TEAS 6 Advice

Since I received value as a reader - never commented on here before -, I felt I should give back and share my experience if it helps anyone else. Nursing Students TEAS Article

TEAS 6 Advice

I just took the TEAS 6 this week and scored a total 86%, which personally I am disappointed, but from what I hear, I got one of the highest scores among the people I know who took it, so I am trying to be okay with it. I was trying to shoot for a 90/91 just because of the type of person I am. The program I am applying to has a 64% passing score, so I'm pretty sure I'm okay, and I have a 3.97 GPA with all prereqs being either an A or A+. What messed me up really was the English section - more about that in a minute.

Unfortunately, my grade breakdown was somehow disabled on the ATI site, so I can't get the exact number, but I'm going to try and recall as close as I can:

Reading: 85%
Math: mid-90-something
Science: 89.4%
English: 75%

The resources I used to study was mainly the official TEAS 6 book from ATI, but I did also use the Mometrix one if I wanted to read further about a section. I also used Khan Academy videos for things like genetics and general biology, in addition to just Googling things and reading up on different sites. Honestly the more you read something and expose yourself to the information, the easier it is that it actually sticks since you're reading it from different perspectives. I did also buy the practice test bundle - A&B - and do highly recommend it. It's a great resource for more practice and gives you an idea of where you stand and what you should really be focusing most of your time on. Oh, and I had the TEAS Mastery app on my phone and was always doing questions. I would even reset it and start over, repeating the questions many times. It was a wonderful resource that I also highly recommend.

Now, for the actual exam experience and some advice.

Reading

Personally, I found this section to be trickier, not necessarily harder, than the practice I had done prior to the official exam. In general, I'm pretty good when it comes to reading comprehension, but made enough mistakes apparently lol I was prepared for more "main idea and theme" questions, but honestly, that did not make up the bulk of my exam. I had some questions that more than one answer seemed possible and some of them required you to think about the text rather than be able to use the text to answer the question itself.

I didn't study more than skim through the main ATI manual for this section, so you should be perfectly fine and do better than I did if you actually take the time to familiarize yourself with the information in the book. The passages themselves were not long, but they were extremely boring - some more than others. I felt that there was enough time, but you do have to be able to pay attention to what you're reading the first time rather than rely on reading the text more than once. I had more than enough time to go back and double-check my answers, so if you feel as though there's a question/passage that you may want to spend a little time on, answer as best as you can, but move on and go back if you have time. Also, since this is the first section, your nerves can get the better of you. Try not to stress as you start the exam. I'm sure I made some mistakes just because it was the beginning and I was nervous.

Math

I found this section to be the easiest for me. I was good at math in high school, but forgot it all - it's been a few years lol -, but I was able to refresh my memory since it's really not much more than basic algebra and geometry. The calculator can be used for pretty much every single question in this section. However, be able to do some simple calculations quickly on paper or in your head only because time moves fast during this section and it takes time to key in every number.

Also be very careful as you type in your numbers since that can cause a very simple mistake and it's always possible that what you think is the answer is an option. You shouldn't run out of time unless you personally find math challenging, but practice is key. Know percentages and be able to write out proportions and solve them accurately and quickly based on the word problem given. Fractions and stuff are pretty simple because of the calculator. You can convert everything to decimals. However, know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions, as well as know how to reduce fractions. Know how to put integers in order, both in decreasing and increasing order. Know your metrics, but the questions that expect you to have working knowledge of metrics are very simple.

I would say the ATI manual is all you need for the math section. Know the formulas for circles - area, circumference, etc. You will most likely have at least one related to that and you will not be given the formula. I had one on every practice test and had one on my official exam, so I can pretty much guarantee you'll have one, so commit those formulas to memory. I would also check out Khan Academy's videos on finding perimeter and area of different figures if you're not comfortable with geometry as a just in case you are asked about a shape other than a circle. For this section, I wasn't able to go through my questions twice. As I was checking my answers over, about halfway through I realized there's 3 minutes left, so definitely don't waste your time and try to move quickly, but be careful not to make silly mistakes. You can also write down on your scrap which questions you aren't 100% sure about and want to go back to to not waste time on questions you know you got right the first time.

Science

I also found this section to be relatively simple. It truly is all A&P I and II. I had 2 very basic chemistry questions on my exam and everything else was very basic anatomy and physiology. You will not be asked anything truly in-depth. I actually overstudied because I was scared that they'd ask about hormones in great detail for the endocrine system. They did ask about hormones, but it was more like what organ produces/secretes this hormone. I do not think the ATI manual really did enough for this section only because it tells you what you should know, but doesn't really go into detail. I'd even go as far as to say it tells you you should know more about stuff than you probably will not be required to know, but leaves things out for other things. For example, I was asked about what type of cell secretes a specific hormone, which the book did not tell me I should know.

Studying for this section, I mainly used the secrets book and Google as well as practice exams. This is the section you have more than enough time for. You have like an hour for this one and you really don't need it. I went back and forth over my answers probably 7 times just to ensure I didn't make a careless mistake or was really unsure about a question and still didn't run out of time. The truth about this section is you either know it or your don't. Process of elimination will only help so much because the couple questions I got stuck on really had 2 options I thought were possible because I just couldn't remember which one it was.

English

Now, this one was the worst, which I did NOT expect! I write very well. I know grammar and I know proper sentence structure. In fact, out of every practice test I took prior, I was scoring 90s. The difference? While studying, everything that I was usually faced with dealt with picking out the proper sentence or picking out punctuation. However, my actual exam had a lot of questions that would give me a sentence and then ask me what a word is functioning as: pronoun, adverb, preposition, conjunction, etc. I've honestly never been good with those and some of them were very, very tricky.

So, my suggestion is get very comfortable with being able to pick out a word in a random sentence and say what that word is. You will definitely have questions like that on the exam. The rest of them were proper sentence structure and things like that, which the ATI book I would say is enough to prepare you for. However, this is the section that kills most people, so definitely dedicate time to it unless you know for a fact that you're good with it. This is the one section you have no time to waste. With such few questions, you are given a very limited amount of time and it moves very fast, so try to be careful but move at a good pace.

It's really a hit or miss with this one IMO, but everyone I've spoken with has told me this is the section they did worst on and this is the section that dropped my grade down as well, again, unexpectedly. Some other points from this section are be able to pick out the word that is spelled correctly, so check out commonly misspelled words in the book if you're not good with spelling, and know prefixes, suffixes, and root words. That should have you covered for the english section.

Conclusion

If you have any specific questions, I'm glad to answer them ? I hope this helps some of you guys that are about to take the exam and I wish you guys luck! Number one thing is don't stress. Remember this test doesn't expect you to have the knowledge base a nurse has. It really is just testing your basic knowledge of these subjects to ensure you're capable of successfully completing the nursing program, which requires you to be able to turn a sentence into a mathematical problem that you then calculate, communicate effectively, have very basic knowledge with regard to A&P and chemistry, and be able to read material. Study and you WILL be fine ?

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Michelle0128

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Omg i just want to thank you sooo much for this! I am scheduled to take my teas exam on the 25th and i havent started studying yet. Tomorrow will be my first day and i reallly dont feel like i will be ready bc everyone tells me i need at least study for 3-4 months to prepare! But i dont have that time, i am applying to schools now and i have to make deadlines. I know i should have done it during christmas break but i work at emory hospital and childrens healthcare of atlanta so i had no time during the break. Now i have put in a two weeks vacation on both my jobs just to fully put all my attention on this tease test. But i am currently takign my last pre requisit online so i have that work to do also. I guess what i am really wanting to know is that if i truely dedicate myself these next two weeks to studying for the teas, i have a tutor also, and i have three teas practice booklets and i purchased the test a&b from the ati website, do u think that i still have a chance to get a 85 or above? My gpa isnt the best its a 3.27 overall, science 3.4. So this teas test score is everything that i need right now...

1 Votes

I found science to be loaded with AP2 and Micro questions. I have yet to take those 2 classes and was doable. That was hard and the grammar section found challenging. The use of a calculator aided in math, but also eats up a lot of time on the clock.

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I disagree on the science section, as I found the actual exam a lot more in depth than the practice exams. A lot of the A&P questions were not basic, generic A&P, but dove into questions about things such as Osteoclasts/blasts and the like

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Thanks for posting this! I am taking my exam next Friday and ridiculously stressed because of the difficulty in finding straight forward information on what's on the exam.

I was just doing a practice test through Union test prep (free) and it was asking questions about force, work applied, scalars, coal power and oxidizing agents... really specific things that I really didn't expect to see. Did you come across any physics related questions? Anything in the science section that surprised you? (I am anticipating a lot of a&p, general chem, maybe a little earth science, but these physics questions are throwing me off!)

Thank you!

(FYI, I would be over the moon about getting your score!)

1 Votes

Sorry, been a little busy, so didn't have a chance to respond till now.

@nurse_chelle - absolutely! I had roughly 3 weeks to prepare for the exam and studied for about 2 weeks of that time. The last week I was more relaxed about it too, so if you dedicate yourself, you'd have absolutely no issues excelling. Just make sure you go through the manual and know as much as possible before the test. Remember the reality is you do NOT need a 100, and honestly I've never even heard of anyone who has gotten a 100 on the TEAS, so you don't need to know everything about everything. Go in knowing as much as you can though and master the most challenging stuff while brushing on things that are easy. As humans, we tend to study what we already know lol. It's just easier to do it, but study the stuff you hate and the stuff that makes you stressed and uncomfortable. However, don't neglect the stuff you are just aren't 100% at either because of course if you don't use it, you lose it. I hadn't taken A&P for over a semester when I had to study for the TEAS, so I had to go back and brush up on most things, but don't worry. You will be absolutely fine!! Study and practice, practice, practice. The more practice questions you can do and see what you got wrong and why, and then commit those things to memory, you'll be fine ;)

@Shawn91111. I saw your post. We scored roughly the same, but our exams were on different difficulty levels I think. My adjusted score (after calculating the breakdown) actually was lower than what I got based on my answers most likely because my exam just had "easier" questions, whereas maybe yours was brought up because you had "harder" questions. I do know they have a test bank filled with an endless amount of questions, so in general I agree that someone should know as much as possible going into the exam because no one really knows what questions will get asked. That was my biggest fear with the science section. I was like for A&P alone, forget chem or anything else, there could be a billion and one questions just for one system! LOL But personally, I didn't find anything too crazy on the exam that if someone went through A&P and spent a little time brushing up on things would find too challenging. I had maybe one or two very specific questions. Everything else was in my opinion (of course that also factors in... 10 people can read the same question and we can all feel it's at a different difficulty level) was very basic things. Knowing where fertilization occurs or the structure and function of the kidneys, knowing the different cells that create and breakdown bone, etc - stuff like that.

@WCSU1987.... I had like one question that was microbio-based, but I found it to be more of a common sense question. However, I had finished microbio literally 3 weeks before the exam, so it is possible that I felt it was common sense because of that. Also, don't forget there are some questions that actually don't count towards your grade. I personally think any microbio questions would fall into that group because the manual does not expect people to know microbiology before taking the TEAS. I wouldn't stress too much about microbiology, but don't forget some questions that might seem like a microbio question might actually be a chem question or a general bio question.

@mergatonin... First off, good luck and do NOT stress. I know it's easier said than done lol. I've been where you are, and once you're done, it's like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders because at that point you're not fearing what you might get asked haha But seriously, try not to stress. It'll just mess you up on some questions that you probably wouldn't mess up if I had asked you the same question on a random day when you knew you weren't going to be graded on it ;) I had absolutely no earth science questions and you shouldn't either. Earth science was removed from the exam, so if you find that you have one, I'd bank on that being one the questions that doesn't get factored into your grade and is just for ATI to collect statistics. So, don't even waste your time and study for the earth science stuff. Focus on A&P. It WILL make up the bulk of the science section, so if you mess up on a chem question and you know A&P very well, it'll balance out in the end and you'll be fine :) I did not have any physics questions on my exam, but I did have some while practicing. Also, the manual doesn't expect you to know physics. I just completed that class prior to the exam, so all that stuff was fresh in my head and none of it got used. If anything, I had one question that maybe was physics-related in the math section, which really is just basic and anyone who has never taken physics could work through it. It was a question where you had to find the rate of acceleration or something like that, so really nothing crazy, but know the basic basic stuff just in case. Personally, I didn't study physics at all prior to the exam because it's not in the manual, so it wouldn't be on the exam. When you get your grade breakdown after completion, it will actually point out which section you should look at for the questions you got wrong. It doesn't specifically tell you the questions you got wrong, but it'll say review section 3.2, for example, so any question you will be given will be covered in that manual. If it's not even mentioned in the manual, don't worry about it. Really focus on everything in that book. ;)

1 Votes

I took the VI in December and one thing I was surprised by was the math section. I took a few of the TEAS V practice tests earlier in the year and I was able to do them in my head and get 100% every time. They were basic algebra and I figured I'd just breeze through them as well. The TEAS VI ended up having a few things that I hadn't considered initially - things like order of operations (i.e. what is 6 + 4 * 3 - 2?). I think I ended up with an 85% on the math section. I didn't get to see the exact things I missed, but I was surprised so watch out.

The thing I found most helpful was taking the practice tests on ATI's website. They're expensive (I think like $40) but they have the kinds of questions and the kind of wording that was on the TEAS VI. They were also accurate in my case - I ended up with a practice score of 94% and a final score of 93.3%.

1 Votes
Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.

I didn't study for it. However, people who did told me that buying practice exams directly from ATI was money well spent.

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Agree with both previous posters! I bought the ATI practice tests A and B - came out to about 100$ after tax - and it was 100% worth it. I found test B to be more challenging than test A, if anyone plans to only buy one version instead of the bundle and wanted the "harder" one. And yeah, math I think changed because of the calculator. They want you to know how to do it more than getting the correct number because they know you'll be using that calculator to do all calculations.

1 Votes

I just took the teas this morning and got 87.3!! Now this is the first year my school is using the tease to rank applicants so idk what the average acceptance is. Also, I set the bar very high for myself so my perception of how well I did is a bit skewed, I admit.. my question is- should I retake it just to see if I can get a better score or would that not be worth it?

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Hemeyer said:
I just took the teas this morning and got 87.3!! Now this is the first year my school is using the tease to rank applicants so idk what the average acceptance is. Also, I set the bar very high for myself so my perception of how well I did is a bit skewed, I admit.. my question is- should I retake it just to see if I can get a better score or would that not be worth it?

I wouldn't retake it. An 87.3 is excellent, so don't worry about it. I, like you, set high standards for myself and was disappointed with how I did overall, but the last thing I'd think is to retake it. There's a chance you won't score as high the next time, and even if you scored a little higher, would it truly matter? All that aside, it DOES depend on the program you are applying to. If the program you are applying to has an acceptance score in the 80s, I would retake it to be more competitive and shoot for the 90s. My school's program what I found out recently isn't even looking for a 64 this semester. So many people failed or did poorly that they've lowered their acceptance to a 57.5 for a chance to get one of the seats. It really just depends on the program's acceptance you're trying to get into. If you won't have any issue getting a seat with an 87, then don't bother retaking it since it really won't hurt you in any way. Instead take the time to rest before the semester begins because once it starts, you won't have much "me time."

1 Votes

Great advice, thank you!! Unfortunately my school has just switched to using the TEAS for ranking applicants, and I'm in the first group í ½í¹ˆ So as far as I know they have no frame of reference for what the average scores will be or what they're accepting. I did email my nursing advisor to ask her what she thinks- if it would be worth the trouble to retake it. Maybe she can shed some light on the matter in terms of average acceptance scores for our area with comparable programs. Thanks again!!

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