TEAS Reading Practice Questions with Explanations
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Reading is 45 questions in 55 minutes — about seventy seconds each. Most students know the content well enough; what they lose is time, by reading passages more thoroughly than the questions require.
Read the question first
Look at what is being asked before you read the passage. A main-idea question and a specific-detail question call for completely different reading. Knowing which one you face turns a careful read into a targeted one, and that is where the time is saved.
Practice passage
Hospitals have begun using colour-coded wristbands to communicate patient risks at a glance. A red band may signal an allergy while a yellow one indicates a fall risk. The system works only when every ward uses the same colours, and several states have moved to standardise them after incidents in which a colour meant one thing in one hospital and something else in another.
Which choice best expresses the main idea of the passage?
- AColour-coded wristbands have replaced patient charts in most hospitals.
- BColour-coded wristbands help communicate patient risks but require standardisation to be safe.
- CRed wristbands are the most important colour in hospital safety systems.
- DSeveral states have banned the use of coloured wristbands.
Explanation
The passage makes two linked points: the bands communicate risk, and they only work if the colours mean the same thing everywhere. Option B captures both. A and D state things the passage never claims, and C overstates one example into the main point.
Based on the passage, why have several states moved to standardise wristband colours?
- ABecause hospitals asked for fewer colours.
- BBecause inconsistent colour meanings between hospitals caused incidents.
- CBecause red and yellow are difficult to tell apart.
- DBecause wristbands are cheaper when standardised.
Explanation
The final sentence states it directly: states acted after incidents in which a colour meant one thing in one hospital and something else in another. The other options introduce reasons the passage never gives — a classic distractor pattern, offering answers that sound plausible but are not supported by the text.
The author's purpose in this passage is primarily to
- Apersuade hospitals to stop using wristbands.
- Binform the reader about a safety practice and a problem with it.
- Ccompare two competing wristband systems.
- Ddescribe the history of hospital safety regulation.
Explanation
The tone is neutral and explanatory: it describes the practice, then notes the standardisation problem. There is no argument being made, no comparison of two systems, and no history. When a passage neither argues nor tells a story, 'to inform' is usually right.
Pacing that works
- Roughly seventy seconds per question. If you are past two minutes, guess, flag it and move on.
- Answer only from the passage. Outside knowledge is how wrong answers get chosen.
- Watch for absolutes — always, never, all, none. They are usually wrong in a passage written in measured language.
- Never leave a question blank. There is no penalty for guessing.