Should You Guess When You Take the TEAS?
Imagine it’s test day. You’ve logged into your testing center’s computer. You are relaxed, prepared, and ready to succeed. You know you’ve studied for the TEAS well… and then you see it. One of THOSE questions.
First you aren’t sure what it’s asking. Where is the actual question?
You scan the answer options.
Somehow, they all look right.
Time ticks away.
You feel your confidence slipping away.
UGH!! Isn’t that feeling the worst!?
I think we all feel that way at least once on an exam. For a big test like the TEAS, it’s natural to feel it frequently.
You know that feeling when you are taking a hard exam and you’re already nervous, and then you see one of THOSE questions?
You’re not sure what the question even asks… Time ticks away… You can’t figure out the answer… It’s either A or B…. Or maybe C.
And the terrible thing—at least when I’m taking a test like this—is that it just starts making me doubt myself for all the other questions.
Yuck.
In other posts, I’ve talked about how the TEAS will trick you. It’s designed to be overwhelming. Plus there’s misleading information…time pressure…and wrong answers that look so right. The TEAS is hard. You aren’t imagining it. And you will have moments on the test where you totally doubt yourself.
Where none of the answers seem right.
Or all of the answers seem wrong.
Or two of the answers could be it…
What should you do?
Short answer: GUESS and MOVE ON.
You don’t lose points for wrong answers on the TEAS.
You have a 25 percent chance of getting the right answer if you pick randomly.
You have an even better chance of getting the right answer if you use the process of elimination (you can read more about that here).
Save your time for questions that you can get right. Smart students do have a smarter guessing strategy. Let’s take a look.
Why should you guess?
Guessing quickly buys you time for other questions. The TEAS is guaranteed to have weird questions, so don’t freak out. Once you decide to guess, pick an answer and move on quickly.
If you don’t know the answer, move on. Don’t go back and forth with, “Oh, it could be A…or maybe B…no, it’s A.” Time is tight on the TEAS. Save your time for questions that you can answer.
The question you’re going back and forth on might be unscored anyway. Save time for what you can answer.
How much should you guess?
If you’ve prepared yourself for the TEAS, then, honestly, you shouldn’t be guessing very much at all. When you’ve learned the right material, mastered strategy, and taken enough practice tests, you will have a great idea of the right answer the majority of the time. You’ll go in feeling as prepared and confident as possible.
Check out this final from a student in my TEAS review class:
wow_scantron
She put a hash mark by every question she was unsure about. Notice that it’s only 3 questions here, not every question. And she answered every question.
(You’ll probably take a computerized version of the TEAS. Keep reading to find out strategy for that.)
Even with the best preparation, you might need to guess on questions that seem totally random or extra confusing. Keep calm when you see a random question because they are guaranteed to be there. Random, hard questions are a fact on the TEAS… (Let’s hope they aren’t scored!)
(A word of caution: If you find yourself guessing on most every question on practice tests, then you probably needed to prepare more.)
How can you guess smarter and score higher?
Assuming you’re prepared and are guessing on only a few questions, you can follow these strategic steps:
Before you begin the test, take a piece of scrap paper (your testing center should give you some), and draw 4 boxes.
Label the boxes Reading, Math, Science, English. You’re going to write question numbers in these boxes. (If you want, you can divide the boxes into two: “Wild Guesses” and “Double Check.”)
When you have to guess wildly, pick an answer. Any answer. Write down the question number on your scrap paper.
When you have time at the end, go back to the questions you guessed. Spend a bit more time answering them. Writing down the numbers in an organized way will help you do this quickly.
Use the process of elimination to help you (discussed here).
Your goal is to buy yourself time on questions that you have a chance on getting right. If you don’t know the answer, you don’t know the answer. It’s OK. Do your best and move on. You can do it!
