I scored an 86.7% on the ATI TEAS exam, which gave me an “advanced rating” on the academic preparedness level. The national mean is 65.6%. And the mean for BSN programs is 70.4%. This gave me a percentile rank of 96% on the national level and a 94% on the BSN level.
Here is how I passed the ATI Teas exam.
I used the Mometrix ATI TEAS Study Guide. Half the book is teaching material and the other half is practice tests, which were exactly like the real test. It’s the best study book to be found on Amazon. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
I took a lot of notes as I went through the book, reviewing them daily afterward. I like to take my notes using Anki flashcards, a spaced repetition memory software. It’s great for memorization and lots of medical students take advantage of it. You can download it for free on your computer or pay to have the app on your phone.
Then I did the practice tests in the book. Each answer that I got wrong or was unsure of, I entered into Anki.
Next, I went through the Mometrix videos on YouTube. There is an over an hour long video for each section of the test: math, reading, science, and English. The only one I didn’t bother with was reading since if you’re a native speaker and you read for pleasure, then you’re already sufficiently prepared. But do complete some reading practice tests so you can get a feel for them, especially when timed.
The most beneficial video for me was math. I’ve avoided the subject my entire adult life, having only passed pre-algebra in high school, and that was after the second attempt. If math is your weakness like me, don’t worry; the problems aren’t too complicated, don’t take long to get the hang of, and if you go through the Mometrix book and video, you will pass the section on the test by more than enough. Still worried about it? Well, I scored a 93.8% on the test, my best score on any section, yet naturally my weakest area.
The science video is good for review and clarification. It is the subject that most agree to be the hardest, given the broad amount of what is thrown at you. And it reflects in my score: 76.6%, my lowest rating in all subjects. Again, utilize Anki and drill your flashcards religiously every day for a month or two before the test, and you will pass.
The English video is good to expose you to more practice problems that will be similar to those that are on the test. I missed more than one subject/verb agreement question due to collective nouns or something else that fooled me. Even though I read a lot, I missed a couple of vocab questions. Then there was grammar, a lot of choosing the sentences with the best use of colons, semicolons, quotations, apostrophes, and commas. I scored an 87.5% on this section.
After I went through the book and videos, I proceeded to take every practice test I could find online, continually adding to my Anki flashcards.
And that was all I used to achieve my score.
Final tip: make sure you do the practice tests in Mometrix within the given time limit, so you can get used to how much time you have to get through the reading passages and to solve the math problems.
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