• 48 questions

NES Earth and Space Science Study Guide

Unofficial guide to the five domains of NES Earth and Space Science, test 307, with practice questions on every competency.

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A tectonic plate moves at a steady 5 centimeters per year. How far does it move in 2 million years?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with Pearson, which owns the National Evaluation Series. Bank checked October 14, 2026.

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All 48 questions with answers

Nature of science 9

  • A county planner stacks digital layers of floodplains, soil types and property lines on a computer and asks which lots lie on flood-prone clay. Which technology is the planner using? Answer: A geographic information system. Source: Wikipedia, "Geographic information system". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0003
  • A geologist explains ripple marks in ancient sandstone by watching ripples form in a stream bed today. Which assumption about nature is the geologist relying on? Answer: Uniformitarianism. Source: Wikipedia, "Uniformitarianism". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0002
  • A satellite sensor records sea surface temperature across the Pacific. A research ship lowers a thermometer into the same water. Which statement classifies the two methods? Answer: The satellite is remote sensing, and the ship is in situ observation. Source: Wikipedia, "Remote sensing". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0003
  • A student tilts a stream table to five different angles and times how fast the water runs down it each time. Nothing else is changed. What is the tilt of the table in this investigation? Answer: The independent variable. Source: Wikipedia, "Dependent and independent variables". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0001
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Nature of science, continued

  • A tectonic plate moves at a steady 5 centimeters per year. How far does it move in 2 million years? Answer: 100 kilometers. Source: Worked arithmetic. The skill is listed in the framework: "Apply appropriate mathematical procedures, units, and scientific notation in reporting data". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0001
  • Five readings of the boiling point of pure water at sea level all fall between 97.1 and 97.2 °C. The accepted value is 100 °C. How should this set of measurements be described? Answer: Precise but not accurate. Source: Wikipedia, "Accuracy and precision". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0001
  • In the history of the heliocentric model, which pair is matched with the right contributions? Answer: Copernicus gave a mathematical model in the 16th century, and Kepler later introduced elliptical orbits. Source: Wikipedia, "Heliocentrism". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0002
  • On one part of a topographic map the contour lines are packed close together. On another part they are far apart. What does the closely packed part show? Answer: A steep slope. Source: Wikipedia, "Contour line". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0003
  • Who developed the idea of continental drift more fully in 1912 and set it out in the 1915 book The Origin of Continents and Oceans? Answer: Alfred Wegener. Source: Wikipedia, "Continental drift". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0002

Geology 12

  • A basalt dike cuts straight up through three flat layers of sandstone. What does the principle of cross-cutting relationships say about the dike? Answer: It is younger than all three layers. Source: Wikipedia, "Cross-cutting relationships". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0004
  • A mountain valley has steep, straight sides and a flat floor, so that its cross-section looks like the letter U. What carved it? Answer: A glacier. Source: Wikipedia, "U-shaped valley". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0007
  • A region of limestone bedrock has few surface streams, many sinkholes and long caves. Which process shaped it? Answer: Dissolution of soluble carbonate rock. Source: Wikipedia, "Karst". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0007
  • A thin clay layer marks the end of the Cretaceous in rocks around the world. Which feature of that clay points to an asteroid impact? Answer: Unusually high levels of iridium. Source: Wikipedia, "Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0004
  • An unknown mineral scratches a reference mineral of Mohs hardness 5 and is scratched by a reference mineral of hardness 7. What can be concluded? Answer: Its hardness lies between 5 and 7. Source: Wikipedia, "Mohs scale". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0006
  • In a canyon wall, tilted layers of sandstone are cut off along an old erosion surface, and flat layers of limestone lie on top. What is the buried surface between them called? Answer: An unconformity. Source: Wikipedia, "Unconformity". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0004
  • Mauna Loa is a broad volcano with gentle slopes. Which property of its lava accounts for that shape? Answer: The lava is highly fluid and travels far before it hardens. Source: Wikipedia, "Shield volcano". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0005
  • On a high mountain, water seeps into cracks in granite by day and freezes at night, and blocks of rock break loose. Which process is at work? Answer: Mechanical weathering by frost. Source: Wikipedia, "Frost weathering". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0007
  • Seismic waves change speed sharply at a boundary 5 to 10 kilometers below the ocean floor. Which boundary is it? Answer: The Mohorovičić discontinuity, between the crust and the mantle. Source: Wikipedia, "Mohorovičić discontinuity". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0006
  • Seismologists found that S waves from large earthquakes do not pass through one layer of the Earth. What does that show about the layer, and which layer is it? Answer: It is fluid: the outer core. Source: Wikipedia, "S wave" and Wikipedia, "Earth's outer core". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0006
  • Shale buried deep in a mountain belt turns into slate. What state is the rock in while this change takes place? Answer: Mostly solid, recrystallizing to a new texture. Source: Wikipedia, "Metamorphic rock". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0005
  • Where an oceanic plate meets another plate at a convergent boundary, the heavier plate dives beneath the other and sinks into the mantle. What is this process called? Answer: Subduction. Source: Wikipedia, "Subduction". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0005

Oceanography and freshwater systems 9

  • A hydrologist adds the water that leaves a watershed from open water, bare soil and plant leaves into one figure. What is that combined transfer to the atmosphere called? Answer: Evapotranspiration. Source: Wikipedia, "Evapotranspiration". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0008
  • A stream channel has a cross-sectional area of 4 square meters, and the water moves at an average of 0.5 meters per second. What is the discharge? Answer: 2 cubic meters per second. Source: Wikipedia, "Discharge (hydrology)". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0010
  • A survey ship sails from the beach straight out to the deep ocean floor. In which order does it cross these parts of the continental margin? Answer: Shelf, slope, rise, abyssal plain. Source: Wikipedia, "Continental shelf". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0009
  • Along one coast, wind drives cool water up from the deep to replace the surface water. What is the usual effect on life near the surface? Answer: Phytoplankton grow faster because the deep water is rich in nutrients. Source: Wikipedia, "Upwelling". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0009
  • Ocean water evaporates. While the change of state is under way, the water takes in energy with no change in its temperature. What is this energy called? Answer: Latent heat. Source: Wikipedia, "Latent heat". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0008
  • Rain falling on one side of a ridge runs to one river, and rain on the other side runs to a different river. What is the ridge line called? Answer: A drainage divide. Source: Wikipedia, "Drainage basin". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0010
  • Raising the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 kelvin takes 4,184 joules. How much heat raises 2 kilograms of water by 5 kelvins? Answer: 41,840 joules. Source: Wikipedia, "Specific heat capacity". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0008
  • The thermohaline circulation is driven by differences in the density of seawater. Which two properties set that density? Answer: Temperature and salt content. Source: Wikipedia, "Thermohaline circulation". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0009
  • Water rises up a new well and flows out at the surface with no pump. What must be true of the aquifer the well reaches? Answer: It is confined by impermeable layers that keep its water under pressure. Source: Wikipedia, "Artesian well". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0010

Atmosphere, weather, and climate 9

  • A desert lies just east of a high mountain range, and the prevailing winds blow from the west off the ocean. What explains the desert? Answer: The air lost most of its moisture as rain on the windward side. Source: Wikipedia, "Rain shadow". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0013
  • A mass of air moves from north to south across the Northern Hemisphere. Which way does the Coriolis force deflect it, as seen from the moving air? Answer: To the right. Source: Wikipedia, "Coriolis force". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0011
  • Evening air holds a fixed amount of water vapor and cools at constant pressure. At 12 °C its relative humidity reaches 100 percent. What is 12 °C for this air? Answer: The dew point. Source: Wikipedia, "Dew point". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0012
  • In early winter a cold air mass crosses a large lake whose water is still warm. Where does the heaviest lake-effect snow fall? Answer: On the downwind shore. Source: Wikipedia, "Lake-effect snow". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0012
  • In the Hadley cell, air rises near the equator and flows toward the poles high in the troposphere. Near which latitude does it cool and sink? Answer: 30 degrees. Source: Wikipedia, "Hadley cell". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0011
  • Milankovitch cycles link long-term changes in climate to changes in three features of the Earth's movement. Which three? Answer: Eccentricity, axial tilt and precession. Source: Wikipedia, "Milankovitch cycles". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0013
  • Near the center of a mature cyclone, a cold front catches up with the warm front ahead of it and lifts the warm air off the ground. Which kind of front forms? Answer: An occluded front. Source: Wikipedia, "Occluded front". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0012
  • Which climate term traditionally names a seasonal reversing wind that comes with a change in precipitation, tied to the yearly north and south shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone? Answer: Monsoon. Source: Wikipedia, "Monsoon". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0013
  • Without the greenhouse effect, about how cold would the Earth's average surface temperature be, compared with the 20th century average of about 14 °C? Answer: About −18 °C. Source: Wikipedia, "Greenhouse effect". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0011

Astronomy 9

  • A camera in Canada is left open all night, and the stars trace arcs of circles around one fixed point in the sky. What is that point? Answer: The north celestial pole, where the Earth's axis meets the celestial sphere. Source: Wikipedia, "Celestial pole". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0016
  • A disc of small icy bodies lies beyond the orbit of Neptune, from 30 to about 50 astronomical units from the Sun. What is it called? Answer: The Kuiper belt. Source: Wikipedia, "Kuiper belt". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0015
  • A planet moves fastest when it is nearest the Sun and slowest when it is farthest away. Which of Kepler's laws describes this? Answer: A line joining the planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times. Source: Wikipedia, "Kepler's laws of planetary motion". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0015
  • A solar eclipse is seen from part of the Earth. Which phase must the Moon be in? Answer: New moon. Source: Wikipedia, "Solar eclipse". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0016
  • A star with the mass of the Sun has too little mass to collapse into a neutron star or a black hole. What is it expected to become late in its evolution? Answer: A white dwarf. Source: Wikipedia, "White dwarf". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0014
  • Astronomers find a planet around a distant star by measuring small, regular shifts in the lines of the star's spectrum as the star is tugged toward and away from the Earth. Which method is this? Answer: Doppler spectroscopy, the radial-velocity method. Source: Wikipedia, "Doppler spectroscopy". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0014
  • Which feature of the Solar System does the solar nebular disk model account for? Answer: The planets orbit in nearly the same plane and in the same direction. Source: Wikipedia, "Nebular hypothesis". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0015
  • Which piece of evidence supports the hypothesis that the Moon formed from debris of a giant impact on the early Earth? Answer: Stable isotope ratios of lunar and terrestrial rock are identical. Source: Wikipedia, "Giant-impact hypothesis". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0016
  • Which reactions supply most of the energy of a star with the mass of the Sun? Answer: The proton-proton chain, which fuses hydrogen into helium. Source: Wikipedia, "Proton–proton chain". Outline: NES Earth and Space Science (307) framework, competency 0014

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test framework for NES Earth and Space Science, test 307, read 2026-10-14 on the National Evaluation Series site (https://www.nestest.com/static/docs/NES_Framework_307.pdf; test page https://www.nestest.com/test/307): Nature of Science (competencies 0001 to 0003, 18%), Geology (0004 to 0007, 25%), Oceanography and Freshwater Systems (0008 to 0010, 19%), The Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate (0011 to 0013, 19%) and Astronomy (0014 to 0016, 19%). The bank holds 3 questions for each of the 16 competencies. Every fact was read on 2026-10-14 in the opening section of the Wikipedia article the question names. One question is arithmetic worked in its explanation, and two more apply a sourced definition to numbers. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

This free NES Earth and Space Science study guide lays out the five domains of test 307, with 48 practice questions of our own. It is unofficial and not affiliated with Pearson, which owns the National Evaluation Series.

Read the full guide

What test 307 covers

By the framework read October 14, 2026, NES Earth and Space Science (307) weights Nature of Science 18%, Geology 25%, Oceanography and Freshwater Systems 19%, The Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate 19%, and Astronomy 19%. Geology has four competencies; every other domain has three.

The practice test

The 48 questions keep those weights: nine on the nature of science, twelve on geology, and nine each on water, the atmosphere and astronomy. A timed run asks 45 in 54 minutes, the real 1.2 minutes a question.

Where the answers come from

The explanations name the Wikipedia article each fact was read in, so the sources double as a reading list. Three questions are arithmetic and show the working.

  • Geology is the largest domain, a quarter of the score: dating rocks, plate tectonics, the rock cycle, Earth materials and weathering.
  • The test page gives its reference materials as "None", so no formula sheet is named for the arithmetic.

Questions and answers

Is this NES Earth and Space Science practice test the real exam?

No. Every one of the 48 questions was written here, to a single competency of the 307 framework, and each explanation names the public source of its fact. The real test, its study guide's sample questions and its paid practice test were not opened.

How many questions are on the NES Earth and Space Science 307 test?

150 multiple-choice questions, with 3 hours of testing time. The whole appointment is 3 hours and 15 minutes, because a 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement open it. The test is given at test centers and by online proctoring.

What is the passing score for NES Earth and Space Science?

The test page gives a National Benchmark score of 220 and links the passing scores of Washington and Wisconsin. A timed run here reports how many you got right and gives no pass verdict.

Is NES Earth and Space Science 322 the same test as 307?

No. The NES list also carries Earth and Space Science (322), with 100 multiple-choice questions in 2 hours of testing; its page links Tennessee and Utah. These questions follow 307, so ask your state's licensing agency which code it accepts.

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