Has Anyone Taken the TEAS VI?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

Moved to the TEAS Exam forum.

Bonnie Bailey · Sep 14, 2016

I'm taking it on Thursday! I will let you know how it is!

Bonnie Bailey · Sep 16, 2016

Okay I took the TEAS VI today! I am always excellent and near perfect at reading and English usage but they were a little difficult for me. Study correct punctuation! Also study where to find information in a book (glossary, index, appendix, etc.) I thought I knew those and it turns out that I wasn't as confident as I thought.

Science was tough. There is a lot of A&P and it is heavy on the organ systems- especially the endocrine and digestive systems. Know the cell organelles and their function! Know the parts of atoms, how to balance chemical equations, and the process/proper terminology for changing between states of matter.

Math is what I studied for the most and it was easy! You have access to an on screen calculator for the entire test. Make sure you know decimals, percents, fractions, adding and subtracting mixed numbers, solving for x, very basic geometry, and converting among the metric system. You are given formulas for converting between US and metric.

Buy the ATI package! It is sooooo worth it. Read the study guide cover to cover and take the practice tests! Below are my scores:

overall: 86.7%

reading: 89%

math: 90%

science: 78%

English: 87%

Ryoko · Sep 16, 2016

BonsterMonster, thank you. I am going to take Teas test on next Friday and hope I can pass it.

Ryoko · Sep 16, 2016

Thank you. Your post really helps me a lot.

Bonnie Bailey · Sep 16, 2016

Good luck, Rioko! You can do it!

quarterlifemess, ADN, RN · Sep 18, 2016

I took my TEAS VI exam yesterday. I did not take the TEAS V exam.

Total - 86.0

Reading - 95.7

Math - 96.9

Science - 72.3

English - 79.2

I used the ATI Study manual (one practice test included) and the ATI online practice tests (A and B). I also used Crash Course and Wendy Riggs on YouTube. I had about 3 weeks from the time I schedule my test until the test date. However, I only had one week to study for the TEAS alone because the new semester started the 2nd week. I took all 3 of the practice test once on the first week. After studying, I took them again 1-3 days before the TEAS exam.

I would say the ATI manual is a must if only because there was literally only one question on the TEAS exam where I was like "yeah, this was nowhere to be found in the book." I just chucked it up to being a pretest question and moved on. If you can swing it get the practice tests but don't worry if you can't (they are $46 separately or $88 if bought together).

While I found the actual test similar in spirit to the ATI online practice tests, my version of the actual test wasn't similar to either of the practice tests in particular.

The science section wasn't hard per se; it's you either know it or you don't. I have only taken A/P I so I was missing half of the systems in detail. I learned the basics of the ones we haven't covered in class and hoped for the best. I felt sick to my stomach after the first couple of questions in science part because I felt like I didn't know the answers. I just took a deep breath before moving on to the next question, narrowed my choices down calmly and picked from there. Remember there are pretest questions mixed in so do not panic just because a question seems to be coming out of left field. I went through twice and just decided to move on with 10 minutes to spare because it wasn't like the math section where I could manipulate my way into finding an answer.

I found with the reading and math sections I ran close to time (about 3-5 minutes to spare for each). The reading section wasn't difficult as most of the passages seemed to asked for the same things. I just read purposefully so not to answer a question that was not actually asked. The math section was pretty straight forward. I used the calculator for even the simplest problems as a way to double check my work. Plug your chosen answer back into the equation to double check. Also, if you have no idea how to solve an equation, take each answer and plug them in to see which one works.

Side note: If you are easily distracted in quiet environments, I would recommend finding out if your testing site will allow you to bring ear plugs. The calculator is embedded so there is ALOT of mouse clicking noises going on.

The English and language usage section annoyed me only because I hate the subject to begin with. I am a horrible speller and grammar gives me hives. I struggled with this section on the practice tests. However, I did find that the version of my TEAS exam had an easier (for me) English section than the practice tests.

This got very long, very fast. Hope it helps!

myungsup · Nov 6, 2016

Took the TEAS VI on this past Friday (Nov 4). Got my scores back. Honestly, I did way better than I expected to do.

I got a 97.3% overall.

Reading: 91.5% (95th percentile)

I was never good at reading comprehension because sometimes I feel like the answers are so open-ended. I never know how much I need to infer from material. It was always a case of, "Do I keep digging in deeper for clues, or am I going on too far of a stretch right here?" I knew this would be my worst section, and I was actually thrilled to have done as well as I did. As for tips, I'd say use your scratch paper. I basically scribbled outlines of the passage as I went down. Flow charts with the topic and main idea at the top, and I branched from there with the supporting evidence and details. Even with my extremely slow writing speed, and the fact that I hate reading and lose focus easily, I finished the section in about 45 minutes. Don't be afraid to take your time. As long as you're concentrating the full time, I think there is ample time in this section to answer every question.

Math: 100% (99th percentile)

Confession time: I have an engineering degree. As such, math comes pretty easily to me. Having a calculator is a bonus, but I feel like you need to know how to set up problems or else you will get the wrong answer, even with a calculator. I finished this section in about 20 minutes, so I decided to mess around with some of the problems to see how the wrong answer choices could be contrived. Make sure you know your PEMDAS, or order of operations. Make sure you know what words mean (sum, difference, of, etc.). Make sure you can set up problems. My buddy, who is not good at math, studied a lot for this portion and did pretty darn well. This section doesn't test your ability to do arithmetic with HUGE HUGE numbers (and even if it did, you have a calculator); it's just trying to gauge your ability to set up a problem, which is something you could surely see as being useful for dosages in nursing school.

Science: 100% (99th percentile)

I'd have to agree with the poster above. Science is either you know it, or you don't. I worked very, very hard for my grades in A&P. What that entailed was this: don't study for grades on your tests; study to learn anatomy and physiology. I was always ready to take our exams at least a week prior because I studied hard every day. I never crammed, and fortunately that meant that a lot of the information stuck in my long-term memory. I honestly spent about 30 minutes skimming through the test guide for my science study. Honestly, if you have a good grasp of A&P you should have absolutely no problem with this section. I think the skimming helped though; there were a few minor details I forgot, and the study guide definitely helped. If you're a bit shaky on A&P, make sure to read through your notes when you took this class.

English: 100% (99th percentile)

Grammar is something that actually comes a lot easier to us than we'd like to give credit for. The problem is that when a test asks you for the name of the rules that governs grammar. Silly things like "What's the simple subject?". We all know what it is, we just may not know that it is referred to as the simple subject. Read up on comma and semicolon uses because I think that's what tripped most people up. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt, particularly for you native speakers. We instantly know when a sentence sounds funky; we may not know why, but we know that it's a bit off. Rely on that crutch if you need to.

General Test-Taking Strategies

I hate taking online tests. I love writing on my exams and underlining key words. That said, I used my scratch paper to the point that it looked like a word mural or something. Looked pretty cool. Maybe that's not your thing, but I think it saved me having scratch paper to work with, even on the Reading and English sections.

Don't be afraid to skip problems and come back to them. I'd write the number I wasn't sure about on my scratch paper with a star or something, so I knew to revisit the problem when I got to the end of the section. If you don't know the answer, don't waste your time sitting there when you can use that time to answer questions you do know. If you're going to have to guess at it, leave it to the end when you've answered everything you could with your knowledge.

Final Thoughts

I'd say this exam is about as hard as the Final Exit Exam from high school, barring the A&P. I probably spent about 6 hours total studying for this exam, most of which was concentrated on the Reading section. This wasn't fun at all. I hate reading comprehension, and I would have much rather have focused on science, math, and grammar, but that would have been an inefficient use of my study time. No one likes studying stuff that is hard, but ignoring it won't make it magically disappear come test day. Put yourself through the uncomfortable study time, so that when you take the test, it will be less comfortable. Good luck to everyone, and if you've made it this far through my post, thanks for reading!