How Hard is the TEAS Test

Statistics published by the ATI show that 40% of TEAS exam takers repeat the exam to achieve the desired score, causing many students to wonder. How hard is the TEAS test? The TEAS covers four subjects that test high school and basic college-level knowledge. As such, students may find some concepts difficult, depending on their strengths and weaknesses in the various topics. In this guide, our TEAS exam experts discuss the exam structure, including the sections of the test, scoring method, and timing, to give students a perspective on how hard is the TEAS test.

ATI TEAS Exam Structure

Students asking how hard is the TEAS test must first become familiar with the design and content of the exam to get a solid understanding of its difficulty. The Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) is a standardized exam that determines prospective nursing students’ readiness for nursing school.

It’s administered by the Assessment Technology Institute (ATI) and has four core subjects, including math, science, English and language use, and reading. Here’s what each section of the TEAS entails and the number of questions in the tested areas:

Math

The mathematics section has 36 questions that test prospective nursing students’ knowledge of basic math concepts covered in preschool (grades 7–12). These include data interpretations and measurements (23 questions), algebra, and numbers (9 questions). Students also answer four pretest questions in the exam.

During the math test, the ATI provides test takers with a four-function calculator limited to four or six arithmetic functions, such as addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, percentage, and square root. The math section makes up 22% of the entire TEAS.

English and Language Use

The English and language use makes up 17% of the entire paper, making it the shortest section. It has 28 multiple-choice questions covering three sub-content areas, such as conventions of standard English (9 questions), knowledge of language (9 questions), and vocabulary (6 questions). The exam also has four unscored pretest questions.

Science

The science section contributes to 31% of the TEAS test. Here, students answer 53 multiple-choice questions across three sub-content areas. They include human anatomy and physiology (32 questions), life and physical sciences (8 questions), and scientific reasoning (7 questions). The exam also has six pretest questions spread out in the different sections.

Reading

In the reading section, there are 53 questions with each four answer options. It makes up 31% of the exam, making it among the significant parts of the paper. This section tests students’ ability to identify key details and ideas in paragraphs (22 questions), craft and structure well-thought-out points of view (14 questions), and gain knowledge of ideas (11 questions).

TEAS Scoring System

Understanding the TEAS scoring system is vital to answering the question, how hard is the TEAS test? However, students must know there is no universal scoring method for the TEAS. Individual schools administer the TEAS and set a passing score for science-related programs, such as nursing.

Knowing a school’s TEAS scoring method can help students understand the requirements before taking the exam. That said, many schools award a total score and individual content score for the reading, math, English and science sections. The total and content sections are added to form a final score from 0% to 100%.

Each sub-content (the tested concepts on math, science, English, and reading) is also scored separately based on the correct answers. The sub-content scores aren’t aggregated, but they only help monitor the areas to work on more.

Finally, the total TEAS score is adjusted based on overall TEAS performance in an institution. Overall, TEAS scores may be grouped into the following sections depending on ability level:

Developmental 0% to 40.7%
Basic 41.3% to 58%
Proficient 58.7% to 77.3%
Advanced 78% to 90%
Exemplary 90.7% to 100%

TEAS Timing

The different TEAS sections have various time limits, depending on the number of questions and their difficulty. Students get 209 minutes to complete the 170 questions across different exam sections. Here’s a breakdown of the time allocated to each section

Math – The math section ha 36 sections and 54-minutes to complete these questions, meaning each question takes one and a half minutes.
English and Language Use – The English and language use section has 28 questions, and students get 28 minutes to answer them, meaning each question take a minute or less.
Science – This section has 53 questions and 63 minutes to answer them, giving each question slightly over a minute.
Reading – The reading TEAS section has 53 questions that students should answer in 64 minutes, making the total time per question a minute and two seconds.

Students who wonder how hard is the TEAS test, should time themselves when doing the exam to ensure they answer all questions within the timeframes.