What to Expect for the TEAS Exam (2015)

[amhudson1022]

Hi everyone,

As much time as I spent reading other people's posts about how to pass the TEAS exam, I thought I would share the things that helped me the most in preparing for the exam.

The first thing is: Don't stress. Looking back at how much time I wasted stressing about the things out of my control, I realize it was time I could've been using to brush up on the areas I struggled with.

Order the ATI Teas Study Manual and work through every problem (even if the material is easy). The types of problems in the manual are the same types of problems you'll see on the exam.

Allow yourself enough time to study. I set aside a month and a half to study for the exam. For the first month, I was out of the country so I wasn't able to commit to studying like I would have if I were home, and when I came home, I had to go back to working full time, so if you have things like that going on, allow extra time to study so you can be prepared.

This allnurses post was my lifesaver: https://allnurses.com/teas-exam-help/how-i-passed-804222.html Make sure you know every topic listed under every subject. Not all of it will be on the exam but since you don't know which topics won't be, it's best to know it all.

KhanAcademy.org was incredible. Using the above listed post, I would type in a topic and I could watch videos that were incredibly well put together and informative. Some of them go into a little more depth than you need to know but most of it is spot on. This was the best asset for studying the science section.

For math, go to YouTube and type in Keshwani TEAS Math Prep. He goes through every section and problem listed in the ATI Study Manual and explains it really well. I was really struggling with math as it's been 10 years since I graduated high school, but he knows what he's talking about because I scored 100% in math on my exam!

For English and Reading, I just went through and made flash cards of the things I was struggling with and went over them whenever I had any free time.

The last thing that I feel helped me immensely in preparing for the exam was taking practice exams. The ATI Study Manual has two practice exams, but I went to my local library and borrowed the McGraw-Hill TEAS Practice Exams book. There are five practice exams and just a warning: these practice exams were much harder than the ones in the ATI manual. I was getting around 85% with the ATI exams, but scored 70% on the first McGraw-Hill exam and I was VERY discouraged. I did gradually better on each one I took though, but never scored above a 90 which was my goal. Also, make sure you set aside the time to take these exams and take breaks between sections. If you don't, you'll feel like you're going crazy by the end!

Last word of advice: be ready for anything! I was so ready to take my exam, take breaks in between sections, feel confident, and get my results right away (many of my friends had received immediate results). Unfortunately, because I took it at a different testing center, the proctor didn't allow breaks so I was stuck in a hot room for almost four hours. By the last section, I was going so crazy that I didn't care if I passed or failed as long as I could get out of that room! Then, when I was finished, I knew I hadn't done well. I felt like I had guessed on all of the problems and my confidence was shattered. Then, I went to the proctor and she told me that I had to wait 48 business hours for my results (and this was the Thursday before a holiday weekend). Needless to say, there were tears... But after furiously checking the ATI website for my results, they posted the next night at midnight and I SCORED A 91%!!! And then there were tears again, lol. My grades were:

91.3% - Adjusted Individual Total Score

The national mean was 64.3% and I was in the 99th percentile.

Reading: 90.5%

Math: 100%

Science: 81.3%

English: 100%

All of this to say: It wasn't easy studying for this exam. I had to pass on a lot of fun activities since I took my test in the summer while all of my friends were on break, but after seeing my scores, it was worth every minute. If you take the time and energy to prepare for the exam, I promise it'll pay off!! I hope this post helps a little bit! Good luck to everyone!!! :)

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the TEAS forum

[Niquewa]

thank you for this information

[alyygirl122]

I know there is only 2 versions right of actual exam?

which one is harder the one that has the migraine headache and sleepwalking questions for reading section ?

[Trish83]

Thank you for this post, it's encouraging! Congrats on passing your test with flying colors! I take my test on August 7th and have been studying my butt off. I can't wait to get it over with.

[cheeri]

Is there chemistry on it? My study guide doesn't review it at all..

[studentbear, CNA]

Thank you SO much for this post! I started watching Keshwani's prep videos on Youtube and he's super helpful. I love that he goes through each problem in a way that makes sense for the exam and his humor is fun, too.

[amhudson1022]

Thank you!! Good luck to you!!! :)

[amhudson1022]

Is there chemistry on it? My study guide doesn't review it at all..

Yes, there was some Chemistry on it. I just studied the ATI manual and the topics from the allnurses post that I included above.

[amhudson1022]

I know there is only 2 versions right of actual exam?

which one is harder the one that has the migraine headache and sleepwalking questions for reading section ?

I'm sorry, I don't understand your question...

[amhudson1022]

Thank you for this post, it's encouraging! Congrats on passing your test with flying colors! I take my test on August 7th and have been studying my butt off. I can't wait to get it over with.

Thank you!! Good luck!! Love your profile picture, by the way!! :)

[FutureCNL1212]

was the exam more similar to the questions ATI provides or the questions mcgraw hill provides? I bought both books and i've done progressively better on each exam but the mcgraw hill one was definitely harder than the ati.