Free TEAS 7 Reading Practice Test 1 — 30 Questions With Full Explanations
Test 1 of this set covers key ideas & details, craft & structure, integration. Answer all 30 questions, then read the explanation for each one - including why each wrong option fails. Take it interactively with instant scoring: Reading practice. Every question is original and written to the published blueprint split for the Reading section (45 questions on exam day).
Passages
Passage P1
Honeybees find flowers, carry the location back to the hive, and tell other workers where the flowers are by dancing. During the waggle dance, a bee runs straight ahead while waggling its abdomen, then loops back to the starting point and repeats. The angle of the straight run relative to the pull of gravity on the vertical comb indicates the direction of the food relative to the sun: a straight run straight up means fly toward the sun, while an angle to the right of vertical means fly that many degrees to the right of the sun. The duration of the waggle run signals distance, so a long run means the food is far away. Food close to the hive is announced by a simpler round dance that carries no direction. For decades researchers debated whether recruits actually used the dance or simply followed the scent of the flowers carried on the dancer's body. In a classic experiment, bees recruited to a feeder the dancer had never visited and that bore no odor, so the dance itself had to supply the information.
Passage P2
A staff nurse taking a blood pressure reading should follow the same sequence every time. First, ask the patient to rest quietly for at least five minutes in a chair with both feet flat on the floor. Remove or roll up any tight sleeve. Place the cuff on the bare upper arm so its lower edge sits two to three centimeters above the crease of the elbow, with the bladder centered over the brachial artery. Before inflating, locate the radial pulse and inflate the cuff only to about 30 millimeters of mercury above the point where that pulse disappears. Then deflate the cuff slowly, at two to three millimeters per second. The first tapping sound you hear through the stethoscope is the systolic pressure; the point where the tapping sounds disappear is the diastolic pressure. Taking a repeat reading is common, but wait one to two minutes between attempts so the arm's circulation can recover.
Passage P3
Vaccination is one of the oldest tools of preventive medicine, and it developed through centuries of experiment. In parts of Asia, healers practiced variolation, deliberately exposing a person to material from a mild case of smallpox, with the risk that the exposure itself could cause severe disease. In 1796 the English physician Edward Jenner showed that material from cowpox, a milder relative of smallpox, conferred protection without causing the disease, and he called the procedure vaccination. A century later, Louis Pasteur extended the idea by weakening microbes in the laboratory, producing the first vaccine against rabies in 1885. The twentieth century brought vaccines against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, and, from Salk in 1955 and Sabin in the 1960s, two polio vaccines. In 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated, the first disease removed from the world by a vaccine. Most recently, messenger RNA vaccines built a flexible platform that could be redesigned in weeks, a speed that proved decisive during the 2020 pandemic response.
Passage P4
Nearly every tissue in the body runs on a daily schedule, and the clock that sets the schedule sits deep in the brain. The suprachiasmatic nucleus, a cluster of about twenty thousand neurons, receives light signals from the eyes, and those signals keep the body's internal time close to the rising and setting of the sun. In dim conditions the pineal gland releases melatonin, the hormone that eases the body into sleep. The system is not fixed, however. During adolescence the internal clock shifts later, a phase delay that makes genuinely early bedtimes difficult for teenagers even when they want them. A wave of research on later school start times found that moving the first bell later improved attendance and mood in adolescents whose schedules had been out of step with their internal clocks. The practical lesson is that a habit described as laziness may actually be a biological schedule that conflicts with an early alarm clock.
Passage P5
A campus without gardens is a campus that wastes its own resources. Student-run plots on unused lawns would feed the food pantry, teach planting skills that transfer to community work, and give stressed students a low-pressure reason to go outside. Opponents of the proposal will say that maintenance costs money and that every square meter of campus is already spoken for. Both objections deserve answers. A garden staffed by volunteers costs little beyond seeds and soil, and the plots proposed occupy corners that host no classes, no housing, and no events. The real question is not whether the college can afford a garden program but whether it can afford not to have one, given what the program returns in food, skills, and calm. The administration should fund a pilot plot next semester, measure the harvest and the participation, and let the results argue for a permanent program.
Passage P6
In a study of coastal wetland restoration, researchers selected twelve former marsh sites that had been drained for agriculture, restored eight of them by reconnecting tidal flow, and left four undisturbed as comparison plots. Over three years they sampled nitrate levels in the water leaving each site and counted breeding bird species each spring. At every sampling date, the restored plots removed nitrate at rates close to those of an intact reference marsh, while the comparison plots showed little change. Bird species richness in the restored sites climbed from an average of three to an average of fourteen species by the third spring. The authors urge caution: the sites lie in one region, the study ran for only three years, and restored wetlands can take decades to approach full function. Still, the pattern was consistent, and the team argues that modest restoration efforts can deliver measurable water-quality and habitat gains within a few years.
All 30 questions with answers
Question 1. Key Ideas & Details easy
What is the main idea of the passage?
See passage P1 above.
- A. Honeybees use a dance to tell other workers where food is located. (correct)
- B. Honeybees find food mainly by following the scent of flowers.
- C. The waggle dance is performed only when flowers are close to the hive.
- D. Researchers still know almost nothing about how honeybees communicate.
Explanation: The passage explains how the waggle dance works and shows it communicates location. Scent is mentioned only as a rejected alternative, the dance is used for far food, and researchers do know how it works, so those options fail.
Question 2. Key Ideas & Details medium
According to the passage, the direction of food is encoded by the angle of the dance relative to
See passage P1 above.
- A. the number of other bees watching the dance.
- B. the position of the sun as translated to the comb. (correct)
- C. the strength of the scent carried by the dancer.
- D. the time of day the bee returns to the hive.
Explanation: The passage states the straight-run angle is measured against gravity on the comb, which stands in for the sun. The other options are details the passage does not use to encode direction.
Question 3. Craft & Structure medium
How is the passage organized?
See passage P1 above.
- A. As a chronological history of bee research.
- B. As a comparison of two competing theories.
- C. As an explanation of a process followed by a question about it. (correct)
- D. As a step-by-step list of how to observe bees.
Explanation: The passage first explains how the dance works, then raises the decades-long question of whether recruits use scent instead, then answers it with an experiment. That matches explanation-then-question structure.
Question 4. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard
Which new finding would most strengthen the conclusion that the dance itself carries the information?
See passage P1 above.
- A. The dance is performed more often in the morning than in the afternoon.
- B. Dancers that cannot see the sun produce less precise dances.
- C. Recruits leave the hive faster when food is abundant.
- D. Bees recruited to a feeder the dancer never visited arrive there correctly. (correct)
Explanation: If recruits reach a feeder the dancer never visited, scent carried by the dancer cannot explain their success, which is exactly the evidence the passage already uses. The other findings concern dance quality or timing, not the source of information.
Question 5. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium
Based on the passage, a bee whose waggle run lasts longer than another bee's is most likely signaling
See passage P1 above.
- A. food that is closer to the hive.
- B. food that is farther from the hive. (correct)
- C. food that is sweeter than average.
- D. food that is to the left of the sun.
Explanation: The passage says the duration of the waggle run signals distance, with a long run meaning the food is far away. The other options attach the wrong meaning to duration.
Question 6. Craft & Structure easy
What is the primary purpose of the passage?
See passage P2 above.
- A. To explain why blood pressure readings vary from person to person.
- B. To argue that blood pressure is measured too often in clinics.
- C. To describe how a nurse should take a blood pressure reading. (correct)
- D. To compare manual and automated blood pressure devices.
Explanation: Every sentence gives an instruction in the order it should be done, so the purpose is procedural: how to take the reading. The other purposes describe content the passage does not contain.
Question 7. Key Ideas & Details easy
According to the passage, the cuff should be placed
See passage P2 above.
- A. over the crease of the elbow.
- B. on the bare upper arm above the elbow. (correct)
- C. over the radial artery at the wrist.
- D. on top of a rolled-up shirtsleeve.
Explanation: The passage directs the cuff to the bare upper arm, two to three centimeters above the elbow crease, with the bladder over the brachial artery. Tight sleeves are removed, and the wrist is not used.
Question 8. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium
According to the passage, what should a nurse do just before inflating the cuff?
See passage P2 above.
- A. Ask the patient to lie flat.
- B. Wait one to two minutes.
- C. Record the diastolic pressure.
- D. Find the radial pulse. (correct)
Explanation: The sequence says to locate the radial pulse and inflate only to about 30 mmHg above where that pulse disappears, so finding the pulse comes first. The other actions are earlier, later, or unmentioned.
Question 9. Key Ideas & Details medium
In the procedure described, the diastolic pressure is the point at which
See passage P2 above.
- A. the cuff is fully inflated.
- B. the first tapping sound is heard.
- C. the tapping sounds disappear. (correct)
- D. the radial pulse disappears.
Explanation: The passage defines diastolic pressure as the point where the tapping sounds disappear. The first tapping sound is systolic, and the other events are cuff and pulse checks, not pressures.
Question 10. Key Ideas & Details easy
What is the main idea of this passage about vaccination?
See passage P3 above.
- A. Vaccines have developed gradually over centuries of experimentation. (correct)
- B. Smallpox remains a serious global threat to public health.
- C. Jenner invented vaccination without any earlier tradition to build on.
- D. Modern vaccines work exactly the same way as variolation did.
Explanation: The passage traces vaccination from variolation through Jenner, Pasteur, the twentieth-century vaccines, and mRNA, which is a story of gradual development. The other options contradict or misread the passage.
Question 11. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas easy
Which of the following lists the events in the passage in chronological order?
See passage P3 above.
- A. Pasteur's rabies vaccine; Jenner's cowpox work; Salk's polio vaccine.
- B. Jenner's cowpox work; variolation; the 2020 pandemic response.
- C. Jenner's cowpox work; Pasteur's rabies vaccine; Salk's polio vaccine. (correct)
- D. Salk's polio vaccine; Jenner's cowpox work; Pasteur's rabies vaccine.
Explanation: The passage gives Jenner (1796), then Pasteur (1885), then the twentieth-century polio vaccines. The other orders reverse the sequence or misplace variolation.
Question 12. Key Ideas & Details easy
According to the passage, smallpox was declared eradicated in
See passage P3 above.
- A. 1796.
- B. 1885.
- C. 1955.
- D. 1980. (correct)
Explanation: The passage states the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980. The other years are those of Jenner, Pasteur, and the first Salk vaccine.
Question 13. Craft & Structure medium
The author's attitude toward the history of vaccination is best described as
See passage P3 above.
- A. dismissive.
- B. skeptical.
- C. appreciative. (correct)
- D. alarmed.
Explanation: The passage describes one advance after another as successful and decisive, a consistently appreciative tone. There is no criticism, doubt, or alarm in the word choice.
Question 14. Key Ideas & Details hard
Based on the passage, which statement about variolation is accurate?
See passage P3 above.
- A. It was developed by Jenner as part of his vaccination experiments.
- B. It carried a risk of causing the very disease it was meant to prevent. (correct)
- C. It used weakened microbes grown in a laboratory.
- D. It was used only after Pasteur's rabies vaccine proved successful.
Explanation: The passage says variolation had the risk that exposure itself could cause severe disease, and places it before Jenner. The other options misdate or mischaracterize the practice.
Question 15. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium
The development of vaccines described in the passage most resembles which of the following?
See passage P3 above.
- A. A technique refined over many generations by trial and error. (correct)
- B. A single sudden discovery that replaced all earlier practice.
- C. A theory that remained untested for two centuries.
- D. A method abandoned because it was too dangerous to use.
Explanation: Each step built on the one before, from variolation to Jenner to Pasteur to modern platforms, which is refinement by trial and error over time. The other options contradict the passage's account.
Question 16. Key Ideas & Details easy
What is the passage mainly about?
See passage P4 above.
- A. Why insomnia is more common in older adults.
- B. How melatonin is manufactured in the pineal gland.
- C. How the body's internal clock controls the daily cycle of sleep. (correct)
- D. Why school start times should be earlier for teenagers.
Explanation: The passage explains the brain clock, light, melatonin, and how the clock shifts in adolescence, all about the internal schedule of sleep. The other options name details or reverse the passage's point.
Question 17. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium
According to the passage, the difficulty many teenagers have falling asleep early is most directly due to
See passage P4 above.
- A. a biological shift in the internal clock during adolescence. (correct)
- B. greater sensitivity to melatonin in teenagers.
- C. later school start times nationwide.
- D. a lack of light exposure in the evening.
Explanation: The passage attributes difficult early bedtimes in teens to the adolescent phase delay of the internal clock. The other options name consequences or unmentioned causes.
Question 18. Key Ideas & Details medium
According to the passage, the suprachiasmatic nucleus
See passage P4 above.
- A. produces the hormone melatonin.
- B. relays light signals to the body's clock. (correct)
- C. is located in the pineal gland.
- D. shortens the adolescent clock.
Explanation: The passage says the suprachiasmatic nucleus receives light signals from the eyes, keeping internal time aligned with the sun. Melatonin comes from the pineal gland, and the nucleus does not shorten the teen clock.
Question 19. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard
Which finding, if real, would most weaken the passage's claim that light is the dominant signal setting the internal clock?
See passage P4 above.
- A. Melatonin levels begin to rise a few hours before bedtime.
- B. Bright light in the morning shifts the clock earlier in most people.
- C. Blind people with no light perception maintain near-24-hour sleep rhythms. (correct)
- D. Teenagers with later school start times report more sleep.
Explanation: If people who perceive no light still keep 24-hour rhythms, something besides light must set the clock, weakening the dominant-light claim. The other findings support the passage's account or make unrelated points.
Question 20. Craft & Structure easy
The phrase "the internal clock" is an example of
See passage P4 above.
- A. a metaphor. (correct)
- B. a definition.
- C. a statistical claim.
- D. a direct quotation.
Explanation: Calling the brain's timing system a clock compares it to a device it resembles, which is a metaphor. It is not an official definition, a number, or a quotation.
Question 21. Craft & Structure easy
What is the primary purpose of this passage?
See passage P5 above.
- A. To inform readers how to plant a vegetable garden.
- B. To persuade the administration to fund a campus garden pilot. (correct)
- C. To report the results of a garden program at another college.
- D. To explain why campus lawns are hard to maintain.
Explanation: The passage argues that objections can be answered and asks the administration to fund a pilot, which is persuasion. It does not teach gardening, report results, or discuss lawn care.
Question 22. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium
Which of the following is presented in the passage as an objection the author answers?
See passage P5 above.
- A. Gardens attract insects and pests.
- B. Students do not have enough free time to garden.
- C. Maintenance costs money and campus land is already in use. (correct)
- D. The food pantry already has enough produce.
Explanation: The author names two objections, that maintenance costs money and every square meter is spoken for, and answers both. The other objections do not appear in the passage.
Question 23. Key Ideas & Details easy
Which benefit of campus gardens does the passage mention?
See passage P5 above.
- A. Lowering campus heating bills.
- B. Replacing the college food service.
- C. Teaching skills that transfer to community work. (correct)
- D. Increasing enrollment in science courses.
Explanation: The passage lists food for the pantry, planting skills that transfer to community work, and a low-pressure reason to be outside. The other benefits are not mentioned.
Question 24. Craft & Structure medium
The overall tone of the passage is best described as
See passage P5 above.
- A. neutral and factual.
- B. playful and ironic.
- C. anxious and uncertain.
- D. urgent and reasonable. (correct)
Explanation: The author presses for action now (fund a pilot next semester) while calmly answering objections, which is urgent yet reasonable, not neutral, playful, or anxious.
Question 25. Key Ideas & Details hard
Based on the passage, the author would most likely support which decision by the administration?
See passage P5 above.
- A. Selling the proposed plots to a private developer.
- B. Funding a small trial garden and measuring its results. (correct)
- C. Requiring all students to volunteer in a garden.
- D. Rejecting the proposal until the campus is redesigned.
Explanation: The author closes by asking for a pilot plot, argued with measured harvest and participation, so funding a measured trial is the natural next step. The other options contradict the argument.
Question 26. Key Ideas & Details easy
What is the passage primarily about?
See passage P6 above.
- A. An argument against reconnecting tidal flow to drained land.
- B. A proposal to convert farmland into a bird sanctuary.
- C. A comparison of nitrate levels in rivers and oceans.
- D. A study of whether restoring drained coastal marshes improves water quality and wildlife. (correct)
Explanation: The passage reports a three-year comparison of restored and unrestored marsh sites, measuring nitrate removal and bird richness, which is the effect of restoration. The other options misstate the study.
Question 27. Key Ideas & Details medium
In the study described, the comparison plots were used to
See passage P6 above.
- A. test a second restoration method.
- B. provide a baseline of what happens without restoration. (correct)
- C. measure nitrate levels in river water.
- D. raise breeding birds for release.
Explanation: The four untouched plots represent the drained, unrestored condition so the restored sites can be compared against them. The other options describe actions the passage does not attribute to them.
Question 28. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard
Which result best supports the authors' conclusion that modest restoration delivers measurable gains?
See passage P6 above.
- A. Comparison plots still drain agricultural runoff.
- B. Restored sites removed nitrate at rates near an intact reference marsh. (correct)
- C. Some restored sites gained no new bird species.
- D. The study region experiences frequent storms.
Explanation: Nitrate removal close to an intact marsh is a direct, measurable gain in water quality within a few years, which supports the conclusion. The other results are caveats or unrelated context.
Question 29. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium
The authors caution that the study's findings may not apply elsewhere mainly because
See passage P6 above.
- A. the restored sites were compared only with intact marshes.
- B. the researchers could not count birds accurately.
- C. the sites are in one region and the study ran only three years. (correct)
- D. nitrate sampling was done only once.
Explanation: The passage lists one region and a three-year window as the limits on generalization. The other options describe limits the passage does not mention.
Question 30. Craft & Structure medium
The phrase "removed nitrate at rates close to those of an intact reference marsh" is best described as
See passage P6 above.
- A. quantitative language. (correct)
- B. an opinion.
- C. a metaphor.
- D. a command.
Explanation: The phrase reports measured nitrate-removal rates compared with an intact reference marsh, so it is quantitative language drawn from data. It is not an opinion, because it states a measured comparison; it is not a metaphor; and it is not a command.