River deltas form through erosion when river

carrying large amounts of sediments broken down from various rocks deposit them in the area where the river meets the ocean. Sediments can provide a diversity of minerals and nutrients to the soils where the sediments are deposited. Delta regions are located in several places around the world. What can you predict about the characteristics of these delta regions?

Chemical weathering can break down Earth’s surface just as physical weathering can. When Taylor was working for a chemistry lab, she wanted to determine whether acid rain could have a negative impact on buildings that were constructed from different types of rock. She wanted to compare slate, a metamorphic rock, and granite, an igneous rock. She decided to complete the following steps.

1) She set up four conditions that she could monitor over time. In condition A, acidic water is applied to slate. In condition B, neutral water is applied to slate. In condition C, acidic water is applied to granite. In condition D, neutral water is applied to granite.

2) After continuous application for several months, Taylor planned to compare the changes that took place in conditions B and D to determine whether acidic rain has a stronger effect on one of these types of rock. Taylor’s experiment has a flaw. What is wrong with her experimental design, and what is the best option for improving it?

Mark and Kevin were studying for their earth science test. They were focusing on ways that the movement of tectonic plates can change the Earth’s surface. Mark was having trouble understanding the concept of uplift, so Kevin offered to quiz him on whether different examples of movements in Earth’s crust were examples of this process. Which of the following is an example of the process of uplift?

If a warm wind passes over snow, the snow can be heated rapidly. When this happens, the snow can change directly into water vapor without first becoming liquid water. What is the correct term for this process?

Leah is going for a swim at the beach. She notices that the sand is much warmer than the water in the ocean. Which statement best explains why this happens?

Light from the sun heats Earth’s atmosphere. When the air becomes warmer, it expands. Which type of energy increases to cause this expansion?

Kayla has a cat with blue eyes. The color of her cat’s eyes is determined by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The DNA directs which substance to construct these eyes?

Carbohydrates are made up of three of the six major molecules found in living things. The general chemical formula for a carbohydrate is CH2O. Which elements combine to make a carbohydrate?

Under a high‐powered microscope, Dan sees a cellular organelle. The organelle has a double membrane, and the inner membrane is folded. He runs a test on the organelle and finds that it contains DNA. Which organelle does Dan see?

Hakeem observes an organelle in a cell under a microscope. He notices that the organelle has a double membrane. Which of the following describes what Hakeem could have observed?

Aurea is studying a new type of organism that she has found. She observes that the cells of the organism have ribosomes, mitochondria, and lysosomes. She also observes that the cells do not have a cell wall. What type of organism is Aurea most likely to have found?

When virus particles enter a person’s body, the body responds by following a specific pattern. Which of the following steps happens earliest in the fight against an invading virus?

The male reproductive system produces and stores sperm cells. What is the function of the epididymis in this system?

At puberty, hormones encourage the development of sexual characteristics. Hormones also aid in reproduction. Which of the following are female sex hormones?

Andrei fell while playing basketball and dislocated his shoulder. Andrei’s doctor told him that he had injured an important part of his skeletal system. But luckily, it will heal quickly. What part of the skeletal system is injured when a shoulder is dislocated?

The human muscular system can suffer injury or disease. Which of the following is most likely caused by a person’s heredity?

In a certain population of birds, males are very colorful. Variation in these color patterns is genetic. Some males have orange feathers, some have yellow, and some have red. Females choose which males to mate with. Males chosen as mates have more offspring than males not chosen by females. If some females have offspring with mutations that affect their behavior so they are attracted to the color red, what could happen to the males in this population?

Organisms pass hereditary information encoded in cellular structures from one generation to the next. Which list gives structures in order from the smallest unit of organization to the largest unit of organization?

The small clown fish lives among the poisonous tentacles of the anemone. The clown fish is immune to the poison and swims around the tentacles, cleaning the anemone. In turn, the anemone provides the fish with protection from predators. What kind of symbiosis do these two species show?

A tiny shrimp lives among the poisonous spines of a sea animal called the fire urchin. The spines provide the shrimp with protection from enemies. The fire urchin gains no benefit from the shrimp, but the shrimp causes it no harm. What term is used to describe this type of relationship?

To feed their chicks, robins pull worms from the ground and gather insects. They eat some of the food and carry some back to the babies in the nest. During a spring season, when there is more rain than usual, the number of earthworms at the ground’s surface increases. How might this increase in the worm population affect the robin population?

Alligators in the Everglades are carnivores that compete with each other for food, mates, and places to live. Which term defines the organizational level of all the alligators in the Everglades?

Felipe was enjoying the sunny day at the beach. He told his friend Carl that he was really enjoying the warm feeling that he was getting as he sat in the Sun. Carl explained that the electromagnetic radiation was responsible for this warm feeling. Which part of the electromagnetic spectrum was responsible for making Felipe feel warm?

All electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed in a vacuum. However, different kinds of electromagnetic waves have different wavelengths. For example, microwaves have longer wavelengths than visible light. How is it possible for both microwaves and visible light to travel at the same speed in a vacuum if they have different wavelengths?

Waves can pass through a solid, liquid, or a gas. What is the name for any substance through which a wave can pass?

In 1947, pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person in an airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. He flew his plane about 12,000 meters above sea level. At that altitude, the speed of sound travels at 290 meters/second. At sea level, the speed of sound is about 340 meters/second. What conclusion can you make from this information?

Andrei’s mom works as a scientist as the Space Center. She tells Andrei that a rocket requires a large amount of energy to launch. The required energy is generated by burning liquid fuel. Which type of energy is stored in the liquid fuel?

Jeriah places two metal cubes in contact with each other. Energy as heat flows from Cube A to Cube B. What conclusion can you draw regarding Cube A?

Joe places two solid objects in contact with each other. Which property determines the direction of the flow of heat between the two objects?

A rocket burns fuel to create hot gases that explode violently out of the rocket engine. This explosion creates thrust. Thrust is a force that pushes the rocket upward. What force must thrust overcome in order to send a rocket up into space?

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Measuring acceleration requires the appropriate units. Scientists measure acceleration using a standardized set of units that are part of the SI system. Which are SI units for acceleration?

In science, some quantities are known as vectors. Acceleration is one type of vector. Which of the following would identify an acceleration vector?

Roberta experiments by rolling a steel ball down a ramp. She conducts multiple trials by releasing the ball from varying heights on the ramp. For each trial, Roberta measures and records the release height of the ball and the distance the ball travels from the ramp before falling to the ground.

Which piece of equipment does Roberta need to collect her data?

The teacher gave Carly a list of four stars of different colors. Carly used the information he learned from the discussion of stars’ luminosity. Using that information, a star of which color most likely has the lowest luminosity?

Carlos is studying a star system that appears to have two stars. When a more powerful telescope provides a better image, he discovers that one of the stars is actually two stars. With which other star system would he classify this system?

In the 1860s, Charles Darwin proposed the theory of

evolution. His theory stated that populations change very

slowly over a very long period of time. Then in 1972, some

scientists took a closer look at the fossil record.

They concluded that evolution involves long periods of little change in populations which are interrupted by short periods of rapid change. This finding became part of the theory of evolution. What can you conclude from this information?

When scientists study the natural world, they may form

scientific theories and scientific laws. How does a scientific

theory differ from a scientific law?

The law of universal gravitation states that both mass and

distance of objects affect the gravitational force between them. Gravitational force increases as the mass of the

objects increase. Gravitational force decreases as distance

between the objects increases. Why are these statements considered scientific law, and not scientific theory?

Although a scientific theory is well supported and widely accepted, what might cause it to change?

Physicists study matter, energy, and forces. Physicists use

many different methods as they search for evidence. Which

is NOT a method they would use in their pursuit of scientific explanations?

Biologists study living organisms. To learn more about humans, biologists often have mice in their labs.

Why might biologists use mice in their pursuit of scientific explanations of humans?

Geologists explain why the Earth is shaped as it is.

What is one method that geologists have used to gain knowledge and develop scientific explanations about how mountains form?

1.Where do short‐period comets originate?

Approximately how wide in AU is the Kuiper Belt?

Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. Why is Venus so hot?

Gloria is at the observatory and is examining a newly discovered star through a powerful telescope. She wants to find out how bright the star actually is. What information does she need to calculate the absolute magnitude of a star?

Ashni is a member of the astronomy club. During a trip to an observatory, the members of the astronomy club observe several different stars. Ashni records information about some of the stars in her journal. Of the following four stars, which star should Ashni label as the hottest?

Astronomers use cameras on Earth and in orbit to observe the solar system and other objects in space. Suppose that a camera on Earth takes a picture of an astronomical event. If the picture shows an object that is large, dark, and has a bright area immediately around it. Which event do you think that picture most likely show?

Worms break down dead plants in the soil to release nutrients. Which property of nutrients shows that they are matter?

Biologists measure the length of a tagged sea turtle. They learn that the turtle is 2.3 cm longer than the last time it was measured. Where did the sea turtle get the nutrients it needed to grow?

An alligator lives in a swamp with deer, birds, fish, trees, and other plants. The alligator eats a bird that eats the seeds and plants. What is the original source of the energy that the alligator gets from eating the bird?

One of the largest cypress trees in Florida has a tree trunk with a diameter of about 3.5 m. What is the source of most of the carbon in the cypress tree’s trunk?

A coral reef is damaged during a hurricane. The waves and currents move broken pieces of coral onto the beach. What happened to the matter in the broken pieces of coral?

A coral reef is damaged during a hurricane. The waves and currents move broken pieces of coral onto the beach. What happened to the matter in the broken pieces of coral?

All matter has both physical and chemical properties.

A physical property is one that does not change the chemical nature of matter. Which of these choices is a physical property?

Assume that each object is made of the same metal- paper clip, a pair of scissors, a needle, and a horseshoe.

Which of these physical properties is not similar in all four of these objects?

Kavish mixes a black liquid and a clear liquid. He knows the

two liquids do not mix well. Kavish allows the mixture to settle for 30 minutes. Which of these statements is true?

All matter has physical and chemical properties. These properties can be used to identify the type of matter. Which of these choices describes a chemical property?

Esther is studying the physical and chemical properties of a solid object. She subjects the object to a number of tests and observations. Which of these statements describes a chemical property of the object?

Matter can undergo physical and chemical changes. A physical change is a change of matter from one form to another without a change in the identity of the substance. Which process is an example of a physical change?

It is important to understand the differences between chemical and physical changes. Chemical changes result in new substances, but physical changes do not. Which process is an example of a physical change?

Matter can go through two types of changes: physical changes and chemical changes. Chemical changes result in new substances, while physical changes do not. Which process is an example of a physical change?

Marc tears a piece of notebook paper into smaller pieces.

Tearing paper into pieces is an example of what kind of change?

Chemical changes result in new substances, but physical changes do not. Which process is an example of a chemical change?

Observation is the process of gathering information through the senses, including sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Which observation is an example of sensory data?

Which statement is an example of repetition?

Which statement is an example of replication?

Dan uses a thermometer to measure the temperature of alcohol in a beaker. He heats the beaker for 1 minute and measures the temperature again. The temperature increases by 10 degrees. Which of the following experiments replicates Dan's experiment?

Paleontology is a field of science that studies prehistoric life. What is one method that paleontologists use to learn about dinosaurs?

Geologists explain why the Earth is shaped as it is.

What is one method that geologists have used to gain knowledge and develop scientific explanations about how mountains form?

Biologists study living organisms. To learn more about humans, biologists often have mice in their labs.

Why might biologists use mice in their pursuit of scientific explanations of humans?

Physicists study matter, energy, and forces. Physicists use

many different methods as they search for evidence. Which

is NOT a method they would use in their pursuit of scientific explanations?

Although a scientific theory is well supported and widely accepted, what might cause it to change?