TEAS Math Practice Questions with Explanations
8 min read · Updated
The Mathematics section is 38 questions in 57 minutes, covering numbers and algebra plus measurement and data. A four-function calculator is provided, which tells you something important: the exam is testing whether you can set a problem up, not whether you can do long division.
Practice questions
A patient is prescribed 250 mg of a medication for every 10 kg of body weight. How many milligrams should a patient weighing 64 kg receive?
- A1,280 mg
- B1,600 mg
- C2,560 mg
- D640 mg
Explanation
Set it up as a proportion: 250 mg / 10 kg = x / 64 kg. Multiply across: x = 250 × 64 / 10 = 16,000 / 10 = 1,600 mg. A quick sanity check — 64 kg is a little over six lots of 10 kg, so the answer should be a little over six lots of 250 mg.
Convert 2.5 litres to millilitres.
- A25 mL
- B250 mL
- C2,500 mL
- D25,000 mL
Explanation
There are 1,000 millilitres in a litre, so multiply by 1,000: 2.5 × 1,000 = 2,500 mL. Conversions in the metric system are always a shift of the decimal point — moving from a larger unit to a smaller one means the number gets bigger.
A hospital ward has 48 beds and 36 are occupied. What percentage of the beds are free?
- A25%
- B33%
- C75%
- D12%
Explanation
Free beds = 48 − 36 = 12. As a fraction of the total that is 12/48 = 1/4 = 25%. The common mistake here is answering 75%, which is the percentage occupied — read what the question asks for.
Solve for x: 5x − 11 = 34
- Ax = 4.6
- Bx = 9
- Cx = 6.6
- Dx = 11
Explanation
Add 11 to both sides: 5x = 45. Divide both sides by 5: x = 9. Always check by substituting back — 5(9) − 11 = 45 − 11 = 34. Correct.
A recipe calls for 3 parts water to 2 parts concentrate. If you need 45 mL of mixture in total, how much concentrate is required?
- A15 mL
- B18 mL
- C22.5 mL
- D27 mL
Explanation
The ratio 3:2 means 5 parts in total. Each part is 45 / 5 = 9 mL. Concentrate is 2 parts, so 2 × 9 = 18 mL. The trap is dividing by 3 or by 2 rather than by the sum of the ratio.
The mean of eight numbers is 9. Seven of them add up to 65. What is the eighth number?
- A5
- B7
- C9
- D11
Explanation
If the mean of eight numbers is 9, their total is 8 × 9 = 72. The eighth number is 72 − 65 = 7. Mean questions are almost always solved by converting the mean back into a total first.
Where marks are actually lost
- Answering the wrong quantity — percentage occupied instead of percentage free, concentrate instead of water.
- Dropping or adding a factor of ten in unit conversions.
- Dividing by one side of a ratio rather than by the sum of its parts.
- Rounding early. Round once, at the end.
A habit worth building
Before you calculate anything, say in words what the answer should look like — bigger or smaller than the number in the question, and roughly by how much. It catches most decimal-point errors in about two seconds.