TEAS Integration of Knowledge practice questions

Evaluating arguments and evidence, comparing two sources, and reading information from graphics. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas is 15 of the 39 scored questions in TEAS Reading.

scored questions

15

of Reading's score

38%

for all of Reading

55 min

1. Passage: Two Accounts of the 1918 Influenza in Larchmont (show)

   1

   Text A is a letter written by nurse Eleanor Voss to her sister on October 14, 1918. "Dear Margaret, I am writing between shifts. Of the thirty patients admitted to my ward at St. Anne's Hospital since Monday, six have died. Five of our eleven nurses are themselves in bed with the fever, so those of us still on our feet work double. Dr. Hale insists the windows stay open all day, even in this cold, because he believes fresh air saves lives. The patients shiver under their blankets, and I cannot say whether it helps. We are also made to wear gauze masks, which grow damp within the hour. Please pray for us. Eleanor"

   2

   Text B is an excerpt from a history textbook published in 2015. "During the 1918 influenza pandemic, hospitals across the country struggled with shortages of staff and space. At the peak, between one-quarter and one-third of the nurses in some hospitals were ill at the same time. In Larchmont's hospitals that autumn, about one in eight admitted influenza patients died. Physicians tried many remedies. One was open-air treatment, in which patients were kept in tents or beside open windows. Some military hospital records appeared to show lower death rates among patients treated this way, but the records were incomplete and the patients were not compared under controlled conditions, so historians remain cautious about the practice's value."

   01Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasText B is a secondary source about the 1918 pandemic. Which of the following would also be a secondary source?+−

   • A. A hospital admission ledger kept at St. Anne's in October 1918
   • B. A 1930 memoir by a nurse who worked in a 1918 influenza ward
   • C. A 2019 magazine article summarizing historians' research on the pandemic (correct)
   • D. A 1918 newspaper editorial urging residents to wear masks

   A secondary source interprets or summarizes information gathered by others, as the 2019 article does. The memoir is tempting because it was written later, but it is still a firsthand account by a participant.

2. Passage: Summit Blood Center Spring Quarter Report (show)

   1

   Summit Blood Center holds donation drives at community sites. At each drive, staff screen the donors who arrive. A donor who does not meet health or eligibility rules is deferred and gives no blood; every other donor gives exactly one unit. Summit's goal is to collect 750 units each quarter.

   2

   The results for each site are written out below in this order: site; drives held; donors who arrived; donors deferred; units collected. Lakeside College; 4 drives; 320 arrived; 40 deferred; 280 units. Riverton Church; 3 drives; 150 arrived; 45 deferred; 105 units. Harbor Mall; 5 drives; 400 arrived; 100 deferred; 300 units. County Fairgrounds; 2 drives; 90 arrived; 10 deferred; 80 units.

   3

   Staff note that the most common reasons for deferral were low iron levels and recent travel. Deferred donors are invited to return at a later drive. Staff also note that drives at the same site are held on similar schedules, so a site's results in one quarter are a fair guide to what a typical drive there collects.

   02Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich site turned away the greatest share of its arriving donors?+−

   • A. Lakeside College
   • B. Riverton Church (correct)
   • C. Harbor Mall
   • D. County Fairgrounds

   Deferral shares are Lakeside 40/320 = 12.5%, Riverton 45/150 = 30%, Harbor 100/400 = 25%, and Fairgrounds 10/90, about 11%. Harbor Mall deferred the most donors in number, but Riverton deferred the largest share.

3. Passage: Coated Bed Rails: A Brochure and a News Summary (show)

   1

   Text A (product brochure from Corvane Medical Supply): Hospital bed rails are touched all day by patients, visitors, and staff, and every touch can spread germs. FreshGuard changes that. In a four-week hospital trial, every coated rail carried about 80 percent fewer bacteria than the uncoated rails around it. FreshGuard protects patients from infection from the moment it is applied. Make the switch today.

   2

   Text B (health news summary, "Coated Bed Rails: What the Trial Found"): A four-week trial at one medical center compared 20 coated bed rails with 20 uncoated rails. Staff swabbed each rail daily and counted bacterial colonies. Uncoated rails averaged 500 colonies per swab, and coated rails averaged 100. Three of the 20 coated rails, however, averaged 500 colonies per swab, no better than the uncoated rails.

   3

   The trial did not track patient infections, so it cannot show whether the coating prevented any. The study was paid for by Corvane Medical Supply, which makes the coating. The researchers say their daily swab-count sheets are available to other scientists on request.

   03Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich statement best describes how Text B's figures relate to the 80 percent figure in Text A?+−

   • A. Text B's averages of 500 and 100 colonies work out to an 80 percent reduction, which matches Text A's figure when it is read as an average. (correct)
   • B. Text B's averages of 500 and 100 colonies work out to a 20 percent reduction, far less than Text A reports.
   • C. Text B's averages of 500 and 100 colonies work out to a 400 percent reduction, far more than Text A reports.
   • D. Text B gives no averages, so its numbers cannot be compared with Text A's.

   The drop from 500 to 100 is 400 out of 500, or 80 percent. Choice B confuses the remaining 20 percent with the amount of reduction.

4. 04Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich claims in Text A are undercut by information in Text B? Select all that apply.+−

   • A. The trial lasted four weeks.
   • B. Every coated rail carried about 80 percent fewer bacteria than the uncoated rails. (correct)
   • C. FreshGuard protects patients from infection. (correct)
   • D. The trial compared coated rails with uncoated rails.
   • E. Hospital bed rails are touched all day by patients, visitors, and staff.

   Text B reports three coated rails with no improvement, which undercuts 'every coated rail,' and says the trial did not track infections, which undercuts the protection claim. The other statements are consistent with Text B or are not addressed by it.

5. 05Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasA student researching the trial wants a primary source about it. Which of the following would qualify?+−

   • A. The researchers' daily swab-count sheets (correct)
   • B. Text B, the health news summary
   • C. A textbook chapter summarizing studies of antimicrobial surfaces
   • D. A hospital newsletter article describing the trial's outcome

   The swab-count sheets are the original records created during the trial. The news summary, textbook chapter, and newsletter article all describe the trial after the fact, so they are secondary sources.

6. 06Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasText B reports that Corvane Medical Supply, the coating's maker, paid for the trial. What is the most reasonable way for a reader to use that fact?+−

   • A. Disregard the results, because a company-funded study cannot produce accurate data.
   • B. Treat the results as preliminary, and give them more weight if researchers with no tie to Corvane examine the swab sheets or repeat the trial. (correct)
   • C. Accept the results fully, because Text B is a news summary rather than an advertisement.
   • D. Ignore the funding, because swab counts are numbers and numbers cannot be influenced.

   A funder with a stake in the outcome is a reason to seek independent confirmation, not a proof that the data are false. Choice A is tempting but goes too far, since funding alone does not make results wrong.

7. Passage: Lessons Save Lives (show)

   1

   Every summer, Kestrel Lake draws thousands of swimmers, and for too many years it also drew tragedy. From 2016 through 2018, six people drowned in the lake. In 2019, the town council began requiring swimming lessons for every second grader. From 2020 through 2022, only two people drowned. That is a drop of two-thirds, and the lessons are the reason.

   2

   Critics say three years of numbers prove little. I say the numbers speak plainly. Of the six people who drowned before the requirement, two were children under 12. Of the two who drowned afterward, none was a child. Children who can swim are children who live. All four of the other early victims, and both of the later victims, were adults. Yes, the town also hired lifeguards for the public beach in 2020, but lifeguards cannot be everywhere, and swimmers who know what they are doing are safer wherever they are.

   3

   I know this work firsthand. I have coached swimming in Kestrel for twenty years, and my company, Hale Aquatics, has taught the town's lessons since the program began. The town pays us $48 for each child we teach. The council should extend the requirement through sixth grade and fund it this budget cycle. A town that waits is a town that gambles with its children's lives. (Marcus Hale, guest column)

   07Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich statement identifies the most significant flaw in the author's reasoning that the lessons are 'the reason' for the drop in drownings?+−

   • A. He counts drownings over three-year periods, which is too long to detect any change.
   • B. He treats the lessons as the only cause even though he mentions another safety change that began in 2020. (correct)
   • C. He does not say how many second graders completed the lessons.
   • D. He admits that lifeguards were hired, which proves the lessons had no effect.

   The author names a second change, the 2020 lifeguards, yet credits the lessons alone. Choice C is a gap in detail, but it is less serious than ignoring a competing explanation, and choice D overstates what the lifeguards show.

8. 08Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasUsing the figures in the passage, which statement is best supported?+−

   • A. All four of the fewer drownings occurred among children.
   • B. Child drownings fell by two-thirds.
   • C. Adults accounted for three of the four fewer drownings.
   • D. Half of the four fewer drownings occurred among adults, who were not covered by the lesson requirement. (correct)

   Total drownings fell from 6 to 2, a decrease of 4. Child victims fell from 2 to 0 (2 fewer) and adult victims from 4 to 2 (2 fewer), so half the decline was among adults, who were not second graders. Choice B is wrong because child drownings fell by 100 percent, not two-thirds.

9. 09Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich pieces of additional information, if true, would most strengthen the claim that the lesson requirement caused the drop in drownings? Select all that apply.+−

   • A. A neighboring lake town with no lesson requirement and no new lifeguards had about the same number of drownings in both three-year periods. (correct)
   • B. Marcus Hale has coached swimming in Kestrel for twenty years.
   • C. Lake attendance was about the same in 2020 through 2022 as in 2016 through 2018. (correct)
   • D. Most Kestrel second graders said they enjoyed the lessons.
   • E. The town council approved the lesson requirement by a 5-2 vote.

   A comparison town without the change and steady attendance each rule out other explanations for the decline. The author's experience, student enjoyment, and the council vote say nothing about what caused fewer drownings.

10. 10Reading · Integration of Knowledge and IdeasWhich detail in the passage most directly gives the author a personal reason to present the evidence favorably?+−

    • A. He has coached swimming in Kestrel for twenty years.
    • B. He supports extending lessons through sixth grade.
    • C. His company is paid $48 for each child it teaches in the town's lessons. (correct)
    • D. He counts drownings over three-year periods.

    Hale's company earns money from the lessons, and expanding them would increase that income, which is a financial interest. His long coaching experience is a credential, not a financial stake, and his support for expansion is simply his opinion.

Keep practicing

Sources

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

Updated November 6, 2026