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🔁 TEAS guideUpdated November 20267 min read5 practice questions

Retaking the TEAS: rules, waiting periods and a plan

Plenty of nursing applicants take the TEAS more than once. The rules about when and how often you can retake it come mostly from your program, not from ATI. Here is what ATI itself says, what to check with each program, and how to use the time between attempts well.

What ATI allows

ATI's help center says that ATI does not require a waiting period between TEAS attempts. You can register for another date as soon as you like, subject to your school's policy. ATI also says retake rules are set by the school or program you are applying to, not by ATI.

What your program may decide

Because programs set the rules, they vary. ATI notes that some programs limit the number of attempts per year, some require a set amount of time between attempts, and many have neither. Other rules you may meet:

RuleWhat to look for
Attempt limitsA maximum number of attempts in a year or in an application cycle
Waiting periodA minimum number of days or weeks between attempts
Which score countsBest attempt, most recent attempt, or best section scores across attempts
Score ageHow recent a score must be to count
Delivery optionWhether the program accepts online, campus or testing-center attempts

Find these on the admissions page, or ask the office directly. Application deadlines matter too: a retake has to be scored and sent before the deadline.

How transcripts handle several attempts

Programs receive official TEAS results as transcripts sent through ATI. According to ATI's transcript page, if you have tested more than once you can choose which results to send to each institution. Each transcript can be sent to a given institution only once, and sending to more schools means buying more transcript credits (ATI listed $29.99 per credit when we checked). Registration for TEAS at ATI or at PSI includes one transcript credit; a TEAS taken at a school is sent to that school automatically.

A plan for the retake

  1. Read your score report. The Topics to Review list shows the objectives you missed. Sort them by sub-area and weight them by scored items: anatomy and physiology (18), reading key ideas (15) and integration (15), numbers and algebra (18) and measurement and data (16) are the biggest buckets.
  2. Compare with the requirement. If one section is below a program's minimum, that section gets most of your time.
  3. Pick a date that leaves room to improve. Two to six weeks of focused work usually beats an immediate rebook, unless a deadline forces it. See the 2, 4 and 6-week plans.
  4. Practice timed. If you ran out of time, pacing was part of the problem; rehearse each section at its real pace.
  5. Re-test yourself before the real retake. A full timed practice test a week out tells you whether to keep the date.

Talking to the program

If your score is just under a program's requirement, a short, polite email to admissions is worth sending before you rebook. Ask whether they consider your best attempt or your latest, whether section scores can combine across attempts, and whether a retake before the deadline is reviewed with the rest of your application. Keep it to the facts: your test date, your scores, and your planned retake date. Admissions offices answer clear questions faster than long explanations.

Keeping momentum between attempts

The days right after a disappointing score are the easiest to lose. Take a day off, then go back to a short daily routine before the material fades: twenty to thirty minutes of mixed questions, plus one weak sub-area. Track the sub-area scores from your practice sets each week. When your weakest sub-areas have risen and a full timed practice test clears your program's requirement with some margin, you are ready to book.

Common reasons a first attempt falls short

  • Science breadth. Anatomy and physiology covers eleven body systems plus orientation; many people under-prepare it.
  • Running out of time. English gives you one minute per question, and blanks count as wrong.
  • Math setup. The on-screen calculator does not fix a wrong setup or a missed unit conversion.
  • Reading twice. Rereading every passage eats the reading clock; see reading strategies.

✅ Test yourself: 5 questions

Tap an answer to check it, or open the answer and rationale under each question.

Question 1 of 5 · Measurement and Data

In a prep course, 10 students in the morning section averaged 80 on an exam and 15 students in the evening section averaged 90. What is the mean score for all 25 students?

  1. 86
  2. 87
  3. 85
  4. 88
Show the answer and rationale

Answer: A

Weight each section by its size: total points 2,150 divided by 25 students is 86. 85 simply averages 80 and 90, ignoring that the evening section has more students.

Step by step

  1. Morning total: 10 × 80 = 800.
  2. Evening total: 15 × 90 = 1,350.
  3. Combined mean: (800 + 1,350) ÷ 25 = 2,150 ÷ 25 = 86.

📚 Learn it: Mean, median, mode and range

Question 2 of 5 · Human Anatomy and Physiology

Which sequence shows the correct order in which food passes through the alimentary canal?

  1. Esophagus, duodenum, stomach, ileum, jejunum, large intestine
  2. Esophagus, stomach, ileum, jejunum, duodenum, large intestine
  3. Esophagus, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, large intestine
  4. Esophagus, stomach, jejunum, duodenum, ileum, large intestine
Show the answer and rationale

Answer: C

After the esophagus and stomach, chyme enters the three parts of the small intestine in order: duodenum, jejunum, then ileum, and the ileum empties into the large intestine. The other orders scramble the small intestine segments or put the duodenum before the stomach.

📚 Learn it: Digestive system: path, organs, enzymes and absorption

📄 Read the passage, then answer the questions below it

Sleep: When the Brain Files Its Notes

It might seem that nothing useful happens while we sleep, but researchers now believe sleep plays an active role in forming memories. During the day, new information is stored only temporarily. Much of it is fragile, like notes scribbled on scraps of paper.

During deep sleep, the brain appears to replay some of the day's experiences. Recordings from laboratory animals show that groups of nerve cells that fired while an animal learned a maze fire again, in a similar pattern, while it sleeps. Scientists think this replay helps strengthen the connections that hold a memory, moving it into longer-lasting storage.

Studies with people point in the same direction. In a typical experiment, volunteers learn a list of word pairs in the evening. Half then sleep normally, and half stay awake through the night. When both groups are tested later, after the second group has had time to recover, the volunteers who slept usually remember more of the pairs.

These findings have practical meaning for students. Staying up all night to cram may leave material in its fragile, temporary form. Spreading study over several days, with sleep in between, gives the brain more chances to consolidate what has been learned.

Question 3 of 5 · Craft and Structure

As used in the last paragraph, "consolidate" most nearly means

  1. strengthen and make lasting
  2. divide into smaller parts
  3. erase and forget
  4. repeat out loud
Show the answer and rationale

Answer: A

The passage says sleep helps move memories "into longer-lasting storage," so to consolidate learning is to strengthen it and make it last. Erasing is the opposite, nothing is spoken aloud, and dividing into parts does not fit the idea of firming up a memory.

📚 Learn it: Word meaning from context: use the clues around the word

Question 4 of 5 · Craft and Structure

The passage says much new information is "fragile." In this context, "fragile" means

  1. deeply emotional
  2. highly detailed
  3. carefully sorted
  4. easily lost
Show the answer and rationale

Answer: D

The passage compares fragile information to notes on scraps of paper and says it is stored only temporarily, so "fragile" means easily lost. Nothing suggests the information is sorted, detailed or emotional.

📚 Learn it: Word meaning from context: use the clues around the word

Question 5 of 5 · Craft and Structure

Why does the author compare new memories to "notes scribbled on scraps of paper"?

  1. To suggest that students should take notes on paper
  2. To argue that handwriting improves a person's memory
  3. To describe what the volunteers did in the experiment
  4. To help readers picture how temporary new memories are
Show the answer and rationale

Answer: D

The comparison gives readers a familiar image of something easily lost, which makes the idea of temporary, fragile memory concrete. The passage gives no note-taking advice, makes no claim about handwriting, and the volunteers learned word pairs rather than scribbling notes.

📚 Learn it: Author's purpose: why did the writer write this?

Find your weak spots with a free practice test →

Scored by section and sub-area, with every miss saved for review.

❓ Frequently asked

How soon can I retake the TEAS?

ATI does not require a waiting period between attempts. Your nursing program may, so check its rules before you book.

How many times can you take the TEAS?

ATI leaves attempt limits to programs. Some limit attempts per year or require time between attempts; many do not. Check each program you apply to.

Do schools see all my TEAS scores?

ATI's transcript page says that if you have tested more than once you can choose which results to send to each institution. A test taken at a school is reported to that school automatically, and programs may have their own rules about which attempt counts.

📝 Practice and lessons

Sources

  1. ATI help: How soon can I retake the ATI TEAS exam?
  2. ATI: TEAS transcripts and scoring
  3. ATI help: TEAS score report (Individual Performance Profile) and Topics to Review
  4. ATI: TEAS exam details (sections, questions, time, delivery options)

Checked November 2026. ATI can change the exam and its policies; when a source and this page disagree, the source wins. Original text by TEAS Ready. TEAS is a registered trademark of ATI; TEAS Ready is not affiliated with or endorsed by ATI.

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