TEAS Science common mistakes
TEAS Science · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reading a passage once, then answering questions from memory without returning to the text to verify what it actually says.
Test-takers treat reading passages like general reading and trust recall, but TEAS items hinge on precise wording and inference, and memory drifts under time pressure.
What to do instead
For every question, locate and re-read the 1-2 sentences that support your answer before selecting; if you cannot point to supporting text, mark the item and move on.
Choosing an answer that is true in real life but not stated or implied in the passage.
Prior knowledge feels like confirmation, so plausible outside facts masquerade as correct options.
What to do instead
Label each option mentally as 'in passage', 'contradicts passage', or 'not in passage'; eliminate any option you cannot tie to text.
Setting up proportions or unit conversions with the wrong quantities aligned, e.g. flipping the ratio or mixing units before converting.
Candidates rush to compute and skip the setup step, and mixed units (mg vs g, minutes vs hours) hide inside word problems.
What to do instead
Write the proportion as labeled fractions with units attached and cancel units before multiplying; convert all quantities to one unit first.
Misreading what a word problem is asking-solving for a rate when the question asks for a total, or ignoring 'approximately' and rounding incorrectly.
Multi-step problems bury the actual question at the end, and answer choices often include results of the wrong operation.
What to do instead
Underline the final question sentence and write 'find: ___' before computing; check your result against the requested quantity and unit.
Confusing the roles of independent and dependent variables or misidentifying the control group in an experiment scenario.
The vocabulary is similar and scenarios are described in dense prose, so candidates map terms by position rather than meaning.
What to do instead
Ask 'what did the researcher change on purpose?' (independent) and 'what was measured?' (dependent); the control is the group with no treatment.
Applying the wrong cellular process-saying mitosis produces gametes or that photosynthesis occurs in mitochondria.
Mitosis/meiosis and photosynthesis/respiration are taught together and their details blur under recall pressure.
What to do instead
Build a two-column contrast chart for each pair (purpose, products, location, chromosome number) and self-quiz from the chart until each fact is retrievable cold.
Treating a comma as sufficient to join two complete sentences, producing run-ons and comma splices.
Spoken pauses feel like commas, and candidates rely on how a sentence sounds rather than its grammatical structure.
What to do instead
Test each side of a comma: if both are complete sentences, replace the comma with a period, semicolon, or a comma plus conjunction.
Matching a pronoun to the nearest noun instead of its actual antecedent, causing agreement and ambiguity errors.
Proximity bias-the closest noun grabs attention-and items are designed with a distractor noun in between.
What to do instead
Trace the pronoun back to the noun it logically replaces; if two nouns could fit, the sentence needs revision (e.g., repeat the noun).
Spending too long on one hard item and running out of time, leaving later easy questions blank.
Candidates fear skipping means losing points, so they grind on a single question while the clock drains.
What to do instead
Use a per-question time budget, answer or flag immediately, and return only after completing every item; never leave a blank since there is no penalty for guessing.
Ignoring the passage's tone or purpose and picking an answer that is factually consistent but wrong in attitude (e.g., 'critical' vs 'neutral').
Tone questions require reading connotation, and candidates focus on content words while missing evaluative language.
What to do instead
Circle emotion- and judgment-laden words (e.g., 'unfortunately', 'remarkable') before answering purpose/tone items, then choose the option matching that stance.