TEAS Ready🔎 Reading · Key Ideas and Details · Lesson 5 of 6 · 5 min
Reading charts, tables, labels and other visuals
📊 Product labels, bus schedules and bar graphs show up on the TEAS because nurses read them every shift. Two minutes of setup makes these questions quick points.
💡 Key idea
Title, headings, units first; then find where the right row and column meet.
🧠 The idea
Before answering, read the TITLE (what the visual is about), the column and row HEADINGS or axis labels, and the UNITS (mg, minutes, percent, dollars). Then find the one row and column the question asks about, and put your finger where they meet. For graphs, check the scale: does each line mean 1, 5 or 10? For labels, find the section that answers the question (directions, warnings, active ingredients, storage) instead of reading every word. Many wrong choices come from the right number in the wrong row, a misread unit, or a fact that appears nowhere in the visual. For "which is greatest" or "how did it change" questions, compare the values directly, and for change over time, read the first and last values before judging a TREND.
✏️ Worked example
A table titled "Clinic Visits by Day" has columns Day | Morning | Afternoon and rows Mon 14 | 9, Tue 11 | 16, Wed 8 | 12. Question: On which day were total visits highest? Add each row: Mon 23, Tue 27, Wed 20. Tuesday is highest. A rushed reader who looks only at the Morning column picks Monday, which answers a different question. Reading the headings first shows that "total" means both columns.
📌 Takeaways
- Read the title, headings and units before any numbers.
- Find the one row and column the question needs.
- Check that your answer matches the question's exact wording.
✅ Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
A medicine label says: "Adults: 2 tablets every 6 hours. Do not exceed 8 tablets in 24 hours." What is the most an adult may take in one day?
- 6 tablets
- 2 tablets
- 8 tablets
- 12 tablets
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: C
The label sets a daily limit of 8 tablets. Two tablets is the single dose, and 12 comes from wrongly multiplying the dose by 6 hours instead of reading the stated limit.
Question 2 of 3
What should you read FIRST when a question includes a table?
- The bottom row of the table
- The answer choices only
- The largest number in the table
- The title, headings and units
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: D
The title, headings and units tell you what the numbers mean, so they come first. Jumping to the largest number or a particular row, or reading only the choices, invites using a value from the wrong place.
Question 3 of 3
A bus schedule lists departures at 7:10, 7:40, 8:10 and 8:40 a.m. What pattern does it show?
- A bus leaves every hour.
- A bus leaves every 30 minutes.
- A bus leaves every 40 minutes.
- A bus leaves every 20 minutes.
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: B
Each departure is 30 minutes after the one before (7:10 to 7:40 to 8:10). Twenty and forty minutes do not match the gaps, and hourly would skip the :40 departures.
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