Educate a dinosaur :D

allnurses Guide · Nov 6, 2011

The TEAS is used to test for readiness for college level courses, some schools use those scores as part of their admissions. Can also be used to show the feds that you are using fed money on students who actually have a chance of passing.

HESI lets you test for NCLEX readiness, some schools use it as final exams; don't pass it and they won't graduate you. Acynical view of this one, is that you can't pass it, so you won't pass the NCLEX, so the school doesn't let you graduate and their pass rates aren't pulled down.

Foreign students have to pass the TOEFL, which is an English proficiency exam. Doesn't say you can speak that well though, are lots of threads about people's accents even though they've passed the written TOEFL.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Nov 6, 2011

The TEAS is used to test for readiness for college level courses, some schools use those scores as part of their admissions. Can also be used to show the feds that you are using fed money on students who actually have a chance of passing.
HESI lets you test for NCLEX readiness, some schools use it as final exams; don't pass it and they won't graduate you. Acynical view of this one, is that you can't pass it, so you won't pass the NCLEX, so the school doesn't let you graduate and their pass rates aren't pulled down.
Foreign students have to pass the TOEFL, which is an English proficiency exam. Doesn't say you can speak that well though, are lots of threads about people's accents even though they've passed the written TOEFL.

Thanks :)

From what I see, the TEAS is to see if the high school did ITS job, the HESI is to see if the nursing school did ITS job, and the TOEFL passes someone's ability to READ English.....

WOW. The first two shouldn't even be needed.

Thanks for the input :up: I appreciate it :)

Cuddleswithpuddles · Nov 6, 2011

The TEAS is a joke. It had questions that went like this.

Draw a circle.

Draw a square inside the circle.

Draw a vertical line through the middle of the square.

Turn the drawing 180 degrees.

Select the option that illustrates the result.

Really?

Yes, really.

My TEAS had lot of basic math word problems that you have to solve by hand, general science questions, grammar and spelling. OK, I can see the point of those. Then came the geology questions (yes, seriously!). Then the drawing questions. I felt indignant. If I wore a monocle, it surely would have fallen off my eye and into my Lillet.

allnurses Guide · Nov 6, 2011

I'm with a community college, and lots of our students are going back to school years after high school; so their ACT/SAT if they even took them are far out of date. The feds require you to demonstrate that grant and scholarship monies are being used appropriately, ie students who are able to pass. So this one has some use to it.

allnurses Guide · Nov 6, 2011

Cuddles, have no argument with you, as I've not really looked at the TEAS test; just know a little about it. But think on this, we do have people out there who can't pass it, or get such low scores as to not qualify for entry to the nursing program. :confused:

Cuddleswithpuddles · Nov 6, 2011

Cuddles, have no argument with you, as I've not really looked at the TEAS test; just know a little about it. But think on this, we do have people out there who can't pass it, or get such low scores as to not qualify for entry to the nursing program.

At what point are nursing program applicants required to take the TEAS at your school?

In my area, the TEAS is usually done as part of the application process or shortly after acceptance. I don't understand how applicants can go through A&P, microbiology and general ed classes required to complete an associate's then fail the TEAS. The prereqs are tough classes that require math, basic writing skills and the ability to take tests. So, like I said, things aren't computing for me.

maddiem · Nov 6, 2011

Personally, I think the reason we have all these entrance exams is because of the overwhelming amount of people applying to nursing programs these days. There has to be some way to filter through the crazy amount of applications that nursing schools are receiving. I live in the Chicago area and University of Illinois at Chicago has one of the best nursing school in the state. They receive 800+ apps during a year. By administering these admissions tests, it helps filter through applications. That's just my observation.

allnurses Guide · Nov 6, 2011

At what point are nursing program applicants required to take the TEAS at your school?
In my area, the TEAS is usually done as part of the application process or shortly after acceptance. I don't understand how applicants can go through A&P, microbiology and general ed classes required to complete an associate's then fail the TEAS. The prereqs are tough classes that require math, basic writing skills and the ability to take tests. So, like I said, things aren't computing for me.

I'm not actually sure how soon before the application process, I believe some take it before their prereqs? But I have had people in my drug calc class who have supposedly passed their basic math classes who still struggle with fractions. They don't have an assoc. going into the nursing program, they get it through the nursing program. Quite frankly, I don't understand how they can go through those classes either and still struggle, but it happens.

RKpianoman, APRN · Nov 6, 2011

With my school, a BSN program, you have the ACT/SAT to gain entrance into the university, two years of pre-reqs, the PNG to gain entrance into nursing school, 3 semesters of nursing, the HESI, a fourth semester of nursing, then the NCLEX.

The PNG is very similar to the ACT, except it focus more on science and algebraic math and less on trig. There is still a good bit of basic language and comparisons (rain:wet::fire:___). The PNG was fairly easy and scored on a 100% scale; I believe the cutoff for our school was 74, and i think it has been upped to 80 now. The HESI is used to judge how well we will do on the NCLEX, and we have to be "remediated" on our poorest areas during our fourth semester in addition to normal coursework.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Nov 6, 2011

Personally, I think the reason we have all these entrance exams is because of the overwhelming amount of people applying to nursing programs these days. There has to be some way to filter through the crazy amount of applications that nursing schools are receiving. I live in the Chicago area and University of Illinois at Chicago has one of the best nursing school in the state. They receive 800+ apps during a year. By administering these admissions tests, it helps filter through applications. That's just my observation.

U of I (Urbana) - so I'm sure there's some similarities- has very high entrance requirements to begin with. I think that's good. I loved the UIUC campus (wasn't there that long d/t health). Excellent school in many areas :)

going2BaNurse2014 · Nov 6, 2011

My school required the NLN-RNPAX, which is the NLN's pre-entrance exam for RN programs, or something like that. My school requires that you pass it with at least 50% in each of the verbal, math, and science areas to be considered for acceptance. The test has physics questions on it, which I really don't understand because it's not something needed for nursing but alas I did really well and got into my program easily. The only beneficial part to taking the test was that it boosted me up from my 3.4 cumulative GPA.

I guess it helps them filter out who they want and who they don't want.