UNF {University of North Florida} taking the TEAS V

U.S.A. Florida

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What you really need to know about the TEAS V in preparation for your future UNF application to nursing school. The TEAS V counts for 50% of the points that qualify you for an invitation for an interview, so it is very important.

In my quest to be the best candidate possible for the UNF nursing program I poured over this blog site and found much helpful information. But I had to sort through many comments to get to the real nuggets. My hope is that this topic will be reserved for valuable information and not simply personal conversations by individual cohorts.

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sunbaby0811 - I agree with honeybadger, that ATI booklet and online exams are a must. In addition the McGraw Hill study guide with 5 tests in it is a perfect supplement.

Reading - ATI covers it well, but if you've forgotten the difference between the topic and the main idea for example McGraw Hill and plenty of free web sites cover this topic thoroughly. If you are rusty with this I would suggest finding some online reading quizzes to get you back into practice.

Math - ATI has this covered hands down. McGraw Hill will actually cover more than what you need for the TEAS V; such as geometry. But for me personally I found the review to be worth while even though it went into material not covered on the TEAS V. I felt it just made my math skills stronger. Especially since I haven't had a math clas in 20 or so years.

Science - Honeybadger is correct if you are rusty on your sciences. But if you've just finished your pre-reqs you will likely be fine between the ATI book and the McGraw book. I still have my Pearson A&P book and online access so the few things I struggled with I just went back to my text book. Plus McGraw Hill has an online supplemental to an out of date book [that is free, Animation: How Diffusion Works] that has some really nice short videos. I found the videos were great as far as refreshing my memory and reinforcing the material with audio and video.

Grammar - ATI's book is great on this. I have typed in the spelling on quizlet [Simple free learning tools for students and teachers | Quizlet]. If you care to study off of that I made it public, just set up your free account and then search TEAS V spelling. It is broken down into something like 11 sets to make them more manageable. I definitely used other sources though especially for things like subject verb agreement and dependent and independent clauses. I just felt I needed additional practice. There is tons of stuff on the internet to help with this such as grammar girl and quia.com. Here is an additional site for spelling and vocab practice [Free Online Interactive Spelling & Vocabulary Words Lists].

When you go to quizlet you will also see that there are tons of other study sets made by previous TEAS V test takers that covers all four subcategories.

My best advice for anyone preparing to take the TEAS is to be consistent in your studying. Don't wait until the last minute because the mental "freak-out" will consume you and you likely won't be prepared. I studied for about 3 months and I still battled nerves even though I had done 9 practice tests and numerous subject specific online practice quizzes. After your first practice test or two you will have a solid idea where your weaknesses are and you can study to your weaknesses.

Good Luck!!!

Helpful Study info - will post more quotes from others as I find them again :)

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I also recommend the ATI online tests. They give a good idea of the question structure and general test layout. Just know they are notoriously harder than the actual test. I scored way better on the actual test than the practice tests. I'm so glad I spent the $ on them. The science was much harder (my 2c) and the other sections slightly harder but still realistic.

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Hi Everyone. I posted this in another thread. I thought it might be helpful to post this for all to see since I see so many questions on the TEAS V every day.

This is a breakdown I did of all the important topics I see in the book. I WILL NOT POST TEST QUESTIONS. I hope this helps someone. I also posted my study "techniques" and websites that might be helpful if you do not have the ATI book or any book for that matter. I guess any book will do as long as you study what is below. I still suggest getting it if you can. Whatever works. :)

SCIENCE:

  • General heart anatomy: follow blood flow through the heart in order, and know if the blood is oxygenated or not, know the valves
  • General vascular anatomy(veins, arteries, etc)
  • Respiratory System: general functions and structure
  • Nervous System: Know the subcategories, their functions, and know the anatomy of a neuron and the synapse WELL
  • Digestive System: Just follow a bolus down to the orifice and know generally what is happening to it. Like where the digestion of fat occurs first and where the absorption of water occurs, etc.
  • Immune System: Cell mediated immunity, Humoral immunity; interferons; know the response to inflammation
  • General Biology: taxonomy(King Phillp Came Over For Granny's Soup); purines and pyrimidines; DNA functions; RNA functions; Transcription & translation; Cellular Organelles: mitochondria, ribosomes, rough/smooth ER, etc etc and their functions; Know plant cells too!!!!! ; prokaryotes vs eukaryotes; mitosis and meiosis stages: know their outcomes; mutations; punnet squares & alleles; difference between protozoa, bacteria, viruses, algae, and helminths AND their basic components(like what do they eat? how to they reproduce?)
  • Chemistry: Again, know your heterotrophs and autotrophs... who uses cellular respiration and whatnot; mass numbers and atomic weights; know what isotopes are, how to find the number of protons in them; know what catalysts are... what decomposition and synthesis reactions are; chemical bonds; know which elements are your metals PLEASE!; acids and bases... know which accept protons and know the logarithmic scale; balancing chemical equations;

ENGLISH & LANGUAGE USAGE

  • Parts of Speech: Subject, verbs, article, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc. They'll make you read sentences and know which word is what.
  • First person, second person, third person verbs, pronouns, in singular and plural forms.
  • Active and Passive voice
  • Context Clues: Synonyms and Antonyms; Compare and contrast;
  • Know common prefixes like un-, re-, in-, and dis-.
  • Know common suffixes like -ia, -ic, -ism, -ology, etc.
  • Know common root words like geo, cardio, ped, ortho, bio, psych, etc.
  • Know commonly mispelled words and common homophones.

MATH

  • Add, subtract, multiply, divide decimals and fractions (lots of paycheck, rent, and menu questions)
  • Add, subtract, multiply, divide mixed numbers
  • Convert decimals, percents, and fractions
  • Probability of something occurring
  • Dependent & independent variables… can you find which is which in a word problem?
  • Read charts, graphs, tables etc.
  • Know to find the LCD
  • Order of operations & FOIL
  • Solving for x
  • Roman numerals to Arabic numerals… M=1000 D=500 C=100 L=50 X=10 V=5 and I=1. So they can ask you what's 2011 in Roman numerals and you'd choose MMXI.
  • Know PERIMETER because there appears to be lots of "fencing" word problems.

READING

  • Know more or less how to read nutrition labels & recipes
  • Be able to read directions clearly
  • Be able to identify the summary of a short story
  • Can you find the main idea of an essay, letter, or story? Can you find the supporting details? Can you tell if the writer is trying to explain, entertain, or persuade?(Author's purpose)
  • Can you identify the different supporting details in each paragraph?
  • Read movie times, schedules, and invitation letters.
  • Be able to read line graphs, temperature, simple maps, and blood pressure screens

How I study:

  • I take test #1 for each separate section to know where to focus my study.
  • I use the ATI book and underline the important keywords, directions, or numbers. I look over EACH answer even if I think I know the answer. NEVER think you know because there might be another answer better than the one you chose!
  • If I think I need more practice, I use websites online. I will go over the ATI notes again, do all the practice questions, and will take the second test for said section(let's say, math). If I don't get AT LEAST 15 points higher, I'll do it all over again, going over similar questions online.

WEBSITES

Math:

English, reading, etc.

This person really put the time in to give us all a little help.

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more good links from eagles wings

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Another good one from eagles wings. He is responding to someone else who was complaining about the TEAS IV, but who also admitted that she did not study.

I think there is your answer right there. You can't not study and expect a passing score, especially not a high passing score. You have to push yourself to study and organize a battle plan for this one or your will get rejected again this year.

The TEAS is, honestly, a High school level exam. Dare I say Middle school. The math, actually, is Elemental. It is not really a hard test if you study. The key is to studying smart, not studying all day for 6 months.

Do you have the book at all? I would suggest you get it and use it to target your weak areas. Do you have the report of the first time you took it? Concentrate on the areas you did worst on now and work your way up..

Honestly, if you did what you did(or rather, what you didn't do) for the TEAS 4 there is no way you are going to pull off TEAS 5, or Nursing school. You have to study. You need to discipline yourself. Did you really expect to get a passing grade and get accepted without effort? You need to ask yourself this and honestly reassess your study methods.

I got an 86% because I studied. That is how people pass and get good grades and get scholarships. I worked really hard for my grade, and actually, I could have worked harder still. By the way, I was taking other classes while studying for the TEAS. I know people who got grades higher than mine and they work, have families, and go to school.

No one can help you if you don't help yourself first. And I am not nagging you; I am just trying to spare you anymore heart break by warning you. If you don't WORK HARD you will not get accepted, ever. And this applies to all university programs.

I really do wish you the best.

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Good comments on each section of the test:

Just took my exam about an hour ago. TEAS V, paper version. I feel that I did very well.

I don't feel like any of the threads of here, nor my manuals, really specified or prepared me for what was going to be on the test. I was under the impression that math was a huge portion, and science was smaller. For version V Science is the largest portion. Obviously I'm not going to put up test questions, but here's what I encountered:

THE BIGGEST THING you should know: all conversions are provided for you! If they ask you to go from F to C, they will give you the formula. If there is a questions about yards to cm, they give you yard, feet, inch and cm conversions. This was something I had spent time trying to memorize when I didn't have to. My test did not have questions on the metric system, so I am not sure if it would have been provided.

1) Reading and Comprehension: Read the passage, answer the questions. Something I wasn't prepared for was knowing what type of passages were being presented, such as narrative, cause-effect, creative, past-present etc. There were also questions that included charts or pictures, not all straightforward reading. Some also included very basic math, such as looking at a pamphlet for a park and figuring out how to spend the least amount of money doing certain things.

2) Math: I had been under the impression math was the big deal, which perhaps it was on TEAS IV. It was a breeze for me. There wasn't a question I didn't know how to answer. Know fractions, decimals, percentages, and how to convert in between. Be able to solve for X, understand how to look at basic graphs. Know where to put your decimal after adding, multiplying, dividing- This could drastically affect your answer if you do it wrong. All of the options in the math section are varying forms of each other, such as 1.001, 1.101, 11.010, you get the idea.

3) Science: Very hard for me on the test. Nothing on basic anatomy. It went pretty deep into cellular biology, which I wasn't prepared for. There was also a good portion of physiology. Know Mitosis and Meiosis very very well. Even though there are only few questions, they are extremely detailed. Know basic system and organ functions. Chem was light, be able to balance reactions and charges. Physics was practically non existent. Know Potential/Kinetic energy.

4)Grammar: Pretty much what you would expect. Sentence structure, spelling, grammar. etc. Know when to use different forms, such as whom, who, whose, etc. Also know adverbs, pronouns, clauses, etc. My advise if you can't figure it out is to read it aloud. If you absolutely know that you dont know the answer, choose the best looking one immediately. Sitting and staring at the question starts to give you all kinds of false "well that looks right and maybe that works" type of thinking. especially with the spelling.

Surprisingly, I think overall I did the best in math and comprehension. I have taken all my A/P, Micro, O Chem, so the cellular biology was a little fuzzy, since I had my basic bio class 2 years ago. Again, my version of the test obviously is different than others, as every test is different, but this is what I came across. Really focus on the biology, fractions/decimals/percentages, and grammar.

I used the McGraw study manual, and unfortunately I think it was for the Version IV. Besides the ATI book, NOTHING specifies which version it is for. Overall it was a GREAT book. It has more than you need, but if you know what is on the TEAS, then you know what to leave out. If I had known how huge science was, I would have focused more on it.

If I left anything out, or if anyone has more questions, feel free to ask!

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I just wanted to add that I found out last week in the info seminar that starting in 2014 applicants can take the TEAS V as many times as they would like vs. the once per application. But you will have to submit all attempts. This is because they want to ensure that you get the most points possible by checking each test you took.

I think that takes some of the pressure off for 2014 applicants and beyond. I personally did fine but felt a lot of pressure to get it right. I felt I may have scored better if I knew I could've take it again should I have a bad test day. I did excellent on FSCJ's NAT test because I felt at ease knowing I could take it again if necessary.

Good Luck :)

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Another excellent study book is by Princeton Review:

http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Nursing-Entrance-Graduate-Preparation/dp/0375427422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363224847&sr=8-1&keywords=princeton+review+teas

This book gives practical study advice that goes beyond the things you learned in high school. It also goes into all four subsections of the TEAS V.

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Here is some more pointers. I cannot emphasize how great mylearningexpress helped me prepare => more than the HESI // TEAS manuals available on Amazon. If you buy those books do so on AmazonKindle (there is a free PC app) because they are much cheaper.

Hello, I took the TEASV in Aug 2011.

I did very well (top 1%) and this was due to studying for about 2 months, and taking the example tests offered online at ATI.

This kind of test is knowledge based, not only in what you have learned in HS and Uni but also in preparing yourself for the test.

The ATI manual is not enough to prepare you to make a 90 or above. You will have to do some other studying as well.

I downloaded a couple of HESI exams using amazon kindle, I searched for several types of questions (esp Math and grammar) online and the best resource out there is this:

MyLearningExpress.com /Learning Express Library.

Welcome to LearningExpress Library!

Learning Express is a free resource set up via your local or Uni library. It has several types of tests online --> Nursing Exams, AP BIO, CLEP, SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT.

I used several of these tests to practice from aside from the ones provided by ATI. Thus, on the day I took it I knew what kind of questions could be asked.

Sounds interesting - check it out

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Admission Stats from Summer 2012

Copied from Nursing Admissions Facebook:

Accelerated track admission offers: 27; 26 females, 1 male Avg prereq GPA 3.76; max 4.00; min 3.30

Avg TEAS 356; max 392; min 330

Avg interview score 394 (out of 400)

Regular track admission offers: 45; 32 females, 13 males

Avg prereq GPA 3.77; max 4.00; min 3.42

Avg TEAS 334; max 366; min 302

Avg interview score 393 (out of 400)

Waiting list offers (good through start of classes on 5/9/12): 31 ACPL and RPL mixed (no, we don't reveal rank)

Avg prereq GPA 3.77; max 4.00; min 3.39

Avg TEAS 326; max 367; min 287

Avg interview score 365 (out of 400)

Denials: 46

Avg prereq GPA 3.74; max 4.00; min 3.34

Avg TEAS 323; max 370; min 276

Avg interview score 235 (out of 400; affected by outlier of "0" score)

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I know this is an older thread, but these are wonderful tips! Thanks so much.

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