Don't Be Such a TEAS!

The Test of Essential Academic Skills, or TEAS, is one of the exams used as admissions criteria for nursing programs. It is a multiple choice exam with four sections: English, Language, Math, and Science. While many of the questions are gleaned directly from material you covered in prerequisite courses for nursing - possibly even in high school - it can still be potentially overwhelming trying to figure out what exactly to study. So, here is a brief breakdown of what you might expect to see when you're ready to take the TEAS.

• Reading - Very rudimentary reading comprehension skills are really all you need in this section. One of the best skills you can pick up as you review is to be able to pinpoint topic sentences and conclusions, and to be able to recognize them when they are paraphrased. When you get your score report, you'll see that the Reading section is called "Informational Source Comprehension", because it is not about reading through an entire passage that they give you. It is about picking out the information you need when a lot of distractors are placed in front of you. From the TEAS study manual, some of the TEAS skills you will need to use are:
• Identify from an index or table of contents where information may be found
• Identify which product information supports a conclusion that one product is the more economical buy
  
• English/Language - Brush up on your grammar and punctuations, especially the different times in which you would use periods, commas, and semicolons. Know your homophones (your/you're, there/they're/their, etc.) and proper verb tenses. As far as vocabulary, if you're able to read through the Harry Potter books without a dictionary in your lap, you will be absolutely fine. From the TEAS study manual, some of the TEAS skills you will need to use are:
• Apply subject-verb agreement rules.
• Identify and use different parts of speech.
  
• Mathematics - Brush up on your algebra and trigonometry, and also make sure you haven't gotten rusty with fractions and order of operations. Review and practice old math skills. This section isn't necessarily difficult if you have taken math before, but it can definitely be one of the more time-consuming sections of the test. From the TEAS study manual, some of the TEAS skills you will need to use are:
• Determine the quantity of material needed or cost of planning an event
• Estimate the solution to a problem.
• Use mathematical reasoning or computational procedures to solve one- or two-step word problems with fractions or decimals.
  
• Science - Keep your focus on chemistry and biology - many people are surprised that they don't see as much anatomy or physiology on the exam. You’ll want to know about how ionic and covalent bonds work, different compounds and their characteristics (alkynes, alkenes, alkanes, etc.), and how different types of chemical reactions work. Definitely know about glucose metabolism. Know how to balance chemical equations. Know the functions of the organelles, and about organs. Also, brush up on part of biology you may have overlooked, including the material on photosynthesis, and physical science such as layers of the earth and its atmosphere. This section is a fairly large grab bag of things you may not have seen for a fairly long time, depending on when you are taking the TEAS. From the TEAS study manual, some of the TEAS skills you will need to use are:
• Describe the general anatomy and physiology of a human.
• Explain the biological classification system.
• Balance and identify important chemical reactions.
• Identify the Sun as the major source of external energy.
• State the chemical properties of water.

Keep in mind as you study for the exam that this is not about learning new material. This is about dredging up facts that you may have forgotten years ago already. Some people may find this comforting, as they may be able to recall this old learning faster than others. Some may not feel very comfortable with the material. Whichever category you fall into, know that time and repetition are helpful for a lot of people when taking this exam. Don't make the mistake of delving too deep on any single topic - remember, this is a test of essential academic skills, so focus on building a strong foundation of the basics.