The Reading section covers three areas: key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas. In practice that means finding the main idea and supporting details, working out word meanings from context, recognizing how a passage is built and why, and pulling information out of tables, directions and arguments. You never need outside knowledge - and bringing it in is one of the most common ways to pick a wrong answer. Questions 1 to 4 share a short passage. Try each one before opening the solution.
The passage for Questions 1 to 4
Question 1 - Main idea
- A. Alcohol-based rubs should replace soap and water in hospitals.
- B. Hand hygiene is the best defense against hospital infection, but time pressure and the limits of alcohol rubs complicate it.
- C. Nurses do not clean their hands often enough.
- D. Clostridioides difficile is the most dangerous hospital infection.
Show the solution
A main-idea answer has to cover the whole passage, not one sentence of it.
The passage opens with hand hygiene as the best prevention, explains why compliance is hard, credits alcohol rubs, then names their limit. Only B covers all of that.
C is one detail. D is never claimed - the organism is an example. A contradicts the final sentence, which says soap and water is still needed in some cases.
Answer: B. Hand hygiene is the best defense against hospital infection, but time pressure and the limits of alcohol rubs complicate it.
Test each choice by asking whether the author would sign it as a summary of the whole paragraph. Details and overstatements fail that test fast.
Question 2 - Supporting detail
- A. Soap and water is faster than an alcohol rub.
- B. Alcohol rubs are not mounted in those patients' rooms.
- C. The organism's spores are not reliably killed by alcohol.
- D. Guidelines no longer recommend alcohol rubs.
Show the solution
The last sentence gives the reason directly, joined by "which is why": the spores are not reliably killed by alcohol.
A reverses the passage, which says rubs are faster. B and D are never stated.
Answer: C. The organism's spores are not reliably killed by alcohol.
Detail questions are answered in the text, not in your head. Find the sentence, then pick the choice that restates it.
Question 3 - Word meaning in context
- A. agreement with an opinion
- B. following a required practice
- C. flexibility under pressure
- D. a formal complaint
Show the solution
The sentence compares compliance with "what guidelines require." The word must describe how well workers do what they are supposed to do.
A is a real meaning of the word in other settings, but it does not fit a sentence about guidelines. C and D do not fit at all.
Answer: B. following a required practice
Substitute each choice back into the sentence. The right one will read naturally; a dictionary meaning that does not fit the context will sound off.
Question 4 - Text structure
- A. It compares two hospitals' infection rates.
- B. It lists events in the order they happened.
- C. It states a problem, describes a partial solution, and then notes a limit of that solution.
- D. It presents an argument and then refutes it.
Show the solution
The problem is poor compliance, partly caused by time. The partial solution is alcohol rubs, which are faster. The limit is that they do not kill every organism.
Nothing is compared, nothing is in time order, and no argument is refuted.
Answer: C. It states a problem, describes a partial solution, and then notes a limit of that solution.
Signal words give structure away. "Part of the problem" flags a problem, "have helped" flags a solution, and "Even so" flags a limitation.
Question 5 - Fact versus opinion
- A. The clinic is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.
- B. The new waiting room is far more welcoming than the old one.
- C. The clinic added four exam rooms last year.
- D. Patients can book appointments online or by phone.
Show the solution
A fact can be checked. Opening hours, the number of rooms added and booking options can all be verified.
"Far more welcoming" is a judgment - two reasonable people could disagree about it.
Answer: B. The new waiting room is far more welcoming than the old one.
Watch for judgment words: best, worst, beautiful, welcoming, should, unfortunately. They almost always mark opinion.
Question 6 - Following directions
- A. GPRANS
- B. PRANGS
- C. GPRINS
- D. SPRANG
Show the solution
Remove the S: PRING.
Replace the first vowel (I) with A: PRANG.
Move the last letter (G) to the front: GPRAN.
Add S to the end: GPRANS.
Answer: A. GPRANS
Write down the result after every single step. Doing these in your head is how a step gets skipped - choice B is what you get if you forget to move the G.
Question 7 - Reading a table
| Day | Pharmacy counter hours |
|---|---|
| Monday - Thursday | 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. |
| Friday | 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. |
| Saturday | 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. |
| Sunday | Closed |
The counter closes for lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
A patient works 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and can only pick up a prescription outside those hours. Which of these times would work?- A. Friday at 6:00 p.m.
- B. Monday at 12:45 p.m.
- C. Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.
- D. Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
Show the solution
Check every choice against both limits - the patient's work hours and the counter's hours.
A: the counter closes at 5:00 on Fridays. B: the patient is at work, and the counter is closed for lunch anyway. D: closed all day Sunday.
C: the patient is off work, and the counter is open until 7:00 on Wednesdays.
Answer: C. Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.
Read the notes under a table before the question. The lunch closure is exactly the kind of detail a wrong answer is built around.
Question 8 - Evaluating evidence
- A. Sales of lower-calorie meals rose after the labels were added, compared with the same months the year before.
- B. Several employees said they liked seeing the calorie counts.
- C. The new menu board uses larger, easier-to-read print.
- D. Other hospitals have also added calorie counts to their menus.
Show the solution
The claim is about behavior: what employees actually chose. The strongest evidence measures that behavior before and after the change.
A does exactly that, and comparing with the same months a year earlier rules out seasonal changes in what people eat.
B measures opinions, not choices. C and D do not show any change in what employees bought.
Answer: A. Sales of lower-calorie meals rose after the labels were added, compared with the same months the year before.
Match the evidence to the exact claim. If the claim is about what people did, evidence about what people said or what other places did is weaker.
Bringing it together
Every one of these answers was sitting in the text. The wrong choices worked by being almost right: a true detail offered as a main idea, a real dictionary meaning that did not fit the sentence, an opinion dressed as a fact, a time that ignored the note under the table. With about 73 seconds per question, the habit that pays off most is going back to the exact sentence before you commit - not answering from memory of the passage.
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All four TEAS sections - Reading, Math, Science, and English and Language Usage - are covered in the full ATI TEAS practice course, with a worked solution on every question.