A sealed syringe holds 60 mL of air at 100 kPa. The plunger is pushed in until the pressure reads 300 kPa, with the temperature unchanged. What volume does the air fill now?NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, Boyle's Law. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 1 (structure and behavior of matter)
A stone with a mass of 84 g is lowered into a graduated cylinder, and the water level rises from 50 mL to 80 mL. What is the stone's density?U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School, Water Density. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 1 (structure and behavior of matter)
Four water samples are tested with a pH meter. Which reading belongs to a basic sample?U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School, pH and Water. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 1 (structure and behavior of matter)
Gasoline burns in an engine. Which description fits this type of chemical reaction?NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, Combustion. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 1 (structure and behavior of matter)
Show all 50 questions (46 more)
Structure and behavior of matter, continued
Two atoms are isotopes of the same element. What must differ between them?U.S. Department of Energy, DOE Explains: Isotopes. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 1 (structure and behavior of matter)
What are the vertical columns of the periodic table called, and what do elements in the same column tend to share?Los Alamos National Laboratory, Understanding the Periodic Table. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 1 (structure and behavior of matter)
What did J. J. Thomson's 1897 experiments with cathode rays show?The Nobel Prize, J.J. Thomson, Facts. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 1 (structure and behavior of matter)
Forces and motion 7
A 1,200 kg car speeds up at 2.5 m/s². What net force acts on it?NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, Newton's Laws of Motion. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 2 (forces and motion)
A jet engine drives hot exhaust gas out of its back, and the aircraft is pushed forward. Which statement explains the forward push?NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, Newton's Laws of Motion. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 2 (forces and motion)
A swimming pool looks shallower than it is, because light changes direction as it leaves the water for the air. Which wave behavior is this?NASA Science, Wave Behaviors. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 2 (forces and motion)
A tablecloth is pulled quickly from under a set of dishes, and the dishes stay almost where they were. Which idea explains this?NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, Newton's Laws of Motion. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 2 (forces and motion)
An ambulance with its siren on drives toward a person standing on the sidewalk. What does the person hear as it approaches, compared with the siren at rest?NOAA JetStream, How Radar Works. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 2 (forces and motion)
Inside an electric generator, what produces the current?U.S. Energy Information Administration, Magnets and electricity. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 2 (forces and motion)
Why can sound not cross the vacuum of space, although light can?NASA Science, Anatomy of an Electromagnetic Wave. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 2 (forces and motion)
Energy and its effects 6
A lamp draws a current of 0.5 A when it is connected to a 9-volt battery. What is the lamp's resistance?HyperPhysics (Georgia State University), Ohm's Law. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 3 (energy and its effects)
A student pushes a crate with a steady 50 N force for 6 m in the direction of the push, taking 10 s. What power does the student deliver?HyperPhysics (Georgia State University), Work, Energy and Power. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 3 (energy and its effects)
Energy is classed as either potential or kinetic. Which of these is potential energy?U.S. Energy Information Administration, Forms of energy. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 3 (energy and its effects)
How does nuclear fusion differ from nuclear fission?U.S. Department of Energy, DOE Explains: Nuclear Fusion Reactions. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 3 (energy and its effects)
Water at the bottom of a pot on a burner warms and rises while cooler water sinks to take its place. Which kind of heat transfer is this circulation?NOAA JetStream, The Transfer of Heat Energy. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 3 (energy and its effects)
Which list runs from the longest wavelength to the shortest?NASA Science, Introduction to the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 3 (energy and its effects)
Earth and its processes 6
A road cut shows four undisturbed sedimentary layers, with one fossil in the lowest layer and another in the top layer. What does the principle of superposition say about them?National Park Service, Geologic Principles: Superposition and Original Horizontality. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 4 (Earth and the processes that affect it)
Deep ocean trenches form where one plate sinks beneath another. At which type of plate boundary does this happen?U.S. Geological Survey, This Dynamic Earth, Understanding plate motions. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 4 (Earth and the processes that affect it)
How does temperature change with height in the troposphere and in the stratosphere?NOAA JetStream, Layers of the Atmosphere. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 4 (Earth and the processes that affect it)
What did Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift, introduced in 1912, claim?U.S. Geological Survey, This Dynamic Earth, Historical perspective. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 4 (Earth and the processes that affect it)
Which statement describes how a metamorphic rock forms?U.S. Geological Survey, What are metamorphic rocks?. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 4 (Earth and the processes that affect it)
Why are sinkholes common in Florida?U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School, Sinkholes. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 4 (Earth and the processes that affect it)
Space science 3
Compared with a very massive star, how does a low-mass star burn?NASA Science, Stars. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 5 (space science)
When is it summer in the Northern Hemisphere?NASA Space Place, What Causes the Seasons?. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 5 (space science)
Which describes the Kuiper Belt?NASA Science, Kuiper Belt. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 5 (space science)
Processes of life 7
A cell uses a gene to make a protein. Which molecule is copied from the DNA pattern and then read, three bases at a time, to build the protein?National Human Genome Research Institute, Talking Glossary, Codon. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 6 (processes of life)
A cell's DNA is not separated from the cytoplasm by a membrane. How is the cell classified?Scitable by Nature Education, What Is a Cell?. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 6 (processes of life)
A human cell with 46 chromosomes goes through meiosis. What results?National Human Genome Research Institute, Talking Glossary, Meiosis. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 6 (processes of life)
Bats, birds, crocodiles and mice each have four limbs, inherited from a common ancestor. What is a shared feature of this kind called?UC Berkeley, Understanding Evolution, Homologies and analogies. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 6 (processes of life)
In pea plants, round seeds (R) are dominant to wrinkled seeds (r). Two Rr plants are crossed. What fraction of the offspring is expected to have wrinkled seeds?Scitable by Nature Education, Gregor Mendel and the Principles of Inheritance. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 6 (processes of life)
Of the water that passes through a plant in transpiration, about how much ends up in the atmosphere?NOAA JetStream, Hydrologic Cycle. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 6 (processes of life)
Which list orders taxonomic ranks from the broadest to the narrowest?Wikipedia, Taxonomic rank. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 6 (processes of life)
Living things and the environment 5
A glacier retreats and leaves bare rock and glacial till. Which of these colonizes the till first?National Park Service, Glacier Bay, Plant Succession. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 7 (physical and biological factors on the environment)
Fertilizer runoff carries excess nitrogen into a lake. What is the likely first effect?U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School, Nitrogen and Water. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 7 (physical and biological factors on the environment)
How did Burmese pythons become established in Everglades National Park, and what has research linked to them?National Park Service, Everglades, Burmese Python. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 7 (physical and biological factors on the environment)
In an ocean food web, phytoplankton are eaten by herring, and herring are eaten by cod. Which trophic level does the cod fill?NOAA, Aquatic food webs. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 7 (physical and biological factors on the environment)
In photosynthesis, what do plants combine with carbon dioxide, using the Sun's energy, to build sugar?NOAA, Carbon cycle. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 7 (physical and biological factors on the environment)
The science learning environment 3
A chemistry class uses a hazardous substance likely to injure the eyes. Under Florida law, who must wear eye-protective devices?Florida Statutes, section 1006.063, Eye-protective devices required in certain laboratory courses. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 8 (the science learning environment)
A teacher needs the precautions for safe handling and the conditions for safe storage of a stockroom chemical. Which document, laid out in 16 numbered sections, gives them?OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200 Appendix D, Safety Data Sheets. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 8 (the science learning environment)
Under Florida's statute on biological experiments in grades K–12, which activity is not allowed?Florida Statutes, section 1003.47, Biological experiments on living subjects. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 8 (the science learning environment)
Process skills and scientific inquiry 6
A class changes the length of a pendulum's string and times one swing at each length. What is the independent variable?Wikipedia, Dependent and independent variables. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 9 (process skills and scientific inquiry)
A class lists questions about a nearby wetland. Which one can science not settle?UC Berkeley, Understanding Science, Science has limits. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 9 (process skills and scientific inquiry)
A wire is 0.45 meters long. How many millimeters is that?National Institute of Standards and Technology, Metric (SI) Prefixes. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 9 (process skills and scientific inquiry)
Identical plants are grown under the same light and water. Half are given fertilizer and half are not. What is the unfertilized half for?Wikipedia, Scientific control. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 9 (process skills and scientific inquiry)
What does it mean that a journal article has been peer reviewed?UC Berkeley, Understanding Science, Scrutinizing science: Peer review. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 9 (process skills and scientific inquiry)
Which statement about hypotheses, theories and laws is accurate?UC Berkeley, Understanding Science, Science at multiple levels. Written to FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004), competency 9 (process skills and scientific inquiry)
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the Competencies and Skills and Blueprint of FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004) in the test information guide on the FTCE/FELE website, https://www.fl.nesinc.com/studyguide/FL_SG_obj_004.htm (copyright 2016 State of Florida, Department of State; site run by Pearson), read 2026-10-09: approximately 80 multiple-choice questions in nine competencies, structure and behavior of matter about 14%, forces and motion 13%, energy and its effects 12%, Earth and the processes that affect it 13%, space science 6%, processes of life 14%, physical and biological factors on the environment 10%, the science learning environment 5%, process skills and scientific inquiry 13%. This bank holds 50 in those shares: 7, 7, 6, 6, 3, 7, 5, 3 and 6. Every fact was read on the public page named under its question (48 pages, each opened 2026-10-09): the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, NOAA, the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NIST, OSHA, the National Human Genome Research Institute, Scitable by Nature Education, UC Berkeley's Understanding Science and Understanding Evolution, HyperPhysics at Georgia State University, the Nobel Prize site, Wikipedia and two sections of the Florida Statutes. Six answers are arithmetic from a rule the source gives, and one is a ratio from a cross the source describes. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This free FTCE General Science 5-9 practice test follows Middle Grades General Science 5–9 (004): 50 questions of our own across nine competencies. It is unofficial and not affiliated with or endorsed by the Florida Department of Education or Pearson.
Read the full guide
Nine competencies and their weights
The structure of matter and the processes of life carry about 14% of the questions each. Forces and motion, Earth and its processes, and scientific inquiry carry 13% each, energy 12%, and the environment 10%. Space science carries 6% and the science learning environment 5%.
Timing
The real test runs 2 hours 30 minutes, with no reference materials provided. Exam mode here is 48 of the 50 questions in 90 minutes, the same time per question.
Florida in the questions
Two competencies name Florida's geology and ecosystems, so the bank asks about sinkholes in limestone and Burmese pythons in the Everglades. Two more questions cite Florida statutes: eye protection in laboratory courses and experiments on living animals.
Six answers are worked out, not recalled: a density, a gas volume, a force, a resistance, a power and a metric conversion.
Inquiry carries as much weight as forces or Earth science: variables, control groups, peer review, and what separates a hypothesis from a theory.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the FTCE General Science 5-9 test?
Approximately 80, all multiple choice, taken on a computer, according to the exam's page on the FTCE site. Some may be questions under evaluation, which do not affect the score.
What is a passing score on FTCE Middle Grades General Science 5-9?
A scaled score of at least 200. A scaled score is not a percent, so the number you get right here cannot be turned into it, and exam mode gives no pass verdict.
Is this FTCE General Science 5-9 practice test free?
Yes: all 50 questions, the 90-minute exam and the paper test, with no account. Each question was written for this page, and none comes from a real test or from the sample questions in the test information guide.