TEAS anatomy and physiology: which body systems are tested and how to study them
Written and reviewed by Rebecca Moore, MSN, RN, CEN · 3 min read · Updated October 2026
Short answer
Human anatomy and physiology is the largest part of TEAS Science: 18 of the 50 questions, alongside 9 biology, 8 chemistry, and 9 scientific reasoning, with 6 unscored. ATI's topic list names general orientation of the body plus eleven systems, from respiratory and cardiovascular to immune and skeletal. Study them one system at a time and answer questions after each one.
The systems on ATI's list
ATI's TEAS Version 7 topics for anatomy and physiology start with the general orientation of human anatomy: directional terms, body planes, and body cavities. Then come the respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, nervous, muscular, reproductive (male and female), integumentary, endocrine, urinary, immune, and skeletal systems.
That is a lot of ground for 18 questions, which means any single system gets only a few. The aim is breadth: knowing what each system does, its main organs, and how it connects to the others, rather than memorising every detail of one.
What to know for each system
For every system, be able to name the main structures, say what each one does, and follow the path of whatever moves through it: air through the airways, blood through the heart, food through the digestive tract, a signal along a nerve. Questions often ask which structure comes next, or which organ belongs to which system.
Directional words are the glue between systems. Proximal and distal describe distance from where a limb joins the trunk, medial and lateral describe distance from the midline, and a question that asks where the femur sits relative to the patella is really a vocabulary question.
Connections between systems are fair game too. The endocrine and nervous systems both send signals, the urinary and cardiovascular systems both handle fluid balance, and the immune system works through the blood and lymph.
A study order that works
Start with orientation and terminology, then work through the systems in whatever order you like, answering a short set of questions after each. Rereading notes feels productive, but answering questions shows you what you actually remember.
Keep a running list of the structures you get wrong, and review that list instead of the whole textbook in the final week. Our free TEAS science practice questions cover anatomy and physiology alongside biology, chemistry, and scientific reasoning, with an explanation for each answer.
Common questions
How many anatomy questions are on the TEAS?
ATI lists 18 human anatomy and physiology questions in the Science section, out of 50 Science questions in total.
Which body systems are on the TEAS?
Respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, nervous, muscular, reproductive, integumentary, endocrine, urinary, immune, and skeletal, plus general orientation of the body.
Is TEAS anatomy hard if I have not taken A&P yet?
It is very learnable from scratch, but it takes time because the vocabulary is new. Start with terminology and plan more study weeks for Science than for the other sections.