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TEAS reading practice test: 39 free questions with answers

This free TEAS reading practice test has 39 questions, the number ATI scores on the real reading section, split the same way: 15 on key ideas and details, 9 on craft and structure and 15 on integration of knowledge and ideas. Set a timer for 47 minutes, the real section's pace of about 73 seconds a question, and answer every question before you open any answer.

The passages are short, like the real ones: a set of directions, a table of clinic hours, a letter, two texts on the same subject, a chart with a paragraph. After the test there is a score table against the reading minimums programs publish and a map from each question to the skill it tests, so your misses become a short study list.

How to take this TEAS reading practice test

1. Time it. 47 minutes for 39 questions. The real section gives 55 minutes for 45 questions (39 scored, 6 unscored), so the pace is the same: about 73 seconds a question, reading time included.
2. Answer on paper before you open any answer. Don't leave blanks: the real exam scores an unanswered question as wrong, and there is no penalty for guessing.
3. Mark the ones you guessed. A lucky guess is a miss you haven't found yet.
4. Check your answers, then use the score table and the miss map.

Every question here is four-option multiple choice so you can take it on paper. The real section also has a few multiple select, ordered response, fill in the blank and hot spot questions, with no partial credit. All passages, names and numbers are written for practice: they describe no real clinic, person or study, and the questions are our own, not ATI's.

Want to see reading next to your math, science and English first? Our free TEAS practice test scores all four sections against your program's minimum in 15 questions.

Key ideas and details: questions 1 to 15

What the text says: main idea, details, inferences, following directions, reading a table, sequence.

Question 1

What should a person do immediately after writing down the first reading?

1. Take a second reading
2. Wait one minute
3. Sit quietly for five minutes
4. Remove the cuff

Question 2

A person's first top number is 138 and the second is 124. What should they do?

1. Record only the lower reading
2. Record the average of the two
3. Take a third reading and record all three
4. Stop, because the second reading is normal

Question 3

Which action does the passage say to avoid in the 30 minutes before a reading?

1. Eating a meal
2. Talking on the phone
3. Drinking coffee
4. Taking medicine

Question 4

Which can be inferred from the passage?

1. Readings taken over clothing may be less reliable
2. The right arm always gives a higher reading
3. Home readings are more accurate than clinic readings
4. Two readings are never enough

Question 5

A patient needs a fasting blood test and can only come on Friday. What is the latest time they should arrive?

1. 7 a.m.
2. 10 a.m.
3. 12 p.m.
4. 5 p.m.

Question 6

Which service is open the most hours on Saturday?

1. Walk-in care
2. Lab
3. Pharmacy
4. Vaccines

Question 7

Someone arrives at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday. Which two services can they use?

1. Walk-in care and the lab
2. Walk-in care and the pharmacy
3. The pharmacy and vaccines
4. The lab and vaccines

Question 8

Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

1. Night shifts are harder than day shifts.
2. Delivery trucks and lawn mowers keep night-shift nurses awake.
3. Daytime sleep is hard for night-shift nurses, but simple habits can lengthen it.
4. Every nurse should wear dark glasses when driving.

Question 9

According to the passage, why should nurses wear dark glasses on the drive home?

1. To protect their eyes from glare
2. To keep morning light from telling the brain the day has begun
3. To help them stay awake while driving
4. To block noise from traffic

Question 10

Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?

1. Changing sleep times on days off can make daytime sleep harder.
2. Most nurses quit night shifts within a year.
3. White-noise machines are better than fans.
4. Night-shift nurses sleep more than day-shift nurses.

Question 11

Which is the best summary of the second paragraph?

1. Fans are the most important tool for sleeping in the day.
2. Dark glasses, blackout curtains, noise blocking and a steady sleep window help night workers sleep longer.
3. Nurses get four hours of sleep after a night shift.
4. Daylight is the main reason nurses cannot sleep.

Question 12

What does a student do right after choosing "Health Services"?

1. Log in with the student ID number
2. Pick a date from the calendar
3. Choose "Immunization Clinic"
4. Fill in the health form

Question 13

A student finds that every date in October is gray. What does this mean?

1. The clinic is closed in October.
2. Those dates are full.
3. The student must call the office.
4. The student has not logged in.

Question 14

A student answers "yes" to the allergy question. What should they do?

1. Submit the form and bring the confirmation number
2. Pick a later date
3. Skip that question
4. Stop booking online and call the office

Question 15

What two things must a student bring to the appointment?

1. The health form and the student ID number
2. The confirmation number and a photo ID
3. A printed calendar and the confirmation number
4. A photo ID and proof of allergies

Craft and structure: questions 16 to 24

How and why the text is written: word meaning, purpose, point of view and tone, fact and opinion, organization, text features.

Question 16

What is the author's main purpose?

1. To inform readers about how hospitals set prices
2. To persuade the board to lower the cost of parking for families
3. To describe a patient's illness
4. To entertain readers with a story about a hospital stay

Question 17

As used in the letter, "waive" most nearly means

1. lower slightly
2. raise
3. not require
4. signal with the hand

Question 18

Which sentence from the letter states a fact rather than an opinion?

1. "Visitors are not a burden on a hospital."
2. "A fee that keeps them away is a fee that harms patients."
3. "Last month the hospital raised the daily parking fee in the visitor garage from $4 to $12."
4. "We urge the board to offer a weekly pass at a fair price."

Question 19

Which word best describes the author's tone?

1. Concerned but respectful
2. Angry and insulting
3. Neutral and detached
4. Humorous

Question 20

How is the letter mainly organized?

1. A sequence of events in time order
2. A comparison of two hospitals
3. A problem, reasons it matters, then proposed solutions
4. A definition followed by examples

Question 21

A student wants to find the page of a nutrition textbook that discusses vitamin D. Which part of the book is the fastest place to look?

1. The glossary
2. The index
3. The preface
4. The bibliography

Question 22

"I stood at the edge of the pool for ten minutes before I finally jumped in." From which point of view is this sentence written?

1. First person
2. Second person
3. Third person limited
4. Third person omniscient

Question 23

"The new nurse was reticent during her first staff meeting, speaking only when someone asked her a direct question." What does "reticent" mean?

1. Angry
2. Quiet and reserved
3. Late
4. Confident

Question 24

A pamphlet about diabetes puts the words blood glucose in bold the first time they appear. What is the most likely reason?

1. To show the words are an opinion
2. To mark a key term the reader should notice and may find defined
3. To show the words are a quotation
4. To show the words are spelled wrong

Integration of knowledge and ideas: questions 25 to 39

Putting texts together: comparing two texts, combining a text with a graphic, judging an argument and its evidence, primary and secondary sources.

Question 25

On which point do the two texts agree?

1. Hand sanitizer is better than soap and water.
2. Hand sanitizer can be used to clean hands.
3. Hands should be scrubbed for 20 seconds.
4. Children prefer soap to sanitizer.

Question 26

How does Text B differ from Text A?

1. Text B gives step-by-step instructions.
2. Text B makes sweeping claims without evidence rather than giving instructions.
3. Text B uses more technical terms.
4. Text B cites more sources.

Question 27

Which claim in Text B is least supported by evidence?

1. Sanitizer can be kept in a car.
2. Sanitizer is faster than washing.
3. Sanitizer is the reason many families get through winter without a cold.
4. Children use sanitizer.

Question 28

A reader wants trustworthy advice on hand hygiene. Which text is the more credible source, and why?

1. Text B, because it is easier to read
2. Text A, because it comes from a hospital and gives specific instructions
3. Text B, because it describes a whole winter
4. They are equally credible.

Question 29

Based on Text A, what would its authors most likely say to the writer of Text B?

1. Stop using sanitizer completely.
2. Wash with soap and water when you can, and use sanitizer when you can't.
3. Sanitizer with any amount of alcohol works.
4. Children should not clean their own hands.

Question 30

Which clinic had the largest increase in flu shots from Year 1 to Year 2?

1. North
2. Central
3. South
4. North and South had the same increase

Question 31

Which clinic had the largest increase as a percentage of its Year 1 total?

1. North
2. Central
3. South
4. All three were equal

Question 32

Which piece of information from the passage best explains Central's small increase?

1. Central gave the most shots in Year 1.
2. Central was closed for three weeks during the busiest part of flu season.
3. Walk-in shots were added at all three clinics.
4. The county has three clinics.

Question 33

Based on the passage, which prediction is most reasonable for Year 3, if Central stays open all season and nothing else changes?

1. Central will give fewer shots than in Year 2.
2. Central will give more shots than in Year 2.
3. North will give fewer shots than in Year 1.
4. South will stop offering walk-in shots.

Question 34

Which piece of evidence offered by the opposing board member is weakest?

1. A later start means later dismissal.
2. Later dismissal leaves less time for sports.
3. Later dismissal leaves less time for after-school jobs.
4. Her own children got up at six and turned out fine.

Question 35

Which finding, if true, would most strengthen the supporters' case?

1. Most students at the school own a phone.
2. At a nearby school that moved to an 8:30 start, students slept more on school nights and fewer were late.
3. The football team won its league last year.
4. Buses cost more to run in the afternoon.

Question 36

Which statement best describes the passage?

1. It argues for a later start time.
2. It argues against a later start time.
3. It presents both sides of a debate without taking a side.
4. It explains how school bus routes are planned.

Question 37

Which is a primary source about a 1918 flu outbreak in a small town?

1. A history textbook chapter on pandemics
2. A diary kept by a nurse who worked in the town in 1918
3. A documentary made in 2015
4. An encyclopedia entry on influenza

Question 38

A student is writing a report on the side effects of a new medicine. Which source is most reliable?

1. A forum where users share their experiences
2. The drug company's advertisement
3. An article in a peer-reviewed medical journal
4. A social media post by a celebrity

Question 39

An article claims a new diet "melts fat in seven days." The article was written by the company that sells the diet. What is the best reason to doubt the claim?

1. The article is too short.
2. The writer has a financial interest in readers believing it.
3. Seven days is a long time.
4. Diet articles are always wrong.

Score your TEAS reading practice test

Count your right answers out of 39. With 39 scored questions on the real section, each is worth about 2.6 percentage points. ATI adjusts scores for differences between test forms, so read this as an estimate, not your official score.

Reading minimums from programs in our list, each from the program's own page: Northern Virginia CC Nursing (RN) 73%, Northern Virginia CC Diagnostic Medical Sonography 70%, Washtenaw CC Associate Degree RN 70%, Redlands Community College Nursing 68%, York Technical College ADN 64%, Middlesex Community College Nursing 60%, York Technical College Practical Nursing 58.7%, Collin College ADN 50%, Hennepin Technical College Practical Nursing 50%. The table with links is in the TEAS reading study guide. Most programs set only an overall minimum, where reading counts with the other three sections; all 56 programs are in what TEAS score you need, and the TEAS score calculator turns your right answers in each section into a total.

What your misses mean

Find each question you missed or guessed and study the skill next to it. The links go to the part of our TEAS reading study guide that teaches it.

Why you missed it: the four kinds of reading miss

Reading misses are rarely about not understanding the passage. They come from the wrong answers, which are written to be almost right. Sort each miss into one of these, then use the fix:

Then retake only the questions you missed, two days later, without the explanations. A question you get right twice is learned.

Pacing: how to finish 45 questions in 55 minutes

At 73 seconds a question, reading time included, pacing is where many applicants lose points they knew. A plan for the real section:

• Check the clock at question 15 and question 30. On the real section, about 18 and 37 minutes should have passed. Behind by more than 3 minutes? Speed up on the standalone questions, which take 30 seconds.
• Read the question before a long passage. Then read the passage once, with a purpose. For a table, read the title, column headers and notes first.
• Flag and move. Inside a section you can go back and flag questions. Give any one question 2 minutes at most, choose your best answer, flag it, and return if time is left. Once you submit the section, you can't go back.
• Never leave a blank. When the clock runs out, unanswered questions count as wrong.

Reading is the first section on the exam, so a steady first ten minutes sets your pace for the whole day. For the rest of test day, read our TEAS exam day tips.

What the real TEAS reading section looks like

Counts and minutes are ATI's for the TEAS Version 7. The 6 unscored questions are mixed in and look like the rest, so treat every question as if it counts. The real passages are as short as these: a paragraph or a few, a label, a chart, a set of directions. You need no outside knowledge; every answer is in the text. Some prep pages still give other numbers, such as 64 minutes, the TEAS 6 timing; for the whole exam as it stands, read what is on the TEAS test.

A 7-day plan after this practice test

For a longer runway, follow the 14-day TEAS reading plan. Vocabulary misses overlap with English: the TEAS English practice test has 10 more word-meaning and writing questions.

TEAS reading practice test FAQ

How many reading questions are on the TEAS?

45 in 55 minutes: 39 scored and 6 unscored. Key ideas and details 15, craft and structure 9, integration of knowledge and ideas 15.

Is there a free TEAS 7 reading practice test?

This page is one: 39 questions matching the TEAS 7 scored split, with every answer explained. ATI sells its own official practice assessments; your college library may also offer LearningExpress practice tests free with a library card.

Is the TEAS reading section hard?

The passages are not difficult; the pace and the near-miss wrong answers are. Most misses are a true detail chosen for a main idea, or an inference that goes further than the text.

What is a good TEAS reading score?

One above your program's reading minimum, if it sets one, and high enough to help your total clear its overall minimum. In our list, reading minimums run from 50% to 73%.

Can I print this TEAS reading practice test?

Yes. Print the page: the passages and questions are all on it, and the answers stay folded until you open them on screen.

Do I need outside knowledge for TEAS reading?

No. Every answer is in the passage or the graphic. When a choice is true in real life but not stated or implied in the text, it is wrong.

Sources

• ATI, ATI TEAS exam details: reading questions, minutes and content areas for Version 7.
• ATI, What type of questions are on the ATI TEAS Version 7?
• ATI, ATI TEAS sections and going back to a question.
• Program reading minimums: each program's admissions page, linked from the reading study guide and our program list.
• Washoe County Library catalog, LearningExpress TEAS reading practice test: an example of free library practice. Read 2026-11-03.

More reading: the TEAS reading study guide, or all guides. To see how your reading compares with your math, science and English, take the free practice test: 15 questions across the four sections, scored against your program's minimum.