If induced stresses are sufficient to cause a mechanical failure of the set cement in an oil or gas well, failure likely will be tensile in nature. Although recommended methods for testing well cement compressive strengths exist, no similar standards currently exist for testing the tensile strength of well cements. Without the ability to test well-cement tensile strength in an accurate and repeatable manner, it becomes very difficult for design engineers to use induced-stress data to determine if a given cement system possesses sufficient tensile strength to withstand induced tensile stresses. The full-length paper reviews the basic construction-concrete tensile tests most commonly used and analyzes the tensile-strength results obtained with the different testing methods.