Free TEAS practice test

Twenty free TEAS questions from all four sections, with an explanation for every answer. When you're ready, the free diagnostic times you and scores every sub-area.

questions on the TEAS

170

scored

150

testing time

209 min

sections

4

1. Passage: Mangrove Forests and the Coast (show)

   1

   Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees that grow along tropical and subtropical coasts, where their tangled roots stand in water that rises and falls twice a day. Some species block salt at the root surface, while others take it in and store it in leaves that later drop off. The roots do more than anchor the trees. Above the mud, they slow incoming water, so sediment settles and slowly builds up the shoreline. Below the waterline, they form a maze in which young fish and crabs hide from larger predators. Because so many commercial fish species spend their first weeks among these roots, fishing communities near mangroves often report larger catches than communities near bare shorelines.

   2

   Mangroves may also protect land during storms. After one major cyclone, researchers compared two villages on the same bay. The village behind a mangrove belt about 500 meters wide lost fewer homes than a village whose mangroves had been cleared for shrimp ponds. Not every study has found such a clear difference, however, and scientists note that wave height, storm angle, and the slope of the land also matter.

   3

   Despite their value, about one-fifth of the world's mangrove area has disappeared since 1980, mostly to aquaculture and coastal development. Several countries now pay landowners to replant mangroves, treating the trees as low-cost coastal infrastructure rather than as wasteland.

   01Reading · Key Ideas and DetailsWhich statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?+−

   • A. Mangroves survive in salt water by storing salt in leaves that later drop off.
   • B. Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees whose roots build shorelines, shelter young fish, and may protect coasts, yet large areas have been lost. (correct)
   • C. Mangroves protect coasts from storms better than any human-built barrier.
   • D. Shrimp farming should be banned along tropical coasts.

   The passage covers the roots' roles, the possible storm protection, and the loss of mangrove area, and choice B captures all of these. Choice A is only one detail, and choice C overstates a finding the passage calls inconsistent.

2. 02Reading · Key Ideas and DetailsWhich of the following statements about mangroves are supported by the passage? Select all that apply.+−

   • A. Their roots slow incoming water, so sediment settles and builds up the shoreline. (correct)
   • B. Every mangrove species blocks salt at the root surface.
   • C. Fishing communities near mangroves often report larger catches than communities near bare shorelines. (correct)
   • D. Every study of storm damage has found that villages behind mangroves lose fewer homes.
   • E. Most of the mangrove area lost since 1980 was cleared for aquaculture and coastal development. (correct)
   • F. Mangrove roots stay above the waterline at all times.

   A, C, and E are each stated directly in the passage. B is wrong because some species take salt in and store it in leaves, D is wrong because the passage says not every study found a clear difference, and F is wrong because the water rises and falls twice a day around the roots.

3. 03Reading · Key Ideas and DetailsAccording to the passage, why do fishing communities near mangroves often report larger catches?+−

   • A. Sediment trapped by the roots makes the water shallow, so fish are easier to catch.
   • B. Cleared shrimp ponds give fish extra places to feed.
   • C. Many commercial fish species spend their first weeks sheltered among the roots. (correct)
   • D. Salt stored in fallen leaves poisons the predators of commercial fish.

   The passage links larger catches to young fish of commercial species hiding in the roots during their first weeks. The other choices describe effects the passage never mentions.

4. 04Reading · Key Ideas and DetailsThe passage says that not every study has found a clear difference in storm damage, and it lists wave height, storm angle, and the slope of the land as other factors. Which inference is best supported?+−

   • A. Mangroves probably have no real effect on storm damage.
   • B. The village comparison was probably done carelessly.
   • C. Wave height matters only for shorelines that have no mangroves.
   • D. Mangroves are probably one of several influences on storm damage, so their effect can be hard to see when other conditions differ. (correct)

   Because other factors also matter, a mangrove effect could be hidden when those factors vary between sites. Choice A goes too far, since the passage still reports less damage behind a wide belt.

5. 05Math · Numbers and AlgebraA nurse measures 5/12 L of a solution and then adds 1/3 L more to the same container. What is the total volume in the container?+−

   • A. 6/15 L
   • B. 3/4 L (correct)
   • C. 5/36 L
   • D. 7/12 L

   Rewrite 1/3 as 4/12, so 5/12 + 4/12 = 9/12 = 3/4 L. Adding the numerators and the denominators separately (6/15) is the tempting error and is not how fractions are added.

6. 06Science · Human Anatomy and PhysiologyA patient has a heart rate of 75 beats/min, an end-diastolic volume of 120 mL, and an end-systolic volume of 50 mL. What is the patient's cardiac output?+−

   • A. 3.75 L/min
   • B. 5.25 L/min (correct)
   • C. 9.00 L/min
   • D. 12.75 L/min

   Stroke volume is 120 − 50 = 70 mL, and 70 mL × 75 beats/min = 5,250 mL/min, or 5.25 L/min. Choice C uses the end-diastolic volume as if it were the stroke volume, but the ventricle does not empty completely.

7. Passage: Saturday at the Market (show)

   1

   Marisol arrived at the market at four-thirty, as she had every Saturday since she was eleven, and found her father already hosing down the stalls. The concrete was dark and slick, and the air smelled of salt and ice. 'You're late,' he said, though the clock above the scale read 4:28. She did not argue. Arguing with her father was like arguing with the tide.

   2

   She tied on her apron and began arranging the ice. Across the aisle, Mr. Okafor was stacking crates of mussels and humming. Her father had once told her that Mr. Okafor hummed only when the catch was good, and Marisol had spent years trying to decide whether this was a fact or one of her father's superstitions. Today he hummed loudly.

   3

   By six, the first customers trickled in. A woman in a green coat asked for halibut, and Marisol, without looking at her father, weighed the fillet, wrapped it, and wrote the price in grease pencil on the paper. Behind her she heard the scrape of his stool. He had sat down. In eight years he had never sat down before seven. She pretended not to notice. She wrapped the next order more slowly than she needed to, and when she finally glanced back, her father was looking at the ice, not at her, and smiling at it as if it had told him something.

   07Reading · Craft and StructureThe author includes the detail that Marisol's father sat down before seven mainly to+−

   • A. show that he is tired and may soon need to retire
   • B. explain why he scolded her for being late
   • C. show that she has begun to resent his supervision
   • D. suggest that he now trusts her to run the stall without watching over her (correct)

   He has never sat down before seven in eight years, and he does so right after she serves a customer on her own; his smile at the ice supports a quiet change in trust. Fatigue is tempting, but nothing in the text indicates illness or tiredness, and the smile points elsewhere.

8. 08Reading · Craft and StructureThe passage is told in third person from Marisol's limited perspective. Which added sentence would break that limitation by revealing another character's private thoughts?+−

   • A. Marisol felt a flicker of pride as she folded the paper over the halibut.
   • B. Marisol noticed that her father's hands were rough from decades of cold water.
   • C. Mr. Okafor hummed loudly to cover his private worry that his supplier would raise prices again. (correct)
   • D. The woman in the green coat remarked that the halibut looked fresher than the store's.

   Only the Mr. Okafor sentence enters the mind of a character other than Marisol. The pride sentence stays within her thoughts, while the other two report what she observes or hears.

9. 09Reading · Craft and StructureIn the first paragraph, the narrator says that arguing with Marisol's father 'was like arguing with the tide.' Which inference does this comparison best support?+−

   • A. Her father's mood shifted unpredictably from hour to hour.
   • B. Her father's decisions were firm and unlikely to be changed by protest. (correct)
   • C. Her father's voice was calm and soothing.
   • D. Her father usually gave in when she argued persistently.

   The tide is a force that does not respond to anyone's objections, and the sentence follows 'She did not argue.' The changeable-mood option borrows the tide's movement but ignores the point about futility.

10. 10Math · Numbers and AlgebraOn one day, the ratio of adult patients to pediatric patients seen at a clinic was 7:4. The clinic saw 27 more adult patients than pediatric patients. How many patients did the clinic see in all?+−

    • A. 63
    • B. 99 (correct)
    • C. 36
    • D. 27

    The 3-part difference (7 − 4) equals 27, so each part is 9 patients. The total of 11 parts is 99. 63 is only the number of adult patients.

11. 11Science · Human Anatomy and PhysiologyA red blood cell enters the heart through the superior vena cava and is later ejected into the aorta. Order the structures it passes through, from first to last.+−

    Correct order:

    1. Right atrium
    2. Right ventricle
    3. Pulmonary arteries
    4. Pulmonary veins
    5. Left atrium
    6. Left ventricle

    Deoxygenated blood moves right atrium, right ventricle, pulmonary arteries to the lungs, then returns by the pulmonary veins to the left atrium and left ventricle. The common error is putting the pulmonary veins before the arteries, but arteries carry blood away from the heart.

12. Passage: A Garden for Eastgate (show)

    1

    The city council will soon vote on whether to spend $48,000 to build twenty community garden plots on vacant lots in the Eastgate district. Critics call the plan a luxury. I call it the cheapest health program the city could buy.

    2

    Last spring, our neighborhood association surveyed 120 members of the existing Eastgate garden. Of those gardeners, 96 said they eat vegetables at least once every day. We then surveyed 200 Eastgate residents who do not garden, and only 70 of them reported eating vegetables daily. The gap is plain: gardeners eat far more vegetables. When we asked the gardeners how they had joined, most said they had always loved fresh produce and signed up the week the plots opened.

    3

    Cost is the critics' main objection, but the numbers favor the plan. The county health department estimates that each hospital stay for a diet-related illness costs about $12,000. The plots will therefore pay for themselves if they prevent just four such stays. With hundreds of Eastgate residents at risk, that bar is easy to clear.

    4

    Some council members would rather sell the lots to developers. Yet those lots have sat unsold for six years, and no developer has made an offer. The council should vote yes.

    12Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich statement identifies the most serious weakness in the survey results as support for the claim that new garden plots will increase vegetable eating in Eastgate?+−

    • A. The survey included more non-gardeners than gardeners.
    • B. The survey was conducted by a neighborhood association rather than a government agency.
    • C. The survey compared gardeners with non-gardeners without showing that gardening, rather than gardeners' existing preferences, explains the difference. (correct)
    • D. The survey asked about vegetable eating but did not ask how much money residents spend on food.

    The gardeners said they already loved fresh produce, so the gap may reflect who chooses to garden rather than an effect of gardening. The unequal group sizes are not a serious flaw because the results are reported as shares of each group.

13. 13Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich statements are actually established by the survey figures reported in the passage? Select all that apply.+−

    • A. Having a garden plot causes residents to eat vegetables daily.
    • B. A larger share of surveyed gardeners than of surveyed non-gardeners reported eating vegetables daily. (correct)
    • C. Most surveyed non-gardeners eat vegetables at least once a day.
    • D. The share of surveyed gardeners who reported daily vegetables was more than double the share of surveyed non-gardeners. (correct)
    • E. The new plots would prevent at least four hospital stays.

    Gardeners: 96 of 120 is 80 percent. Non-gardeners: 70 of 200 is 35 percent, and 80 is more than twice 35. The survey cannot show cause, only 35 percent of non-gardeners eat vegetables daily, and nothing in it predicts hospital stays.

14. 14Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasThe author argues that the garden plan will pay for itself. Which assumption does that argument depend on most?+−

    • A. Each diet-related hospital stay in the county costs exactly $12,000.
    • B. The plots will prevent at least four diet-related hospital stays that would otherwise have occurred. (correct)
    • C. Eastgate gardeners are healthier than residents of every other district.
    • D. Every Eastgate resident who does not garden has a diet-related illness.

    The $48,000 cost equals four stays at $12,000, so the argument works only if the plots actually prevent at least that many stays. The cost is described as an estimate ('about'), so an exact figure is not required.

15. 15Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich additional evidence would best support the author's claim that the plots, rather than residents' existing preferences, lead to more vegetable eating?+−

    • A. Testimonials from gardeners about how much they enjoy their plots
    • B. A report showing that the vacant lots have been unsold for six years
    • C. A larger survey of current gardeners showing that more than 80 percent eat vegetables daily
    • D. A follow-up survey of the same residents before and after receiving plots, compared with similar residents who stayed on a waiting list (correct)

    Tracking the same people before and after, with a similar comparison group, separates the effect of the plot from existing preferences. A bigger survey of current gardeners repeats the original flaw.

16. 16Math · Numbers and AlgebraEvaluate: 20 − 36 ÷ 4 × 2 + 3+−

    • A. 14
    • B. 5 (correct)
    • C. 18.5
    • D. −5

    Divide and multiply left to right: 36 ÷ 4 = 9, then 9 × 2 = 18; then 20 − 18 + 3 = 5. Choice C multiplies 4 × 2 first, which does not follow left-to-right order.

17. 17Science · Human Anatomy and PhysiologyAfter thyroid surgery, a patient develops painful muscle spasms in the hands, and serum calcium is well below normal. Which hormone is most likely deficient, and why do the spasms occur?+−

    • A. Parathyroid hormone; low extracellular calcium makes nerve and muscle membranes more excitable. (correct)
    • B. Parathyroid hormone; low extracellular calcium prevents troponin from binding calcium, so muscles cannot contract.
    • C. Calcitonin; without it, bones release too little calcium into the blood.
    • D. Thyroxine; without it, metabolic rate falls and muscles cramp.

    The parathyroid glands lie behind the thyroid and can be damaged or removed during surgery, causing PTH deficiency and hypocalcemia. Low extracellular calcium makes excitable membranes depolarize more easily, causing spasms. Contraction depends on calcium released inside the fiber, so option B is wrong, and calcitonin is not needed to maintain blood calcium.

18. Passage: Eastfield Tutoring Center Spring Schedule (show)

    1

    The Eastfield Community College Tutoring Center offers free help to enrolled students in three subjects: writing, math, and science. Writing tutoring is by appointment only, and each student may book no more than two 30-minute writing appointments per week. Math and science tutoring are drop-in, so no appointment is needed. The center is closed on Sundays and on college holidays.

    2

    Writing (appointment only): Monday and Wednesday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; Thursday, 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

    3

    Math (drop-in): Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

    4

    Science (drop-in): Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

    5

    Students should bring their student ID and any assignment materials to every visit.

    18Reading · Key Ideas and DetailsAccording to the schedule, how many hours of math drop-in tutoring are offered in one full week?+−

    • A. 32
    • B. 34
    • C. 36 (correct)
    • D. 40

    Monday through Thursday are 8 hours each (4 x 8 = 32), and Friday adds 4 hours, for 36. Choice A leaves out Friday, and choice D counts Friday as a full 8-hour day.

19. 19Reading · Key Ideas and DetailsA student cannot arrive before 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and must leave by 5:30 p.m. She wants a writing appointment and science drop-in help on the same day. On which day or days is this possible?+−

    • A. Tuesday and Thursday
    • B. Thursday and Saturday
    • C. Monday and Wednesday
    • D. Thursday only (correct)

    Only Thursday offers both subjects after 3:30 p.m. (writing until 7:00, science until 6:00). Tuesday has science but no writing, Monday and Wednesday writing ends at 2:00, and Saturday has science but no writing.

20. 20Reading · Key Ideas and DetailsWhich statement best summarizes the notice?+−

    • A. The center provides free writing, math, and science help to enrolled students on a weekly schedule, with writing available only by limited appointment. (correct)
    • B. The center offers free tutoring in all subjects to anyone in the community, with every session requiring an appointment.
    • C. The center provides writing, math, and science help seven days a week, mostly on a drop-in basis.
    • D. The center offers paid writing appointments and free drop-in help in math and science for students who bring their ID.

    The notice states free help for enrolled students, appointments only for writing (max two per week), and drop-in for math and science. Choice C is tempting but wrong because the center is closed Sundays and has no Friday science hours.

Keep practicing

Sources

1. ATI: ATI TEAS exam details (sections, questions, sub-areas)

Updated November 6, 2026