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WorksheetsMCA Practice
Total questions: 73
Worksheet time: 2hrs 25mins
Look at the diagram illustrating a life process.
Why is sunlight important to this process?
It turns the carbon dioxide into oxygen to be released through the leaves.
It provides the needed temperatures to change glucose into water.
It provides the energy needed to combine the atoms into glucose.
It raises the levels of gases in the air so that water can change into oxygen.
The diagrams model different geological features at two locations. One of the features formed rapidly over a small area. The other feature formed over millions of years over a large area.
Which feature formed rapidly?
Location 1
Location 2
Suppose that one billiard ball strikes another as shown in the figure. The collision is head on, so ball 1 comes to rest and ball 2 moves away with the same velocity ball 1 had to start.
When billiard balls collide, energy is conserved. Which explanation is correct?
During a collision, the action and reaction forces are equal and opposite, and since they act for the same amount of time, energy lost by one ball is gained by the other.
During a collision, the accelerations of the two balls are equal and opposite, and since they act for the same time, energy lost by one ball is gained by the other.
During a collision, the action and reaction forces are equal and opposite, and since they act through the same distance, energy lost by one ball is gained by the other.
During a collision, the masses of the two balls are equal, so energy lost by one ball is gained by the other.
Justin is designing a heatsink to use in electronic devices. A heatsink transfers heat that is generated by the device to ambient air in order to keep the electronic components at a safe operating temperature.
Justin plans to test steel, glass, wood, plastic, and copper to use for the heatsink. Which of them would NOT be suitable for a heatsink? Choose all that apply.
steel
glass
wood
plastic
copper
Which fossil from these columns can act as an index fossil?
Fossil 1
Fossil 2
Fossil 3
Fossil 4
The fossils in rock layers A, E, and I are ________ the fossils in layers D, H, and M.
younger than
older than
the same age as
Which statements are accurate about Fossil 1? Choose the two that apply.
Fossil 1 is older than Fossil 3.
Fossil 1 appeared around the same time as Fossil 3.
Fossil 1 appeared most recently.
Fossil 1 appeared around the same time as Fossil 2.
Fossil 1 is older than Fossil 2.
While most objects in the solar system are easy to explain, some objects travel in ways that scientists have difficulty explaining. Some scientists hypothesize the existence of the object shown in this image.
What is the most likely reason for their hypothesis?
The new planet would take the place of Pluto, which is no longer considered a planet.
The gravitational pull would help explain the irregular orbits of other objects in our solar system.
They have better controls in their investigations than other scientists.
Other scientists cannot repeat their experiment, so their hypothesis cannot be proven false.
Which of the following statements can be used as evidence to show that this diagram is of a plant cell?
A cell wall is present in the diagram.
The diagram does not show a nucleus.
A cell membrane is present in the diagram.
The diagram does not show any chloroplasts.
What advantage does sexual reproduction have over asexual reproduction for a population of organisms?
Identical offspring help the population members bond.
Two parents help produce many more offspring than one parent.
Identical traits help keep the population strong and healthy.
Varied traits might allow members to adapt to habitat changes.
A blood moon is a special type of full moon. It occurs when the moon enters into the outer part of Earth's shadow in space, known as the penumbra. As the moon passes through the penumbra, it appears orange-red in color. Why is there not a blood moon every month?
Sometimes the moon is farther from Earth, so Earth's shadow can't fall across the moon.
A full moon only occurs every other month.
The moon's orbital plane is not the same as Earth's, so the moon doesn't always pass through the penumbra.
Some blood moons occur during the daytime and cannot be observed.
Students record information about the motion of an object in a straight line. They record their measurements in a table.
What is the average speed of this object?
3 m/s
9 m/s
18 m/s
36 m/s
Students record information about the motion of an object in a straight line. They record their measurements in a table.
They prepare to plot the information on a line graph. The graph has time on the x-axis and distance on the y-axis. How would this object's motion appear on their graph?
a line that curves downward
a flat line that does not slope up or down
a straight line that slopes upward
a line that curves upward
Students record information about the motion of an object in a straight line. They record their measurements in a table.
Which of the following provides the strongest evidence that the forces on this object are balanced?
The object's motion is measured in meters/second.
The distance the object moved increases over time.
The object's motion is not changing (remains constant)
The object stopped moving at the end of this time period.
In 1974, a team of paleontologists discovered "Lucy", the fossil of an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton. Lucy was determined to be a 3.2 million year old female, with a small skeleton and skull like the modern chimpanzee, and leg joints that indicate she walked upright on two legs like the modern human.
Which of the following statements is correct?
Lucy is not related to the chimpanzee or the modern human because her fossil predates those of chimpanzees.
Lucy and the modern human have a shared ancestor but are not related to the chimpanzee, which is why the chimp cannot walk upright.
Lucy, the chimpanzee, and the modern human evolved from a shared ancestor, so they have similar traits.
Lucy, the chimpanzee, and the modern human have such different traits because they are not related.
Breathing is how gases are exchanged in the body. The illustration shows this process.
Which of the following statements best describes what happens if nothing is eaten for a period of time?
There will not be enough glucose to be broken down, which will result in a decrease in energy.
There will be an increase in carbon dioxide produced, which will result in an increase in energy.
There will not be enough energy to convert the glucose into water, which will create an excess of carbon dioxide.
There will be an excess of oxygen, which will prevent the energy from being converted to carbon dioxide.
Scientists have determined that the star on the left is actually much brighter than the star on the right. What best explains the difference between observation and reality?
Iota Canis Majoris is smaller in size than Sirius.
Sirius is much closer to Earth than Iota Canis Majoris.
Iota Canis Majoris was dimmer in the past.
Sirius gives off more visible light compared to Iota Canis Majoris.
Based on this map, which California cities have a high susceptibility to landslides?
Fresno
San Francisco
Sacramento
Stockton
Oakland
The carbon cycle shows how carbon moves through the environment. It continuously gets transferred between living and nonliving things.
How is carbon being transferred at B?
Humans are extracting carbon from fossil fuels.
Dead organisms are becoming fossil fuels.
Marine animals are creating carbon through the process of cellular respiration.
Terrestrial organisms are using carbon and producing energy from photosynthesis.
A group of students investigates how adding heat to ice water changes the temperature of the water. The set up for the investigation is shown here.
What is the chemical change that is occurring in this investigation?
The ice in the beaker is melting.
The gas in the heat source is burning.
The water in the beaker is absorbing thermal energy.
The temperature of the glass beaker is increasing.
From 2012 to 2014, California experience a severe drought coupled with high temperatures. Tree ring data from blue oaks shows that in years with low moisture, the trees grow poorly and produce smaller growth rings.
The tree ring data show an example of __________ affecting the blue oak trees' growth.
hormones
genes
internal environment factors
external environment factors
The graph shows how annual global temperatures have changed over time. The average temperature is represented by the dashed line on the graph. Which question is answered by the data in the graph?
Why were annual temperatures below average from 1950 to 1970?
Why does land warm at a faster rate than ocean water?
At what rate have temperatures changed in the past 50 years?
What is the relationship between greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and changes in annual global temperatures?
Students are using clay balls to model how atoms are recombined in chemical reactions. First, they model the reactants. Then, they take apart the clay balls and use them to model the products.
What evidence best supports the statement that the students' work is incorrect?
There should not be any extra atoms after the products are modeled.
There should be only one product, not two.
The model does not show the formation of new types of atoms.
The model does not show that the atoms of the reactants are destroyed.
Toby rolled two different bowling balls down a ramp. The two bowling balls are the same size but have different masses. He collected the data in a table.
What is the average distance for Bowling Ball 1?
(a) meters
Toby rolled two different bowling balls down a ramp. The two bowling balls are the same size but have different masses. He collected the data in a table.
What is the average distance for Bowling Ball 2?
(a) meters
Toby rolled two different bowling balls down a ramp. The two bowling balls are the same size but have different masses. He collected the data in a table.
Which bowling ball has more mass?
Bowling Ball 1
Bowling Ball 2
Elizabeth is studying systems that make up the human body. She uses two models of systems for her study.
Which conclusion best describes how the systems in models A and B work with one another?
The lungs take in oxygen, which is carried throughout the body.
The liver adds chemicals to the stomach, which breaks down food.
The intestines break down food using oxygen carried by the blood.
The blood flows through kidneys, which remove wastes from the body.
This illustration shows the a cross-section of the Grand Canyon and their approximate ages.
Suppose a fossil is found in the Redwall Limestone layer. Which of the following is a correct comparison to fossils found in other layers?
Any fossils found in the Esplanade Sandstone layer are much older.
Any fossils found in the Temple Butte Limestone layer are younger by a million years.
The Manakacha Formation layer contains fossils that are about 25 million years younger.
Any fossils from the Hermit Shale layer are approximtely the same age.
This illustration shows the a cross-section of the Grand Canyon and their approximate ages.
How could current thinking about Earth's geological evolution change if layers E through K were identical?
There would be less evidence to support the age of fossils.
The number of fossils being found would be reduced.
Evidence would strongly suggest that Earth was once more water than land.
Placing rocks into a time scale would be much easier.
This illustration shows the a cross-section of the Grand Canyon and their approximate ages.
What other evidence could be found in rock layer D that would help a person better understand how Earth has changed over time?
The amount of carbon found in the layer of rock is different from other layers.
It has the same sizes of rock particles as every other layer.
The materials in this layer are identical to the materials in layer C.
It is thicker than the other layers so it can be used to determine their ages.
The study of embryos shows that in their earliest phases, the organisms appear quite different from their adult forms.
Which of the following statements is correct?
Embryos appear similar in the earliest stages of development because their DNA is identical.
Embryos grow at different rates and this makes them change into the organisms they become.
Embryos appear similar in the earliest stages of development because the organisms are related and share common ancestry.
Embryos change as they are exposed to different environmental factors.
Look at the third row of in the embryological development diagram. What is the most significant change to the human embryo?
gained gill slits
closed eyes
no backbone
tail loss
Deer mice are ordinarily brown. During the last Ice Age, glaciers carried light colored sand and deposited it over the dark soil of Nebraska's Sand Hills region. Predators there, such as owls and hawks, more easily spotted the dark mice than the light mice.
In what ways would natural selection most likely lead to changes in the deer mice population? Choose all that apply.
The population would reproduce more rapidly.
More pale mice would live to reproduce
There would be fewer dark mice over time.
The population would be reduced over time.
Dark mice would become prey more often.
In a population with genetic variation, the chances of some individuals surviving to reproduce increases, especially when conditions change rapidly. Through _____________, certain traits in a population are suppressed while other traits become predominant.
artificial selection
competition
mutation
natural selection
Woolly mammoths were grass eaters. A modern elephant of similar size consumes up to 440 pounds of food and 60 gallons of water daily. Mammoths needed a lot of living space as well. Evidence shows they roamed hundreds of miles in search of food. The last mammoths lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. They died out soon after the arrival of the first humans on the island.
Which of the following would NOT be a limiting factor the mammoths faced in their habitat?
food
disease
predation
space
The table shows Paolo's weight on the surface of three different planets in a simulated solar system.
Which of the following does not vary from planet to planet?
planetary gravity
Paolo's weight
planetary radius
Paolo's mass
The map shows some fossils of the same organisms that have been discovered on different continents, suggesting that the landmasses were once connected.
Which number shows the likeliest location that fossils of Mesosaurus have been discovered?
1
2
3
4
A model of the water cycle is shown here. Which two steps in the model show where thermal energy is transferred either to or from water as it cycles through Earth's sytems?
1
2
3
4
5
Which of the following could be used to highlight the role transpiration plays in the water cycle?
add arrows rising above the trees
add arrows pointing from the sun to the lake
add arrows pointing from the groundwater to the lake
add an arrow pointing from one of the clouds to the sun
The figure shows models of four different gases at a molecular level. Each ball represents an atom. The substances represent different combinations of two types of atoms.
How many types of molecules are shown in Panel A?
1
2
3
2 or 3
The figure shows models of four different gases at a molecular level. Each ball represents an atom. The substances represent different combinations of two types of atoms.
How many types of atoms are shown in Panel A?
1
2
3
2 or 3
The figure shows models of four different gases at a molecular level. Each ball represents an atom. The substances represent different combinations of two types of atoms.
How many types of molecules are shown in Panel C?
1
2
3
2 or 3
The figure shows models of four different gases at a molecular level. Each ball represents an atom. The substances represent different combinations of two types of atoms.
How many types of atoms are shown in Panel C?
1
2
3
2 or 3
Each large atom has 16 times the mass of one of the smaller atoms. Which gas is the most dense?
A
B
C
D
Each large atom has 16 times the mass of one of the smaller atoms. Which gas is the least dense?
A
B
C
D
The figure shows models of four different gases at a molecular level. Each ball represents an atom. The substances represent different combinations of two types of atoms.
Which of the following cannot be done using the diagrams?
Visualize the atoms bonded within the molecules.
Determine the thermal energy of a water molecule.
Show that some molecules are not compounds.
Demonstrate how elements can combine to form different types of matter.
The figure shows a solid metal sphere with a charged surface.
Which 3 of the following statements are true?
The charges have no kinetic energy.
The charges have high potential because they are close together.
The charges have low potential because they are negative.
The force on the charges is outward.
The force on the charges is inward.
Marco lives in Florida. He comes across data about sea turtle populations on the Florida beaches. He knows that some nests do not produce living turtles.
Which beach had the highest proportion of hatched nests to total nests?
Barefoot Beach
City of Naples
Delnor Wiggins
Marco Island
What is the source of energy that drives surface processes such as weathering and erosion in the rock cycle?
volcanoes
wind and rain
the sun
Earth's hot interior
This model shows the relationship between moon phases and the relative positions of Earth, the sun, and the moon.
How could this model be used to explain how the moon appears different from Earth each night?
The sun lights up a different amount of the moon's surface each night, which is sometimes visible from Earth.
The sun always shines on half of the moon, but the amount that visible from Earth changes based on the moon's position.
The sun lights up half of Earth's surface, causing only part of the moon's lit side to be visible.
The moon changes position as it orbits the sun, changing the amount of the lit side that is visible from Earth.
Island foxes live on six of the eight Channel Islands off California's coast. Due to intervention, the foxes have returned from the brink of extinction. Plagued by disasters, island fox populations dipped to a low around 2000. In 2014, severe drought reduced food available to the foxes.
Based on the data, which island's fox population do you think had the hardest time rebounding from the severe drought?
San Miguel Island fox
Santa Rosa Island fox
Santa Catalina Island fox
Santa Cruz Island fox
If a crab were added to this food web, and it ate the scraps left behind by the frog, what would best describe the relationship between the crab and the frog?
mutualism
predation
parasitism
commensalism
The elements in the periodic table are organized in different ways based on properties. For example, metals, metalloids, and nonmetals are displayed together. Elements are also organized by group and period.
Which of the following statements are true about this portion of the periodic table? Choose all that apply.
Ca and Sr belong to the same period.
Y and K are both metals.
Zr and Ti have similar characteristics.
Rb and K belong to the same group.
Milo is conducting an investigation on energy transfer. He creates the set-up shown in the picture using a lamp, an incandescent lightbulb, and a glass of ice water.
How could Milo investigate whether energy transfer has taken place using quantitative data?
Turn on the lamp and leave the light on for 5 minutes. Then, feel the air around the bulb to see if it got hotter.
Measure the temp of the light before turning on the lamp. Turn on for 5 minutes, then measure the temp of the ice cubes.
Measure the temp of the water in the glass before turning on the lamp. Turn on for 5 minutes, then measure the temp of the water in the glass.
Measure the mass of the ice cubes, then turn on the lamp. Measure the mass of the glass of water after 5 minutes.
Quan and Carmen were collecting temperature and time data when they applied a constant amount of thermal energy to a block of ice in a beaker. They measured and recorded the temperature of the contents of the beaker every five minutes. They graphed these data, and the graph is shown.
What is true about the motion of the water particles from point A to point B?
They increase in speed.
They decrease in speed.
They move at the same speed.
They remain vibrating in place.
Which observation suggests that Minnesota was covered by glaciers in the past?
Rocks have fossils.
Rocks show wind erosion.
Rocks show chemical weathering.
Rocks have scrapes and striations.
Based on the air pressure data, which 2 weather predictions will be most likely accurate?
Based on the data collected, which testable question are scientists trying to answer?
What is the source of the pollution?
Which pollutants are found in the lake?
Which pollutants have been in the water the longest?
What effect does the pollution have on the lake ecosystem?
Mercury is one pollutant found in Lake Superior. The largest source of mercury pollution comes from burning coal in power plants. Data shows that air currents can carry pollutants from power plants that are hundreds of miles away.
How would the condition of the lake change if people began to use less fossil fuel energy?
improve
decline
stay the same
Water bottle rockets are made by adding water to a bottle and pumping air into it.
Some of the air that is pumped into the bottle dissolves in the water. What type of change happens when air dissolves in water?
Chemical
Color
Molecular
Physical
Water bottle rockets are made by adding water to a bottle and pumping air into it.
As the student pumps air into the bottle, the pressure _________ and the distance between particles ___________.
decreases; decreases
increases; decreases
decreases; increases
increases; increases
Gravity acts on the water bottle rocket while it is in flight. Which arrow correctly shows the direction in which gravity acts on the water bottle throughout its flight?
What is the average speed of the water bottle rocket when it travels 20 meters in 5 seconds?
4 m/s
15 m/s
25 m/s
100 m/s
A student collects seeds from mature pea plants. Some of the seeds are green and some are yellow. Which graph best shows the information from the table?
Reproduction is important for a species to survive. Which factor listed here would lead to an increased chance of species survival?
large amount of genetic diversity
small number of organisms
negative change in the environment
A student uses yellow pea seeds for an experiment. The student divides the seeds into two groups. One group of yellow pea seeds receives half as much water as the other group. After one month, the group of plants that received less water is shorter than the other group.
Which variable(s) were changed by the student? Select all that apply.
Amount of water
Amount of light
Height of plant
Size of container
A student uses yellow pea seeds for an experiment. The student divides the seeds into two groups. One group of yellow pea seeds receives half as much water as the other group. After one month, the group of plants that received less water is shorter than the other group.
Which variable(s) were measured? Select all that apply.
Amount of water
Amount of light
Height of plant
Size of container
A student uses yellow pea seeds for an experiment. The student divides the seeds into two groups. One group of yellow pea seeds receives half as much water as the other group. After one month, the group of plants that received less water is shorter than the other group.
Which variable(s) stayed the same? Select all that apply.
Amount of water
Amount of light
Height of plant
Size of container
Satellites are natural or artificial objects that orbit a planet or a star. Satellites move in regular, predictable patterns. Which two properties keep satellites moving in patterns?
Density
Friction
Gravity
Inertia
Magnetism
Scientists use rockets to launch satellites from Earth. Which type of energy is stored in fuel cells?
electrical
chemical
mechanical
heat
Scientists use rockets to launch satellites from Earth. Which type of energy is released into the atmosphere?
electrical
chemical
mechanical
heat
Scientists use rockets to launch satellites from Earth. The moving rocket has which type of energy?
electrical
chemical
mechanical
heat
The glacier in the satellite image appears white and the land appears brown. Which statement explains why objects appear to be different colors?
objects reflect all wavelengths of light
objects refract all wavelengths of light
objects reflect some wavelengths of light and absorb others
objects refract some wavelengths of light and absorb others
