I am very new to the forum, and a have just been admitted to the R.N program this Fall 2010. I just received a letter from my college today saying that I must take an ATI TEAS test with a passing score of 67 in order to proceed with the R.N program at my college. I am from San Francisco CA and I am wondering if anyone took this test and what should be expected from it. I was also wondering if anyone has websites or book titles that may help in preparing for this test??? I am freaking out since the test is in two weeks
Specializes in Leaning towards Trauma and Lifeflight.
I had until apr.23rd to take the TEAS for fall, I work all over the midwest so I arranged to get off and drive in on that Fri. started calling at 8:00 and kept getting a message to state my request and they would call me back with a time to be there, finally went down at2pm because no one had called. The testing center moved that day because the AC was on the fritz, but no one forwarded the phone. It closed at 4:30 so I ended up with less than two hours to take it. No review, no practice. Got a 97% in the first part(reading) only got 20 questions into the math section(of 34) when they called time. My school said the ONLY requirement was 60% or better on the math.My score was 63%...so I'm alright I guess. I'm waiting to hear if I need to finish the whole thing or not. Whatever your score is you can always pay the fee again and take it over, once a month as many times as you like. Until you have a score you like. My understanding is that certain hospitals use the score in hiring decisions, and that at least in my school it is taken at least once again before graduation.
Thanks alot for all the feedback! It really helped me succeed on this test. I studied the ATI TEAS version 3.0 & 4.0 diligently for only one week. I also studied the online version of the Mcgraw Hill study guide. I found these two study guides very helpful..The SCIENCE section was the worst. It had plenty of Physics, Chemistry and ROCKs and volcanoes. Its ridiculous!!! I am very relieved that the test is over with and I PASSED. YAY!!!! Thanks again everyone for the advice!!!! :-)
Thanks alot for all the feedback! It really helped me succeed on this test. I studied the ATI TEAS version 3.0 & 4.0 diligently for only one week. I also studied the online version of the Mcgraw Hill study guide. I found these two study guides very helpful..The SCIENCE section was the worst. It had plenty of Physics, Chemistry and ROCKs and volcanoes. Its ridiculous!!! I am very relieved that the test is over with and I PASSED. YAY!!!! Thanks again everyone for the advice!!!! :-)
I know the science part was a killer, i literally guessed my way through it, cuz i knew nothing about rocks, and the physics n chemistry were just as bad. but i passed too, so i'm glad its over.
I just finished taking the TEAS 4.0 version this morning at 8 am, so I thought that I'd give some pointers while it's still moderately fresh in my mind.
First of all, for those of you like me who are overachievers, you are going to overstudy. I did. Everything was much more general than I thought it would be. I bought three books, Learning Express, Barron's, and Kaplan's Nursing School Entrance Exams. Kaplan was probably the best, but none of them prepared me adequately for the science. I read many, many posts to see if there were specific questions listed or any books that were recommended over others. I also went to ati.com and purchased their online assessment. By far, that was the one that was the most similar to the actual test. It was great, but I thought it was kind of a rip-off to pay $32 and only get one assessment.
Here's the breakdown of what my TEAS had on it: 40 reading questions, 45 math, 30 science, and 55 english. I was a little freaked out by all the comments on the science portion. Not to scare you guys, but the questions they ask have nothing to do with nursing and seem very obscure. I remember a couple, so I'll give you an idea a little later.
You can't bring anything but two pencils, a credit card (to pay for the results to be sent to your school), and an id to the site. They give you scrap paper. If you don't have an id with ati, you have to set one up, so do it ahead of time. Go to the ati website and set up one before the test to save time.
The first section was reading. What was interesting was that it was not as much about reading several paragraphs and answering comprehension questions (althought there were a few of those asking for the main idea) but it was more like critical thinking questions. For example, they would give you the back of a medicine bottle listing the ingredients, directions on how to take them, the precautions, and when to call a doctor. Then you would have to answer the question like "which is the most to be concerned with"? The choices were something like...the guy took 9 pills in 24 hours, he was allergic to something that was in it, or he still had a fever after 2 weeks. You have to look at the question and then look for the answer. There may be more than one that is true, but pick the one that would give you the most concern.
There were two or three questions on there that directly tested whether you could follow directions. For example, they give you a string of letters and then tell you to do things step by step. For example (I'm making this up, but it's similar): write out the string of letters, get rid of the first and third letters, mark out the vowels, add an O before the second S, get rid of the second letter, double the third letter and what do you have? Another one had you draw circle, draw a line through the middle, draw a line perpendicular to that one, draw a square in the top portion, turn it 45 degrees and shade in the only area that doesn't border the square. You have to choose between one of four drawings based on what yours looks like. Another gives you a menu asking what the most expensive ceasar salad is and which ones you can add a cup of soup to. You can't study for these, really, but the ati test is very very similar. You just have to pay attention to detail.
The spelling wasn't too hard. There are maybe 5-10 questions asking if the word is spelled correctly and if not, how it should be. There is a bit of grammar, so know your commas and the tenses of verbs. You will be given a paragraph to read and you have to identify whether the tense and punctuation are correct.
The math is very straighforward...you have to be able to add fractions, do basic algebra, convert fractions to percents, convert Celcius to Fahrenheit, add and subtracts lists of numbers, and find averages. Know your metric conversions. There were several. Know how to convert inches to meters, kilometers to meters, etc. I found a great website that gives the acronym King Henry Doesn't Usually Drink Chocolate Milk. Look it up online and it will really help you with the conversions. I aced that part because I found that the night before the test. The only geometry I remember is to find the missing side of a right triangle (Pythagorean's theorem), and there are no word problems, to speak of. You need to know mean, median, and mode. Also, know if you should use mean or median when there's skewed information (everyone's salary is very different, so you shouldn't just take the average, you have to do the median instead).
I studied mad anatomy and chemistry and was surprised to find there were only two or three AP questions, and only a few more chemistry. One asked "mouth is to bolus as what is to what" (stomach: chyme). It also had a picture and asked which structure keeps particulates out of the lungs. There was one more, I think. For chemistry, you need to know protons plus neutrons make atomic mass, protons are the atomic number (so are electrons), and you should know by looking at the periodic table which would form covalent and which would form ionic bonds.
There were some physics questions, and I have never taken any physical science (I've had 6 various biology classes), so those were challenging for me. One was about a wave, one was about velocity, and one was about a wheelchair and what changes would need to be made to get up a ramp. There were questions about rocks, about the Earth's orbit around the Sun, and one question about iron and aluminum (asking by adding something to it what happens). I blocked that one out because I couldn't get it. :) Know the difference between igenous and sedimentary rocks and a little about plate tectonics (how to recognize a pic of transverse vs subduction, etc).
I got a 95 in reading, 87 in math, 80 in science, and 91 in english. Even with a 20 in general science (balanced out with a 100 in three others: life, human body and scientific reasoning), and 60's in chemistry and physical science, I still got an 88.2 individual score, a national percentile of 97, and a program percentile of 93. So if you bomb one, that shouldn't drag your score down too much.
I didn't see the MacGraw book, but it's worth a shot as it was mentioned several times in blogs on this site. At my school, you can take the TEAS as many times as you want, so think of the first one as a practice run. Our minimum required score is 70, but 80-90 gives you way more of a competitive edge.
Don't stress; just study. If you have only two or three weeks, study two or three hours a day...don't cram. Take assessments online, and don't study what you are already good at. Focus on your weaknesses. Good luck. :)
I also got those questions (sedimentary and igneous rocks). I also got a question regarding DNA codes. Make sure you know how to use genetic code table.
Also make sure to look at how much time is left. At the top of the page you will be able to see how many questions, time, and pages left. So if you think you are going to slow you have to go faster. This is very helpful in math questions. I have a friend who did not pass the TEAS because she did not finish math.
In math, before computing look at the answers. From there you will get a clue on how to compute.
can you take a cheat sheet in with you for the metric conversions or are you expected to know it?
I don't remember having to do any conversions. You take nothing with you. Just your brain. Do the online practice test and you'll see what is on the test. (the exact format) You'll need the scratch paper and it will be filled. You don't get to take it (scratch) with you when you leave either. They are testing you not your notes. It really is a rather interesting broad test and helps you know if you had a good education earlier in life. It also tests your time management in a testing situation. Don't get bogged down. If I didn't know an answer I guessed and moved right along. (I wrote down those guesses to review if I had extra time- which I didn't) I scored 81% overall but my science score was in the low 70%'s. I didn't retake as I would have to score a 90% or more to gain a point for admissions in my school. We only have to get above 60% overall but admission is limited in my school so you can't afford to score much less than I did. I will retake if not accepted this year. My GPA gave me top points in every other category for admission.
Can somebody help me with the reading part pls..i tried twice i did good on science and math...but i don't know what to do with the reading part coz english is my second language,i studied very well ati book and from online resources..am nervouse right now ...can some body help me with reading questions...this is my last chance ,pls pls freinds..
tjstrong
22 Posts
I had until apr.23rd to take the TEAS for fall, I work all over the midwest so I arranged to get off and drive in on that Fri. started calling at 8:00 and kept getting a message to state my request and they would call me back with a time to be there, finally went down at2pm because no one had called. The testing center moved that day because the AC was on the fritz, but no one forwarded the phone. It closed at 4:30 so I ended up with less than two hours to take it. No review, no practice. Got a 97% in the first part(reading) only got 20 questions into the math section(of 34) when they called time. My school said the ONLY requirement was 60% or better on the math.My score was 63%...so I'm alright I guess. I'm waiting to hear if I need to finish the whole thing or not. Whatever your score is you can always pay the fee again and take it over, once a month as many times as you like. Until you have a score you like. My understanding is that certain hospitals use the score in hiring decisions, and that at least in my school it is taken at least once again before graduation.