ATI TEAS common mistakes
ATI TEAS · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reads the entire passage first and only then looks at the questions, often rereading large sections for each item.
This habit comes from untimed school reading tests, but TEAS Reading is timed and question-driven, so full-passage rereading burns minutes and encourages passive reading.
What to do instead
Preview the questions before reading, note the key words, then read the passage once while marking each paragraph's function (main idea, example, contrast, conclusion) so you can return to the relevant lines quickly.
Chooses an answer because it is factually true or personally familiar even though the passage does not state or imply it.
Background knowledge feels like a shortcut, and plausible outside facts are deliberately included as distractors.
What to do instead
For every answer, point to the sentence or paragraph that supports it; if you cannot locate textual evidence, eliminate the choice even if it is true in real life.
Identifies the author's purpose as the topic of the passage, such as saying the purpose is 'recycling' instead of 'to persuade readers to recycle.'
The topic is the most obvious feature of the passage, so test-takers answer the wrong question unless they focus on the author's action and tone.
What to do instead
Rephrase purpose choices as verbs plus object (to inform, to persuade, to compare, to entertain) and underline evaluative or emotional words that reveal the author's stance.
Sets up a proportion or ratio with the quantities in the wrong order or with mismatched units, such as placing hours over miles when the given rate is miles per hour.
Pattern-matching to a remembered proportion template replaces careful labeling, so the numeric setup looks correct but represents the wrong relationship.
What to do instead
Write the units next to every number and build the proportion so that units cancel diagonally; if the units do not cancel, invert the ratio before solving.
Treats 'is' and 'of' as interchangeable in percent word problems, or forgets to convert the percent to a decimal before multiplying.
Keyword matching feels faster than translating the sentence into an equation, and the percent sign is easy to drop under time pressure.
What to do instead
Translate the sentence word by word into part = percent × whole, change the percent to a decimal, then solve and check by asking whether the answer is a reasonable fraction of the whole.
Performs multi-step arithmetic mentally, especially with negative signs, exponents, or distribution, and records a sign error or skipped step.
Mental arithmetic saves time in the short run but working memory drops signs and operation order when several steps are combined.
What to do instead
Write one operation per line, use parentheses around substituted negative values, and substitute the answer back into the original equation to verify it.
Labels the independent variable as the one being measured, or calls a control group a variable.
The definitions are memorized as vocabulary but not tied to the logic of an experiment, so the terms get swapped when applied to a scenario.
What to do instead
Say the experiment aloud: 'The experimenter changes ___' is the independent variable; 'the outcome measured is ___' is the dependent variable; the control is the baseline group with no treatment.
Selects a science term because it sounds familiar rather than because it matches the described process, such as confusing osmosis with diffusion or mitosis with meiosis.
Surface memorization links words by sound or chapter topic instead of by defining features, and answer choices often include closely related terms.
What to do instead
Make a two-column comparison for commonly paired terms and write each definition in your own words with one example; before choosing, state the defining feature that eliminates each wrong term.
Allows a verb to agree with the noun nearest it instead of with the actual subject when a prepositional phrase sits between them, as in 'The box of tools are heavy.'
The ear latches onto the closest noun, and compound or intervening phrases make the true subject less obvious in a timed editing question.
What to do instead
Cross out or bracket the prepositional phrase, underline the head noun, and match the verb to that noun before reading the sentence again for sound.
Accepts a comma splice or run-on because the sentence sounds natural when read aloud.
Spoken pauses do not map reliably to punctuation rules, so two independent clauses joined by only a comma can feel correct.
What to do instead
Identify each independent clause by finding its subject and verb; if two complete clauses appear, join them with a period, semicolon, or comma plus a coordinating conjunction.