OK...... I started nursing school in 1983; many of you may not have been born then When I applied to nursing school, there was no HESI, or other entrance exams, aside from the ACT or SAT, and high school diploma. Done. When I graduated in May 1985, I took the NCLEX, and Done.
They've found more ways to drain money out of students - and I'm totally cluless about what the tests are, and who has to take them.
I don't know which ones everyone has to take, which ones foreign students have to take, etc...
Anybody wanna take a crack at drilling some info into my fossilized brain?
A total pre-nursing student might need this as well
My school requires the TEAS V. I believe pass or fail on the TEAS depends on the school. They set the passmark so what can be passing in one program is failing in another. From what I've heard, my school puts more emphasis on GPA than TEAS, of course you had to meet a certain level. I scored a 75 on the TEAS V, that score probably would not get me into some programs. My school puts more weight on GPA than the TEAS, My GPA was 3.8 so that was good enough to get me into my program. My school tends to look at academic history as well to weed out applicants. If you have Ws or repeats, chances are you may not be accepted. Doesn't matter if you got an A the second time around. That's what I try to tell people that tell me I have a 4.0, I don't know why I wasn't accepted. Well if you have a 4.0 because you dropped classes a few times and repeated before getting that A, that does not look good in the school's eyes.
Once you are in the program, at the end of each semester, you have to take an ATI exit exam that corresponds with the course you are taking. Fail the ATI and you've failed the course and cannot move on to the next semester. The ATI does not count towards your grade so you could pass clinicals, pass the theory portion and still fail out if you fail the ATI exit. I've only known of 1 person thus far in my program that failed the ATI exit exam and had to repeat the course. You have 2 chances to take the ATI exit exam.
I'm kinda skeptical about the exit exams. Supposedly they are a predictor of how well you will do on NCLEX, but I've read here that people did well on ATI exams through school and failed NCLEX or vice versa, struggled with ATI exams and passed NCLEX on the first try.
There are actually 2 HESI exams. One is a "admissions assessment" that tests your knowledge in the areas of Math, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Anatomy, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. It's really basic stuff. Then there is the HESI that tests your readiness to take the NCLEX-RN. Many schools use this as their "exit exam."
I am that student : ) Graduated high school in 1985; took my ACT and went to college - but didn't finish. Now I am back and two semesters away from my BSN. My last kiddo just took the ACT.
The TEAS - all those circles and lines want to know if you can follow directions : ) Some people can't, yes, it's an issue. I work on a junior college campus part time and you would be amazed at the kids we have coming up now who can't read an analog clock, use an encyclopedia and heaven forbid you try to teach them the Dewey Decimal system. Or even just get them to hit F7 and spell check.
I made an 85 on my TEAS due to the science (I had geology in 6th grade - 30 years ago) but I made a 99 on the the reading. My advisor's opinion is if you can read, we can TEACH you anything : ) I also have a very decent GPA (This go round).
We take the HESI based test regularly. It is the final exam for all our classes. My experience so far is they are much easier than the exams the profs come up with. No matter what your class grade is, fail the HESi, fail the class. I have heard, haven taken yet, that the HESI's are harder than NCLEX.
For second degree folks, some of the Accelerated BSN programs (definitely not the majority) require the GRE, the Graduate Record Exam-ETS' (Educational Testing Service's) analogous test for graduate school to the SAT for college.
I thought it was strange to require the GRE for an undergraduate program. Some programs will waive the exam based on GPA (high enough) or based on last degree earned (MA, MS, JD, PhD).
I did not encounter many (maybe one) schools requiring an exam to apply for second degree BSN students other than the GRE.
I do have to say the GRE is remarkably consistent, at least for me. I earned almost identical scores on my test I took in Fall 2000 and Summer 2011. Go figure.
There are actually 2 HESI exams. One is a "admissions assessment" that tests your knowledge in the areas of Math, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Anatomy, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. It's really basic stuff. Then there is the HESI that tests your readiness to take the NCLEX-RN. Many schools use this as their "exit exam."
ATI and TEAS V works the same way as well. ATI is the same company that administers TEAS entrance exams and then once you are in the program, you have ATI exit exams. .We do our exit exams at the end of each semester. That has changed from years ago when you had only 1 exit exam that covered everything in the last semester.
As many have noted, there are several types of entrance tests. TEAS is a proprietary test created by ATI, HESI also has an entrance test, and so does NLN.
TEAS looks at reading, English, math, and science. The science in the past was more focused on physical sciences, but I have heard this is shifting more to science that would be relevant to nursing due to complaints about the relevance of such concepts as geology to nursing practice.
HESI A2 looks at A&P, bio, chemistry, vocabulary, reading comprehension, grammar, and basic math skills. I believe it is longer than the TEAS.
NLN PAX tests math (basic math, algebra, geometry, covnersions), science (A&P, chemistry, bio, physics), and reading comprehension.
It depends on the school, but some of them allow students to make several attempts (often around 3 attempts from what I have seen) to achieve the best score. The expected scores vary by program.
Most schools I am aware of use this as only a portion of the admission process, not as the sole determinant. Most schools (at least locally) appear to focus more heavily on GPA and/or science GPA than the entrance exams.
Some programs also use course or level exams made by ATI, HESI or similar to determine proficiency at the end of a course. The results can be used to help the student remediate weak areas. Some schools use the tests to determine who will progress to the next course or at the end of the program to determine who will graduate and/or be allowed to take boards. The NLN is actually investigating the ramifications of such high-stakes testing http://www.nln.org/newsreleases/highstakes_testing_061110.htm
Some boards of nursing (TX) recommend against the use of standardized high-stakes testing to determine retention/progression, as do most sources I have read. ATI recommends that the tests be used for remediation, assessment of learning, and course evaluation. I do think we will continue to see revisions in the use of these exams.
our school does ATI. we didnt have to take the TEAS, but we had to take the ATI critical thinking exam as part of the application process.. we also take an ATI exam at the end of each semester, and the last one is an overview of everything and is supposed to predict how you will do on the NCLEX. if we dont pass the last one, we cant graduate until we do.
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.
OK. But with a passing rate of 50%, and nursing school requirements (generally) of 75% to be considered "passing", I'm not sure that helps those between 50-75%, who aren't cutting it per the NS requirements... could be a set up to fail????? IDK.
AOx1- that makes sense to use them for finding out weak areas.
I appreciate everyone's replies :) It seems like they've resorted to all sorts of ways to make things more complicated.
IMO- if someone didn't have good HS grades, they're at higher risk for poor NS/college grades. If someone 'bucks up' and gets more grounded, a few semesters of college classes would be a better indicator of who is "ready" for nursing school.
They are private, but not "for profit". Johns Hopkins and George Washington. The state school, University of Maryland, asks for the TEAS.
Also, I think things have changed because of the high volume of applicants. Many nursing programs report having hundreds of applicants for less than a hundred spots. In order to curtail some of the applications, they up their requirements, require entrance tests, etc just to see how many hoops someone will jump through. I was recently looking at California schools because I'm looking to move back to be with my family. Their schools require a lot more prereqs and it is because so many people apply. Johns Hopkins recently changed their BSN program to a second degree program only because they were getting so many applicants with BS/BA degrees.
It is a shame though because many students will jump through all the hoops and still get denied. It'd be nice if you could apply, know you are in before you spend money and effort on a program. I don't think nursing schools could handle the volume of applications if that were the case though.
When I applied to nursing school, there was no HESI, or other entrance exams, aside from the ACT or SAT, and high school diploma. Done. When I graduated in May 1985, I took the NCLEX, and Done. 
- and I'm totally cluless about what the tests are, and who has to take them. 
mangopeach
916 Posts
My school requires the TEAS V. I believe pass or fail on the TEAS depends on the school. They set the passmark so what can be passing in one program is failing in another. From what I've heard, my school puts more emphasis on GPA than TEAS, of course you had to meet a certain level. I scored a 75 on the TEAS V, that score probably would not get me into some programs. My school puts more weight on GPA than the TEAS, My GPA was 3.8 so that was good enough to get me into my program. My school tends to look at academic history as well to weed out applicants. If you have Ws or repeats, chances are you may not be accepted. Doesn't matter if you got an A the second time around. That's what I try to tell people that tell me I have a 4.0, I don't know why I wasn't accepted. Well if you have a 4.0 because you dropped classes a few times and repeated before getting that A, that does not look good in the school's eyes.
Once you are in the program, at the end of each semester, you have to take an ATI exit exam that corresponds with the course you are taking. Fail the ATI and you've failed the course and cannot move on to the next semester. The ATI does not count towards your grade so you could pass clinicals, pass the theory portion and still fail out if you fail the ATI exit. I've only known of 1 person thus far in my program that failed the ATI exit exam and had to repeat the course. You have 2 chances to take the ATI exit exam.
I'm kinda skeptical about the exit exams. Supposedly they are a predictor of how well you will do on NCLEX, but I've read here that people did well on ATI exams through school and failed NCLEX or vice versa, struggled with ATI exams and passed NCLEX on the first try.