TAKING THE TEAS

THE TEAS: A SNAPSHOT

The Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) is widely used to assess the academic preparedness of nursing and allied health program applicants in the United States. The TEAS predicts the performance of incoming candidates and helps educators gain advance knowledge of the strengths of students who are accepted into the program.

In August 2016, ATI released a new version of the TEAS called the ATI TEAS. At that time, the prior version of the exam (TEAS V) was retired. The ATI TEAS is similar in difficulty level to the TEAS V and was updated to ensure that it is applicable and relevant to today's nursing programs. Content updates were made to align with current education standards deemed important for entry-level health science applicants to possess.

The ATI TEAS is given in both paper-and-pencil and computerized formats, and all test items are four-option, multiple-choice questions.

The exam features 170 test items, 20 of which are not scored, making a total of 150 scored items. The total time for the test is 209 minutes, broken down into four sections — Reading, Mathematics, Science, and English & Language Usage.

The breakdown for the new ATI TEAS, the sixth edition of the test, is as follows:

Content Area Number of Questions Time Limit

Reading 53 64 minutes
Mathematics 36 54 minutes
Science 53 63 minutes
English and Language Usage 28 28 minutes
Total 170 209 minutes

What's on the TEAS Test?

Each content area is divided into sub-content areas, each of which has a specific number of scored items on the test. The unscored pretest items for each content area do not have a specific number for each topic. (The unscored items are used to improve future versions of the TEAS.) Although the TEAS is divided into four content areas, it is scored as a single test, with a composite score for each complete administration of the test.

REGISTERING FOR THE EXAM

Before you can register for the TEAS, you must create an account at the ATI testing website, www.atitesting.com. Once you have an account set up, you can view more information about the registration process, fees, payment options, and score reports.

There are two ways to register for the TEAS exam. Most test-takers register for the test at www.atitesting.com. You can also register at a PSI test site by going to: https://candidate.psiexams.com (or via the link on the ATI main page) and following the instructions. However, if you sign up for the exam through the PSI site, you still need to pay your registration fee at the ATI website.

Once you've registered, you will receive a receipt/confirmation email from ATI containing the ID # required by PSI to complete scheduling of the test. Note that you will not be able to schedule an exam with PSI unless you pay your exam fee on the ATI website.

You may also call PSI at 1-800-733-9267 24 hours after payment for the examination to schedule a time and location to take the TEAS. They will require the ID # from your purchase confirmation so make sure you have the number available.

Keep in mind that there is a no-refund policy on TEAS registration. If you register at www.atitesting.com, all registrations are final. If you're unable to attend the scheduled test date, you must reregister and pay for a new exam date.

Check with your nursing program for specific scoring and entrance requirements regarding the TEAS. You should also find out the nursing school's policy on retaking the TEAS.

CAN I USE A CALCULATOR ON THE ATI TEAS?

Yes. The ATI TEAS allows for the use of a four-function calculator. Please do not bring your own calculator to the testing center, as a calculator will be embedded within the online version of the exam. For paper-and-pencil versions of the TEAS, the testing center will provide a four-function calculator.

WHAT TO BRING TO THE TEST (AND WHAT NOT TO BRING)

Be sure to bring:

Valid photo identification of yourself, such as a driver's license, passport, or green card. To be admitted to the test, your ID must be government-issued and contain a current photograph, a permanent address, and your signature. A photo credit card or student ID are not sufficient to meet the criteria for the test.

If you're taking the paper-and-pencil version of the exam, be sure to bring two sharpened No. 2 pencils with erasers. No other writing utensils are allowed. Calculators will be provided for certain sections of the TEAS.

If you're taking the online version of the test, you must bring your login information with you. Your student account must be created beforehand at www.atitesting.com prior to the day of the test.

Do not bring:

Additional clothing, including jackets, coats, and hats. All clothing is subject to inspection by the test proctor. (Allowances may be made for religious apparel.)

Personal items of any kind, such as purses, backpacks, duffel bags, and computer cases.

Electronic devices of any kind, including cell phones, smart phones, beepers/pagers, and digital watches.

Food or drink, unless you have a documented medical need for such an item.

GENERAL TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES FOR THE TEAS

Answer every question. You are not penalized for wrong answers, so make sure you answer every question, even if you guess.

Make an educated guess. An educated guess — when you have some idea about the correct answer — is a much better choice than an uneducated "wild" guess, in which you are randomly choosing an answer.

• With an "uneducated" guess in which your answer choice is random, your answer has a 25% chance of being correct.

• If you can eliminate one wrong answer, your guess has a 33% chance of being correct.

• If you can eliminate two wrong answers, your guess has a 50% chance of being correct.

Answer the easy questions first. Don't worry about answering questions in order. Look for questions you know first. This allows you to move ahead on the test and then come back to the more difficult questions and give them more thought.

Mark the tough questions. If a question is troublesome, ambiguous, or for some reason too hard to answer at once, mark it and come back to it later. If you have an answer but you're unsure about it, mark the question and revisit it later.

Be aware of the clock. Keep in mind how much time you have for each test section. For example, you will have 64 minutes to complete the Reading section of the test. After 15 minutes, you should have answered about 12 to 15 of the 53 Reading questions. After one half hour, you should have answered about 25 to 30 of the Reading questions, and so forth.

Aim to have spare time after you have gone through the entire test. Your goal should be to complete the test with about 10 minutes or more to spare. This will give you time to go over the most difficult questions that you had trouble answering. If you don't reach your goal of having spare time at the end of the test, don't worry. The most important time management element is to stay calm, work steadily, and answer all the questions.

Be intuitive. In general, your first guess at a question you don't know is often your best guess. If an answer seems better, it often is.

Identify what is being asked. Your first order of business for a question is to make sure you are answering what is actually being asked. For example, look at the units of the answer for gas mileage. If your answer is not in miles per gallon, it can't be correct.

Watch out for decoy answers. Most questions have one or two wrong answers that are way off the mark and at least one answer that is plausible in some way.

• Eliminate the clearly wrong answers right away.

• Then consider the two or three plausible answers remaining. Try plugging these answers back into the question to see if they make sense.

• If you still can't identify the best answer, use your intuition to make an educated guess.

Review your answer. A good strategy is to work as quickly as possible but always take time to review the answer that you choose. Ask yourself: • Does this answer make sense?

• Am I falling for a decoy?

• Did I find the answer that the problem was actually asking for?

Be cool. Stressing out over the test makes your results worse, not better. So focus on serenity. Think of your stress as an energy source that can be harnessed and used in a positive rather than a negative way.

Avoid these mistakes in preparing for the test:

• Failing to eat a good breakfast. Your brain needs to be in top working order during the test. You can't afford to run out of energy or lose focus. Try to eat well and sleep well as you prepare for the test.

• Overconfidence. If you are a qualified applicant, the TEAS should not seem overly difficult. However, you shouldn't take the test lightly either. Be serious. Give the test the respect it deserves. Your nursing career may depend on it.

• A bad attitude. You may consider yourself a poor test-taker, but apprehension, fear, and pessimism can only make your performance worse. Try to approach the test with an air of quiet confidence.

• Cramming. You may be able to cram for a narrowly focused junior high spelling test, but the TEAS is too broad, too varied, and too general for last minute cramming. Cramming can only result in making you tired and anxious on exam day.

Follow these smart tips that lead to success on the test:

• Get regular exercise. Exercise does more than build physical stamina; it also builds mental stamina. You will need plenty of both kinds of stamina when taking the test. Get into an exercise routine weeks before you take the test. You will eat better, sleep better, and study more effectively as a result.

• Get help. Don't know much about chemistry? Rather than try to learn it all on your own, seek out someone who can help — a friend, sibling, teacher, tutor, or parent.

• Set goals. The key to getting things done is to map out your study goals ahead of time. Chart your progress on a table or graph.

• Be honest with yourself. If you're not good with fractions, it won't help to skip over them and hope they don't show up on the test. Realistically assess your strengths and weaknesses. Work extra hard on the skills that give you trouble.

SETTING UP A STUDY PLAN

First, determine how much time you have before the test and how much time you can realistically devote to preparation each day. Do you have months? Weeks? Only a few days? The amount of study time you have will determine how your study plan proceeds.

Find your strengths and weaknesses. (This is precisely where taking REA's online practice test will come in handy.) Then find those topics in this book and work on them. Look at the following chart as an example.

SELF-EVALUATION CHART

Set up a calendar on which you schedule various study areas and mark off how much time you spend on them in the chart on the previous pages.

An alternative strategy, especially if you have a lot of time, involves working systematically through this entire book from start to finish. You should find the review to be extremely helpful, and you will be surprised at how many new things you learn even in areas in which you previously thought you were strong.

Use triage at all times. If you have only a few weeks to prepare, you need to focus only on weaknesses and general areas. You don't have time to be systematic. On the other hand, if your time is not limited and you find that spending extra time on a topic such as macromolecules is valuable, go ahead and do it.

Be steady. Have a regular study time and try not to let anything interfere with it. Remember, the work you put in now for this test has the promise of paying off over an entire lifetime.

TEST STRATEGIES FOR SPECIFIC QUESTION TYPES

READING COMPREHENSION PASSAGES

One of the common question types on the TEAS is the long reading passage from which you'll need to draw conclusions and make judgments about things like author's purpose.

Read the title and scan the paragraphs. Get a feel for what the topic is and what to expect from your reading. Note whether multiple questions are associated with the passage. In many cases, they will be.

After previewing the title and general text structure, many expert test-takers like to go over the questions before they read the passage. Note: This technique may or may not be for you! However, if you are a person who benefits from a question preview, go ahead and do it.

Read quickly but carefully. After each section, briefly review what you just read before you continue. After finishing, consider the piece as a whole. How did the paragraphs fit together? What was the main point of the piece? How was it supported?

Feel free to underline, circle, and write notes as you read. For example, if you view a sentence as providing critical support for a key idea within the passage, mark it clearly.

Finish the passage and go on to the questions. If the first question or two seem daunting, keep moving until you come to a question you are sure of. Then go back to the more difficult questions.

MATH WORD PROBLEMS AND PROBLEM SOLVING

The TEAS Mathematics section has many different types of word problems. Some are simple and require only a quick calculation. Others are complex and may require a detailed analysis. For any word problem, whether it involves whole numbers, fractions, algebra, or any of the topics in Chapter 3, follow these basic steps.

Problem Solving: Basic Steps

1. Read the problem carefully. Many problems are misunderstood simply because the problem solver fails to understand the situation.

2. If possible, solve immediately. If you see the key relationship right away, there is no need to go through a complex analysis. Solve. Then go on to step 7 below.

3. Underline, circle, write, list. If you don't see the key relationship right away, mark up the problem by circling, underlining, or making lists and writing equations. You may wish to list information in two sections that roughly set out "What I know" and "What I don't know."

4. Identify what you need to find. This is usually the most important step in the process. Find out what you need to know. Focus on the units of your unknown such as inches, grams, milliliters, or miles per hour.

5. Make a plan. For simple problems, this might entail nothing more than identifying an operation — addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division — to carry out. For more complex problems, your plan may involve more than one step and more than one operation. In your plan, look for key words.

Add +

in all sum total together sum total combined plus

Subtract less

than fewer than more than minus difference take away left over decreased by increased by

Multiply ×

product of times multiplied by increased by a factor of

Divide ÷

quotient per each equal parts split divided by ratio of

6. Set up the problem and solve. Carry out your plan and calculate the answer.

7. Go over your answer. First ask, "Did I find what I was looking for?" If you were looking for miles per gallon and you found gallons per mile, your answer is almost certainly wrong. Check your units. Check your calculations. Make sure that your answer solves the problem.

PROBLEM SOLVING DO'S AND DON'TS

[check] DO

• Write. Writing things out helps you visualize the problem. Also draw, diagram, model — do anything that helps you see relationships.

• Estimate. Use estimation both before and after you solve the problem. Preview to estimate what your answer should be; then check to see if your answer was correct.

• Ask yourself, "Does this make sense?" This is probably the most important step after you've solved the problem. Does your final answer fit the situation and seem reasonable for the context of the problem? If not, it's probably best to rethink the problem.

• Think simple. The test is not out to force you to make complicated and "messy" calculations. If you get an answer that seems overly messy looking or complicated, it's probably wrong.

[X] DON'T

• Try to do it in your head. Mental math and estimation work only with simple relationships and simple numbers. If you have any doubt, write out the problem. Being able to see your thought process on paper is always a good check.

• Jump to conclusions. Make sure you understand what the problem is asking for before you answer it.

• Rush. The worst thing about rushing is that it makes you sloppy and careless. Work fast and keep moving but always focus on staying calm and steady.

• Be stubborn. Being sure you're right is good. Being too sure is not good. If your problem-solving procedure or your answer seems suspect, don't hesitate to rethink the problem and start all over.

GRAMMAR QUESTION TYPE: WHICH SENTENCE IS WRITTEN CORRECTLY?

One of the most common — and most important — question types in the English and Language Usage section of the TEAS is a variation of "Which sentence is written correctly?"