ATI TEAS guideScores & admissions
TEAS vs HESI: How to Choose What Your School Requires
TEAS and HESI A2 are different admissions exams from different publishers. Schools choose which one they require. Scores are not interchangeable. Confirm each program before you pay.
Short answer
The ATI TEAS is ATI’s Test of Essential Academic Skills, currently Version 7, used by many nursing and allied-health programs as an admissions assessment. HESI A2 is a different admissions exam from a different publisher. A school decides which exam it will accept. A TEAS score does not convert into a HESI score. Confirm each program’s written requirement before you register or study.
Schools choose the exam. You do not convert the score.
TEAS and HESI A2 are different admissions exams from different publishers. A school tells you which one it requires; the scores are not interchangeable. Before you buy anything, plan study time for the exam the application actually names. Passy’s TEAS facts below come from ATI. This page does not invent HESI section counts, time limits, or cut scores.
ATI describes the TEAS as an entrance exam used by nursing and allied-health programs to assess preparedness. Current Version 7 structure—four sections, 170 items, 209 minutes—is on what is on the ATI TEAS. Passing scores and what counts as a competitive TEAS result are school-set, not a national ATI cutoff.
HESI A2 is widely used by other programs as their admissions test. It is not an ATI product. Treating a HESI result as a TEAS result, or the reverse, is how candidates pay twice.
How to decide without a forum poll
List every program you might apply to this cycle.
Read each program’s current admissions page for the exam name, the minimum score, the age of the score, and whether remote testing is accepted.
If even one program wants TEAS and another wants HESI, you may need both exams. That is a time and money decision, not a “which test is easier” debate. Official ATI sources do not rank TEAS against HESI.
If every program on your list wants TEAS, ignore HESI prep books. If every program wants HESI, use Passy’s HESI A2 hub and HESI A2 vs ATI TEAS. This TEAS library will not be your exam map.
Registration still starts with the school’s TEAS policy when TEAS is the requirement.
When TEAS is confirmed, build the next week around the four ATI sections rather than a generic admissions mix.
What this comparison will not claim
It will not say TEAS is easier. Difficulty is not a published head-to-head from ATI.
It will not list HESI item counts. Those belong to the other publisher’s current materials.
It will not promise that a 70 on one exam equals a 70 on the other. The scales are not official equivalents.
It will not tell you which exam a “typical BSN” uses. Typical is not a source.
If you already studied the wrong one
Stop. Read the application. If you still need TEAS, start from the ATI TEAS study guide and the exam hub. Transfer only the habits that are actually shared—timed reading, showing work in math—not assumed science lists from the other exam.
Then take a TEAS-only mixed set so leftover HESI pacing does not set your baseline.
If two applications still conflict, email both admissions offices and keep the replies. Forum screenshots are not a transcript policy.
When the requirement is TEAS, spend remaining hours on the section that would sink that application.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.