What Is The TEAS Exam?

The TEAS (Test of Essential Academic Skills) is a standardized exam that was developed by the Assessment Technology Institute (ATI). The TEAS Exam can help determine your academic readiness for nursing school. Most nursing programs require a passing grade on the TEAS for admission, so this could be your first major step to starting a career in nursing.

What Subject Areas are Covered on the TEAS Exam?

The ATI TEAS 7, released in June 2022, is a computerized, proctored exam. It tests your knowledge in four core college subject areas: Reading, Mathematics, Science, and English and Language Usage. You will draw from and utilize these core areas of knowledge throughout any nursing program curriculum. All test items are multiple choice. Students have 209 minutes to finish the exam, which is subdivided into the following sections:
  1. Reading – 64 minutes to answer 39 questions covering:
    1. paragraph structure and craft
    2. identification and comprehension of key ideas and details
    3. inferences and conclusions
  2. Mathematics – 54 minutes to answer 34 questions covering:
    1. whole numbers, fractions, and decimals
    2. measurements & data
    3. metric conversions
    4. algebraic equations
    5. ratios, proportions, and percentages Please note that personal calculators are not allowed. The exam administrators will provide you with a calculator to use.
  3. Science – 63 minutes to answer 44 questions covering:
    1. basic physical principles
    2. general science
    3. scientific reasoning
    4. biology and chemistry
    5. human anatomy and physiology
  4. English and Language Usage – 28 minutes to answer 33 questions covering:
    1. standard English conventions
    2. sentence structure and contextual words
    3. punctuation and grammar
    4. vocabulary and spelling
Students answer a total of 170 questions on the exam. However, only 150 will count towards your final grade. You will not know which test items are scored, so it’s important to treat each question as if it were.

How Difficult is the TEAS Exam?

The TEAS exam is about as difficult as the ACT or SAT. Like those tests, it covers a comprehensive range of subjects. Depending on their natural aptitudes, some students will find the Science and Mathematics sections to be the most challenging, while others will have more difficulty with the English and Reading sections. If you have been out of school and in the workforce for several years, it’s worth revisiting all subject areas for a refresher, especially in the sections you have struggled with in the past. Remember, the TEAS has strict time limits. Once the time limit has been reached for each particular section, you will not be able to go back to change your answers for those items. The time limit is usually the factor that determines a successful completion of the TEAS exam rather than the number of questions, so keep this in mind as you practice. Knowing the amount of time allowed for each section, learn to pace yourself accordingly in order to finish them– and the entire examination– on time. Like nursing school, the TEAS exam is intentionally designed to be challenging. It simulates the academic difficulty of nursing school, which enables programs to choose applicants who have demonstrated that they can thrive in a rigorous educational environment. Scoring well on the TEAS exam is a great positive indicator of success in a nursing school program.