Took the Teas Today

sixela21 · Feb 13, 2014

If you need help with balancing equations, just hit me up. I found that to be one of the easier parts of Chemistry. Chemistry isn't so bad. Even Organic Chem is pretty straight forward. It's Bio Chem and Biology that get on my nerves. Way too many concepts to remember. Just an overload of information--sort of like A&P, just more boring. 78% isn't bad though. You still scored way higher than the national average. Just study hard, and retake.

I am taking mine in 10 days and am so worried. Do you have any advice as far as topics covered in science portion (not exact questions, only subject matter). I find the wording to be an issue as well. Buy the ATI manual. It has been helpful for me so far. Study all of the concepts they touch on, then if you have textbooks of your own for these classes, just study a little in depth or take online practice quizzes from other sources to test your knowledge. It seems to me so far that they do give you most of the topics to be touched on in the manual but still expect you to know more than they cover (which isn't that unreasonable). I have heard that the science portion is pretty random, and that is scaring me a bit. I am not worried at all about the other sections--piece of cake, piece of pie.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Feb 13, 2014

I do have the ATI manual. And the McGraw Hill practice exams. I will probably hit you up for balancing equations, thanks so much!! You need to know the scientific method. A bunch of questions on that and I did well on those. Some micro and lots of A&P, I did well on that also. There just seemed to be an awful lot of chemistry. That is where I bombed. There is also some basic physics on there. Like momentum and velocity. I am taking Advanced physiology right now and there was some of that on there. Again, I relate that to chemistry because it's about ions and diffusing and all of that. Transport of ions and stuff.

The math was fairly simple. Nothing higher than Algebra I on it. Lots of long division and long multiplication. Reading of charts. Some of that was confusing so watch that.

The language and reading were pretty straightforward. The only thing I majorly screwed up on was knowing the use of a semicolon. That still confuses me to this day. LOL

If it is ok, I will pm you in the next couple of days.

Thanks!!!

sixela21 · Feb 14, 2014

No problemo! Feel free!! I will be awaiting your message. Here is the trick with balancing equations: Most of the problems given will not be that hard. They will usually be pretty straight-forward. When I took Chemistry, my professor did give us some tricky problems (problems that seem to require fraction coefficients in order to balance the equation, but you are not really allowed to leave the fractions there. You end up having to multiply to get the nearest whole number and sometimes leaves you with some funky numbers!). On the TEAS however, that will not happen. They will probably give you the most straight-forward question ever about balancing equations (you have taken it, and I'm not sure if you've encountered that yet).

Try to do as many practice problems as you can. It really is as easy as trying to think critically and figure out what numbers would make the equation "balanced" or "whole." I usually struggle with this type of thinking, but it came so easily to me. I had a pretty sucky Chem teacher and actually fell asleep in class during the balancing equations explanation and still figured it out when I got home (thanks to Khan academy as well ). Definitely watch some videos. Khan is great as is Tyler DeWitt.

Here is the main trick: Take a good look at the problem, and break it down. What is so overwhelming most times is the equation itself. Just break it apart, and right below it, make yourself a little chart. Write down in separate columns how many of "each" molecule you have. So if you have 2 carbons on one side and only one on the other, mark that on your chart (2 carbons on one side, one on the other). Then after you have completed that, work it out in your mind. What coefficients would you need to balance everything out, given what you already have? That is really the only way I know how to explain it right now, but I am sure if I give you an exact example, I can show you exactly how I arrive at the results I hope you do some practice! Thank you so much for all of your advice! Look forward to hearing back.

sixela21 · Feb 14, 2014

There just seemed to be an awful lot of chemistry. That is where I bombed.

I figured this too, based on flipping through the manual. The only science material that seems more overwhelming than the Chemistry is the A&P, but surprisingly, most people say the same thing--that their test was "unfairly" skewed towards Chem, but that A&P was not represented as much on the actual exam as much as it was in the manual. I think A&P just seems like alot of material no matter how you package it. It is hard to condense into an easy to digest form--it is always going to take multiple pages to explain in order to get the full picture. Chemistry on the other hand, you can tell by looking at the manual that alot of Chem is covered. I mean, they have Organic and BioChem in there too, which most Pre-Nursing students haven't even seen (most people haven't seen that material in high school either, so it does seem a little unfair...luckily for me I took the class and understand it, or I would be LOST!

SKay226 · Mar 10, 2014

I definitely found Khan Academy to be very helpful in understanding how to balance chemical equations. Just google Khan Academy - then search for balancing chemical equations on their site. They have a youtube video explaining how to do so and then you can practice with practice questions on their site. If you get stuck they can break down each problem step by step with hints. It's been a life saver for me!

spinny87 · Mar 10, 2014

Khan academy helped me brush up on science and math shortcuts.

EmilysMama · Mar 11, 2014

I took mine recently as well and got a 78%. Reading your post was exactly how mine would have read. I so wanted that 80 on there! Science was brutal. I knew the equations but some of the questions were just horrible the way they worded them. I don't have the luxury of a 2nd test so I just turned it in. I put all my eggs into one basket so I have all of my fingers AND my toes crossed!