TEAS Ready🧩 Reading · Integration of Knowledge and Ideas · Lesson 1 of 5 · 4 min
Text evidence: make predictions and draw conclusions
🔮 Some TEAS questions ask what will probably happen next or what the facts add up to. The answer is never a wild guess: it is the choice the text gives you the most reason to believe.
💡 Key idea
Pick the conclusion or prediction the text gives the most direct evidence for, and no more.
🧠 The idea
A CONCLUSION is a judgment that the facts in a text lead to, even if the author never states it. A PREDICTION is a conclusion about what will likely happen next or in a new situation. Both must rest on TEXT EVIDENCE: specific sentences, numbers or examples you could point to. To answer, first find the facts that bear on the question, then ask what they most reasonably support. The best choice goes only as far as the evidence goes. Wrong answers usually overreach ("always", "proves", "every"), rely on outside knowledge the passage never gives, or contradict a detail in the text. When a question asks which detail SUPPORTS a conclusion, pick the sentence that would make the conclusion more believable, not one that is merely on the same topic.
✏️ Worked example
Passage: "The clinic added evening hours in March. By May, missed appointments had fallen by a third, and most of the new evening patients said they work during the day." Question: What can you conclude? "Evening hours will end missed appointments" overreaches ("end"). "The clinic's staff prefer evening shifts" has no evidence. "Evening hours made it easier for working patients to keep appointments" is backed by both facts: fewer misses and patients who work days. That is the answer.
📌 Takeaways
- Find the specific facts first, then decide what they support.
- The best answer goes only as far as the evidence goes.
- Distrust extreme words and ideas the passage never mentions.
✅ Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
A passage says a town's new bike lanes were followed by a rise in cycling and a drop in bike injuries. Which conclusion is best supported?
- The bike lanes may have made cycling safer.
- Bike lanes will soon replace most car traffic.
- Every resident now rides a bike to work.
- Cars in the town have become much quieter.
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: A
More cycling with fewer injuries is evidence that the lanes may have improved safety, and "may have" stays within the evidence. Replacing car traffic and every resident riding are overreaches, and noise is never mentioned.
Question 2 of 3
Which choice is a sign that an answer to a conclusion question is probably WRONG?
- It depends on facts the passage never gives.
- It uses a cautious word such as "likely".
- It is worded differently from the passage.
- It combines facts from two paragraphs.
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: A
A conclusion must rest on the text, so a choice that needs outside facts is a red flag. Paraphrased wording, combining paragraphs and cautious words are all normal features of correct answers.
Question 3 of 3
A text explains that a plant wilts when its soil dries out and recovers within hours of watering. A student forgets to water it for a week. What is the best prediction?
- The plant will flower earlier than it usually does.
- The plant will need fresh soil in order to survive.
- The plant will grow faster than it did before.
- The plant will wilt but may recover once watered.
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: D
The text links dry soil to wilting and watering to recovery, so wilting followed by possible recovery is the prediction it supports. Faster growth, new soil and early flowering have no support in the text.
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