Need to retake Teas

Published

Hello! I just recently took the Teas for the first time. I need to retake it bc I totally bombed :(. I was wondering if anyone had any advice? I read a few threads where it says the second time around There is a possibility it could be the same test. I've been out of school for over 12 years. I used the Mcgraw practice book and didnt feel like it was the same as the actual test. The ATI is a bit pricey. i am just worried i wont do good the second time either

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I took the TEAS on July 12 and felt very prepared after studying for about a month using the ATI book and practice tests. I think I paid 120 for the book and two online practice tests. You can take the online tests twice. When I started studying I took the first practice test to see what i really needed to concentrate on. At the end of the practice test you get a list of areas that you need to study and prepare for. Once I had that I started to really concentrate on those areas. Mine were math and science so I went through those sections in the study guide several times and really understood those areas. Two weeks before the test I started to go over the other two areas and once I looked over those I took the second practice test. For the last week I continued to review where I was weak on the second practice test and then just kept reviewing the other two areas as well. I ended up scoring a 93 which was about 5 points higher then my best score on the practice exams. I also took the practice exams a second time to work on timing. Good luck and I'm sure you'll do great!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hey sweet101,

A poster, rainbowvahmet is definitely worth a read:

https://allnurses.com/teas-exam-help/how-i-passed-804222.html

Personally, I urge you to acquire the ATI Study Manual. I have both the McGraw-Hill and the ATI manual. I used both to highlight my weak areas in between each sample test.

Rainbow said it brilliantly, "Though I have noticed that some felt the ATI manual a waste of money, I found that every question (without exception) on my TEAS exam was covered in the manual. It may not have been covered directly. However, the subject was covered, leaving no surprises in content. My suggestion would be to take the subjects covered in the manual and go into each of them a bit more in depth. Make your own notes and research topics that you find difficult, adding the fundamentals to your base knowledge. This is especially true in the sciences."

He/she spent a lot of effort and time breaking it down for us. Many of us found it very helpful (read the comments- they help too).

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you :) I am going to try to get it. I heard sometimes you can borrow it from the library

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hi sweet101,

I agree with what LoyalWeim mentioned above and would highly suggest investing in the ATI study guide. You mention that the ATI guide is a bit pricey, but you have to think of it as a long-term investment for your future. Also you may try taking a look on craigslist for a cheap used copy.

What was so hard about the exam? Was it because of the lack of the allocated time? Was it due to not understand the concepts? What is due to being too nervous? In order for us to give you the best advice, we need to know what you need help with.

Regards,

R

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I would suggest using the ATI study manual. But you can also visit your local library to see what books they have available for nursing school entrance exams. Also check out KhanAcademy and Youtube.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Get the ati book and get one of the practice tests from ati. I got my book for $20, amazon. Practice tests were $50 from ati website. Totally worth it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

you're right! I didnt think of it like that

Up Vote Up Vote ×

what an amazing score!! great job!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

thank you everyone. Unfortunately it wAsnt lack of time. My brain froze when I got to the math section and with science it was a lot I should have studied better for. I ordered the ATI online so I will def go through that and focus on my weak points. Fingers crossed I do much better next month on the retake!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I found the ATI online tests to be significantly more difficult than the study manual's practice tests so do not be alarmed or discouraged if you score worse especially on the science section. Here is basically what I did in a nutshell:

1. Read the entire ATI study manual. Mark sections that are difficult for you (or write down the page/section number).

2. Re-read/study the difficult areas.

3. Take the ATI study manual, sample test 1. As you take the exam mark every question with a '?' mark that you are not sure about- even those that you believe are correct but not 100% certain. This is critical because the goal is to learn your weak areas and adjust accordingly. I found that some of my incorrect answers were actually ones that I thought were correct. So double-check all '?' questions and the ones you missed. Be sure to actually read the ATI manual's explanation! Don't necessarily feel the need to time this first test... the goal is to first learn as much as you can.

4. Study hard on those missed questions. Try not to focus so much on individual questions, but the areas that are weak. For example, I consistently missed mitosis/meiosis questions. So I hammered that section and even used Khans Academy to re-enforce the material. When you think you have these weak areas covered... proceed to next step 5.

5. Take ATI study manual, Sample Test 2. You might consider timing this one particularly if you have no other sample tests to take. Again, mark all questionable answers with a '?'.

6. If you found the same questions as sample test 1 stump you then you now need to REALLY spend time on those. Study those weak areas until you think you have them down.

7. Take McGraw-Hill Sample Test 1. You guessed it... mark each questionable answer with '?'. But at this point in time you need to start timing your exams. Pretend you are actually taking the exam... take it in a quiet area and time it. You might need to work on strategies to improve your test-taking speed. Generally, as you know the material better your speed should be improving. For me, the reading section took the longest. On the actual exam, I was close to running the clock out by I think about 2 minutes. On some of the practice exams, I did run out the clock. At the very least, this trained me to only spend a certain amount of time on the passages and their corresponding questions.

8. Repeat this cycle over and over for McGraw-Hill tests 2-5.

After doing all of this... if you still don't feel quite ready... then study the material again and take the ATI online practice test form A. As I said, the online test scared me because the science was more difficult than both the study manual and the McGraw-Hill. I only scored a 69% on the science! This was after studying for maybe... 5 weeks!? I studied for a solid week on science only. Then took that ATI online practice form B. Again, I scored a 69%... I thought I was doomed! On the actual TEAS, I scored almost a perfect score on the science section! So do not panic. But do study hard and you should knock the test out of the ballpark. Most of doing well on this test is being honest with yourself on those weak areas and really hammering them with everything you have, in my opinion. And as you can see, I believe that by iterating your taking of these sample tests you are maximizing their benefit by continually honing your knowledge and skills.

Good luck!

Regards,

LW

Up Vote Up Vote ×

sweet101,

I also took these practice tests too:

http://www.testprepreview.com/teas_practice.htm

If you need help with any of the math, just PM me. Math is one of my stongest areas. It can be difficult to do over PM/email but it cannot hurt!

Regards,

LW

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion