TEAS exam day tips: what to bring, timing and the break
On TEAS exam day, bring a current, physical, government-issued photo ID with the same name as your ATI account, your ATI login, and nothing else you'd need during the test: the calculator is built in, and phones, watches, drinks, snacks and notes are not allowed. Plan for about four hours from sign-in to the end. The test itself is 209 minutes in four timed sections, with one optional 10-minute break after Math.
This guide walks the day in order: the night before, the morning, check-in, each section's clock and pace, the break, what to do if something goes wrong, and when your score arrives. Facts about the rules come from ATI's own help pages, listed at the end; the rest is practical advice, marked as such.
TEAS test day at a glance
| Part of the day | Time | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Check-in | Arrive or log in 20–30 minutes early (school guides) | ID check; remote: equipment check and room scan |
| Reading | 55 minutes | 45 questions, about 73 seconds each |
| Math | 57 minutes | 38 questions, about 90 seconds each, on-screen calculator |
| Break | 10 minutes, optional | Does not use testing time |
| Science | 60 minutes | 50 questions, about 72 seconds each |
| English and language usage | 37 minutes | 37 questions, 60 seconds each |
| Total | 209 minutes testing; plan about 4 hours | 170 questions, 150 scored |
Section counts and minutes are ATI's for the TEAS Version 7. For what each section covers, read what is on the TEAS test.
What to bring to the TEAS test
ATI's exam day requirements are short, and the list of things you can't bring is longer than the list you can.
| Bring | Leave behind (not allowed) |
|---|---|
| A current, physical, government-issued photo ID (a state driver's license or a U.S. passport, for example) whose first and last name match your ATI account | Phone and smartwatch |
| Your ATI username and password | Your own calculator (one is built into the exam) |
| One blank sheet of 8½ × 11 paper, or a desktop dry-erase board (check whether your testing site provides it) | Notes, books, formula sheets |
| Two writing instruments | Drinks and snacks |
| Remote: a PC or Mac with Chrome, the Proctorio extension, a webcam and a microphone | Tissues, headphones (unless approved as an accommodation), a second monitor |
The name on the ID is the one people trip on. If your ATI account says "Kate" and your license says "Katherine", or a married name doesn't match, fix the account well before the day. At home, school guides add that a proctor can't look up a forgotten ATI password for you: test the login the day before.
The night before
Practical advice, from what works for timed exams in general:
- Stop studying by early evening. One light pass through your own notes (the formulas you keep forgetting, the grammar rules you missed) is enough. New material the night before rarely sticks and costs sleep.
- Lay out the ID and write down the login. Put them where you'll see them when you leave or sit down.
- Plan the route or the room. In person: the address, parking, and how long it really takes at that hour. Remote: the desk cleared, the light set, a plain wall behind you, the second monitor unplugged.
- Run ATI's dry run if you test at home, on the same computer, in the same room, on the same internet. ATI's help center asks you to take it in the exact place you'll test. Do it a day or two before, not five minutes before.
- Go to bed at your normal time. A regular sleep pattern in the week before matters more than one early night.
The morning of the TEAS
- Eat a real meal. Snacks and drinks aren't allowed during the test, and the only break comes after about two hours. Eat something that keeps you full until then.
- Mind the coffee. Your usual amount, not more: the first chance at a bathroom is the break after Math.
- Dress in layers. You can't control the testing room's temperature, and you'll be sitting for about four hours.
- Warm up, don't study. Five easy questions (two math, three reading) get your head into test mode. A hard practice set now only shakes your confidence.
- Leave early. ATI notes that being early helps with pre-test nerves. School guides say to arrive or log in 20 to 30 minutes before your start for check-in, the ID check and, at home, the equipment test.
Check-in: in person and at home
At a school or PSI testing center
Staff check your ID against your registration, show you where to leave your things, and seat you at a computer. Follow the testing site's own confirmation email: it says when to arrive and any rules of that site, such as whether it provides scratch paper or a dry-erase board.
Remote, at home
ATI's system requirements for the remote TEAS: a PC or Mac (no phone or tablet), Google Chrome with the Proctorio extension, a webcam and a microphone, and internet of at least 0.5 to 1 Mbps. Before the exam you show your ID to the camera and scan the room. ATI's help center warns that a busy background or a light in front of or behind you can stop the system from identifying you, and that you must stay on camera, in full view, for the whole test. A kitchen or dining table with good light and a blank wall behind you is the setup ATI suggests.
Our advice for a calm remote sitting: be alone with the door closed, put a note on the door, silence every device in the house you can, close every other program, and don't read questions aloud. For the full setup, read proctored exams for nursing prerequisites.
TEAS timing rules and pace checkpoints
Each section has its own clock, which starts when you open it. These rules shape every decision you make during the test (ATI):
- Inside a section you can go back to earlier questions and flag questions to return to.
- Once you submit a section, you can't go back to it.
- When a section's time runs out it closes, and unanswered questions are scored as wrong. There is no penalty for a wrong guess, so never leave a blank.
- Time you don't use in one section does not move to the next.
Checkpoints let you know if you're behind while there is still time to fix it. These are simple divisions of ATI's minutes, not ATI rules:
| Section | Questions | Minutes | At one third of the questions | At two thirds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 45 | 55 | Question 15: about 18 minutes in | Question 30: about 37 minutes in |
| Math | 38 | 57 | Question 13: about 19 minutes in | Question 25: about 38 minutes in |
| Science | 50 | 60 | Question 17: about 20 minutes in | Question 33: about 40 minutes in |
| English | 37 | 37 | Question 12: about 12 minutes in | Question 25: about 25 minutes in |
Write the checkpoints on your scratch paper at the start of each section if your site allows writing before the clock starts; otherwise memorize them. Behind at a checkpoint? Give no question more than about two minutes: pick your best answer, flag it, and move on.
Section by section: what to do in each
Reading (first, 55 minutes)
The section you take while you're most nervous. Read the question before a long passage, read tables' titles and notes first, and remember that every answer is in the text: a choice that's true in real life but not in the passage is wrong. To rehearse the pace, take our TEAS reading practice test, 39 questions at the real 73 seconds each.
Math (second, 57 minutes)
The calculator is on screen in every section; practise with a basic on-screen calculator beforehand so the clicks don't slow you. Write the unit with every number on your scratch paper: a unit slip is an easy way to lose a word problem you could solve. The formulas and conversions to have cold are in TEAS math formulas, and the pacing plan in how to pass TEAS math.
The break (10 minutes, optional)
Take it. It doesn't use testing time, and the Science clock starts only when you begin Science. Use the bathroom, stand up, breathe slowly, and stop thinking about Math: you can't go back to it. Remote: follow the proctor's instructions for leaving and returning to the camera.
Science (third, 60 minutes)
The longest section, and anatomy and physiology is 18 of its 44 scored questions. If a question is about a body system you know, answer fast and bank the time for scientific reasoning questions, which take longer to read. Topics: TEAS anatomy and physiology and TEAS chemistry.
English (last, 37 minutes)
The fastest pace (60 seconds a question) when you're most tired. Before reading the choices, name the rule the question tests ("this is agreement", "this is a comma after an opening clause"), then choose. Practise tired: do our TEAS English practice test at the end of a study session.
Can you finish the TEAS test early?
Yes. You can submit a section before its time runs out and move on, and you can finish the whole test early. But time you save in one section is not added to the next (ATI), so finishing early buys you nothing on the score. Use spare minutes in each section to go back to your flagged questions, and only then submit. A common mistake is to rush Reading to "save time" for Math: the saved minutes are simply lost.
If something goes wrong on test day
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| You're sick or can't make it | Booked on atitesting.com: reschedule at least 48 hours before, for $15, to a date within 30 days at the same place. PSI: change it with PSI at least 2 days before. ATI gives no refund for a missed exam, so move it rather than skip it (ATI rescheduling and refund policy) |
| Your ID name doesn't match your account | Fix the account before the day; on the day, ask the testing site or ATI support before you start, not after |
| Remote: the system can't identify you | Change the light (no window behind or in front of you), move to a plain wall, and follow the on-screen or proctor instructions |
| Remote: your connection drops | Note the time and what the screen showed, reconnect, and contact ATI support through its help center right away; tell your program too |
| You blank on a question | Pick your best answer, flag it, move on; come back if time is left |
| You panic mid-section | Pen down, three slow breaths, read the next question only. One question at a time is all the test asks |
If you need more time because of a documented disability, ask for accommodations well ahead: most need at least 30 days' notice (ATI).
After the test: when you get your TEAS score
- ATI proctor (remote or at ATI): a preliminary score appears right away and becomes final four business days later.
- At a school: usually right away, but some schools turn score posting off.
- At a PSI center: up to 48 hours.
Testing with ATI or PSI includes one transcript credit, which is not sent by itself: send it to your program from the Results tab. A test taken through a school goes to that school. Each extra school needs another credit (ATI). Then compare your total and section scores with what your program asks for; if you fall short, read how many times you can retake the TEAS before you book again.
Mistakes that cost a TEAS sitting
- Booking the wrong format. Some programs accept only an in-person exam or one kind of proctor, and ATI does not refund a registration in the wrong format. Check your program's page before you pay; the fees are in how much the TEAS costs.
- Skipping the dry run for a remote test, then finding the webcam or extension doesn't work at start time.
- A name mismatch between ID and account.
- Blanks. An unanswered question is a wrong answer; a guess has a one-in-four chance.
- Skipping the break to "keep momentum". Science and English are 97 minutes together; ten minutes of rest is worth it.
- Never practising the full length. Take at least one full timed practice in the real order (Reading, Math, Science, English) before test day, at the desk where you'll test if you're remote.
A 7-day countdown to TEAS test day
| Day | What to do |
|---|---|
| 7 days before | Confirm with your program: TEAS (not HESI A2), the format it accepts, the deadline. Check the ID name matches your ATI account |
| 6 | One full timed practice in the real order; note your weakest section |
| 5 | Your weakest section's top topics |
| 4 | Your second weakest section |
| 3 | Remote: ATI's dry run on the test computer, in the test room. In person: check the route and parking |
| 2 | Retake only the questions you missed this week; reschedule now if you must (the 48-hour line) |
| 1 | Light review of your own notes; lay out ID and login; normal bedtime |
| Test day | Real breakfast, warm-up of five easy questions, arrive or log in 20–30 minutes early |
If you have more than a week, start with our four-week TEAS plan; if not, the one-week plan says what to cut. Not sure which section to spend the week on? Our free TEAS practice test scores all four sections against your program's minimum in 15 questions.
TEAS exam day FAQ
How long is the TEAS test with check-in?
The four sections take 209 minutes, about 3 hours 30 minutes, plus the optional 10-minute break. ATI says to plan for about four hours from sign-in to the end.
Can I bring water or a snack to the TEAS?
No. ATI's exam day rules don't allow drinks or snacks. Eat and drink before you start.
Can I bring my own calculator?
No. A calculator is built into the exam and is available in every section.
Is there a break during the TEAS?
One optional 10-minute break, after Math. It doesn't use testing time.
Can I go back to a question on the TEAS?
Yes, inside the section you're in: you can go back and flag questions. Once you submit a section, you can't return to it.
What ID do I need for the TEAS?
A current, physical, government-issued photo ID, such as a state driver's license or a U.S. passport, with the same first and last name as your ATI account.
Sources
- ATI, TEAS exam day requirements and expectations (scratch paper, writing instruments, items not allowed). Read 2026-10-29.
- ATI, ATI TEAS exam and other FAQs (ID, calculator, results, transcript credits).
- ATI, What is the time limit for the ATI TEAS? (section minutes, break, about four hours).
- ATI, ATI TEAS sections and going back to a question.
- ATI, Remote TEAS system requirements, and room requirements for a remote TEAS. Read 2026-10-29.
- ATI, How do I reschedule my ATI TEAS exam? and What is ATI's refund policy? Read 2026-10-27.
- Hallmark University, Tips for taking the TEAS exam. Read 2026-11-03.
More on booking and test day: proctored TEAS at home or in person, what the TEAS costs, or all guides. To know which section to warm up on, take the free practice test: 15 questions across the four sections, scored against your program's minimum.