Nursing School Entrance Exam - Who need it?

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I was wondering if most schools, all, or some require the nursing school entrance exam. Is this standard? Also, I'm having a very hard time even finding an official website for it, which is weird for a professional test..

Thanks

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.
I was wondering if most schools, all, or some require the nursing school entrance exam. Is this standard? Also, I'm having a very hard time even finding an official website for it, which is weird for a professional test..

Thanks

That is because not all schools require an exam. Those that do require an exam for entrance do not necessarily use the same exams as other schools. My school required the NET. Others require a test they make up, NLN, TEAS, and/or ACT/SATs.

You also will not find consistency in admissions requirement across the board. Minimum test scores vary, GPA varies, and so do other requirements such as a need for CNA license and/or interviews.

Your best bet is to look at the individual schools of interest and contact a counselor for the nursing school and find out their requirements. Otherwise you will be wasting a lot of time doing research that is broad rather then focused. Good luck.

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I was wondering if most schools, all, or some require the nursing school entrance exam. Is this standard? Also, I'm having a very hard time even finding an official website for it, which is weird for a professional test..

Thanks

Hey there...the website is www.nln.org. You can find information there. The book (which you might be able to find on ebay for cheaper, who knows) is this one. http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763724866/

Most schools require it, but I don't know that all do. I would say contact your school to find out, but more likely than not, you will probably have to take it.

Good luck!!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

at the time i applied to nursing school it was not. today, it seems like so many schools require some type of this testing. i think part of the reason is because grades are not a reliable indicator of what students were taught or actually know. tests given by individual instructors are totally subjective. these entrance tests are an attempt to measure student knowledge objectively.

the net (nurse entrance test) is written by some educational corporation that is sold to schools individually. each nursing school then administers the tests to their prospective nursing students. there is no official study guide publication that is printed by the corporation writing this test. students have to contact the nursing school they are going to be taking this exam from to get information about what is on it. you can do a websearch for the net and you will sometimes be able to get information about what is on it from the websites of nursing schools who put the information out on their websites.

here is information about the teas (test of essential academic skills). unlike the net, the company that writes this exam does publish a study guide. this particular company is very heavily into writing other types of nursing exams as well.

http://www.atitesting.com/productinfo/teas.aspx - the home page of the organization that writes and administrates this test. the test covers four general areas: math, reading, english and science.

math covers whole numbers, metric conversion, fractions, decimals, algebraic equations, percentages, and ratio/proportion

reading covers paragraph comprehension, passage comprehension, and inferences/conclusions

english covers knowledge of punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, contextual words and spelling

science covers science reasoning, science knowledge, biology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology, basic physical principles and general science

the other biggie test is the nlns for rns and lpns school admission. there are prep study guides you can buy for both of these tests at either amazon or barnes and nobel.

i have been reading that there is a newer trend that is emerging as well with some nursing schools. that is over the question of critical thinking. they are saying it's not enough to just know how to read and write. they also want candidates who can think and apply what they know to situations. since by the time nurses finish nursing school they need to be able to think critically (something that is taught throughout nursing school), some educators have come up with a critical thinking test that some schools are requiring pre-admission to nursing classes and there is really no way to prepare for it. it is called the california critical thinking skills test (cctst). i don't know much about it and i think i tried once to see if any study manuals existed and was unsuccessful at finding any. when i went to their website it seems as if they are similar to the net. the company merely sells the test to schools who then administer it to their students themselves. i thought i had seen some posts from students on the forums here who were lamenting at having done poorly on this test, but i was unable to find any when i did a search for them.

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The NCLEX-RN is the one I have to take. Definitely call your school and find out what it is that you need to take...ask them if it is the entrance exam from the National League of Nurses. If it is, it will be the NCLEX test.

I was having confusion with which test I was taking also, but I would say talk to someone in the nursing department to find out for sure!! If it is this one (through NLN) there are study materials to help you (listed above in my previous post), but you'll hear yay or nay on that - either they will help you or they won't. I've heard some say it's a waste of time and others say it's helped them tremendously!! So, I guess it's better to be prepared than not!

Best of luck to you!!

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The NCLEX-RN is the one I have to take. Definitely call your school and find out what it is that you need to take...ask them if it is the entrance exam from the National League of Nurses. If it is, it will be the NCLEX test.

I was having confusion with which test I was taking also, but I would say talk to someone in the nursing department to find out for sure!! If it is this one (through NLN) there are study materials to help you (listed above in my previous post), but you'll hear yay or nay on that - either they will help you or they won't. I've heard some say it's a waste of time and others say it's helped them tremendously!! So, I guess it's better to be prepared than not!

Best of luck to you!!

Wait, do you mean you are taking the NCLEX as a pre admission exam to nursing school, or are you done with school and now taking the NCLEX???

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Wait, do you mean you are taking the NCLEX as a pre admission exam to nursing school, or are you done with school and now taking the NCLEX???

You know what, your right...I was looking at the wrong thing!!

I am just taking the pre-entrance exam. It is the exam that has 3 parts - math, vocabulary and science...each w/ 4 multiple choice. That is the one I'm taking and the book I suggested is for that. It is through the NLN though.

Sorry for the confusion!! Like I said, I myself am confused about it!! :doh:

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You know what, your right...I was looking at the wrong thing!!

I am just taking the pre-entrance exam. It is the exam that has 3 parts - math, vocabulary and science...each w/ 4 multiple choice. That is the one I'm taking and the book I suggested is for that. It is through the NLN though.

Sorry for the confusion!! Like I said, I myself am confused about it!! :doh:

Ohh its cool, i was just stumped for a second because i thought you were talking about the NLN then i reread it and it said NCLEX and it threw me off.

I took the NLN-PN to get into my RN program. I think they make us take the PN because at my school after nursing 2 you chose either LPN or RN as your career path and technically its an LPN program and RN program combined, i dunno its pretty strange.

ANYHOW, i took the NLN it had 2 parts just as you said, the easiest was the Math nd science for me. Study that book(the study guide) and do as many practice questions as you can from it as the questions on the test are similar styled questions. Also you might want to go to math.com and brush up on your fractions and basic algebra. Hope that helps GOOD LUCK.

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

No pre-entrance tests such as those listed required for our college, however we are required to take and pass a 25-point dosage calculations test. I guess they were losing too many in the first semester who couldn't get the hang of the math.

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