TEAS 7 science practice test

Science is the largest section of the TEAS 7: 50 questions in 60 minutes, 44 of which count, and those 44 are 29.3% of your total score. Human anatomy and physiology alone is 18 of the 150 scored questions on the whole exam. That is why this is the section where an hour of study buys the most.

What the Science section is

Fifty questions are presented and 44 are scored; the other six are unmarked pretest items ATI is trialing, so treat every question as if it counts. Sixty minutes across 50 questions is 72 seconds each, and sections are timed separately: minutes saved in Reading cannot be carried into this one.

The 44 scored questions split unevenly across four sub-areas, and that split should decide your study order.

Two of every five Science questions are anatomy and physiology. The rest of the exam is broken down the same way on the TEAS 7 blueprint page. Weights can change between versions, so check them against ATI's current content outline.

What is actually tested

Human anatomy and physiology — 18 scored questions

The groundwork first: anatomical position, directional terms, the three planes, body cavities, and the levels of organization from cell to organism. Then each body system and what its structures do.

Cardiovascular carries the most weight — chambers and valves, the order blood moves through them, arteries against capillaries against veins, blood components. Respiratory: the path from nose to alveoli, gas exchange, the mechanics of the diaphragm. Gastrointestinal: the order of the organs, which enzyme acts where, and what the liver, gallbladder and pancreas each contribute. Nervous and muscular: central against peripheral, the parts of a neuron, sympathetic against parasympathetic, the three muscle types. Endocrine: which gland releases which hormone. Then the nephron, innate against adaptive immunity, bones and joints, skin and the reproductive systems, with homeostasis and negative feedback underneath all of it.

Biology — 9 scored questions

The four macromolecules. Cell structure and what each organelle does. Prokaryotes against eukaryotes. Diffusion, osmosis and active transport. Respiration and photosynthesis at the level of inputs and outputs, not pathway detail. DNA and RNA, replication, transcription and translation. Chromosomes, genes and alleles. Mitosis against meiosis. Punnett squares and inheritance patterns, including sex-linked traits. Natural selection, and bacteria against viruses.

Chemistry — 8 scored questions

Atomic structure: protons, neutrons and electrons, atomic number against mass number, isotopes. The periodic table: groups, periods, metals and nonmetals, valence electrons, the basic trends. Ionic, covalent and hydrogen bonds. States of matter and phase changes. Physical against chemical change. Balancing simple equations and naming reaction types. Acids, bases and pH. Solutions, solubility, the properties of water, and what a catalyst does to a reaction rate.

Scientific reasoning — 9 scored questions

Experimental design and reading data. The scientific method; hypothesis against theory against law; independent, dependent and controlled variables; control against experimental group; sample size, replication, validity and reliability. Then reading a table or graph and saying which conclusion it supports and which it does not. Plus SI units, laboratory tools, and correlation against causation.

Why anatomy and physiology is where the time goes

Eighteen of the 150 scored questions are anatomy and physiology. Chemistry is 8 and Biology is 9, so A&P alone outweighs both of them combined.

It is also the most memorizable content on the exam. There is a finite list of structures, each has a job, and the questions ask what the job is. Nothing has to be derived under time pressure. The largest sub-area on the test is also the fastest to learn, which makes it the highest points per hour available to almost every student.

Chemistry is the mirror image. Eight questions. 5.3% of your score. A student who spends a quarter of their study time on chemistry because chemistry frightens them is spending a quarter of their preparation on 5.3% of the exam, and perfecting all eight moves a total by under three points. Chemistry gets a cap. Anatomy gets the front of the schedule.

The confusions that cost the most marks

Science distractors are rarely random. They are usually the other member of a pair you half know, which is why a question can feel answerable and still go wrong.

Arteries and veins. An artery is defined by direction — away from the heart — not by what it carries. Most arteries do carry oxygenated blood, which is why the pulmonary artery gets asked: it carries deoxygenated blood away from the heart to the lungs, while the pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood back.

Hormone pairs that move one value in opposite directions. Insulin lowers blood glucose and glucagon raises it. Calcitonin lowers blood calcium and parathyroid hormone raises it. The wrong answer is almost always the partner hormone, so knowing the pair without knowing which way each one runs leaves you on a coin flip.

Conclusions a data set does not support. In scientific reasoning the tempting option is usually one step past the data: a cause claimed from a correlation, or a result generalized beyond the group that was tested. The correct answer is often the most cautious statement on the list.

The same shape turns up in ligament against tendon and mitosis against meiosis. Learn those as pairs, in one sitting.

How to prepare for this section

Science responds quickly to drilling, and not every section does. Reading tests inference built over years and moves slowly however many passages you work. Science is mostly recall of a defined body of content, so a week of practice shows up in a Science score in a way it rarely does in Reading.

• Retrieve, do not reread. Cover the answer and say it out loud. Recognition feels like knowing and is not.
• Trace three pathways until they are automatic: blood through the heart, air to the alveoli, filtrate through the nephron. Several of your 18 A&P questions come straight off them.
• Work at 72 seconds. Untimed practice hides a pacing problem until test day. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so never leave one blank.
• Read the rationale on every question, including the ones you got right. A lucky guess and a known answer look identical on a score report.

The next step is a score with sub-area detail, so you know whether the gap is anatomy, biology, chemistry or reasoning. The free 30-question diagnostic is scored in the same proportions as the real exam and reports each sub-area separately.