Failed NTN twice — what finally worked for my third attempt?

by Samantha C. 282 views3 replies
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Samantha C.OP
May 27, 2026

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it — the NTN kicked my butt the first two times. I went in the first time basically blind, figured my nursing school knowledge would carry me. Nope. Second attempt I read through some random notes online, still failed the math section by a few points. I was genuinely questioning whether this career path was right for me.

For my third attempt I actually got serious. I found a solid NTN practice test that mimicked the real format way more closely than anything I'd tried before — timed sections, the same awkward reading comprehension style, all of it. Combined that with a proper study guide that broke down the math shortcuts (especially the dosage calc stuff) and spent about 3 weeks, maybe an hour a day. Passed with scores high enough to apply to my top two programs.

Curious what strategies others used, especially for the reading comprehension portion. That section still felt weirdly tricky even when I passed. Anyone else find the passages way more dense than expected?

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Megan P.
May 28, 2026
Congrats on passing! I'm currently prepping for my first attempt and honestly the math is what's stressing me out. I haven't done dosage calc since first semester. Did the study guide you used have a lot of practice problems or was it more concept review? I've been looking at a few options but can't tell what's actually worth the money vs just generic test prep fluff.
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Sarah M.
May 28, 2026
The reading comp section got me too on my first try. What helped me was actually practicing with TEAS reading passages — same dense paragraph style. Don't just read for the answer, read the whole passage first then go back. Sounds slow but you stop second-guessing yourself. I also did a timed NTN practice test every other day the week before and my score jumped almost 20 points.
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James R.
May 28, 2026
Biggest exam tip I can give anyone — don't skip the vocabulary section thinking it's easy. There are some weirdly specific medical terms in there. I missed like 4 because I glossed over that section in my prep. Twenty minutes a day on flashcards the last two weeks made a real difference for me.

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