HESI A2 Anatomy & Physiology Practice Questions
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Anatomy & Physiology is the section most often added on top of the core four, and the one where the most marks are lost. Twenty-five questions in twenty-five minutes means a minute each, with no time to reason from first principles — you either know how the system works or you do not.
What follows is five questions at the level the exam actually asks. Work each one before reading the explanation.
Question 1 — cardiovascular
Blood returning from the lungs enters the heart through which structure?
- AThe superior vena cava, into the right atrium
- BThe pulmonary veins, into the left atrium
- CThe pulmonary arteries, into the right ventricle
- DThe aorta, into the left ventricle
Explanation
Oxygenated blood leaves the lungs through the pulmonary veins and enters the left atrium. This is the one place in the body where veins carry oxygenated blood and arteries carry deoxygenated blood, which is exactly why it is examined so often. The superior vena cava brings deoxygenated blood from the upper body into the right atrium; the pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood away from the right ventricle to the lungs; the aorta carries blood out of the left ventricle, not in.
Question 2 — skeletal
Which of the following is a function of red bone marrow?
- AStoring triglycerides as an energy reserve
- BProducing red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets
- CSecreting synovial fluid into the joint capsule
- DProducing parathyroid hormone to regulate calcium
Explanation
Red bone marrow is the site of haematopoiesis — the production of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Yellow marrow, not red, stores fat. Synovial fluid is secreted by the synovial membrane lining a joint, not by marrow. Parathyroid hormone comes from the parathyroid glands; bone responds to it but does not make it.
Question 3 — renal
Filtration of blood in the kidney occurs at which structure?
- AThe loop of Henle
- BThe collecting duct
- CThe glomerulus
- DThe renal pelvis
Explanation
The glomerulus is a capillary tuft inside Bowman's capsule, and it is where blood is filtered — water and small solutes are pushed out into the nephron while cells and large proteins stay in the blood. The loop of Henle concentrates the filtrate afterwards; the collecting duct handles final water reabsorption under ADH; the renal pelvis is simply the funnel collecting urine before the ureter. Filtration, reabsorption and secretion happen in that order, and questions frequently test whether you know which structure does which.
Question 4 — nervous
Which division of the nervous system is responsible for the 'rest and digest' response?
- ASympathetic
- BParasympathetic
- CSomatic
- DCentral
Explanation
The parasympathetic division slows the heart rate, constricts the pupils and stimulates digestion — rest and digest. The sympathetic division does the opposite: fight or flight. Both are branches of the autonomic nervous system. The somatic division controls voluntary skeletal muscle, and the central nervous system is the brain and spinal cord, which is an anatomical division rather than a functional one.
Learn these two as a pair
Sympathetic and parasympathetic effects come up repeatedly and are easiest to hold as opposites rather than as two separate lists. If you know one direction, you know the other.
Question 5 — endocrine
A patient's blood glucose rises after a meal. Which hormone is released, and by which cells?
- AGlucagon, by the alpha cells of the pancreas
- BInsulin, by the beta cells of the pancreas
- CCortisol, by the adrenal cortex
- DThyroxine, by the thyroid gland
Explanation
Rising blood glucose triggers the beta cells of the pancreatic islets to release insulin, which moves glucose out of the blood and into cells. Glucagon does the reverse and comes from alpha cells when glucose falls — the alpha/beta pairing is a favorite exam target because it is easy to invert. Cortisol raises blood glucose as part of the stress response, and thyroxine sets metabolic rate rather than regulating glucose directly.
How to study for this section
- Work system by system rather than by memorising isolated terms. Questions ask what a structure does, not what it is called.
- Learn opposing pairs together — insulin and glucagon, sympathetic and parasympathetic, inspiration and expiration.
- Trace pathways end to end: blood through the heart, filtrate through the nephron, air through the airway. Most questions sit somewhere on one of those paths.
- Time yourself. Knowing this material at your own pace and knowing it in sixty seconds a question are different skills.