Entrance Exams: HESI vs. TEAS (RN)

00:01 So you may have noticed nursing school is not only difficult in itself, it's also difficult to get into.

00:07 Isn't that fun? So after you complete all of your prerequisites, you are likely going to need to take something called a nursing school entrance exam.

00:14 Not all schools do require them.

00:17 Some will waive it for a certain GPA, but I would say the majority of schools do require you to take some sort of entrance exam.

00:26 There are two common entrance exams in the United States.

00:29 We have the HESI and the TEAS.

00:32 The HESI stands for the Health Education Systems Inc.

00:35 and the TEAS is the Test of Essential Academic Skills.

00:38 Both of these exams test general knowledge you learned throughout high school, as well as basic math and science information.

00:46 In most cases, you do not get to pick which nursing school entrance exam you will actually take.

00:53 Nursing schools just kind of pick which tests they want to do and take and let you know which one that you need to show up for.

01:00 Some schools will require you to take the entire entrance exam, and some will require just a few subjects.

01:06 If you are applying to multiple schools, you will likely have to end up taking both exams because different schools may require different exams, different exam subset types.

01:16 So if you are unsure, and you're just trying to get ahead of things, you're going to want to study for the entire HESI exam rather than the parts or subparts of each one.

01:27 And why just that one? Let me explain.

01:30 The HESI covers seven academic sections: reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, math, biology, chemistry and anatomy and physiology.

01:38 In contrast, the TEAS covers four academic sections: reading, math, science and English language usage.

01:46 Since the HESI is the more comprehensive test, it covers more healthcare focused knowledge, and it includes topics also included in the TEAS.

01:55 Most people recommend that you study just for the HESI if you're going to be taking both. Aside from the subjects included, there are a few other differences between the tests.

02:06 The HESI has 350 questions and takes about 4 hours to complete, whereas the TEAS has 170 questions and takes about three and a half hours to complete.

02:17 The HESI costs about $70 to take and the TEAS costs about $100.

02:21 And in terms of difficulty, it's usually pretty hard to say which test is actually more difficult. The HESI covers more topics, but since there are more questions, you can actually get more questions incorrect and still pass, giving you a little bit of wiggle room. The TEAS covers a more general knowledge, but it's kind of difficult to study for general knowledge when it's supposed to be general knowledge that you just have. And since you have fewer questions, you actually have less wiggle room in terms of how many questions you can get wrong while still being able to pass the exam. But how do you actually study for these exams? This is going to be like most nursing school exams.

02:58 This is going to come down to practice questions, reading and rationales.

03:03 The more practice questions you do, the better.

03:05 I would recommend some type of study program, whether that be a study book or an online course.

03:12 Just make sure you knock out those practice questions, read every single rationale for the ones you got right and wrong, and get a really good night of sleep, honestly, the night before the exam versus cramming because your brain loves having rest and being able to actually think, and it won't remember the stuff you study the night before anyway.

03:33 Are you ready for another little time hop here? Because now you've taken your entrance exam.

03:37 It's magic, just like that.

03:38 Perfect. And you passed.

03:40 Go you. So now let's look at how to spiff up your application to make you look like the perfect candidate for your desired nursing school.