luvs2bike

Phew! Just took the test on Tuesday and got a 93.5%. Thanks to everyone who recommended the ATI and Kaplan guide! :) They worked wonders for me. It was pretty basic and definitely easier than the SAT and GREs as far as pacing goes. I had plenty of time to answer all of the questions, and enough time for Math and English to check all of my answers twice. I totally forgot that I had to take the test until the Sunday before...when my phone beeped....so if you're a slacker like me, don't despair. The TEAS isn't as hard as it seems. I started studying the Sunday before and crammed after work Monday. After I looked at the ATI book I realized I needed more help for the science section, so I biked on over to Barnes & Noble and bought the Kaplan book, and an NLN book for good measure (you can never have too much test prep material). It took me about 10 hours to read and do all of the questions in the ATI book. Then I got up early the day of the test and did the two practice tests in the Kaplan book. In between the exam breaks I continued cramming my science portion and reviewing the physics and earth science sections (which were hard for me since I've never taking those classes). I also had to brush on on bio since I took it in highschool over 15 years ago (There was at least 4-5 problems on every practice test on Mandelian genetics, and sure enough it was on my test). Every time we had a bathroom break I would cram the science knowledge and do a quick review. Here's what I ended up with: 97.5% Reading 97.8% Math 90.0% Science 89.1% English Since I procrastinated, I only had time to study for my weakest areas: science. For me, the reading and math were gimmies since they were very straightforward and easy. I took one practice test for each and got about 92%. In order to prep for the timed test, I did all of my practice tests timed, and shaved off about 10 plus minutes off each section. For example, if the math practice test had say....65 questions, I allowed myself 50 minutes to finish the whole thing. I brushed up on pythagorean theorem, angle, pie chart, calculating area of a circle. Same with all of the other sections - if a reading section had 55 questions, I allowed myself 45 min to finish everything. This way I was able to adapt to the pace of the test. I was a lot more meticulous on the actual test. Since I was used to the fast pace on my practice exams, I had time to check most of my answers. Since I was so short on time, i had to choose between studying either science or grammar. I chose to study science since I consistently scored a 77-78% on all of my practice tests. If I weren't such a procrastinator, I probably could've upped my grammar/English scores. For the science portion, I read voraciously and studied both ATI, Kaplan, and the NLN guide. I did as many practice exams as I could and covered the breadth of all subjects. Whatever I didn't understand I googled. I googled a quick tutorial for physics (esp wave questions since those are on every single one of my practice tests). I looked up the definitions of amperes, amplitude, volt, watt, frequency, wavelengths. I reviewed the earth sciences sections. I also did all of the science tests for all three books and it paid off. (I left the NLN book for last and did some more science questions during breaks). I probably could've done a little better if I had some more sleep (was running on 4 hours of sleep and too scared to drink caffeine for fear of excessive pee breaks). Sleep deprivation sucks. I definitely crapped out towards the end of the test. Considering that the TEAS is a knowledge based test with limited complex problem solving, I figured that knowing the material is definitely more important than sleep. All in all, I was happy enough with my score :) If I could do this again I probably would've done a grammar review. The English portion is tricky in that the sentences are awkwardly worded. Not to mention all the trick questions! Other than Science, English is probably the hardest portion.