ATI TEAS guideTest day & format
ATI TEAS Unscored Questions: The 20 Pretest Items
Twenty of the 170 ATI TEAS Version 7 items are unscored pretest questions. You will not be told which ones they are. Answer every item. They do not change the 150 scored items.
Short answer
ATI TEAS Version 7 has 170 total items. 150 are scored content items and 20 are unscored pretest items. ATI does not identify the pretest items during the exam. They are mixed through the four sections. You should answer every question. Guessing which items ‘do not count’ wastes time and can cost a scored item. Official scores are based on the scored items your program uses.
They are real items on the clock. They are not in your score.
Twenty of the 170 TEAS Version 7 items are unscored pretest questions. You will not be told which ones they are. Practice finishing a mixed section without hunting for ‘throwaway’ items. What is on the ATI TEAS owns the full outline and the 150 scored split. This page owns the pretest question candidates actually search: do they count, and should you skip odd-looking items?
ATI uses pretest items to try future questions. That is normal exam construction. It is not a trick section you can opt out of.
Section totals still include them. Reading’s 45 items include unscored items inside that 45. You cannot subtract 5 and leave early.
How this should change pacing
It should not. Budget time as if every item scores. An “experimental-looking” graph can still be one of the 150.
If you are stuck, mark and move using the same rule you would use on a scored item. Exam-day timing is still 209 minutes across four sections.
Do not spend three minutes trying to detect pretest status. There is no official highlight, font, or “this one is weird” signal.
When a hard item appears in minute two, treat it as scored and keep your section rhythm.
How this should not change studying
Study the current Version 7 content areas. Pretest items are still TEAS-shaped. They are not a reason to memorize obscure trivia outside ATI’s outline.
They are not extra credit. They are not a penalty. They simply do not enter the score ATI reports for the 150.
Score results explain when you see numbers. Those numbers are not “170 minus guesses.”
The study guide should still allocate time by section, not by a theory of which items are fake.
Rumors to ignore
“The last question in each section is unscored.” ATI does not say that.
“If you skip pretest items you get more time.” You do not know which they are, and unanswered items help no one.
“Pretest items are always experimental science.” They can sit in any section.
The Guides hub and exam hub keep logistics together. Unscored items are one logistics fact.
If pretest anxiety is stealing Reading minutes, put a timed mixed TEAS block on the calendar until finishing feels ordinary.
Unscored items are still on the clock.
Then spend remaining study on the scored content area you actually miss.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.