TSI Practice Test
This free TSI practice test has 15 questions written by the StudyPDF team in the style of the TSIA2, the college readiness test Texas uses. Ten cover English language arts and reading, five reading and five writing, and five give you a first taste of the math test, one from each content area plus one extra. Answer all 15, then check your score and read the explanation for every question.
Read the passage: Mara had practiced the piece for weeks, but when the auditorium lights dimmed, her hands felt like someone else's. She looked once at the third row, where her grandfather sat with his hat in his lap, and then set her fingers on the keys. Which inference about Mara is best supported by the passage?
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All 15 questions at a glance
Prefer to read before you play? Every question in the sampler is listed below. Answers and explanations stay collapsed until you open them.
1. Read the passage: Mara had practiced the piece for weeks, but when the auditorium lights dimmed, her hands felt like someone else's. She looked once at the third row, where her grandfather sat with his hat in his lap, and then set her fingers on the keys. Which inference about Mara is best supported by the passage?
- A. She has not practiced enough to play the piece well.
- B. She wants to leave the stage before she has to play.
- C. She is nervous, but seeing her grandfather helps her begin.
- D. Her grandfather is the person who taught her the piece.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. She is nervous, but seeing her grandfather helps her begin.
Hands that feel like someone else's signal nerves, and she starts playing right after she looks at her grandfather, so his presence steadies her. The passage says she practiced for weeks, which rules out the first option, and nothing in it says who taught her.
2. Read the passage: City blocks with many street trees are often noticeably cooler on summer afternoons than nearby blocks with few trees. Trees shade pavement that would otherwise soak up heat, and their leaves release water vapor that cools the surrounding air. Some cities now map their hottest neighborhoods and plant trees there first. Which statement best expresses the main idea?
- A. Pavement absorbs more heat than any other surface in a city.
- B. Most city residents prefer neighborhoods with many trees.
- C. Planting trees is the cheapest way for a city to save energy.
- D. Street trees cool city blocks, and some cities use that to decide where to plant.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Street trees cool city blocks, and some cities use that to decide where to plant.
A main idea has to cover the whole passage: the cooling effect, the reasons for it and what cities do about it. The pavement option is only one detail, and the passage says nothing about what residents prefer or what is cheapest.
3. Read the sentence: The committee's report was candid about the project's failures, listing every missed deadline and every budget overrun. As used in the sentence, candid most nearly means
- A. frank
- B. brief
- C. hopeful
- D. confusing
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. frank
The rest of the sentence is the clue: a report that lists every missed deadline and overrun is open and honest about bad news, which is what frank means. Vocabulary questions on the TSIA2 ask for the meaning in context, so always test your choice back in the sentence.
4. Passage 1: A four-day school week saves districts money on buses, heating and substitute teachers, and many principals say it helps them recruit teachers and cuts the school days students miss for appointments. Passage 2: A four-day week can leave working parents searching for child care on the fifth day, and some studies have found small drops in student learning. Which statements would the authors of both passages most likely accept? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. Districts should switch to a four-day week.
- B. A four-day week changes more than the school calendar.
- C. A four-day week has no effect on how much students learn.
- D. The schedule affects adults as well as students.
- E. Saving money is the only reason districts consider the change.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. A four-day week changes more than the school calendar., D. The schedule affects adults as well as students.
Both authors describe effects that reach beyond the calendar, and both mention adults as well as students: Passage 1 talks about teachers and students' appointments, Passage 2 about parents and student learning. Passage 2 would reject the claim that learning is unaffected, neither author recommends a switch outright, and Passage 1 gives a recruiting reason besides money.
5. Read the passage: For decades, many teachers told students that rereading their notes was the best way to study. Then researchers compared students who reread with students who quizzed themselves. A week later, the students who quizzed themselves remembered more. Today many study guides recommend practice tests. What is the main purpose of the second sentence?
- A. It introduces the research that challenged the older advice.
- B. It explains why teachers recommended rereading.
- C. It gives the result of the comparison.
- D. It states the passage's final recommendation.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. It introduces the research that challenged the older advice.
The first sentence sets up the old advice, and the second turns the passage toward the study that tested it. The result only arrives in the third sentence and the recommendation in the fourth, so purpose questions reward looking at what a sentence does in the order of the passage.
6. Which version of the sentence is punctuated correctly?
- A. The library closes at nine, students should leave by then.
- B. The library closes at nine; students should leave by then.
- C. The library closes at nine students should leave by then.
- D. The library closes, at nine students should leave by then.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The library closes at nine; students should leave by then.
The sentence joins two complete thoughts, and a semicolon can join them on its own. A comma alone creates a comma splice, no punctuation at all creates a run-on, and the last option moves the comma so the meaning breaks.
7. Choose the word that correctly completes the sentence: The list of required textbooks for the fall courses ____ posted on the college website.
- A. are
- B. were
- C. have been
- D. is
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. is
The subject is list, which is singular, so the verb is is. The plural words textbooks and courses sit inside the phrase that describes the list and do not change the verb, which is exactly the trap this kind of question sets.
8. Complete the passage.
The bridge was scheduled to reopen in May. _____, a shortage of steel pushed the opening back to August, so drivers will _____ need the detour this summer.
Options for blank 1: Therefore, However, Similarly, For example
Options for blank 2: still, no longer, rarely, already
Show answer and explanation
Answer: However, still
The second sentence contradicts the plan in the first, so it needs a contrast word like however. A delay to August means the detour stays in use, so still is the only adverb that fits the rest of the sentence.
9. Which of these sentences are written correctly? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. Each of the players has a locker.
- B. Neither the coach nor the players was ready.
- C. Between you and me, the plan needs more work.
- D. The team celebrated it's first win of the season.
- E. Having finished the essay, the student turned it in early.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Each of the players has a locker., C. Between you and me, the plan needs more work., E. Having finished the essay, the student turned it in early.
Each is singular, so has is right, between takes the object pronoun me, and the student is the one who finished the essay, so the opening phrase is not dangling. With neither and nor the verb agrees with the nearer subject, players, so it should be were, and it's means it is, so the possessive is its.
10. A student's essay argues that the city library should stay open later on weekends. Which sentence would best support that claim?
- A. The library was built in 1962 and renovated twenty years ago.
- B. Last year the weekend study rooms were fully booked on 40 of 52 Saturdays.
- C. Many people enjoy reading in their free time.
- D. Some libraries in other countries also lend out tools.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Last year the weekend study rooms were fully booked on 40 of 52 Saturdays.
Evidence that supports a claim has to show a need for exactly what the writer asks for, and full study rooms on most Saturdays do that. The other sentences are true-sounding but beside the point: history, a general statement and a fact about other places.
11. The price of a monthly bus pass rose from $40 to $50. By what percent did the price increase?
- A. 10%
- B. 20%
- C. 25%
- D. 50%
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. 25%
Percent change is the change divided by the original value: 10 divided by 40 is 0.25, or 25 percent. Dividing by the new price, 50, gives 20 percent, which is the most common mistake on this kind of question.
12. If x + y = 10 and x - y = 4, what is the value of x?
- A. 3
- B. 6
- C. 7
- D. 14
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. 7
Add the two equations and y cancels: 2x = 14, so x = 7, and then y = 3. Check it in both equations, 7 + 3 = 10 and 7 - 3 = 4. Choosing 14 means stopping before dividing by 2, and 3 is the value of y.
13. Complete the sentence.
A hallway is 4 yards long, which is _____ feet, or _____ inches.
Options for blank 1: 7, 12, 16, 48
Options for blank 2: 48, 120, 144, 192
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 12, 144
There are 3 feet in a yard, so 4 yards is 12 feet, and there are 12 inches in a foot, so 12 feet is 144 inches. Converting in two steps and writing the units down keeps you from multiplying by the wrong factor.
14. A survey asked 200 students how they get to school: 80 take the bus, 50 come by car, 40 walk and 30 ride a bike. Which statements are supported by the data? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. Students who bike or walk outnumber students who take the bus.
- B. 40 percent of the students take the bus.
- C. More students walk than ride a bike.
- D. A randomly chosen student has a 1 in 4 chance of being a walker.
- E. One quarter of the students come by car.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. 40 percent of the students take the bus., C. More students walk than ride a bike., E. One quarter of the students come by car.
80 out of 200 is 40 percent, 40 walkers beat 30 cyclists, and 50 out of 200 is one quarter. Bikes and walkers together make 70, fewer than the 80 bus riders, and the chance of picking a walker is 40 out of 200, which is 1 in 5.
15. Complete the sentence.
If 2(x + 3) = 20, then x = _____.
Options for blank 1: 7, 8.5, 10, 17
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 7
Divide both sides by 2 to get x + 3 = 10, then subtract 3 to get x = 7. Answering 8.5 means multiplying the 2 only into the x and not the 3, so distribute to every term inside the parentheses.
What the TSIA2 is and who has to take it
The TSI Assessment 2.0, or TSIA2, is a Texas test. The Texas Success Initiative is a state law that requires Texas public colleges and universities to check whether entering undergraduates are ready for freshman-level courses, and the TSIA2 is the test they use for students who are not exempt. College Board builds it for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). If you are not starting at a public college or university in Texas, you will most likely not need it.
Not everyone has to take it. College Board lists exemptions such as meeting the college readiness standard on the SAT, the ACT or the STAAR end-of-course tests, finishing a high school college preparatory course, earlier college coursework and military service, with extra conditions on some of them. An adviser or counselor at your college or high school can tell you whether one applies to you. Before you register you also have to complete a Pre-Assessment Activity, which your college or school district provides.
The test has two subjects. English language arts and reading (ELAR) starts with 30 multiple-choice questions, half on reading literary, informational and paired passages and half on revising and editing sentences and short essay drafts, followed by an essay of 300 to 600 words scored from 1 to 8. Mathematics starts with 20 multiple-choice questions. Both are adaptive, so questions get harder or easier based on your answers, and both are untimed. The multiple-choice part of each subject is reported on a scale from 910 to 990, and if you land below the college readiness benchmark you move on to a 48-question diagnostic test that shows your strengths and weak spots.
The benchmarks themselves are set by the THECB and have been adjusted before, so this page does not print a number. Check the TSIA2 pages on the College Board ACCUPLACER site, the THECB or your college's testing center for the scores that apply when you test.
How to use this sampler
The 15 questions follow the TSIA2 content areas in miniature. Questions 1 to 5 are reading: an inference from a short story passage, the main idea and a word in context from informational writing, a pair of short passages to compare, and the purpose of a sentence. Questions 6 to 10 are writing: punctuation, subject and verb agreement, transitions, a set of sentences to check and the evidence that best supports a claim. Questions 11 to 15 sample the four math areas. For a full set on math alone, take the TSI math practice test linked below.
On the real test every question is multiple choice with a single answer. The select all that apply and fill in the blank questions here are practice formats that make you check every option instead of stopping at the first one that looks right. Take the test in one sitting and read each passage before the question. The TSIA2 has no time limit, so practice working carefully rather than fast.
Then read every explanation, including for the questions you got right. A wrong answer on question 6 or 9 usually points at a grammar or punctuation habit that will cost points across the whole writing section, so fix the habit, not just the one sentence.
An honest note: the StudyPDF team wrote every question here to the content categories College Board publishes. None of them are real TSIA2 items, none come from College Board's sample questions or a prep company's bank, and StudyPDF is not affiliated with College Board or the THECB.
How to build more practice tests from your own materials
Fifteen questions can show you whether reading, writing or math needs the most work. They cannot get you ready on their own, especially when your class or prep book spends more time on one area than another.
StudyPDF works from your material instead. Upload your prep book, your class notes or the worksheets your teacher handed out. Then press New material, pick a practice test, choose those files as the sources and set how long it should be. You get a test written from those exact pages, and every explanation cites where the answer comes from.
Bo is the tutor for the rest. Ask him why an answer is right and he explains it from your own pages, with a hint first if you want one.
You do not have to upload anything to start. Name a topic instead, for example comma splices or systems of linear equations, and you get practice questions on it. Starting is free.
Written by the StudyPDF team. Last updated 2026-08-19.