What is on the TEAS test, and what each section covers
A content map of the ATI TEAS 7: its four sections, how many questions and minutes each one gets, and the exact topics tested inside every section.
The TEAS has four sections, asked in a fixed order: Reading, Mathematics, Science, and English and Language Usage. You answer 170 questions in 209 minutes, and the mix is the same for every test-taker. Knowing exactly what sits inside each section is the difference between studying everything and studying the right things, so here is the whole map on one page.
The four sections at a glance
Each section is timed on its own and scored on its own. The counts below are what ATI reports for the TEAS 7, and they tell you where your hours are worth the most before you read a single topic.
| Section | Questions and time | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 45q, 55 min | Main idea, detail, inference, text structure, and following written directions. |
| Mathematics | 38q, 57 min | Numbers, algebra, ratios and proportions, measurement, and reading data. |
| Science | 50q, 60 min | Anatomy and physiology, biology, chemistry, and scientific reasoning. |
| English | 37q, 37 min | Grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and vocabulary. |
Science is the largest section and carries the most marks, so it rewards attention first. English is the shortest and often the quickest to raise if your grammar is already sound.
Scored versus unscored. Of the 170 questions, 150 count towards your score and 20 are unscored pilot questions ATI is trialling. You are never told which is which, so answer every one as though it counts.
How many questions are on the TEAS?
170 questions, of which 150 are scored and 20 are unscored pilot items. Section by section that is Reading 45, Mathematics 38, Science 50, and English 37, across 209 minutes of testing time. The practical reading of those numbers is pace: you have just over a minute per question in Reading and English, and slightly more in Mathematics and Science. If you want to feel that pace before the real thing, the free full-length TEAS practice test runs the same sections on the same clocks, and our guide to how long the TEAS test is turns each section's clock into a working pace.
Reading: 45 questions in 55 minutes
Reading tests whether you can pull the right meaning from a passage under time pressure, not whether you enjoyed it. ATI groups the questions into three areas: Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. In practice that means finding a main idea, locating a specific detail, working out a word from its context, weighing an author's purpose, and following a set of written instructions in order.
The passages are ordinary: a notice, an article, a how-to. The pressure is pace, since finishing early does not add time elsewhere. Our walks each of these areas in turn.
Written by the RedRubric editors.RedRubric is an independent study manual and original question bank for the ATI TEAS 7. We write every question from scratch and map it to ATI’s content outline.