HSE Science

Science Test Tips

• Approach each question a reading comprehension. Most of the information you need is within the text

• Make mental or handwritten notes on important info as you read. When you need to go back to it, it will be easier to locate it

• Eliminate any answer option that has nothing to do with the text/image

• Use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words

• If the proctor allows it, use scratch paper to make notes or drawings

• Every detail in an illustration matters

Tips Continued

• Know Newton's Laws of Motion

  • 1: Law of Inertia, 2: F=ma, 3: Equal and opposite reaction

• Know 3 types of electromagnetic waves

  • 1: X-rays, 2: Microwaves, 3: Radio waves

• Know the one common process to all life is cellular respiration

  • Virtually all cells take in oxygen and produce carbon dioxide

  • Some do not need oxygen

    • Yeast in bread and soreness after a workout are due to fermentation

Multiple Choice

Some insects, notably bees, ants, and termites, live together in large numbers. Their bodies may be different depending on the role they play. For example, some ant societies have individuals that are specialized for defense. They may be larger, have differently shaped jaws, and respond more quickly to pheromones that signal danger. What is one advantage of such an arrangement?

• The larger ants require more food to eat

• All members of the society are equally adept at defending the society

• The larger ants will produce larger offspring

• The ants that specialize in defense can protect the society

• Insects in a society are less likely to be attacked by predators

Multiple Choice

The place where one bone attaches to another is called a joint. In the human body joints can be freely movable, slightly movable, or immovable. The joints in the hand are freely movable. This allows humans to grasp a pencil or other tools, push an object away, or scratch. What is the advantage of having a freely moveable joint at the knee?

• Movement is restricted for optimal support and strength

• The free movement of the joint makes the adjacent bones impervious to breakage

• Humans can walk, run, or jump thanks to the movement possible in the knee joint

• It is possible to use this joint to swing a weapon, such as a bat

• The small amount of movement conserves energy

Words and Phrases to Know

• Elements: All things are made up of this.

  • Ex: Periodic Table of Elements - Hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, etc.

• Atoms: Smallest particle of an element

• Chemical Reactions: Occurs when 2 or more molecules of different element combine or break apart to form a compound that was not there before

• Solute: Able to dissolve substances (Ex: Water)

• Solvent: Can be dissolved (Ex: Sugar)

• Big Bang Theory: The universe expanded and continues to expand from a very hot and dense state

• Planets like Earth: Venus and Mars (similar size and distance from sun)

  • Venus: an atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide

  • Mars: can reach 80deg but usually between -200 and 1deg

    • Frozen water beneath surface

• The Nervous System: Responsible for our ability to feel and controls movement

  • Brain, Eyes, Spinal Cord, and Nerves

• Circulatory System: in human and vertebrates

  • Cardiovascular: moves blood around the body

  • Lymphatic: Moves a fluid called lymph

Multiple Choice

It is advantages for adults of may species to produce a large number of offspring that are similar to them, but not identical. In this way, if environmental conditions change, at least some of their offspring will probably survive. What mechanism primarily provides this variability in each successive generation of a species?

• Sexual reproduction

• Genetic mutation

• Asexual reproduction

• Delayed implantation

• Reproduction isolation

Multiple Choice

Most plants take energy from the sun, combine it with water and carbon dioxide, and use it to create simple sugars. Of the following, which best describes the change in energy in this system?

• Thermal energy, in the form of heat, is converted to chemical energy

• Thermal energy, in the form of heat, is converted to light energy

• Chemical energy is converted to thermal energy

• Light energy is converted to thermal energy

• Light energy is converted to chemical energy

Multiple Choice

What functions do the cells of all organisms carry out?

• Sexual reproduction and circulation

• Circulation and photosysnthesis

• Sexual reproduction and respiration

• Photosynthesis and respiration

• Respiration and protein synthesis

Multiple Choice

Trigeminal neuralgia causes facial pain that comes and goes. In some cases, the pain can be severe. The trigeminal nerve, a tiny nerve at the base of the brain, causes the disorder. Trigeminal neuralgia can be considered a disorder of which system?

• Nervous

• Disgestive

• Immune

• Circulatory

• Endocrine

Multiple Choice

Wind turbines harness the wind to provide energy. Windmills used the wind to turn gears in a mill. How do these technologies differ?

• In wind turbines, electrical energy from the wind is harvested. In windmills, it was converted to mechanical energy.

• In wind turbines, mechanical energy from the wind is harvested as potential energy. In windmills it was converted to mechanical energy

• In wind turbines, energy from the wind is converted to heat energy. In windmills it was converted to electrical energy

• Mechanical energy from the wind is converted into heat energy. In windmills, mechanical energy was transformed to electrical energy

• Mechanical energy from the wind is converted to electrical energy. In windmills, mechanical energy was not transformed; it was used as mechanical energy

Multiple Choice

In movies, battles between spaceships are depicted as noisy occurrences. However, in reality such sounds would not be heard. What explains this?

• Sound travels in waves, and the dust and debris present in space would slow these waves. Sound can only travel through empty space

• Sound travels in waves and needs a material like air or water to propagate. Space is empty of any medium that could transmit sound waves

• Sound travels as particles and would be deflected by the hull of the ships

• Sound travels as radiation and would be deflected by the hull of the ships

• Sound travels as radiation and would be quickly cooled in the freezing temperatures of space

Classifying elements

1. Metals: Generally good conductors of electricity, melt at very high temperatures and are quite dense

2. Nonmetals: are poor conductors of electricity, have low melting points, and are less dense than metals

3. Metalloids: have properties of both metals and nonmetals

4. Alloys: Mixtures of 2 or more metals that are dissolved into one another at temperatures of thousands of degrees

Multiple Choice

Which of the following could be classified as a metalloid?

• Copper

• Gold

• Oxygen

• Arsenic

• Helium

Multiple Choice

Mixing which two elements would produce an alloy?

• Hydrogen and oxygen

• Copper and zinc

• Silver and bromine

• Gold and sulfur

• Phosphorus and Iodine

Earth and Space Science

Continental Drift

• The continents did not always exist as they are today

• Magma flows to the surface and causes earth's crust to spread apart

• In other places, crust is forced under other crust

• This has caused continents to drift apart, closer together, split, or even collide

The Rock Cycle

• Smaller rocks are worn down through erosion

• Particles of these rocks are carried by rivers and deposited where water flows more slowly, such as lakes

• These articles build up and become compressed over time and form sedimentary rocks

• Through increasing pressure, they are then transformed into metamorphic rocks

• These rocks eventually melt into earth's mantle completely

• Volcanic eruptions then bring these rocks back to te surface through lava

• Lava cools forming igneous rocks

• When igneous rocks erode, the cycle is complete

The Solar System

• Refers to the sun and all nearby planets and other astronomical objects

  • Includes moons, Asteroids, and comets

• All objects are pulled into orbits around the sun

  • Due to the sun's powerful gravitational force

• Evidence from meteorites suggest our solar system is about 5 billion years old

Evolution

• The theory of natural selection by Charles Darwin in the 19th century (1800s)

• This theory claims that a whole population of organisms could change over time

  • These organisms become larger, smaller, faster, or better suited to the habitat in some way

Multiple Choice

How is the Earth unique among the planets in our solar system?

• The Earth is our solar system's largest planet

• The Earth is the only planet in our solar system with an atmosphere

• The Earth supports life. It is the only planets in our solar system known to do so

• The Earth is the only planet in our solar system with a moon in orbit around it

• The Earth is the only planets with a crust, a mantle, and a core

Multiple Choice

What is most likely the explanation for why the fossils and rocks found in eastern South America and those of Western Africa resemble each other?

• Due to continental drift, these continents became separated by the Atlantic Ocean. Millions of years ago, they were continuous

• Scientists have transported fossils and rocks from one continent to the other

• Bird migrations are common; therefore the fossil remains of birds that died are similar in both places

• The climates are similar, so the life forms are too

• Volcanic activity in the last 100 years has separated these two continents where previously there was a land bridge that connected them