Taking the TEAS twice within 5 days

Nursing Students TEAS

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Has anyone else done this? I am applying to CSU Sacramento and I took my first attempt on the TEAS on Thursday. I scored a 93.3 overall adjusted (94.7 if I actually divide the number I got correct out of 150, I don't like their adjustment lol). I know this is a good score, and some schools give the max points for any score over a 90 (I wish that's how my school was). But, long story short, I needed at LEAST a 95, but preferably higher, based on my GPA and the trends of the points in previous semesters.

I was fortunate to be able to sign up to take the test again on Monday, and I didn't see anywhere on my school's website that there needs to be any amount of time elapsed between attempts. This will be the last time I can attempt it for the application cycle, because the application is due on Oct. 1. And.. I don't know how to study! I had about 6 topics to review on the second page of my score sheet, and I looked over them, but I don't know what else to do. Looking back I realized that I made a couple of silly mistakes that cost me the score I needed, but I don't know what to anticipate next time. I know the questions will be different, and especially in the science section, there is a lot of room for variability. Surprisingly to me, I actually scored lowest in English (90% when I had been scoring 100% in that section on the practice tests), and I think if I can bring that up without a drop in my other scores, I should be fine. But, I'm just nervous. I'm not really sure what my question is haha, but if anyone can share their experiences with retaking the TEAS, especially in a short time frame, that would be helpful, and if anyone happens to have tips, that would help a lot too. I used solely the ATI study manual and online practice tests to study the first time.

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Specializes in NICU.

A score of 93.3 is awesome. You scored better than 99% of people taking the test. A vast majority of people score between 67-78. Why would you want to take it over??

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Something to remember is that schools often will take only the first score that's above 62 within a certain window of time. If that's the case with Sac State, retaking the exam may not actually help you. It shouldn't hurt you though. The score you got was extremely good. You very well could be "close enough" to gain entry given whatever GPA troubles you have.

Good luck!

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Specializes in School Nurse.

A score of 93.3 is awesome. You scored better than 99% of people taking the test. A vast majority of people score between 67-78. Why would you want to take it over??

Because: long story short, I needed at LEAST a 95, but preferably higher, based on my GPA and the trends of the points in previous semesters.

Believe me, I would love to not take it over and be done with it, and I know that I was in the 99 percentile, and I am happy about that. Unfortunately, my dream school Sac State is very competitive, and my GPA is on the lower end of their average, so I need to make up for it with a much higher than average TEAS score. Just for reference, their average TEAS score last semester was – 89.3% (range 82.0% – 100%).

Something to remember is that schools often will take only the first score that's above 62 within a certain window of time. If that's the case with Sac State, retaking the exam may not actually help you. It shouldn't hurt you though. The score you got was extremely good. You very well could be "close enough" to gain entry given whatever GPA troubles you have.

Good luck!

Thank you! Yes, I researched the "rules" very thoroughly, and they allow three attempts within any 5 year period, and they only look at your highest score, regardless of what your other scores were.

I'm probably one of the only ones to retake a 93, but I'm desperate to get enough points to get in to this program!

I wish this school had some level of subjectivity, or some way I could explain why I have a couple of B's on my transcript and tell them why I would be great for their program, but since it is so impacted, all they care about is the number of points you have.

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Hello, futurenurseshelly, if you received your transcript from ATI (the one with 93.3%, you can print it from their website), at the very end they are breaking down the areas you got wrong and even give you page numbers from ATI study guide. You should go over them, see what you missed and study that. I hope that was helpful. Good luck!

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Thank you for your reply :) yes, I reviewed the content to be reviewed, but I feel like I should to more to ensure that I score higher since I know the questions will be different. Everything I have on the review sheet is either something I feel like I get now and just made a silly mistake or something that I have reviewed a lot and still had trouble on the actual test (like identifying topic, main ideas, supporting details, and themes, or defining a word based on context clues, I felt like those types of questions were way more difficult on the actual test than the practice). Also I'm a little afraid that I'll get a bunch of science questions that I don't know how to answer this time around, even though I've already studied the science section extensively. I'm just psyching myself out, I need to relax lol.

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WoW! I have never known anyone with that high score, but until now! How did you amazingly score 93.2? What resources did you use to study?

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Hi,

in this case the only thing left for you to do is to relax, and pray:-) You did everything in your power to take control over this. You know your stuff (otherwise you would not have scored over 93%). You cant control uncontrollable. If you have Xanax, Clonazepam or any other benzos, take one; watch a comedy, take buble bath:-) When I'm stressing out (and I was, about Teas, too), it helps me to think "from the opposite": world is not going to end if you cant make it this time, your life is not over, you are not in a race, there is always plan B and second chance. (These are better thoughts, by the way, to go take Teas with, if you go all stressed out, thinking it is "either now or never", your brain will more likely panic and freeze up). Oh, and you might get lucky and get the same version of Teas:-) You will be fine, one way or the other. Good luck!

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Thank you :) if only it translated to more points for my program. I ordered the study guide from ati as well as the two online practice tests. I also found a thread on this forum very helpful, it outlines everything you need to know.

https://allnurses.com/teas-exam-help/how-i-passed-804222-page15.html

That's all I used, I didn't order any other prep books, but I did Google some of the concepts in the book that I needed a little more explanation on.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

@alinkastar Thank you for your advice. That is what I will do. I'm trying to think that way, my friend told me that if I don't get in this time it means there's something better for me. But at the same time I'm really hoping this is it haha

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Specializes in School Nurse.

I got a 96 this time! I'm so excited. This still doesn't guarantee that I'll get in to my program, but it makes it much more likely I think :)

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Congrats! :)

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