Tag Archives: Picmonic

If you’re pursuing Nursing, you may have heard of the TEAS because some Nursing programs require applicants to take it and submit their score as part of their application. TEAS, or the Test of Essential and Academic Skills, is a standardized, nation-wide exam administered by Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI). Like many nursing programs, my BSN program uses the TEAS as a screening tool for their candidates. The minimum TEAS percentile my program considered was 80. However, some of my cohort classmates shared that they scored 95-99 percentile overall on their TEAS, well above the minimum for my school. If you want to apply to a competitive program and be an attractive applicant, you must do well on the TEAS. For this post, I’m sharing my tips for how I scored in the 99th percentile when I took the TEAS in Fall 2018.

My Biggest, Most Important Tip: Know Your School’s Requirements!

My most important tip is to know your school’s requirements. If a school in which you’re interested in applying is offering a Nursing forum or information session, attend the session to understand the admissions requirements and clarify questions you might have. Some schools do not require the TEAS for admission. Other schools do not require the TEAS until you submit an application and they give you an invitation to take the TEAS. Some schools require the TEAS but will only allow students to take it once in a six month period. Some programs will not take your best TEAS score in their application timeframe; they will take the first score in the allowed timeframe. Understand your prospective school’s admission policies.

One other perk I discovered while attending Nursing School Information sessions before taking the TEAS is one school offered a discount code for ATI TEAS study packages. However, the biggest reason to attend an information session (or speak to an admissions officer) is to clarify admissions requirements and any stipulations the school or program may have regarding the TEAS exam. This is particularly important if you’re applying to multiple schools since each have their own admissions policies.

Tip: Complete your Pre-Requisites

When I took the TEAS, I had completed all my Nursing School pre-requisites (except for Philosophy and Religion). My Anatomy & Physiology and Chemistry prerequisites definitely prepared me for the exam. Completing my pre-requisites was particularly helpful because the TEAS emphasizes Science. (The TEAS covers Science, Reading, Math, and English and Language Usage. For more information, visit https://www.atitesting.com/teas/register/). I had taken the pre-requisites within the year so a lot of the material was recent for me, and I was grateful that the exam material was a review of what I already learned.

If you’re not done with your pre-requisites, do not get discouraged – other students online said they took the test and did fine without completing their pre-requisites. However, they spent a lot of time teaching themselves and learning the material for the first time.

Tip: Use a study guide practice exam to focus your efforts

I invested in the yellow Mometrix study guide since it was so highly recommended by people online. My time was limited, and I had no intention of reviewing and reading the entire study guide. Instead of studying each chapter, I took a practice exam in the book to identify my weak areas so I could focus on them. I only reviewed the topics or areas where I scored low from the practice exam. After I felt I studied sufficiently, I would take another practice exam. I would continue to use my lowest scores (and wrong answers) to guide me on what I should study. After studying some more, I would take a different practice exam. I would continue this process until there were no more exams in the study guide to take.

Tip: Use your library to access study guides for FREE

I eventually ran out of practice exams in one book, so I used multiple study guides to prepare for the TEAS. My library had TEAS study guides available both online as ebooks and hardcopies. Take advantage of your public library since it is typically a FREE resource! Research availability and reserve your TEAS study guides early because these books can be in high demand! There was a waitlist, but I was able to place some study guides on hold and have them sent to my local branch weeks before my TEAS exam, which gave me plenty of time to prepare.

Tip: Use study tools according to your style of learning

Take advantage of any or all the tools that will help you learn or retain the material you need for TEAS! I know I’m a visual and kinesthetic learner. Flash cards are often an effective way for me to study. I do well when I write/design my own flash cards and study from them. I kept my flashcards from Anatomy & Physiology and used some of them again when studying for TEAS. Another study tool that I thought was helpful was “The Anatomy Coloring Book”. I actually used this during Anatomy & Physiology pre-requisites. It helped me learn and understand various systems of the body. I think it’s a great resource to have regardless of the TEAS, and I even referred to it recently while in Nursing school to review the kidneys and urinary system for Pathophysiology.

Other learning tools I found useful were YouTube videos from Khan Academy and
Armando Hasudungan (a doctor who is also an incredible artist). Many students today use YouTube to supplement their learning, so take time to explore which channels best complement your learning style. Another popular tool is Quizlet, where you can create and share electronic flashcards and quizzes for yourself, but also where you can view other people’s flashcards and study guides. (WARNING: Be cautious when using shared content or YouTube – sometimes material other students post is not the most accurate).

Now that I’m in Nursing school, I watch the YouTube channels for NRSNG and RegisteredNurseRN. While these are resources geared for Nursing students, take advantage of their Anatomy & Physiology reviews in preparation for the TEAS. If you are an auditory learner, you could also listen to NRSNG Radio.

Since starting Nursing school, I have also discovered Picmonic – a great tool for visual learners and for folks who can use stories and pictures to remember concepts. It would have been nice if I knew about them earlier because they have lessons for Anatomy and Physiology! You can try Picmonic for free with one lesson per day. If you want to view more lessons, a subscription fee is required.

There are many tools beyond study guide books to help you prepare for the TEAS – take advantage of them and use the ones that suit you best!

Tip: Invest in practice exams from ATI

While the study guide practice exams were certainly helpful, I found the ATI practice exams to be a little more detailed than what was in the Mometrix or McGraw Hill study books – which helped me on my actual TEAS exam. The practice exams also summarize the areas needed for review and provides a study plan. The review topics correlate directly to chapters in the ATI Study Manual (which I did not have), but still gave me enough information for me to focus my review using the materials available to me.

The online ATI practice exams are structured the exact same way the computerized TEAS exam is structured – with flags, countdown timer, and calculator embedded into the exam. Like the online exam, you can flag questions you would like to review in your practice exams before submission.  The actual TEAS test and practice exams allow you to easily revisit flagged items at the end of a section so you don’t have to toggle back and forth through all the other questions. I’m the kind of person who always double-checks my exam and doubtful answers prior to final submission, so I found the flagging feature helpful. I also liked that the practice exams were modeled after the actual computerized TEAS exam, so I had an idea of what to expect on exam day.

Tip: Find out if your TEAS exam will be computerized or not. 

The TEAS was offered at one of the universities to which I was applying via computer. For my TEAS, I was in a computer lab with a proctor, and each student had a computer. What’s nice about the computer version is the sections can all be taken at your own pace, within the allowable timeframe. Currently, students get 64 minutes to complete the Reading section, 54 minutes for Math, 63 minutes for Science, and 28 minutes for English and Language Usage. Each student gets the same amount of time to complete each section. However, if you finish a section early, you don’t have to wait for the time limit to end before moving onto the next section. The times are all tracked on your computer so you can’t exceed the alottment, but you can easily move on once you’re done with a section.

Some people I know hate taking tests via computer, so they purposefully signed up for a test center offering the paper version of the TEAS. (However, if you plan to continue with Nursing, I believe the NCLEX is on computer, so you might as well get used to computerized tests)! It’s always good to minimize surprises on test day, so find out if your exam is offered on paper or computer to set expectations. Plus, if you take a paper exam, you’ll need to find out what kind, if any, calculator you’re allowed to bring!

Tip: Follow ATI on Facebook

ATI offers live video tutoring sessions for the TEAS. They also offer TEAS workshops via Facebook. If you can’t join live, you can view recordings. This is another FREE tool I recommend you use to prepare for the TEAS.

Tip: Do NOT take the TEAS as practice

I discourage students from taking the TEAS for practice. For some Nursing programs, you are unable to retake the TEAS until six months after your prior TEAS. Some students think they will take the TEAS for practice and simply retake it if they do not do well. They may come to find this is not possible for the program to which they are applying. Use the study guides and ATI practice exams for practice – not the TEAS! Your goal is to do well when you take the TEAS the first time. Save yourself the agony from having to study again and save money on your test registration fees! It is possible to take the TEAS once and do well. I did, so I believe it’s possible for anyone.

Personally, I relied on doing well on my TEAS (and pre-requisites) because my undergraduate GPA was low. It was so low, it fell below some school’s admissions requirements. I got a 4.0 GPA on my pre-requisites, but I knew I also needed to do well on my TEAS to get into my accelerated BSN. I guess it worked, because I got into my top choice nursing school! If I did it, you can too!

Hopefully, my tips and experiences are helpful and encouraging. I didn’t number them because I don’t think any one is necessarily more important than the others (except for knowing your nursing school’s requirements – definitely do this first)! If you have found something useful in this post or on my site, please share it with others! If you’ve taken the TEAS and have other TEAS tips to share, I welcome them! Please also let me know if there are other topics you’d like for me to discuss. Thanks for reading!