TEAS Test of Essential Academic Skills - Set 1 - Part 2

Correct Answer: verify the patient's identity using two identifiers

The directions move from gathering supplies to washing hands to verifying identity using two identifiers. The step that directly follows hand-washing is the verification step, before any medication is compared or handed over to the patient. Option b is incorrect because comparing the medication to the record is the third action, not the second. It comes after the patient's identity has already been verified through two identifiers, not immediately after washing the hands at all. Option c is incorrect because handing the medication to the patient comes much later in the procedure. Several verification and comparison steps occur first to ensure the right drug reaches the right patient at the right time of day. Option d is incorrect because documentation is the final step in the procedure. The directions explicitly place documentation immediately after administration, which is at the end rather than right after hand-washing has occurred at all.

Correct Answer: The 1998 paper was retracted and the lead author lost his license.

A retraction and a license revocation are documented events that can be verified through professional records. These are concrete actions with paper trails, which makes them facts rather than judgments or interpretations of any kind. Option a is incorrect because most damaging in three decades is a comparative judgment that cannot be measured the way a date or revocation can. It rests on the author's evaluation of harm relative to other misconceptions of the era. Option b is incorrect because the statement does not appear in the passage and would itself be a sweeping causal claim. Even if it appeared, blaming a single source for a complex pattern would be an interpretive opinion rather than a fact. Option d is incorrect because only reason is an absolute claim that goes well beyond what the passage actually says. Better diagnosis is mentioned as a major contributor, not the single cause, so this overstates the available support in the text.

Correct Answer: the main idea and important supporting points

A summary captures the main idea along with the most important supporting points, compressed into a few sentences. It should let a reader walk away with the gist of the passage without missing any major piece. Option a is incorrect because including every fact would defeat the purpose of summarizing. A summary compresses the text and selects only the most important supporting points, leaving narrow details out of the final compressed version of the writing. Option b is incorrect because the first sentence does not always state the main idea, and even when it does, a summary needs supporting structure as well. Copying one sentence is not summarizing; it is quoting in isolation from the rest. Option c is incorrect because a summary reflects the author's content, not the reader's opinion. Personal reactions belong in a response or critique, while summaries stick to what the passage actually says without injecting outside views from the reader.

Correct Answer: to entertain readers with a personal story conveying memory

The passage tells a small narrative scene with vivid sensory detail and emotional resonance. There are no instructions, no neutral facts, and no persuasive call to action, which leaves entertainment through personal storytelling as the dominant purpose here. Option a is incorrect because no procedural steps for bottling seawater appear anywhere in the passage. The bottle is a meaningful image, not a project the reader is being taught how to undertake at home with materials and tools. Option c is incorrect because there is no call for the reader to take action. A persuasive purpose would push toward a specific behavior or belief, but this passage simply shares a remembered life without recommending any change. Option d is incorrect because the passage does not survey coastal villages with neutral facts. The single village serves as the setting for one woman's memory, not as the subject of an informational explanation about geography or culture.

Correct Answer: while

While indicates two actions occurring at the same time, such as while stirring the mixture, slowly add the water. Before, after, and finally point to one event preceding or following another rather than overlapping in time at any moment. Option a is incorrect because before signals that one event precedes another in time. It establishes order rather than simultaneity. Two events linked by before do not overlap; one finishes or begins ahead of the other in sequence. Option b is incorrect because after signals that one event follows another. The two events are placed in separate moments rather than overlapping. Sequence rather than simultaneity is the meaning carried by the word after in any sentence. Option d is incorrect because finally marks the last event in a sequence. It places one action at the end of a series, which is the opposite of describing two events that happen at the same time during the same window.

Correct Answer: a parent of a child with food allergies

The passage opens with the writer naming themselves as a parent of an allergic child and ends with we are right, aligning the author with families. The first-person voice ties the perspective to that role throughout the text. Option a is incorrect because food manufacturers are described as pushing back on the rule. The author criticizes their stance and aligns with the families instead, which makes the manufacturer's perspective the opposite of the author's voice in this passage. Option b is incorrect because no regulatory authority is claimed in the passage. A regulator's perspective would weigh competing interests neutrally, but this author takes a clear side and writes from inside the affected family's experience throughout. Option c is incorrect because the passage never references store management or retail operations. The author's identity is given explicitly, and the focus is reading labels as a parent rather than stocking products as a manager would.

Correct Answer: 2019

The peak value is 25 percent in 2019. Every other year shows a lower turnover percentage. Reading the highest point on a line graph requires comparing each plotted value across the time series carefully. Option a is incorrect because 2017 stands at 18 percent, which is below the 2019 peak of 25 percent. Turnover continued to climb after 2017 for two more years before reaching its highest level on the chart. Option c is incorrect because 2022 sits at 14 percent, well below the high point. Turnover had already started its long decline by 2022, so it is far from the peak shown in the data series presented. Option d is incorrect because 2025 holds the lowest value at 8 percent. The most recent year on the chart marks the trough, not the high point that the question is asking the reader to identify.

Correct Answer: The drop in errors was due to a separate quality initiative launched at the same time.

The argument credits the new records system with the drop in errors. If a separate quality initiative caused the drop, the evidence does not actually support the claim. That alternate cause undermines the central reasoning behind the recommendation. Option b is incorrect because mentioning that other hospitals use different systems does not refute the claim that this hospital's system worked. It is a tangential observation that leaves the cause-effect argument intact and unchallenged in any meaningful way. Option c is incorrect because initial discomfort is consistent with a long-term win. The author already concedes that the transition was difficult. Acknowledging discomfort does not refute the claim that benefits eventually arrived after the transition period ended. Option d is incorrect because regular updates are routine for any software and do not undermine the claim of net benefit. Maintenance requirements are common and are not strong evidence that the switch failed to pay

Correct Answer: main idea

The main idea is the most important point an author makes about a topic, stated in a complete sentence. It differs from the topic, which is just the phrase, and from theme, which is the deeper abstract concept of the passage. Option a is incorrect because theme is a deeper, more abstract idea, often expressed as a single word or short phrase. Themes capture larger human concerns rather than the specific point the author argues about a particular topic at hand. Option b is incorrect because the topic is only what the passage is about, expressed as a phrase. It does not state the author's point about that subject; it just names the subject without taking any stance at all. Option c is incorrect because a detail is a specific piece of information that supports the main idea. Details fill in the picture but do not capture the central point the author is making about the subject of writing.

Correct Answer: The mayor has called the plan the only sensible path forward.

That the mayor said something is a verifiable claim about the mayor's words. Recordings and reporters can confirm the statement was made. The content of the statement is opinion, but the act of saying it is a fact. Option a is incorrect because only sensible path forward is a value judgment about what makes good policy. Reasonable people can disagree, and no measurement could settle the question, which marks it firmly as opinion in this passage. Option b is incorrect because a corporate solution to a community problem is a critical characterization. It frames the plan negatively through interpretive language rather than reporting a measurable feature of the proposal in any objective way. Option d is incorrect because necessary is a judgment, not a measurement. Even though the board claims financial pressure forces the closure, calling it necessary expresses an evaluation of the situation rather than a verifiable feature of the world.

Correct Answer: Accidents have dropped by similar amounts on streets without any measures.

The argument assumes the calming measures caused the drop in accidents. If accidents fell on streets without measures too, the original cause-effect link collapses. Some other factor must explain the citywide decline in accident numbers. Option b is incorrect because cost addresses affordability rather than effectiveness. The argument is about whether the measures should be expanded based on safety results, not whether they fit any particular budget at this time of the year. Option c is incorrect because driver complaints about slower travel are tangential to the safety argument. Slower speeds are often the mechanism behind fewer accidents, so complaints could even support rather than weaken the author's central claim. Option d is incorrect because neighborhood requests would tend to support expansion rather than weaken it. The argument calls for spreading the measures, and demand from other neighborhoods aligns with that recommendation rather than undermining the case.

Correct Answer: how community can grow through small acts during a crisis

The passage builds toward the new list of names and numbers, showing how an emergency turned barely-known neighbors into helpful contacts. The arc highlights community formation through small, practical kindnesses during a difficult period in the building. Option a is incorrect because severe weather is the setting rather than the central theme. The passage uses the storm as the trigger for the deeper story about people, not as the focus of its meaning or main concern in the writing. Option b is incorrect because medical equipment is one detail used to show how neighbors helped. The oxygen concentrator illustrates the kind of help shared, not the larger idea the passage develops about people, connection, and community formation. Option c is incorrect because generators are never mentioned and would address infrastructure rather than community. The passage focuses on human relationships emerging during a difficult time, not on building maintenance or backup power planning of any kind.

Correct Answer: Better staffing has been associated with improved outcomes, though causation is not proven.

The passage describes an association between better staffing and better outcomes while explicitly noting that the chair has not claimed proof of causation. Option B captures both the trend and the appropriate caution about cause and effect at this point. Option a is incorrect because the chair specifically stopped short of claiming proof. Stating that the link is proven contradicts the passage's own caution and overstates what the available evidence can support at this preliminary stage of analysis. Option c is incorrect because nothing in the passage suggests cutting nursing staff. Improvements have followed staffing increases, so a recommendation to reverse that course would run against the trend the report describes throughout the text. Option d is incorrect because the data show improvements rather than declines. Medication errors and falls have both fallen, which means safety has improved according to the metrics described in the committee's report on these floors.

Correct Answer: to define key terms used in a book

A glossary is a mini-dictionary at the end of a book that lists key terms and their definitions. Readers use it to look up the meaning of vocabulary that the author uses repeatedly across the chapters. Option b is incorrect because listing chapters in order is the function of a table of contents, not a glossary. The table of contents sits at the front of the book and shows where each section begins in the text. Option c is incorrect because summarizing main ideas is what a chapter summary or abstract does. A glossary defines individual terms rather than condensing the argument of each chapter for the reader's review afterward. Option d is incorrect because a list of references is a bibliography or works-cited section. A glossary contains definitions of terms specific to the book, not the source materials the author drew on while writing the work.

Correct Answer: Behavioral Health

Behavioral Health rose from 700 to 1,800, which is more than a doubling. None of the other services come close to that proportional change. The largest absolute change is not the same as the largest percentage change in the data. Option a is incorrect because Primary Care grew from 4,000 to 4,800, a 20 percent increase. While the absolute increase of 800 visits is large, the proportional growth is small compared with Behavioral Health's more than doubling over the same period. Option b is incorrect because Women's Health grew from 1,800 to 2,200, about a 22 percent increase. The proportional change does not approach the more than 150 percent rise that Behavioral Health shows over the same period of time on the chart. Option c is incorrect because Dental grew from 1,200 to 1,400, only about a 17 percent increase. That is the smallest proportional change among the four services and is far below the growth of Behavioral Health on the table itself.

Correct Answer: to give the reader a quick way to remember the warning signs

An acronym is a memory aid that compresses several items into one easily recalled word. FAST helps the reader remember Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, and Time to call. Recall is the practical purpose served here. Option a is incorrect because acronyms make information easier to recall, not harder. The author's purpose is the opposite of obstruction. A confusing presentation would defeat the urgent goal of recognizing stroke signs quickly under pressure. Option b is incorrect because the acronym is functional rather than ornamental. The passage values practical recall in an emergency over literary style, and clever wordplay would be at odds with the urgent purpose of saving lives. Option d is incorrect because FAST lists warning signs of one condition, not four separate emergencies. Each letter is a sign of stroke, not a different medical event the reader might encounter independently in clinical practice during their shift.

Correct Answer: She covered them with blankets and left a note about pancakes.

Covering the children and leaving a thoughtful note are direct, practical acts of care. The combination of physical comfort and a planned shared meal speaks more clearly to caring than the other choices listed in the question. Option b is incorrect because returning home from work is a routine event that does not specifically demonstrate care for the children. It places her in the scene but does not show what she does that reveals affection for them in any way. Option c is incorrect because homework on the table describes the children, not Carla. It tells the reader what the children were doing rather than what Carla did once she encountered them at the table that night after her shift. Option d is incorrect because the note's content alone is part of the larger caring action but does not capture the full evidence. The combined act of blanketing and noting the meal gives a richer picture than the words alone do.

Correct Answer: Passage 1 emphasizes value; Passage 2 emphasizes limitations.

Passage 1 praises free clinics as essential and money-saving, while Passage 2 frames them as inadequate and a stopgap. The first passage emphasizes value; the second emphasizes limitations of the same clinics in actual practice. Option a is incorrect because Passage 2 takes a critical view, calling clinics a stopgap. Both emphasizing value would require both authors to defend them, but Passage 2 is plainly skeptical about whether they actually solve problems for anyone. Option b is incorrect because Passage 1 actively praises free clinics as one of the most important developments in American healthcare. Calling that a dismissal would misread the passage's clearly positive treatment of the clinics in this context. Option c is incorrect because the assignment is reversed. Passage 1 is the supportive one that emphasizes essential service and savings, while Passage 2 is the critical one. The choice swaps the two stances entirely from the actual passages.

Correct Answer: a direct call to action

A direct call to action urges the reader to do something specific. Persuasive writing aims to move readers toward a behavior or belief, so a call to action is one of its hallmark techniques in any text. Option a is incorrect because a step-by-step procedure is a feature of instructional writing. Procedural steps teach the reader to perform a task rather than convince the reader to adopt a particular position or change behavior in any direction. Option c is incorrect because a neutral list of facts is a hallmark of informational writing. Persuasion typically goes beyond neutral presentation by selecting and framing facts to push the reader toward a specific stance and outcome. Option d is incorrect because a chronological sequence is an organizational pattern that orders events by time. It is common in narrative and historical writing rather than as a primary technique for persuading the reader of any position.

Correct Answer: severe and discouraging

The contrast word although signals that grim opposes recovery. A grim prognosis is one that looks severe and discouraging, which is what the speaker hopes might still be reversed in patients with severe diagnoses on file. Option a is incorrect because cheerful is the opposite meaning. A cheerful prognosis would not need the reassurance that follows. The contrast in the sentence demands a word with negative weight, not a positive emotional tone for the reader. Option b is incorrect because uncertain understates the meaning. Grim carries a clearly negative direction, not just doubt. A merely uncertain outlook would not require the reassurance that recovery is still possible despite the poor odds at hand. Option d is incorrect because confusing addresses clarity rather than tone. Grim describes the unfavorable nature of the outlook, not whether it is hard to understand. A grim outlook can be perfectly clear while still being discouraging in nature.