MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science Practice Test
Unofficial practice for MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71): society, digital tools, systems and computational thinking, each answer sourced.
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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or Pearson. Bank checked October 15, 2026.
A children's game site makes players give a home address before they may play, though the game does not need it. Which requirement of the COPPA rule does this break?Code of Federal Regulations, 16 CFR 312.3, Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0002
A computerized screening system repeatedly ranks applicants from one neighborhood lower than equally qualified applicants from another. Which term describes this systematic, repeatable tendency toward unfair outcomes?Wikipedia, "Algorithmic bias", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0003
A public library's Internet filter blocks a site that an adult patron needs for bona fide research. What does CIPA allow the library to do?Federal Communications Commission, consumer guide "Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)" (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0002
A school wants to be able to restore its files after a data loss event, whether a failed drive or malware. Which practice provides for this?Wikipedia, "Backup", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0001
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Subarea I: Computing and society, continued
A student types for hours each day and develops aching wrists. Which term names an injury to part of the musculoskeletal or nervous system caused by repetitive use or long periods in a fixed position?Wikipedia, "Repetitive strain injury", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0001
A tablet shows a notice that a software update is ready. In computing, what is a patch?Wikipedia, "Patch (computing)", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0001
A teacher remixes a diagram licensed CC BY-SA into a new worksheet and posts it online. What does the SA element of the license require?Creative Commons, "About CC Licenses", CC BY-SA (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0002
A teacher turns on text that transcribes the audio of a classroom video, and each viewer may choose whether to show it. What is this feature called?Wikipedia, "Closed captioning", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0003
By the U.S. Copyright Office, which of these is not creative enough to be protected by copyright?U.S. Copyright Office, "What is Copyright?" (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0002
Digital footprints are classified as passive or active. Which is an example of a passive footprint?Wikipedia, "Digital footprint", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0001
Some argue that an Internet service provider should treat all traffic equally and not favor or slow sites of its own choosing. Which principle is this?Wikipedia, "Net neutrality", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0003
Under the FERPA regulations, how often must a school notify the parents of its current students of their rights under the Act?U.S. Department of Education, Protecting Student Privacy, FERPA regulations, 34 CFR 99.7 (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0002
Subarea II: Digital tools and collaboration 8
A class builds a shared study guide as a set of linked web pages that any member can edit and manage directly in a browser. Which kind of tool is this?Wikipedia, "Wiki", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0004
A file attached to an email ends in .exe. How does an executable file differ from a document file such as a .txt?Wikipedia, "Executable", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0004
A gradebook cell holds the formula =IF(B2>=60, "Pass", "Retake"), and B2 contains 59.5. Which word does the cell show?MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71) test objectives, subarea II Digital Tools and Collaboration; the answer is worked from the formula in the question. Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0004
A student presents survey results as one poster-like image that combines charts, icons and brief text, so that the pattern can be seen at a glance. What is such an image called?Wikipedia, "Infographic", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0004
A student puts a sentence from an article into a report as a quotation. What must be true of the quotation?Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing" (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0005
A student searches a library database for cloning AND ethics, then for cloning OR ethics. How do the two result sets compare?MIT Libraries, "Database Search Tips: Boolean operators" (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0005
The CRAAP test is used to judge the reliability of information sources. What do its five letters stand for?Wikipedia, "CRAAP test", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0005
For a project on school lunch, a student wants original data on how classmates feel and why, in their own words. Which approach gathers this kind of non-numerical data?Wikipedia, "Qualitative research", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0005
Subarea III: Computing systems 8
A classroom printer stops working. A teacher checks the cable, then the paper tray, then the driver, ruling out one possible cause at a time. Which term names this logical, systematic search for the source of a problem?Wikipedia, "Troubleshooting", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0006
A student saves an essay at school and opens it at home, though the file was never stored on either computer. The data sits remotely on a provider's servers and is reached over the Internet. Which service model is this?Wikipedia, "Cloud storage", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0007
A weather station's probe detects changes in air temperature and sends the readings to a computer. What is the general term for a device that detects events or changes in its environment and passes the information on?Wikipedia, "Sensor", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0006
In a computer lab every computer has its own cable to one central hub, and no computer is wired directly to another. Which network topology is this?Wikipedia, "Star network", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0007
On a video call, a speaker's words reach the listeners half a second after they are spoken. Which term names this time delay between a cause and its effect in a system?Wikipedia, "Latency (engineering)", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0007
Over months of use the files on a hard disk come to be stored in many segments that are not next to one another. Which maintenance process reorganizes the contents into the smallest number of contiguous regions?Wikipedia, "Defragmentation", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0006
What is an IP address?Wikipedia, "IP address", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0007
Which hardware component's electronic circuitry executes the instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, logic and input/output operations?Wikipedia, "Central processing unit", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0006
Subarea IV: Computational thinking 16
A counter starts at 2. A loop multiplies it by 4 again and again for as long as the counter is less than 100. What is the counter when the loop stops?MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71) test objectives, subarea IV Computational Thinking; the answer is worked from the code in the question. Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0010
A district analyzes years of attendance records to find patterns no one had looked for, such as which bus routes go with absences. Which term names the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets?Wikipedia, "Data mining", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0009
A function named blend takes two numbers, doubles the first and adds the second. What does blend(3, blend(1, 2)) return?MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71) test objectives, subarea IV Computational Thinking; the answer is worked from the code in the question. Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0010
A list holds 200 names in no particular order. A linear search checks each name in turn. In the worst case, how many comparisons does it make?Wikipedia, "Linear search", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0008
A program is shown thousands of labeled photographs and afterwards sorts new photographs it has never seen, though no one wrote a rule for each case. Which field studies algorithms of this kind?Wikipedia, "Machine learning", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0009
A student types 20 − 12 ÷ 4 × 2 + 1 into an interpreter that follows the usual order of operations. Which value comes back?MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71) test objectives, subarea IV Computational Thinking; the answer is worked from the code in the question. Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0010
A student writes a short test that calls one function alone, apart from the rest of the program, and checks that it returns what is expected. Which form of software testing is this?Wikipedia, "Unit testing", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0011
A table of students in a relational database has columns for ID number, name and grade. Two students are both named Ana Cruz. What is the role of the ID number column as the table's primary key?Wikipedia, "Primary key", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0009
A weather app on a phone asks a forecast service for tomorrow's temperature and receives the data. Which term names such a connection between computer programs, a software interface offering a service to other software?Wikipedia, "API", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0011
Before a loop begins, the variable sum is 0. The loop runs with k = 2, 3, 4 and 5 and adds k × k to sum each time. What does sum hold afterwards?MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71) test objectives, subarea IV Computational Thinking; the answer is worked from the code in the question. Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0008
Four students write one program together. Which practice tracks the different versions of their source files over time, so that earlier versions are kept in the history?Wikipedia, "Version control", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0011
In a flowchart, which symbol usually shows a decision, a yes/no question that sets which of two paths the program takes?Wikipedia, "Flowchart", Common symbols (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0008
The list grid holds three rows: [1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6] and [7, 8, 9]. Rows and columns are numbered from 0. What is the value of grid[1][2]?MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71) test objectives, subarea IV Computational Thinking; the answer is worked from the code in the question. Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0010
The structured program theorem says that three control structures are enough to compute any computable function. Which of them executes one of two subprograms according to the value of a Boolean expression?Wikipedia, "Structured program theorem", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0008
Which character encoding standard, whose UTF-8 encoding is backwards-compatible with ASCII, is designed to support text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized?Wikipedia, "Unicode", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0009
Which kind of software brings source-code editing, building and debugging together with one consistent user experience, in place of separate tools?Wikipedia, "Integrated development environment", lead (read 2026-10-15). Written to MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science (71), objective 0011
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test objectives of MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science, field 71, as the test information guide prints them on the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure website (https://www.mtel.nesinc.com/Content/StudyGuide/MA_SG_OBJ_71.htm and https://www.mtel.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/MA071_TestPage.html, read 2026-10-15): 100 multiple-choice questions and 2 open-response items in 4 hours; multiple-choice subareas I Computing and Society (22% of the score, objectives 0001 to 0003), II Digital Tools and Collaboration (15%, objectives 0004 and 0005), III Computing Systems (14%, objectives 0006 and 0007) and IV Computational Thinking (29%, objectives 0008 to 0011), and two open-response items, 10% each. Each fact was read on 2026-10-15 in the page named under its question: Wikipedia articles, the FCC guide to CIPA, 16 CFR 312, the FERPA regulations, the U.S. Copyright Office, Creative Commons, the MIT Libraries and the Purdue OWL; the answers on code are worked from the code in the question. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science practice test is unofficial: 44 questions of our own on field 71, with no affiliation to, endorsement by or sponsorship from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or Pearson.
Read the full guide
Four subareas and their weights
By the test objectives: computing and society is 22% of the score, digital tools and collaboration 15%, computing systems 14% and computational thinking 29%. This bank holds 12, 8, 8 and 16. The Department names the same four areas for DLCS instruction in Massachusetts.
The clock
The multiple-choice section lasts 2 hours 30 minutes when the test is taken with an online proctor. At that pace the 44 questions here take 66 minutes, which is what a timed run allows.
What the real test adds
Two open-response items, 10% of the score each: a plan for creating a digital artifact, and a computer science problem answered with an algorithm in pseudocode, its documentation and a way to test it.
Reference materials are provided on-screen with the real test, by its test page.
The questions on code are written in words and plain pseudocode; the test objectives name no programming language.
Questions and answers
Is there an official MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science practice test?
Yes. The MTEL site lists a practice test with multiple-choice question analyses for field 71, beside sample questions and a sample open-response assignment. This page stands apart from them: every question is our own, with its objective and source named.
How many questions are on the MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science test?
100 multiple-choice questions and 2 open-response assignments, by its test page, in 4 hours of testing time. A 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement come first, so a test center appointment is 4 hours 15 minutes.
What is the passing score for the MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science test?
The qualifying score is 240, by the test page. One fifth of the score rests on the two open-response items, so the number right here is not a prediction.
Is the MTEL Digital Literacy and Computer Science test given year-round?
At test centers, yes: by appointment year-round, Monday through Saturday, excluding some holidays. With an online proctor it is given during one-week testing windows each month, the test page says.
Which grades does the Massachusetts DLCS license cover?
The table of teacher licenses in 603 CMR 7.04 lists Digital Literacy/Computer Science at two levels: PreK–6 and 5–12.