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Free TEAS 7 Reading Practice Test 6 — 30 Questions With Full Explanations

Test 6 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

A glacier is a slow-moving river of ice that forms where snow outlasts summer. Winter snowfall must exceed summer melting year after year, and the accumulating snow compresses under its own weight, turning first to dense granular firn and finally to ice. When the ice grows thick enough, it begins to flow downhill under gravity, gliding over the bedrock at speeds that range from a few centimeters to several meters per day. As it moves, the glacier grinds the valley floor, scraping out a U-shaped trough where streams once cut a narrow V. It plucks blocks from the valley walls and carries them along, then drops them far downstream when the ice melts. Where a glacier meets the sea it calves icebergs, and where it retreats it leaves behind ridges of debris called moraines. Today, most of the world's glaciers are shrinking faster than they can be replaced. Scientists monitor their length and mass each year because glaciers store about two-thirds of the planet's fresh water, and their melt water feeds rivers that hundreds of millions of people depend on.

Passage P2

The building had been quiet for hours, but Nadia kept her lamp on and her window closed so the neighbors would sleep. Tomorrow she would ride the early bus to the city for the audition, and tonight every flaw in her playing seemed louder than the notes themselves. She had practiced the same passage since September, a run of quick sixteenth notes that her fingers refused to make smooth. Her teacher said the trouble was not her fingers but her fear; the notes knew the way, he insisted, and she only needed to trust them. Nadia lifted the bow, played the passage once more, and this time she did not stop at the awkward spot. She let the melody carry her past it, and the phrase closed cleanly. She played it again, then again, until the difficult run felt like an old friend. When she finally set the violin in its case, the first gray light was showing at the window. She smiled, closed the case, and went to make tea before the long ride.

Passage P3

Employee Handbook, Section 4: Requesting Time Off. All full-time staff must submit requests for paid time off through the online portal at least fourteen calendar days before the first day of leave. Exceptions are granted only for documented emergencies, and managers must receive a call from the employee before the start of the scheduled shift. Approved requests are recorded on the shared team calendar within two business days. Requests are granted on a first-come, first-served basis, and no more than two employees from the same department may be on leave at one time, except during training weeks, when the limit is one. Paid time off accrues at a rate of one and a half days per month worked, and unused days may be carried over into the next calendar year up to a maximum of ten days. Because the first week of each quarter is inventory week, time off will not be approved during those five working days. Employees who fail to follow this procedure and miss work without an approved request will be marked absent without pay and may face corrective action.

Passage P4

The lymphatic system is the body's second circulatory network, a web of thin vessels that works beside the blood system. Every day, some of the fluid that leaves the capillaries to nourish tissues does not return directly to the blood. The lymphatic vessels collect that fluid, now called lymph, and carry it back toward the chest, where it re-enters the bloodstream near the heart. Along the way the lymph passes through lymph nodes, small bean-shaped filters that trap bacteria, dead cells, and other debris. White blood cells inside the nodes examine the trapped material and, if they find a threat, begin producing antibodies against it, which is why lymph nodes swell during infections. The spleen and the thymus work with this system, and the tonsils and appendix are also parts of it. When lymph vessels are damaged or removed, fluid can accumulate in a limb, a condition called lymphedema that causes persistent swelling. Unlike the heart-driven blood system, lymph moves by the squeeze of nearby muscles and by breathing, which is one reason regular movement helps keep the system working.

Passage P5

In the early 1930s, a disaster unfolded across the southern Great Plains that came to be known as the Dust Bowl. For decades, farmers had plowed millions of acres of native grassland to plant wheat, encouraged by good prices and wet years. The deep-rooted prairie grasses that had held the soil in place were gone. Then a severe drought settled over the region, and the dry topsoil turned to powder. Strong winds lifted the loose earth into towering black clouds that blotted out the sun and buried farm buildings, roads, and fences under drifts of dirt. In 1935, a single dust storm carried an estimated 300,000 tons of soil from the plains toward the East Coast. Thousands of families abandoned their farms and fled west, many to California, in one of the largest migrations in American history. The crisis pushed the federal government to action, creating the Soil Conservation Service, which taught farmers contour plowing, crop rotation, and windbreaks. Within a decade, the combination of better farming methods and the return of rain brought the eroded land slowly back to life.

Passage P6

Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 to a wealthy English family that expected her to marry and manage a household. Instead, she insisted on training as a nurse, a profession then regarded as the work of the poor and uneducated. In 1854, during the Crimean War, she led a small team of nurses to a military hospital at Scutari, where wounded soldiers were dying of infection, filth, and neglect at an appalling rate. Nightingale found the hospital overcrowded and unsanitary, with inadequate supplies and water. She used her own funds and those of a public subscription to buy soap, towels, and bedding, and she insisted on clean kitchens and laundries. Within months the death rate in the hospital fell sharply. When she returned to England, she published a detailed analysis of army mortality, using statistics and charts that showed most soldiers died of preventable disease rather than battle wounds. In 1860 she used donations from the public to open the Nightingale Training School for nurses in London, the first secular nursing school in the world. She spent the rest of her long life reforming hospitals and public health, and she is remembered as the founder of modern nursing.

All 30 questions with answers

Question 1. Key Ideas & Details easy

Which sentence best states the main idea of the passage?

See passage P1 above.

A. Glaciers are moving masses of ice that form from lasting snow, reshape the land, and are now mostly shrinking. (correct)
B. Glaciers exist only in the coldest regions of the world and never change in size.
C. Scientists study glaciers mainly to reconstruct the ancient climate of the earth.
D. Most of the world's fresh water is stored in rivers and lakes rather than in ice.

Explanation: The passage defines glaciers as slow-moving ice formed where snow outlasts summer, describes how they grind valleys and leave moraines, and closes by noting that most are shrinking while storing much of the world's fresh water. That overall focus matches the first option; the others state claims the passage contradicts or never makes.

Question 2. Key Ideas & Details medium

According to the passage, a glacier begins to form when

See passage P1 above.

A. ice from the sea spreads across coastal land during storms.
B. a river freezes solid and stays frozen for several winters.
C. winter snowfall exceeds summer melting year after year. (correct)
D. volcanic ash is compressed into dense rock by its own weight.

Explanation: The passage states that a glacier forms where winter snowfall must exceed summer melting year after year, so persistent surplus snowfall is the key starting condition. Sea ice, frozen rivers, and compressed volcanic ash are alternatives the passage never presents as the origin of a glacier.

Question 3. Craft & Structure medium

How does the passage organize its account of glaciers?

See passage P1 above.

A. As a comparison of glaciers found in different countries.
B. As a sequence that traces how glaciers form, move, and reshape the land. (correct)
C. As a debate between two theories about how ice flows downhill.
D. As a list of instructions for observing glaciers safely.

Explanation: The passage moves through a natural sequence: first how snow becomes ice, then how the ice flows and carves a U-shaped valley, then what it deposits, and finally its current shrinking status and monitoring. That progression is a formation-to-effect sequence, not a comparison, a debate, or an instruction list.

Question 4. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard

A hiker discovers a valley with a wide, flat floor and steep sides. Based on the passage, this valley most likely was shaped by

See passage P1 above.

A. a river that slowly cut a narrow channel through the rock.
B. wind that carried away loose soil over many centuries.
C. an earthquake that split the ridge down the middle.
D. a glacier that scoured the floor as it flowed through. (correct)

Explanation: The passage says a glacier scrapes out a U-shaped trough where streams once cut a narrow V, so a wide, flat-bottomed valley with steep sides is the signature of past glaciation. Rivers, wind, and earthquakes are not credited with producing that shape anywhere in the passage.

Question 5. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard

Which concern about shrinking glaciers is best supported by the passage?

See passage P1 above.

A. Shrinking glaciers will make winter snowfall heavier in mountain regions.
B. Glaciers that shrink will release too much carbon dioxide into the air.
C. Rivers that supply water to hundreds of millions of people could run short as melt water declines. (correct)
D. Smaller glaciers will damage the ocean floor where they once rested.

Explanation: The final sentence reports that glacier melt water feeds rivers on which hundreds of millions of people depend, so shrinking glaciers threaten those water supplies. Heavier snowfall, extra carbon dioxide, and damage to the ocean floor are outcomes the passage never mentions.

Question 6. Key Ideas & Details easy

What is the focus of this passage?

See passage P2 above.

A. A young woman who decides to give up playing the violin for good.
B. A violinist who finally plays a difficult passage smoothly the night before her audition. (correct)
C. A teacher who travels into the city to hear his student perform.
D. A quiet apartment building where none of the residents sleeps before dawn.

Explanation: The passage follows Nadia through one night of practice in which she finally plays the difficult run cleanly before her audition and ends calm about the morning ride. Giving up, a traveling teacher, and the building's residents are elements the passage never develops.

Question 7. Key Ideas & Details medium

According to Nadia's teacher, the passage gave her trouble because

See passage P2 above.

A. her violin was not tuned before she began to practice.
B. she had not played the notes often enough to memorize them.
C. the piece was written too fast for any violinist to perform.
D. she was afraid, rather than lacking skill in her fingers. (correct)

Explanation: Her teacher states plainly that the trouble was not her fingers but her fear, and that the notes knew the way and she only needed to trust them. Tuning, insufficient practice, and impossible speed are explanations the passage never offers for her difficulty.

Question 8. Craft & Structure medium

The phrase 'her fingers refused to make smooth' primarily conveys that the run felt

See passage P2 above.

A. beyond her control no matter how much she practiced. (correct)
B. too simple to hold her interest through the evening.
C. like music that belonged to a different composer.
D. slower than the conductor would allow on stage.

Explanation: The image of fingers refusing suggests the run resisted her effort despite months of practice since September, so the difficulty felt outside her control. Boredom, borrowed music, and conductor pacing are readings the surrounding context about her struggle does not support.

Question 9. Craft & Structure hard

The author has Nadia complete the passage cleanly just as the first gray light appears. This detail most likely symbolizes

See passage P2 above.

A. the cold of the early morning in her apartment.
B. the noise of the city beginning to wake around her.
C. a new beginning after her long struggle with the run. (correct)
D. her regret at having stayed up the entire night.

Explanation: The difficult passage is finally played cleanly at the moment dawn light appears, right before she smiles and closes her violin case. Pairing the success with the start of a new day makes the light a symbol of a fresh beginning rather than cold, noise, or regret.

Question 10. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard

Based on the passage, Nadia's teacher would most likely say the audition will go well if she

See passage P2 above.

A. memorizes a second piece to use as a backup.
B. trusts what her fingers already know how to do. (correct)
C. arrives at the concert hall several hours early.
D. plays the difficult run at half its written speed.

Explanation: The teacher insists the notes know the way and that Nadia only needs to trust them, and the story shows her succeeding once she lets the melody carry her past the awkward spot. That supports the claim that confidence in prepared technique is what the teacher would emphasize.

Question 11. Key Ideas & Details easy

Which statement best describes what the passage explains?

See passage P3 above.

A. Why employees who work on weekends earn more paid time off.
B. How managers decide which employees deserve extra vacation days.
C. The procedure and rules employees must follow to request paid time off. (correct)
D. Why all employees must use their leave before the end of each quarter.

Explanation: The handbook section lays out how leave must be requested: a fourteen-day deadline, portal submission, department limits, accrual rates, carry-over caps, and the inventory-week ban. Every rule serves one purpose, describing the procedure employees must follow to take time off.

Question 12. Key Ideas & Details medium

According to the policy, how many days before the start of leave must a routine request be submitted?

See passage P3 above.

A. At least fourteen calendar days. (correct)
B. At least two business days.
C. At least thirty calendar days.
D. At least seven working days.

Explanation: The policy states that requests must be submitted at least fourteen calendar days before the first day of leave, with exceptions only for documented emergencies. The other time frames do not appear anywhere in the passage, so fourteen days is the only defensible answer.

Question 13. Key Ideas & Details medium

What does the policy say about unused paid time off?

See passage P3 above.

A. It is lost automatically at the end of each calendar year.
B. It may be sold back to the company at its full cash value.
C. It is converted into extra sick leave for the next year.
D. It may be carried into the next year, up to a maximum of ten days. (correct)

Explanation: The policy says unused days may be carried over into the next calendar year up to a maximum of ten days. Losing them, selling them back, or converting them to sick leave are outcomes the passage never describes, so the carry-over rule is the accurate choice.

Question 14. Craft & Structure medium

How is the policy organized?

See passage P3 above.

A. As a chronological history of the company's leave policies.
B. As a set of rules that includes deadlines, limits, exceptions, and consequences. (correct)
C. As a narrative about one employee who requests a month of leave.
D. As a comparison of paid time off with unpaid personal leave.

Explanation: The excerpt is a rule list: it states a deadline, names an emergency exception, sets a departmental limit, gives accrual and carry-over figures, and closes with a consequence for missing work without approval. It does not narrate an employee's story, compare paid and unpaid leave, or trace history.

Question 15. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard

An employee plans a vacation and submits the request only five days before the start date, with no emergency involved. What will most likely happen?

See passage P3 above.

A. The request will not be approved because it missed the fourteen-day deadline. (correct)
B. The request will be approved as long as no one else is on leave that week.
C. The employee will receive a written warning but may still take the days off.
D. The employee may take the days but must work during inventory week to make them up.

Explanation: Routine requests require fourteen days' notice, and the only exception is a documented emergency, which this employee does not have. Because the request misses the deadline and no exception applies, the approval path described in the policy would not be available to the employee.

Question 16. Key Ideas & Details easy

What does the passage mainly explain?

See passage P4 above.

A. Why the heart must work harder than any other muscle.
B. How white blood cells are manufactured in the bone marrow.
C. Why some people bruise more easily than others.
D. What the lymphatic system is and what it does for the body. (correct)

Explanation: The passage introduces the lymphatic system as a second circulatory network, explains that it collects leaked fluid, filters it through nodes where white blood cells respond to threats, and notes how lymph moves. The other options concern the heart, bone marrow, or bruising, none of which is the subject.

Question 17. Key Ideas & Details medium

According to the passage, what happens to lymph as it passes through lymph nodes?

See passage P4 above.

A. It mixes with blood and returns directly to the heart.
B. It is filtered, and white blood cells there can produce antibodies against trapped threats. (correct)
C. It absorbs oxygen from the tissues that surround the nodes.
D. It becomes denser and settles in the lower limbs of the body.

Explanation: The passage states that lymph passes through nodes that trap bacteria, dead cells, and debris, and that white blood cells inside the nodes may produce antibodies against what they find there. Returning to the heart immediately, gaining oxygen, and settling in the limbs are not described.

Question 18. Craft & Structure medium

The author explains that muscle squeeze and breathing move lymph most likely to

See passage P4 above.

A. prove that lymph travels faster than blood through the body.
B. compare the lungs with the lymph nodes in size and shape.
C. explain why regular movement helps keep the lymphatic system working. (correct)
D. argue that the heart is an inefficient pump for the blood system.

Explanation: Because lymph has no heart to pump it, the author explains that muscle squeeze and breathing drive it, then adds that this is one reason regular movement helps keep the system working. That makes the purpose of the explanation clear; the other options attribute ideas the passage never states.

Question 19. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium

A patient has lymph nodes removed from under one arm during surgery. Based on the passage, the patient is most likely to experience

See passage P4 above.

A. swelling of that arm because lymph can no longer drain normally. (correct)
B. a sudden rise in blood pressure in the vessels of that arm.
C. permanent loss of feeling in the fingers of that hand.
D. faster healing of the surgical scar on the arm.

Explanation: The passage says fluid can accumulate in a limb when lymph vessels are damaged or removed, a condition called lymphedema that causes persistent swelling. Removing nodes under the arm disrupts drainage from that arm, so swelling is the expected result rather than blood pressure change, numbness, or faster healing.

Question 20. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard

Which claim about lymph nodes is best supported by the passage?

See passage P4 above.

A. Lymph nodes produce the red blood cells that carry oxygen.
B. Lymph nodes pump lymph through the vessels like small hearts.
C. Lymph nodes grow larger only when a person is asleep.
D. Lymph nodes swell during infections because white blood cells there respond to trapped bacteria. (correct)

Explanation: The passage explains that lymph nodes swell during infections because white blood cells inside them respond to trapped bacteria by producing antibodies. Producing red cells, pumping lymph like hearts, and enlarging only during sleep are claims the passage does not support anywhere.

Question 21. Key Ideas & Details easy

Which sentence best states the central idea of the passage?

See passage P5 above.

A. Farming that stripped the native grassland, combined with drought, turned the plains to dust and forced thousands of families to leave. (correct)
B. The Dust Bowl affected only a small corner of the southern plains.
C. The federal government refused to help farmers during the crisis.
D. Most families who left the plains returned home within a single year.

Explanation: The passage connects the plowing of native grassland, the severe drought, and the wind that lifted loose topsoil into enormous dust storms, then records the mass migration and the federal response. That cause-and-effect chain is the central idea; the other statements contradict or narrow the account.

Question 22. Key Ideas & Details medium

According to the passage, the dust storm of 1935 was notable because it

See passage P5 above.

A. was the first wind storm ever recorded on the plains.
B. covered the entire state of California in a layer of dust.
C. carried an estimated 300,000 tons of soil toward the East Coast. (correct)
D. lasted longer than any storm in recorded American history.

Explanation: The passage reports that in 1935 a single dust storm carried an estimated 300,000 tons of soil from the plains toward the East Coast. Being the first recorded storm, covering all of California, and setting a duration record are claims the passage never makes.

Question 23. Craft & Structure medium

How does the author organize the information in this passage?

See passage P5 above.

A. As a comparison of two farming regions of the plains.
B. As a chain of causes and effects that leads to government action. (correct)
C. As a step-by-step guide to dryland wheat farming.
D. As a debate between farmers and government scientists.

Explanation: The account runs from the plowing of prairie sod, to drought and dust, to ruined farms and migration, to the government's conservation program and recovery. That is a cause-and-effect chain ending in action, not a regional comparison, a how-to guide, or a debate.

Question 24. Craft & Structure hard

The description of 'towering black clouds that blotted out the sun' is used primarily to

See passage P5 above.

A. suggest that the dust storms arrived only after nightfall.
B. explain the scientific process that formed the dust clouds.
C. compare the dust storms with ocean waves at high tide.
D. convey how enormous and frightening the dust storms were. (correct)

Explanation: Describing the dust as towering black clouds that blotted out the sun dramatizes the storms' scale and menace so readers grasp how overwhelming conditions became. It is imagery meant to convey severity, not to state when storms arrived, how they formed, or what they resembled at sea.

Question 25. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas medium

Which farming practice would the Soil Conservation Service most likely have recommended to a Dust Bowl farmer?

See passage P5 above.

A. Burning leftover stalks after every harvest to clear the field.
B. Plowing in straight lines up and down the steepest slopes.
C. Planting windbreaks of trees along the edges of fields. (correct)
D. Doubling the amount of land planted in wheat each year.

Explanation: The passage names windbreaks among the practices the Soil Conservation Service taught, along with contour plowing and crop rotation. Planting rows of trees along field edges is exactly a windbreak, while the other choices describe practices the agency would oppose or that the passage does not mention.

Question 26. Key Ideas & Details easy

What does the passage mainly describe?

See passage P6 above.

A. The causes of the Crimean War and its most important battles.
B. How Florence Nightingale reformed nursing and became known as the founder of modern nursing. (correct)
C. The history of hospitals in England before the year 1850.
D. How statistical charts are used to study modern armies.

Explanation: The passage traces Nightingale from her decision to train as a nurse, through her reforms at Scutari, her statistical study, and her founding of the first secular nursing school. Its subject is her career and its effect on nursing, not the war's causes, hospital history, or military statistics in general.

Question 27. Key Ideas & Details medium

According to the passage, what did Nightingale find when she arrived at the hospital in Scutari?

See passage P6 above.

A. Overcrowded, unsanitary conditions with inadequate supplies and water. (correct)
B. A well-equipped hospital staffed by trained medical officers.
C. Wounded soldiers who were healthy but suffering from hunger.
D. A building that had been destroyed by enemy artillery fire.

Explanation: The passage says Nightingale found the Scutari hospital overcrowded and unsanitary, with inadequate supplies and water, and that wounded soldiers were dying of infection, filth, and neglect. The other options describe conditions the passage does not report.

Question 28. Craft & Structure medium

The passage is organized mainly as

See passage P6 above.

A. a comparison of two different nursing schools.
B. a list of hospital reforms that are still in use today.
C. an argument against sending nurses to war zones.
D. a chronological account of Nightingale's life and achievements. (correct)

Explanation: The account opens with Nightingale's birth and family, moves to her nursing training, the Crimean War, her statistical work, and her school, and closes with her legacy. That sequence is a chronological biography rather than a comparison, a list, or an argument about nurses at war.

Question 29. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard

Based on the passage, Nightingale's statistical analysis of army mortality was important because it

See passage P6 above.

A. convinced the army to abandon the war in the Crimea.
B. showed that wounded soldiers died only from their injuries.
C. demonstrated that most deaths were preventable, which supported her push for hygiene reform. (correct)
D. proved that hospitals should be located far from battlefields.

Explanation: Her analysis showed most soldiers died of preventable disease rather than battle wounds, which strengthened the case that sanitation reforms could save lives and justified her insistence on clean wards. Abandoning the war, blaming injuries alone, or relocating hospitals are conclusions the passage does not support.

Question 30. Integration of Knowledge & Ideas hard

Why is the Nightingale Training School considered a turning point for the nursing profession, based on the passage?

See passage P6 above.

A. It was the first nursing school to accept students from wealthy families.
B. It was the first secular nursing school, where nursing could be learned as a trained profession. (correct)
C. It was the only school that taught nurses how to use statistics.
D. It was built inside the military hospital where Nightingale had worked.

Explanation: The passage states the school was the first secular nursing school in the world, opened in 1860 with public donations, which let nursing be learned as a profession outside religious orders. The other options attribute features to the school that the passage never mentions.

Free TEAS 7 Reading Practice Test 6 — 30 Questions With Full Explanations

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