlier forms of music was the use of improvisation. Jazz
displayed a break from traditional music where a composer wrote an entire piece of music on paper, leaving the
musicians to break their backs playing exactly what was written on the score. In a Jazz piece, however, the song is
simply a starting point, or sort of skeletal guide for the Jazz musicians to improvise around. Actually, many of the
early Jazz musicians were bad sight readers and some couldn't even read music at all. Generally speaking, these
early musicians couldn't make very much money and were stuck working menial jobs to make a living. The second
wave of New Orleans Jazz musicians included such memorable players as Joe Oliver, Kid Ory, and Jelly Roll
Morton. These men formed small bands and took the music of earlier musicians, improved its complexity, and
gained greater success. This music is known as "hot Jazz" due to the enormously fast speeds and rhythmic drive.
A young cornet player by the name of Louis Armstrong was discovered by Joe Oliver in New Orleans. He soon
grew up to become one of the greatest and most successful musicians of all time, and later one of the biggest
stars in the world. The impact of Armstrong and other talented early Jazz musicians changed the way we look at
music.
HESI A2 Reading Questions: All That Jazz
1. The passage answers which of the following questions?
A. Why did ragtime, marching band music, and the Blues lose popularity after about 1900?
B. What were the origins of jazz and how did it differ from other forms of music?
C. What has been the greatest contribution of cornet players to music in the twentieth century?
D. Which early jazz musicians most influenced the development of Blues music?
Answer: B. What were the origins of jazz and how did it differ from other forms of music?
Rationale: The passage explains where jazz began, what musical styles influenced it, and how improvisation made it
different from earlier forms of music.
HESI Skill Tested: Main idea / overall purpose
2. According to the passage, jazz originated in:
A. Chicago
B. St. Louis
C. Along the Mississippi River
D. New Orleans
Answer: D. New Orleans
Rationale: The passage states that jazz originated around the end of the nineteenth century in New Orleans before
moving to other cities.
HESI Skill Tested: Locating stated details
ChangeLivesDigital | Independent Study Resource | Page 3
LATEST UPDATE
HESI A2
Reading Comprehension Practice Pack
4 Passage Reviews + 72 Questions with Answers, Rationales & HESI Skills
All That Jazz • Glass • Robert Wadlow • Changing
Passages Included
Time / Daylight Saving Time
Main Idea • Details • Vocabulary • Inference • Tone •
Skills Covered
Author’s Purpose
Passage review, multiple-choice practice, answers,
Study Format
rationales, and quick notes
HESI A2 entrance exam reading comprehension
Best For
review
File Type Printable PDF + editable DOCX version
Clean • Printable • Student-Friendly • Etsy-Ready
ChangeLivesDigital |
ChangeLivesDigital | Independent Study Resource | Page 1
, HESI A2 Reading Comprehension Practice Pack
How to Use This Pack
Student Study Method
1) Read each passage once without checking answers. 2) Answer all questions. 3) Review the rationale for every
missed question. 4) Re-read the passage and underline the sentence that proves each answer.
Important Note
This is an independent practice and review resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by HESI,
Elsevier, or any testing organization. It is designed for reading comprehension practice and concept review, not as a
guarantee of exact exam content.
What This Pack Helps Students Master
HESI Reading Skill What the Student Should Do
Main Idea Identify what a passage is mostly about.
Stated Details Find facts directly stated in the text.
Vocabulary in Context Use surrounding words to determine meaning.
Inference Draw a logical conclusion from passage details.
Author’s Purpose Decide why the author wrote the passage.
Tone Recognize the author’s attitude toward the topic.
Pronoun Reference Identify what words like it, its, they, or this refer to.
ChangeLivesDigital | Independent Study Resource | Page 2
, HESI A2 Reading Comprehension Practice Pack
HESI A2 Reading Practice Passage: All the Jazz
Jazz has been called "the art of expression set to music", and "America's great contribution to music". It has
functioned as popular art and enjoyed periods of fairly widespread public response, in the "jazz age" of the 1920s,
in the "swing era" of the late 1930s and in the peak popularity of modern jazz in the late 1950s. The standard
legend about Jazz is that it originated around the end of the 19th century in New Orleans and moved up the
Mississippi River to Memphis, St. Louis, and finally to Chicago. It welded together the elements of Ragtime,
marching band music, and the Blues. However, the influences of what led to those early sounds goes back to tribal
African drum beats and European musical structures. Buddy Bolden, a New Orleans barber and cornet player, is
generally considered to have been the first real Jazz musician, around 1891.
What made Jazz significantly different from the other earlier forms of music was the use of improvisation. Jazz
displayed a break from traditional music where a composer wrote an entire piece of music on paper, leaving the
musicians to break their backs playing exactly what was written on the score. In a Jazz piece, however, the song is
simply a starting point, or sort of skeletal guide for the Jazz musicians to improvise around. Actually, many of the
early Jazz musicians were bad sight readers and some couldn't even read music at all. Generally speaking, these
early musicians couldn't make very much money and were stuck working menial jobs to make a living. The second
wave of New Orleans Jazz musicians included such memorable players as Joe Oliver, Kid Ory, and Jelly Roll
Morton. These men formed small bands and took the music of earlier musicians, improved its complexity, and
gained greater success. This music is known as "hot Jazz" due to the enormously fast speeds and rhythmic drive.
A young cornet player by the name of Louis Armstrong was discovered by Joe Oliver in New Orleans. He soon
grew up to become one of the greatest and most successful musicians of all time, and later one of the biggest
stars in the world. The impact of Armstrong and other talented early Jazz musicians changed the way we look at
music.
HESI A2 Reading Questions: All That Jazz
1. The passage answers which of the following questions?
A. Why did ragtime, marching band music, and the Blues lose popularity after about 1900?
B. What were the origins of jazz and how did it differ from other forms of music?
C. What has been the greatest contribution of cornet players to music in the twentieth century?
D. Which early jazz musicians most influenced the development of Blues music?
Answer: B. What were the origins of jazz and how did it differ from other forms of music?
Rationale: The passage explains where jazz began, what musical styles influenced it, and how improvisation made it
different from earlier forms of music.
HESI Skill Tested: Main idea / overall purpose
2. According to the passage, jazz originated in:
A. Chicago
B. St. Louis
C. Along the Mississippi River
D. New Orleans
Answer: D. New Orleans
Rationale: The passage states that jazz originated around the end of the nineteenth century in New Orleans before
moving to other cities.
HESI Skill Tested: Locating stated details
ChangeLivesDigital | Independent Study Resource | Page 3
