Should I apply to multiple schools?

[Tony Miller]

Hello all, found the forum searching Google and looking for some insight. 

I'm trying to apply for ADN as a second career. To that end, I picked up naII several years ago and have been working full time slowly knocking out pre reqs and, now, I'm ready to bite the bullet. 

I was trying to apply to every ADN program within a two hour drive but, as I'm getting into these information sessions, I'm seeing more and more different schools each using a different test as an entrance into the program (without guarantee of being accepted). These are tests such as psb, TEAS, etc and ALL of them cost $100 or more. 

After that background my questions are simple;

1. Should I go ahead and take the tests just to increase my likelihood of being accepted to one school or another? 

2. Is there some free reputable source for practicing for these tests? I imagine all of them will be similar. 

3. If there's no free source is there a cheaper source that fits well with 99% of the tests out there? I was just looking at the study guide on the TEAS website and it was between $90-250. 

Thanks for the help!

[ChiefJacobs]

1: I'm only familiar w/the TEAS so I can't help you much with the PCB or any other tests (I'm a pre-nursing student who's just about to apply for his BSN as well.) I would focus on the most commonly accepted test first and then pick up others as you go.

2: Now this is where I have some good info. I used Mometrix's ATI TEAS secrets for my studying and managed to get a 90%. It's pretty cheap at $30ish. Khan academy SAT and MCAT prep could be used as a supplement to the book. Finally, this random Youtube channel actually had some good practice questions. Although, make sure to double check the information presented as it's sometimes unreliable.

3: See #2. The stuff produced by ATI itself is garbage. Stick to the resources outlined above. Also use a good flashcard app like Anki if you haven't already to help you memorize anything you're having trouble w/.

[Tony Miller]

6 hours ago, ChiefJacobs said:

1: I'm only familiar w/the TEAS so I can't help you much with the PCB or any other tests (I'm a pre-nursing student who's just about to apply for his BSN as well.) I would focus on the most commonly accepted test first and then pick up others as you go.

2: Now this is where I have some good info. I used Mometrix's ATI TEAS secrets for my studying and managed to get a 90%. It's pretty cheap at $30ish. Khan academy SAT and MCAT prep could be used as a supplement to the book. Finally, this random Youtube channel actually had some good practice questions. Although, make sure to double check the information presented as it's sometimes unreliable.

3: See #2. The stuff produced by ATI itself is garbage. Stick to the resources outlined above. Also use a good flashcard app like Anki if you haven't already to help you memorize anything you're having trouble w/.

Hey I appreciate it. I actually forgot about khan academy, didn't even know they had a sat/mcat prep, thats awesome. I'll definitely look at the book, $30 is fairly reasonable. Do you feel it helped/aligned with the testing? 

 

I'll check anki as well, and good luck with getting accepted into the BSN!

[ChiefJacobs]

Not only did it align w/the test, it aligned better then the actual crap from ATI. I bought the bundle from ATI w/the practice tests and their textbook/manual thing. The manual was one of the worst books I've ever read for studying due to how poor quality it was. And the questions were a bit too easy/weird compared to the actual exam.

Keep in mind, a lot of people get too caught up with studying for the A&P instead of focusing on the fundamentals of the test. There's a lot of 'free money' just lying around if you brush up on the basics.

Best of luck to you as well. I hope and pray we can find the strength to tackle the future challenges we will face.