TEAS is my Weakness

[nursing96student]

Hi everyone,

As I'm going through my options of which schools to apply to for my BSN, I'm getting nervous because most of the schools require TEAS as an entrance exam. My GPA is solid but I'm just worried about TEAS. Is there any school that doesn't require an entrance exam or doesn't weight it heavily during the admission process?

[alliesweetie14]

Well i live in arizona and am from chicago but ASU and UIU (university of upper iowa) do not require those (: and upper iowa has many campuses in different states so you can pay in state tuition and its cheap!

[Elevense]

NIU does not use any sort of entrance exam, admission is solely based on GPA. You have to demonstrate competency in reading, I think I just transferred my ACT though. Though because of that and public school tuition, they do seem to get a pretty competitive applicants. I ended up not applying to UIC because I would have had to apply later than other programs, but I don't remember them using an entrance exam either.

TEAS really isn't bad though if you are a comfortable test taker. The science was kinda hard, but they also look at how well you did against other candidates. From what other folks have told me, it's much more manageable than, say, PAX-RN.

Ultimately I wouldn't keep TEAS or any other entrance exam from at least trying, if there is a school you want that factors it in. You're going to have to take HESIs or ATIs or whatever that are going to be huge and stressful doing school, going to have to survive NCLEX, might as well give it a go!

[ducky2000, BSN, RN]

I'm not the best test taker, but did well on it. Practice the ATI TEAS book and memorize the conversion table (you can get it at the ATI testing website or amazon). The test questions in the book are very similar. Most schools who use TEAS pay more attention to reading and math scores. Science is some odd subjects has geology (seriously why would I need to know about rocks as a nurse), but I think they are just testing you if you can read a graph. Some of these schools also weigh in GPA, if your pre-req are completed, and experience.

I agree with the previous poster, don't let the schools' entrance exam scare you off. TBH, I found the schools that did not require entrance exams were harder to get into. I was put on UIC waiting list, and by the time I got the acceptance letter, I was ready starting orientation in another school (that I tested in).