TEAS Ready🔎 Reading · Key Ideas and Details · Lesson 4 of 6 · 5 min
Following written directions step by step
📝 Directions questions are puzzles: start with one word or number, change it step by step, and see where you end up. One skipped step means a wrong answer.
💡 Key idea
Do each step in order, write the result every time, and always work on the current result.
🧠 The idea
Directions items give you a STARTING POINT (a word, number, list or position) and a series of steps. Work them IN ORDER and write down the result after EVERY step; never do it all in your head. Read each step for exact wording: "replace the second letter" is not "replace the letter s," and "move to the front" is not "swap." Pay attention to whether a step refers to the original item or to the CURRENT result. With real-life directions (a recipe, a medicine schedule, assembly steps), note conditions such as "if," "unless," "before" and "after," because they change which steps apply. When you finish, quickly reread the steps and check your answer against each one.
✏️ Worked example
Start with the word HEART. 1) Remove the last letter: HEAR. 2) Replace the first letter with N: NEAR. 3) Add the letter S to the front: SNEAR. 4) Swap the second and third letters: SENAR. Writing the result after each step makes errors easy to catch. A common mistake is to apply step 4 to the original word HEART and get HAERT, which ignores steps 1 to 3. The answer is SENAR.
📌 Takeaways
- Write down the result after every single step.
- Each step changes the current result, not the original.
- Watch condition words: if, unless, before, after.
✅ Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
Start with 12. Double it. Subtract 4. Divide by 5. What is the result?
- 8
- 20
- 2
- 4
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: D
12 doubled is 24; 24 minus 4 is 20; 20 divided by 5 is 4. Stopping before the last step gives 20, and 8 comes from subtracting 4 from the original 12 instead of from the current result, 24.
Question 2 of 3
Start with the word LAMP. Change the M to S. Add T to the end. Remove the first letter. What word results?
- SAPT
- LAST
- LASP
- ASPT
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: D
LAMP becomes LASP, then LASPT, then removing L gives ASPT. LASP stops after the first step, and LAST and SAPT come from skipping or reordering steps.
Question 3 of 3
A sign reads: "Visitors must sign in at the front desk unless they hold a staff badge. After 8 p.m., all visitors use the east entrance." A visitor without a badge arrives at 9 p.m. What must the visitor do?
- Use the east entrance and sign in at the front desk.
- Use the east entrance and skip signing in at the desk.
- Sign in at the front desk and use any entrance.
- Use the main entrance and sign in at the front desk.
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: A
No badge means the visitor must sign in, and arriving after 8 p.m. means using the east entrance, so both rules apply. Skipping sign-in fits only badge holders, and any other entrance breaks the after-8 rule.
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