TEAS Test of Essential Academic Skills - Set 1 - Part 1

Correct Answer: Hand-washing is critical but compliance is low, and hospitals have responded with sanitizer and tracking.

A summary captures the main idea plus key supporting points. Option A names the practice's importance, the compliance gap, and the hospital response, which together cover the whole passage in a balanced way. Option b is incorrect because it states only one supporting fact from the opening sentence and misses the compliance problem and the hospital response that the passage spends most of its words developing as central points. Option c is incorrect because it names a single hospital response detail rather than the passage's main point. A summary must cover the importance, the gap, and the response together, not just one piece in isolation. Option d is incorrect because it captures only the compliance problem and ignores both the importance of hand-washing and the corrective measures hospitals have introduced. A summary must reflect the whole passage rather than one slice.

Correct Answer: fact

A fact is a statement that can be verified through observation, measurement, expert agreement, or record. The defining feature is verifiability, which separates facts from opinions, biases, and misconceptions in any text. Option a is incorrect because an opinion expresses a belief, judgment, or preference and cannot be verified the same way a fact can. Two reasonable people could disagree on an opinion without one being objectively wrong. Option b is incorrect because bias is a slant or preference that shapes how information is presented, often through word choice, selection of voices, or framing. Bias is not the same as a verifiable claim about the world. Option d is incorrect because a misconception is a belief that is widely held but factually wrong. The defining feature is that it is mistaken, not that it can be verified through measurement or careful documentation.

Correct Answer: critical

The author distances themselves from the celebratory framing, describes resignations and a petition, and notes leadership refusing to engage. These choices together signal disapproval rather than support, neutrality, or confusion about the policy. Option a is incorrect because an enthusiastic author would emphasize the policy's benefits and adopt the administration's positive framing without distance. The passage instead foregrounds harms and quotes the administration with apparent skepticism. Option b is incorrect because a neutral author presents both sides without revealing a stance. This passage selects only negative effects and signals disapproval through its details, which is not balanced reporting on the new policy. Option c is incorrect because the author presents a clear, ordered chain of cause and effect. There is no sign of confusion. The passage is too organized and pointed to be the work of a confused observer.

Correct Answer: what a passage is about, stated as a phrase

A topic is what a passage is about, expressed as a phrase rather than a full sentence. The main idea is the most important point about the topic, while theme is the deeper, more abstract idea. Option a is incorrect because a deeper, more abstract idea describes theme rather than topic. Themes are common in fiction and are expressed as broader concepts like sacrifice or perseverance, not as the simple subject phrase of a passage. Option c is incorrect because the most important point stated in a complete sentence is the main idea, not the topic. The main idea makes a claim about the topic; the topic is just the subject of the writing. Option d is incorrect because support for a claim describes evidence in an argument. Evidence backs up the claim with facts, statistics, or examples. The topic is simply the subject of the passage rather than support.

Correct Answer: Place the stethoscope's diaphragm over the pulse.

The directions follow this order: locate the brachial pulse, then place the stethoscope's diaphragm over the pulse but not under the cuff. The next step in sequence after locating the pulse is placing the stethoscope. Option a is incorrect because inflating the cuff comes after closing the valve, which itself comes after placing the stethoscope. The directions clearly separate locating the pulse from inflation by an intervening stethoscope-placement step. Option b is incorrect because opening the valve happens after the cuff has been inflated. The order is inflate, then slowly open the valve. Opening the valve does not directly follow locating the brachial pulse in the directions. Option d is incorrect because recording numbers occurs at the very end of the procedure, after both the systolic and diastolic readings have been identified. It does not directly follow locating the brachial pulse in the sequence at all.

Correct Answer: a logical conclusion drawn from textual evidence

An inference is a logical conclusion drawn from evidence in the text and reasoning, not stated outright by the author. The reader supplies the connection while the text supplies the supporting evidence for that step. Option b is incorrect because guessing from personal feelings is not inference. A sound inference must be anchored to specific evidence in the passage, not to the reader's own emotional reaction or unrelated personal beliefs about the topic. Option c is incorrect because a statement copied directly from the text is a quotation, not an inference. Inferences go beyond what is explicitly stated, drawing conclusions the author has implied through specific details in the passage. Option d is incorrect because a fact stated in the first sentence is just a stated fact. An inference is unstated and must be reasoned out from clues. Direct statements of fact require no inferential reasoning at all.

Correct Answer: forecast or predicted outcome

The mentor's reminder that even patients with severe diagnoses sometimes recover signals that prognosis is the predicted outcome of an illness. The contrast with possible recovery makes a forecast meaning the best fit here. Option a is incorrect because recovery is the outcome itself, not the prediction of one. The passage treats prognosis as something that can look grim before recovery occurs, which means prognosis precedes and predicts the outcome it describes. Option b is incorrect because medication refers to a treatment, not a prediction about the patient's future. Nothing in the passage suggests a drug; the focus is on what is expected to happen with the resident's patients. Option c is incorrect because age of the patient is unrelated to the surrounding cues about severe diagnoses and possible recovery. The passage discusses outlook for an illness, not biographical information about anyone receiving care here.

Correct Answer: 2021

Reading the listed values, 2021 holds the lowest score at 60. Every other year shown carries a higher value than 2021. Locating the lowest point on a line graph requires comparing every plotted value across the series. Option a is incorrect because 2018 sits at 70, which is well above the 2021 value of 60. The first year shown is not the low point; satisfaction continued to fall for several years after 2018 before climbing again. Option b is incorrect because 2020 is at 65, which is lower than several years but still higher than 2021's score of 60. The trough comes one year later, not in 2020 according to the data given. Option d is incorrect because 2025 sits at 85, the highest value shown. The chart's most recent year shows the peak of satisfaction, not the trough that the question is asking about across the period.

Correct Answer: The hospital is the most beloved institution in the city.

Most beloved is a value judgment that cannot be verified through measurement or record. The other choices describe dates, counts, or events that can be checked against documentation, which makes them facts rather than opinions. Option b is incorrect because 1965 is a verifiable date that can be checked against records. The opening year of an institution is the kind of measurable historical fact that fact-checkers can confirm or refute through public documents. Option c is incorrect because 300 beds is a specific number that can be confirmed by counting or by checking hospital records. Numerical descriptions of capacity belong squarely on the side of fact rather than opinion in a text. Option d is incorrect because a renovation in 2020 is a documented event with a date attached. Whether the renovation happened can be verified through hospital records and contractor reports, which makes it a fact in this case.

Correct Answer: index

An index appears at the end of a book and lists topics alphabetically with the page numbers where each topic is mentioned. It helps readers find every place a topic comes up in the text. Option a is incorrect because a glossary is a mini-dictionary at the end of a book that gives definitions of key terms used in the text. It does not list page numbers in alphabetical order for general topics in the work. Option b is incorrect because a table of contents lists chapters or sections in the order they appear, not alphabetically. It usually sits at the front of the book and shows the starting page of each section. Option c is incorrect because an appendix contains supplementary material such as charts, forms, or extra reading. It does not function as an alphabetical index of topics with their page references inside the main body of text.

Correct Answer: Nightingale's wartime sanitation work and postwar advocacy professionalized nursing.

A summary names the topic and central point and ties together the major sections of the passage. Option B captures both the wartime sanitation work and the postwar advocacy that together professionalized nursing as a respected career. Option a is incorrect because pie charts appear nowhere in the passage and even if they did, that would be a narrow detail. A summary must capture the larger arc of wartime work and postwar advocacy, not one specific tool used. Option c is incorrect because soldiers dying of infections is one supporting detail from the early portion of the passage. It misses the postwar advocacy and the lasting transformation of nursing that the passage emphasizes throughout. Option d is incorrect because the date of arrival is a single narrow fact from the opening sentence. A summary must reflect the entire passage, not just the introduction, and this choice ignores everything Nightingale accomplished afterward.

Correct Answer: The study patients are similar enough to the general patient population.

The argument leaps from a small sample's full recovery to a recommendation for everyone. That leap depends on assuming the study patients are representative of the wider population. If they are not, the recommendation collapses entirely. Option b is incorrect because how long Drug X has been on the market is not required for the argument's logic. The recommendation depends on study results and a generalization assumption, not on the drug's market history at all in this case. Option c is incorrect because the argument never raises cost as part of its reasoning. Whether the drug is expensive is irrelevant to the inference from a small study to a general standard treatment recommendation here. Option d is incorrect because the argument does not depend on knowing the natural recovery rate. The author asserts recovery happened with the drug and recommends adoption based on that observation, not on a comparison with untreated patients.

Correct Answer: to inform readers about how pulse oximetry works

The passage explains the device's mechanism and notes factors that affect its accuracy. There is no advocacy, no story, and no step-by-step procedure, which means the dominant purpose is to inform the reader about the technology. Option a is incorrect because the passage never argues that anyone should buy or use a pulse oximeter at home. There is no call to action and no rhetorical push toward a specific behavior, which a persuasive purpose would require to qualify. Option b is incorrect because the passage offers no step-by-step procedure for taking a reading. There are no imperative verbs guiding the reader through actions, which an instructional purpose would require for someone to actually follow. Option c is incorrect because the passage has no narrative, no characters, and no story arc. The tone is neutral and informational rather than entertaining, and no historical anecdote is used to engage the reader emotionally here.

Correct Answer: abrupt

The contrast word although signals that brusque is the opposite of warmth. Abrupt, meaning short or blunt and lacking pleasantries, fits as the opposite of warm. The contrast pattern points clearly to that meaning. Option a is incorrect because friendly is essentially a synonym for warmth, not its opposite. The contrast word although requires brusque to oppose warmth, so a friendly meaning would defeat the structure of the sentence entirely. Option b is incorrect because cheerful overlaps with warmth and dedication, not with the opposite quality the contrast demands. The author needs a word for what patients perceived before they grew to know the doctor's true warmth in time. Option d is incorrect because medical describes a profession, not a manner. The sentence is about how the doctor came across to patients, which is a question of demeanor and interpersonal style rather than her field of work itself.

Correct Answer: steady decrease

Each month's value is lower than the previous one, falling from 50 in January to 5 in June. A consistent downward direction across every consecutive month defines a steady decrease in the overall trend shown. Option a is incorrect because the values fall every month. A steady increase would require each successive value to be higher than the previous one, but the chart shows the opposite pattern from January through June. Option c is incorrect because the chart shows a clear, consistent pattern. No clear pattern would describe values that zigzag without direction. Here every month moves the same way, which defines a clear and predictable trend in the data. Option d is incorrect because the chart never shows stability. Stable, then sudden drop would require flat values followed by a fall, but the values decline gradually and steadily from the very first month onward.

Correct Answer: effortful

Fluid building up in the lungs makes breathing harder and require more work. Effortful captures the sense of difficulty without overstating it, matching the medical context where labored describes breathing that takes visible effort to perform. Option a is incorrect because easy is the opposite of what fluid in the lungs would produce. The passage explicitly describes a worsening condition that would make breathing harder, not easier or more effortless to perform for the patient. Option b is incorrect because silent describes the absence of sound, not the level of effort. Labored breathing usually involves audible sounds. The context is about how hard the breathing is rather than how loud or quiet it is. Option c is incorrect because painful overstates the meaning. Labored breathing requires effort, but pain is not the central feature. The passage describes inefficiency and fluid buildup, which produce difficulty rather than direct sharp pain in the chest area.

Correct Answer: The power went out.

The passage opens with the lights returning, but the past-perfect tense reveals that the power going out came first in time. The chronological order moves from outage to manual ventilation to auxiliary power to lights returning. Option b is incorrect because the lights returning is the most recent event in time, not the first. The narrative opens with this moment but reaches back to describe the earlier events that built up to the eventual restoration of power. Option c is incorrect because the auxiliary power kicking in came after the team had already switched to manual ventilation. It is the third event in chronological order, not the first event in the sequence the passage describes. Option d is incorrect because Carlos let out his breath only after the lights returned. That happens at the very end of the chronology, not at the beginning. It is also the most recent moment described in the passage's events.

Correct Answer: opposing the new schedule

The author calls the schedule the most poorly designed in fifteen years, lists harms, and ends with a flat refusal of management's framing. Every choice points the reader toward opposition rather than support or balance in this case. Option a is incorrect because the author lists negative consequences and explicitly rejects the management's reasoning. A supporter would emphasize benefits and adopt the official framing instead of describing experienced nurses leaving and refusing to play along with it. Option b is incorrect because the passage never presents arguments in favor of the schedule on equal footing. A neutral analysis would weigh both sides, but here the negatives crowd out the positives and the author's voice tilts the framing throughout. Option d is incorrect because the author explicitly disputes management's claim of efficiency. Defending hospital management would mean supporting the schedule and the leadership's framing, which is the opposite of

Correct Answer: to instruct

To instruct is the purpose category for teaching a skill or procedure. The reader should be able to perform the task afterward. This contrasts with informing, persuading, and entertaining, which target other reader outcomes entirely. Option a is incorrect because informing aims to give the reader factual information, not the ability to do something. After reading an informational passage, the reader knows facts; after an instructional passage, the reader can perform a specific task. Option c is incorrect because persuading aims to convince the reader of a position or move them to a particular belief. Persuasive writing pushes a stance, while instructional writing teaches a procedure step by step for the reader. Option d is incorrect because entertaining aims to amuse, move, or interest the reader through narrative or style. Stories, jokes, and dramatic scenes carry an entertaining purpose, not the practical teaching of a hands-on skill.

Correct Answer: to persuade the hospital to expand visiting hours

The passage opens with a should statement, builds a case using research and judgment, and ends with a direct argument for change. These features mark it as persuasive writing aimed at moving the hospital toward a specific policy. Option a is incorrect because describing the hospital's design is only a small detail used as evidence. The bulk of the passage argues for a policy change rather than walking the reader through architectural features of the new wing in detail. Option b is incorrect because the passage does not lay out current regulations in a neutral way. The reference to current visiting hours is part of the case against them, not a neutral explanation of how the rules currently work in practice. Option c is incorrect because no story is told. There are no characters, no scenes, and no narrative tension. The passage presents an argument with claims and supporting reasons rather than family experiences for entertainment.