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 grani e.

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?

The diagram above shows two pieces of the Earth’s crust, with arrows indicating the direction they are moving.

The movement of tectonic plates can build up stress that causes changes in Earth’s surface. What type of stress is caused when tectonic plates move as shown in the diagram?

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?

Florida beaches are known for their white sand, clear ocean water, and palm trees. A picture of a Florida beach is shown above.

Which elements seen would be adding water vapor to the atmosphere?

Leah s 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?

Hake 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?

Mariella 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 Mariella 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?

Jeff fell while playing basketball and dislocated his shoulder. Jeff’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?

The birds shown above live on a single island.

These four bird species are closely related, and all of them share a common ancestor with a single species. What environmental factor is most likely to have caused this diversity of species?

1. 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?

Nico and Lila are preparing a presentation about heredity and hereditary information. They are using the illustration above in their presentation.

What title should they use for this illustration?

1. 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?

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?

John’s mom works as a scientist as the Space Center. She tells John 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?

Rachel is cooking breakfast before she leaves for school. In which of the following electrical appliances is electrical energy converted to kinetic energy?

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?

Luis is pushing a box of new soccer balls across the floor. In the picture above, the arrow on the box is a vector representing the force Luis exerted

32. The diagram shows the components of motion that affect an object in orbit around a planet.

How is the dotted arrow related to the two solid arrows?

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?

During a science experiment, students compress four springs and then release them.

In which position would the greatest conversion of elastic energy to kinetic energy occur when the spring is released?

The pitch of a sound wave depends on its frequency. A high frequency results in a high pitch, while a low frequency results in a low pitch. The diagram above shows the frequency of a sound wave.

How should this diagram be changed to show that the wave has a higher pitch?

In the four panels of drawings above, each panel shows animals living in the same area at different times.

Going from the bottom to the top panels, what behavior likely increased among the animals?

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

Which statement is an example of repetition?

Which statement is an example of replication?

Using the same materials and process, Robert and Lori both plant seeds and place them in full sunlight. They each measure the growth of their plants over 12 weeks.

Based on graph above, what conclusion can you draw about the two experiments?

Lance throws a ball three times and tracks its distance.

Why is this experiment NOT an example of repetition.

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 a biologist use mice in their pursuit of scientific explanations of humans?

Ecologists study the relationship among living organisms and their surroundings. An ecologist graphs the changes in rabbit population over time.

How would a graph like this one NOT help a scientist pursue scientific explanations about the populations?

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?

The following map shows how likely it is for a storm to develop winds that are fast enough to become a tropical storm. The map was made with a computer program that uses weather data and mathematical equations to make predictions about the storm.

What type of model is shown in the diagram?

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?

Scientists often use mathematical relationships when they study the natural world. Which of the following describes the natural world in terms of a mathematical relationship?

How would a model of the current theory differ from Bohr‟s model?