Did your school require an entrance exam?

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Hey y'all just curious is all. And if you could include where you applied I would appreciate it.

I have a good GPA (3.6) and all I have left in pre nursing is A&P. I have a good relationship with faculty, tutors and have performed well overall but I am not good at standardized testing (TEAS, HESI, Kaplan) and I know every school holds the tests at a different weight for entrance but I'm just wondering how common it is? I'm afraid it will negatively affect my chances of getting into schools near me. I'm starting to look elsewhere too and just want to see what other schools.

I have taken steps for remediation for sections I have not done well on for these tests (math lololol) but overall I'm just not good at this kind of testing set up. Don't know what else I can do to.

thanks!

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And I mean your nursing school program not just any school overall thanks!!!!!!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

At my school, we had 2 options on how we got in. The first option is with none or some of our prerequisite classes done and taking the teas test. So in that option your prerequisite GPA wouldn't even be looked at. In the second option, they'd look at your grades instead of your teas test.

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Really differs. My program is ADN and had us take the Kaplan. We were required to get a 45% or higher in each section, and as long as we met that 45% then we were good to go (i.e. were not awarded more points for higher scores). I was able to score near perfect in the math and reading sections, so it is possible! Maybe tutoring based on subject would be a good option with lots of guided math practice. Standardized testing is a way of life in many RN programs and getting normalized in that system could save you some grief when taking the NCLEX upon graduation! Good luck :)

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Just a piece of advice for what it's worth to you.... would be better to tackle strategies for standardized exams now rather than after being admitted into a nursing program... Most quality nursing programs have some standardized testing during the program (ATI, TEAS, HESI, etc) and ultimately your end goal is to take the biggest standardized exam of your career - the NCLEX.

Becoming more confident with these exams now will serve you well during your education journey.

Best of luck.

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I'd say entrance tests are fairly common, but not every program has them. One that I applied to didn't have one, but they did require several essays and a personality test. The program I'm in required the TEAS, which they weighted more than the prereq GPA.

I'd also second what 203Bravo said. A lot of programs will require you to take standardized tests throughout the program to ensure you are learning the information you need to. Your score on those can be part of your class grade.

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Thank you, everyone!

I'm surpised to see that some schools only require 45 percentiles for the TEAS. For my area TEAS is 70, Kaplan 75 and HESI 80th here. I'm struggling with math and some science portion (simply because I have not takenA&P yet) and my last math was Bio Stats not algebra everything else I'm 90+. Too bad I can't just retake those poor performed portions :(

I'm taking private tutoring over winter break to be better equipped for this testing style (I hope) thanknyou again everyone

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