TEAS cheat sheet

• The main idea is the one point the whole passage makes about its topic; details are the facts, numbers, examples, and quotes that support it.
• A topic sentence states a paragraph's main point; it is often the first sentence, but it can also appear in the middle or at the end.

A true sentence from the passage can still be wrong: one detail is a detail, not a summary.

• A stated fact appears in the words of the passage; an inference is a conclusion the words support without saying it directly.
• An inference combines clues in the text with everyday background knowledge.

Choose what the passage supports, not what is true in real life; outside knowledge is not evidence.

• Fraction to decimal: divide the numerator (top) by the denominator (bottom), so 3/5 = 3 ÷ 5 = 0.6.
• Decimal to percent: multiply by 100, which moves the decimal point two places to the right (0.6 = 60%).

3/5 is 0.6, not 0.35: the digits of a fraction are not the digits of its decimal; you must divide.

• To add or subtract fractions, rewrite them with a common denominator (ideally the least common denominator), then add or subtract only the numerators.
• To multiply fractions, multiply the tops and multiply the bottoms, then simplify. To divide, multiply by the reciprocal (flipped version) of the second fraction.

Add fractions with a common denominator, not by adding tops and bottoms (1/2 + 1/3 is 5/6, not 2/5).

• In anatomical position the body stands upright, feet parallel, toes forward, upper limbs held out to each side with the palms facing forward; terms are always used as if the body were in this position.
• Proximal and distal describe positions on a limb: proximal is closer to where the limb attaches to the trunk, distal is farther from it.

Right and left mean the subject's own right and left, not yours as you face them.

• The conducting zone (nose through the terminal bronchioles) moves, cleans, warms and humidifies air; gas exchange happens only in the respiratory zone (respiratory bronchioles, alveolar ducts, alveoli).
• Gases cross the respiratory membrane, about 0.5 micrometers thick, by simple diffusion from higher to lower partial pressure.

Gas exchange happens in the alveoli of the respiratory zone, not in the trachea, bronchi or terminal bronchioles.

• ie/ei is a guideline, not a law: when the pair sounds like the e in bee, usually write ie (believe), except after c, where it is ei (receipt); when it sounds like the a in say, write ei (weight).
• Common ie/ei exceptions to memorize: either, neither, seize, weird, protein, caffeine, leisure.

A word that looks familiar is not proof: recieve and occured look normal at a glance, but the rules give receive and occurred.

• When a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) joins two parts of a sentence, put a comma before it only if both parts are independent clauses; no comma when the second part has no subject of its own.
• Put a comma after an introductory dependent clause or long introductory phrase, and between items in a series of three or more (the comma before the final and is a style choice).

A comma alone cannot join two complete sentences; that is a comma splice, even when the second one starts with however.