What's Your Strategy for taking on the TEAs?

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I am FINALLY done with all my pre-reqs for the program I want to apply for. I have had two friends of mine take the TEAs recently. They did not fare well or how they thought. I have heard of other classmates failing it!These are extremely intelligent women too! My questions are:

How many weeks/months did you give yourself to study before taking the TEAs?

How many hours a day?

Did you start with your weakest subjects or finished off with them?

What resources did you use? (I have the ATI book and the "Secrets of the TEAs.") My two friends used the ATI because they are the makers of the test and they said the material that was on the test was nothing like what was in the ATI book. This obviously has me worried. I know it will not be the same questions but I want a good solid book.

Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.

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Specializes in PCT, PCA, Phlebotomy.

I am getting ready to take my TEAS exam next Thursday at Joliet Junior College. I have been studying the ATI book for 2 months now-for 4-6 hours a day. I have paid for and taken the ATI TEAS A prep exam online twice now. The first time I choked, and had a super low score after studying for a month straight. I took it again last week, and got in the 80's. It was hard, but I can use all the help I can get. I also used secrets to the TEAS exam book that I purchased off line. It is SO much to retain! I think everyone is different, and how much they can retain is also different. I keep telling myself that this TEAS exam is not really a pass-fail exam, but more about how much you can retain. You don't fail the exam (like a conventional exam) but you see how much you have mentally retained. Of course the failure part is the not getting into the RN program you are applying for. Some schools take lower TEAS scores, but my school is looking for high reading scores & overall scores. I take the exam next Thursday and I will let you know more about how it went after the exam. Onward & Upward!

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Specializes in PCT, PCA, Phlebotomy.

P.S. I just went through the TEAS book, and studied them in order. I made my own notes from that, and keep going over and over and over them. I am not good at math so I have been spending more time on my weakest areas. I also HINT HINT HINT went to quizlet and printed out the TEAS V study materials from the site-that are already there from previous students. They have everything from each subject on TEAS V quizlet and it is compacted for easy to study, and or you can print it off broken down into subject. Again, I will let you know how it goes after I take the exam next Thursday. :nailbiting:

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I started studying a month before my test date. I have the ATI study guide and two books I checked out from the library. I have been over every book multiple times, and have taken the pretests in the books over and over. My goal is to get an overall of a 90 or better. You should also check out youtube and khanacademy. Best of luck!

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I studied for about 2-3 weeks (due application deadline) using ATI study guide exclusively. I went through the whole book and marked/highlighted all the sections that I though were my weaknesses, so that I could look over them a few more times. I also did both of the provided practice exams and reviewed all the questions that I didn't understand. I agree with nlitened that khanacademy videos are very good when it comes to reviewing specific subjects that you don't understand. In addition, I would like to add that the Chad's videos from coursesaver.com are also very good (although they do cost money).

If you are having trouble with the reading section, then I suggest doing a few MCAT verbal practice sections and looking at some MCAT verbal strategies. Keep in mind that the MCAT verbal passages will be much harder, but I believe they are good practice for the TEAS test (if you are happen to be struggling in the TEAS reading section). I took my TEAS test around end of June and got an overall score of 90.7. I hope I was helpful. Good luck!

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This is my opinion, but most that feel that the ATI Study Manual was insufficient compared to the real exam simply did not learn all the material in the manual. Seriously, I read so many that take the two sample exams in the ATI manual over and over and they seem to think this makes them "ready". Sorry, but this is not how the study guide works. Just because you memorize the sample exams does not mean that you are adequately prepared. For example, the practice exam might ask how the endocrine system is related to the circulatory system. But looking at pp. 120 we see that there are six relationships provided that all relate to the circulatory system. Just because you know the one corresponding to the endocrine system, do you think that is sufficient? Of course not! You need to know them all! Same for the periodic table. The sample test might ask about ionization energy but the actual exam might ask about electronegativity.

Do not just take the sample test over and over again. Study the manual in detail. Take Sample Test 1 and use it to highlight your weak areas. Study in more detail those weak areas until you think you have them down. Then take sample test 2. Hit those weak areas even harder.

If you do this, then maybe you are ready. For me, I ordered the ATI online Test A. It was a rude awakening. It was more difficult than the ATI book. So, I used it to again hone in on my weak areas for literally another week. Then I took online ATI Test B. Again, I was disappointed and really scared at this point. I went ahead and scheduled the exam for a week later which left me one week to make final preparations. I studied very hard right up until the day before the exam. That day I went out dancing and had fun but went to bed early. The dancing wore me out so I slept pretty well. I awoke 2 hours before the exam so that I gave my body time to wake up, nice shower, coffee and light breakfast, etc... then take the exam. I did not "cram" the day before or morning of the exam. That would only serve to freak my nerves out even more so I didn't do that...

Note that I did reference Khans Academy for some of the science material. He does a very good job with mitosis and meiosis, balancing equations, and overall design/layout of the periodic table. I spent maybe four hours watching some of his videos.

Good luck and study hard!

Regards,

Chris

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