Assessment Technologies Institute - ATI TEAS prep plus: 2 practice tests + proven strategies + online

Special thanks to the team that made this book possible: Gina Allison, Erika Blumenthal, Joel Boyce, Chanti Burnette, Matthew Callan, Irene Cheung, Dorothy Cummings, Lola Dart, Marilyn Engle, Paula Fleming, Bootsie, Dan Frey, Lauren Hanson, Justine Harkness, Allison Harm, Jack Hayes, Cinzia Iacono Pelletier, Stephanie Jolly, Ashley Kapturkiewicz, Jennifer Land, Karen Lilyquist, Edwina Lui, Heather Maigur, Maureen McMahon, Nou Moua, Alex Ricken, Christine Ricketts, Gordon Spector, Bruce Symaka, LoRita Vargas, Pedro Villanueva, Dan Wittich, Jessica Yee, and many others.

TEAS is a registered trademark of Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI), which neither sponsors nor endorses this product.

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Congratulations! If you have picked up this book, you are considering applying to a nursing or allied health school. This is an exciting step! Your career in healthcare will provide you with many rewarding experiences and opportunities.

I speak from personal experience. Early in my career as a nurse, I was caring for a client newly diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. The care team had addressed his symptoms: cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and weight loss among others. The physician had discussed the treatment plan. The social worker had offered her services. Thanks to my education, I understood the diagnosis and prognosisthe science behind the malignancy. I understood that simple remedies would not eliminate the chronic cough. I understood that the dyspnea and fatigue were inevitable and that treatment options were limited.

I also understood that no one had taken the time to be with the clientto sit quietly and give support, to ask questions and listen. In your role as a care provider, you will have the opportunity to offer client-centered care. You will give people respect, sensitivity, and open communication. Caring for this man during his journey did not feel like work. It was the most rewarding effort I had ever undertaken.

Because their students will someday be entrusted with the well-being of other people, healthcare programs want strong students. This only makes sense: your degree program will culminate in caring for clients who will depend on you for their health and maybe their life. We do not make or sell things. Instead, it is people and families, young and old, well and sick, who get our attention. I teach in a two-year RN program, so I fully appreciate the importance of well-prepared students. Nursing and allied healthcare programs are rigorous. I have high standards, as will your instructors. This is why school admissions can be very competitive.

To weigh the qualifications of applicants, many schools require candidates to take ATIs Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS). The TEAS measures competencies in reading, math, science, and language use. Your TEAS score quantifies your academic preparedness and test-taking skills, and it is an important indicator of your potential to succeed in school.

Your nursing or allied health program will challenge you in ways that other classes have not. A lot of information will be thrown at you. You will do more academic reading than you have ever done before, and studying will require more than memorization. You must use your understanding of the knowledge of your field to recognize important facts you encounter in real-life situations and then draw sound conclusions. Especially as you move to the clinical setting, you will be making critical decisions for your clients based on information you gather.

You will also need to use math. If you want to determine the correct dose of medication for a client, you will need to be able to set up and compute proportions. You cannot trust the computer to do thisyou are responsible. In any healthcare career, you are committing to lifelong learning, which means reading and evaluating research studies. Therefore, an understanding of statistics is key. Your career may take you into managing your own business or being a consultant, and then arithmetic and algebra skills will be important to you as a businessperson.

Healthcare practice requires scienceanatomy and physiology, biology, and chemistryto understand your clients medical conditions. You may need to understand the implications of fluid balance, interpret laboratory and radiology tests, and know what effect medications can have in the body. With a good scientific education, your assessment of the client, interpretation of data, and selection of interventions will be based on evidence-based practice, not on what feels right.

You will need strong communication skills in school and throughout your career as you speak and write to clients and colleagues. Using the correct word is critical to say what you mean to say, and you will be judged on your use of grammar. In emails and in phone conversations, your confidence and expertise must come through so people view you as someone they can depend on.

I say these things not to make you nervous and question your decision, but to emphasize the need to prepare for the TEAS. The TEAS gives you an opportunity to show schools your academic skills and ability to think like a healthcare professional. It gives you a chance to demonstrate that you are prepared for the courses ahead of you so you can gain admission to the program of your choice.

Getting into your school is just the first step toward a lifetime of opportunities. Indeed, my nursing education opened doors I didnt even imagine when I was filling out my applications. While my initial jobs were in clinical settings, I have held titles such as Nurse Manager, Clinical Reimbursement Specialist, and Subject Matter Expert. Because of my healthcare expertise and skills, I have been able to pursue consulting, business ownership, training, nursing education, and publication writing and editing. The opportunities in healthcare were so exciting and my love of learning so deep that after earning my RN, I pursued additional credentials. Today, I proudly add PhD and APRN, CNP after my name. Who knows what you will be doing in 10, 20, or 30 years? There are so many possibilities!