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Proctored exams for nursing prerequisites: TEAS and HESI A2, in person or online

A proctored exam is one a proctor watches, in a room or over your webcam, so the school can trust that the score is yours. For nursing school the big one is the entrance exam: the ATI TEAS or the HESI A2 is always proctored, whether you sit it at a college, at a testing center or at home. Online prerequisite courses (anatomy and physiology, microbiology, chemistry) may add proctored exams of their own. Below: every way to take each entrance exam, what remote proctoring checks, the rules on test day, and how to practise under the same conditions.

We make practice tests for the ATI TEAS only. We are not ATI, Elsevier or any proctoring company; your school and the exam's owner have the final word on their rules, so check their pages before you book.

What is a proctored exam?

Proctored means supervised. In person, a staff member at a college testing center or a testing company checks your ID, seats you and watches the room. Online, software on your computer records your camera, microphone and screen, and a person or the software flags anything that breaks the rules. Either way the point is the same: the program that reads your score knows who took the test and under what conditions. That is why nursing programs accept an entrance exam score only when it comes from a proctored sitting, never from a practice test you take on your own.

Which nursing prerequisite exams are proctored?

The entrance exam, always. Most programs ask for the ATI TEAS or the HESI A2. Both are taken under a proctor, and the program gets the official score from ATI or Elsevier. Which one you need, and which ways of testing it accepts, is the program's choice: see HESI A2 vs TEAS.

Prerequisite courses, sometimes. If you take a science prerequisite online, its exams may be proctored, by your own college or by the course provider. Rules differ by provider and change: StraighterLine's help center, for example, says it no longer requires a proctor for its final exams (StraighterLine help center, read 2026-10-29). Before you pay for an online course, ask the nursing program two things: does it accept credit from that provider, and does it ask for proctored exams in the course. The program's answer matters more than the provider's.

In person or remote: your options for each exam

ATI lists four ways to take the TEAS: online with an ATI proctor, online with a proctor from a school, in person at a school, or in person at a PSI testing center; ATI's price for testing online with ATI or at PSI is $120 plus sales tax, and a school sets its own (ATI: cost of the TEAS, read 2026-10-27). The HESI A2 is offered remotely as well: Prometric's Elsevier page lists the HESI A2 and A2CT as the exams it delivers remotely through its ProProctor app, and school guides describe remote HESI exams proctored through ProctorU by Meazure Learning (Prometric: Elsevier remote; Meazure Learning HESI proctoring guide, both read 2026-10-29).

ExamWay of testingProctored bySource
ATI TEASOnline at homeATI, through the Proctorio extension in ChromeATI system requirements
ATI TEASOnline, set up by a schoolThe school (Texas State, for example, through Proctorio)Texas State TEAS
ATI TEASIn person at a schoolThe school's testing centerATI cost page
ATI TEASIn person at a PSI centerPSIATI cost page
HESI A2Online at homePrometric (ProProctor app) or ProctorU, as the school sets it upPrometric; Meazure Learning
HESI A2In personThe school or a testing center it namesYour program's admissions page

The same exam can cost more remotely: Texas State lists $125 for the TEAS in its testing center and $130 remote through Proctorio (Texas State TEAS, read 2026-10-27). Some programs accept only an in-person exam or one proctor, and ATI does not refund a registration in the wrong format (ATI refund policy). Read your program's page first, then book. Every fee we found is in how much the TEAS costs.

What you need for a remote proctored TEAS

ATI's system requirements page for the remote TEAS lists (ATI system requirements, read 2026-10-29):

The room matters as much as the computer. ATI's help center suggests a kitchen, coffee or dining table with good light and a blank wall behind you, warns that a busy background or a light in front of or behind you can stop the system from identifying you, and says you must stay on camera and in full view of the webcam for the whole test. It also asks you to take ATI's dry run in the exact place you will test (ATI: room requirements for a remote TEAS, read 2026-10-29). School guides add a room scan with the webcam before the exam starts. Run the dry run a day or two before, on the same computer, in the same room, on the same internet.

What you need for a remote HESI A2

Prometric asks for a computer with a camera, a microphone and an internet connection, able to install a small app before the test; a clock in the room is inspected and must have no smart features (Prometric: Elsevier remote, read 2026-10-29). Elsevier's guide for remote HESI testing asks you to run its device compatibility check, which uses the Elsevier Secure Browser, before test day (Elsevier: HESI remote testing registration, read 2026-10-29). Several schools ask you to register at least 72 hours before your test. Which service proctors you, and how you register, is set by the school: follow its own instructions.

The rules on test day

ATI's exam day requirements allow one blank sheet of paper (8½ × 11) or a desktop dry-erase board, and two writing instruments. Phones, smartwatches, extra monitors and headphones are not allowed, unless headphones are approved as an accommodation (ATI: TEAS exam day requirements, read 2026-10-29). Drinks, snacks, notes and tissues are not allowed either, and a calculator is built into the exam, so you may not bring your own (ATI FAQ). There is one optional 10-minute break, after Mathematics; the four sections and their minutes are in what is on the TEAS test.

At home, our advice for a calm remote sitting:

A checklist for the week before

  1. Confirm on your program's admissions page: TEAS or HESI A2, which way of testing it accepts, and the deadline.
  2. Book the sitting; for a remote exam, check that your computer is a PC or Mac with a working webcam and microphone.
  3. Run the dry run or compatibility check on that computer, in that room.
  4. Put your physical photo ID with your ATI or Evolve login details.
  5. Clear the desk, set up the light, and find a plain wall to sit in front of.
  6. Take one full practice test in the real order and real time, sitting at that desk.

How to practise under proctored conditions

The proctor changes the room, not the questions. What catches people out is the setting: three and a half hours at one desk, no phone, one sheet of scratch paper, an on-screen calculator, and a clock per section. Rehearse that before the real thing:

Our free TEAS practice test is 15 questions across the four sections, scored against your program's minimum, with the reason for every answer: a quick way to see which section to rehearse first. When you are ready for full-length rehearsals, our full timed TEAS 7 practice tests, from $19, paid once, use the real minutes for each section.

Sources

More guides: what is on the TEAS test, what the TEAS costs, HESI A2 vs TEAS, or all guides.

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