A class grows bean plants under red, blue and white lamps and measures each plant's height after three weeks. What is the dependent variable?Wikipedia, "Dependent and independent variables". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0001
A news report says towns with more ice cream sales have more sunburn cases and concludes that ice cream causes sunburn. What is wrong with the conclusion?Wikipedia, "Correlation does not imply causation". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0003
A student records the temperature of a cup of hot water every minute for half an hour. Which display best shows how the temperature changed?Wikipedia, "Line chart". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0001
A team builds a model bridge, tests it, finds that it sags, changes the design and tests again. Which feature of the engineering design process does this show?Wikipedia, "Engineering design process". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0003
Show all 48 questions (44 more)
Nature of science, continued
A town weighs a new hydropower dam. It would make electricity without burning fuel. Which environmental cost should the town set against that benefit?U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Hydropower and the environment". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0003
Before a lab, a teacher wants the hazards, first-aid steps and storage rules for a bottle of acetone, set out in a standard 16-section format. Which document has them?Wikipedia, "Safety data sheet". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0001
In 1610 a telescope showed four moons circling Jupiter. Why did that discovery matter for models of the solar system?Wikipedia, "Galilean moons". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0002
Maps show where earthquakes happen, and plate tectonic theory explains the pattern. How does a scientific theory differ from a scientific fact?Wikipedia, "Scientific theory". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0002
When Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the elements into a periodic table, what did he do that later won the table wide acceptance?Wikipedia, "Dmitri Mendeleev". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0002
Physical science 15
A block of dry ice left on a table shrinks and gives off a cold fog, but no puddle forms. Which phase change is the dry ice undergoing?Wikipedia, "Sublimation (phase transition)". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0005
A block of wood floats in fresh water (density 1,000 kg/m³) with 60% of its volume below the surface. What is the density of the wood?Wikipedia, "Archimedes' principle". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0007
A bus stops suddenly and the standing passengers lurch forward. Which law of motion explains this?Wikipedia, "Newton's laws of motion". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0007
A camper lights a wood fire to boil water. Which energy conversion takes place in the fire?U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Forms of energy". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0006
A sealed jar holding damp steel wool and air has a mass of 250.0 g. A week later the steel wool has rusted. What is the mass of the sealed jar and its contents now?Wikipedia, "Conservation of mass". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0005
A student lifts a 200 N box straight up 3.0 m in 4.0 s at a steady speed. How much power does the student deliver?Wikipedia, "Power (physics)". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0007
A worker strikes one end of a long iron rail. Compared with the sound carried by the air, about how fast does the sound travel through the iron?Wikipedia, "Speed of sound". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0008
How many moles of carbon dioxide, CO₂, are in 88 grams of it? Use atomic masses of 12 for carbon and 16 for oxygen.Wikipedia, "Molar mass". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0005
In the plum pudding model that J. J. Thomson proposed in 1904, where is the positive charge of an atom?Wikipedia, "Plum pudding model". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0004
Lithium, sodium and potassium sit in the same column of the periodic table and all react strongly with water. What do their atoms have in common?Wikipedia, "Alkali metal". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0004
On a cold, clear winter day a skier's face feels warm in direct sunlight although the air is well below freezing. How is the Sun's energy reaching her skin?NOAA JetStream, "The Transfer of Heat Energy". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0006
Two 18-ohm bulbs are wired in parallel across a 9-volt battery. How much current leaves the battery?Wikipedia, "Series and parallel circuits". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0006
What happens to sunlight inside raindrops to produce a rainbow?Wikipedia, "Rainbow". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0008
What is an alpha particle made of?U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Radiation Basics". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0004
Which list puts three kinds of electromagnetic waves in order from lowest frequency to highest?Wikipedia, "Electromagnetic spectrum". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0008
Life science 12
A beetle goes through complete metamorphosis. In what order do its life stages come?Wikipedia, "Holometabolism". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0010
A black guinea pig of unknown genotype is mated with a white one (bb); black (B) is dominant. Of their 12 offspring, 6 are white. What is the genotype of the black parent?Wikipedia, "Test cross". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0011
A celery stalk stood in red-dyed water shows red streaks running up to its leaves. Which plant tissue carried the dyed water?Wikipedia, "Xylem". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0010
A thrush eats the berries of a rowan tree and later drops the seeds far from the parent tree. What is this relationship between bird and tree called?Wikipedia, "Mutualism (biology)". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0012
The algae in a pond capture 50,000 kilojoules of energy. By the usual rule for energy transfer, about how much of it reaches the small fish that eat the animals grazing on the algae?Wikipedia, "Ecological pyramid". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0012
The body cells of an animal each have 38 chromosomes. How many chromosomes does each of its sperm cells have, and which process sets that number?National Human Genome Research Institute, Talking Glossary, "Meiosis". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0009
Fertilizer washes off farm fields into an estuary. What chain of events is likely to follow?NOAA National Ocean Service, "What is eutrophication?". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0012
How does a prokaryotic cell, such as a bacterium, differ from a eukaryotic cell?Wikipedia, "Prokaryote". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0009
In 19th-century England, dark peppered moths became far more common than light ones in sooty industrial districts, and the light form returned after clean air laws. What does this history show?Wikipedia, "Peppered moth evolution". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0011
Mature human red blood cells have no nucleus. How does that feature fit their job?Wikipedia, "Red blood cell". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0009
On a hot day a runner's body temperature starts to rise and the runner begins to sweat, which brings the temperature back down. What kind of control is this?Wikipedia, "Homeostasis". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0010
The scientific name of the gray wolf is Canis lupus. What does the first word, Canis, identify?Wikipedia, "Binomial nomenclature". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0011
Earth and space science 12
A class keeps a Moon journal. In which order will the students record the phases after a new moon?Wikipedia, "Lunar phase". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0016
A fault breaks and offsets five layers of sedimentary rock but does not disturb the lava flow that lies across the top of them. In what order did these things happen?Wikipedia, "Cross-cutting relationships". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0013
A well is dug until water begins to seep into the hole. What has the well reached?Wikipedia, "Water table". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0014
Astronomers find that galaxies are moving away from Earth, and that the farther a galaxy is, the faster it recedes. What does this observation support?Wikipedia, "Hubble's law". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0016
Basalt from a lava flow has mineral grains too small to see without a microscope. What does that say about how the rock formed?Wikipedia, "Igneous rock". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0013
The Himalayas are still rising. What kind of plate interaction built them?U.S. Geological Survey, This Dynamic Earth, "Understanding plate motions". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0013
In which layer of the atmosphere do most meteors burn up, leaving bright trails in the night sky?NOAA JetStream, "Layers of the Atmosphere". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0015
Leaving aside ice and groundwater, which of these holds most of the liquid fresh water on Earth's surface?Wikipedia, "Water distribution on Earth". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0014
On a weather map, a blue line with triangles along one side is moving toward a city. What should the city expect as it passes?Wikipedia, "Cold front". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0015
What do Milankovitch cycles describe?Wikipedia, "Milankovitch cycles". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0015
What kind of water is typical of an estuary?NOAA National Ocean Service, "What is an estuary?". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0014
Why does NASA call Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars the terrestrial planets?NASA Science, "Planets". Outline: NES Middle Grades General Science (204) framework, competency 0016
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test framework for NES Middle Grades General Science, test 204, read 2026-10-12 on the National Evaluation Series site (https://www.nestest.com/static/docs/NES_Framework_204.pdf; test page https://www.nestest.com/test/204): Nature of Science (competencies 0001 to 0003, 19%), Physical Science (0004 to 0008, 31%), Life Science (0009 to 0012, 25%) and Earth and Space Science (0013 to 0016, 25%). The bank holds 3 questions for each of the 16 competencies. Every fact was read on 2026-10-12 in the public page the question names: NOAA (JetStream, National Ocean Service), NASA Science, the U.S. Geological Survey (This Dynamic Earth), EPA, the Energy Information Administration, the NHGRI Talking Glossary and Wikipedia. Six questions also carry a calculation worked in the explanation. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This NES Middle Grades General Science practice test has 48 questions of our own, three for each competency of test 204. It is unofficial and not affiliated with Pearson, which owns the National Evaluation Series.
Read the full guide
NES Middle Grades Science practice test: the four domains
By the framework read October 12, 2026, test 204 weights Nature of Science 19%, Physical Science 31%, Life Science 25%, and Earth and Space Science 25%. This bank holds 9, 15, 12 and 12 questions.
Where the answers come from
Most explanations name the Wikipedia article their fact was read in. Ten name a page of NOAA, NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, EPA, the Energy Information Administration or the National Human Genome Research Institute. Six also work a calculation, such as moles, power or a parallel circuit.
Timing
Exam mode keeps the real test's pace of 72 seconds a question: 48 questions in 58 minutes.
The real test supplies an on-screen calculator, a constants and formulas sheet and a periodic table, so keep a periodic table open as you practice.
Physical science is the largest domain: five competencies, from matter to waves.
Questions and answers
Is this an NES middle school science practice test?
Yes. The National Evaluation Series names the test Middle Grades General Science. The 48 questions are our own, each checked at the public page its explanation names; no real item, study guide sample or paid practice test was used.
How many questions are on the NES Middle Grades General Science test?
Test 204 asks 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours of testing. A 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement come first, which makes the appointment 3 hours and 15 minutes.
What is the passing score for NES Middle Grades General Science?
The 204 test page gives 220 as the national benchmark and links the passing scores of Arizona and Washington. Each state may set its own. A count of right answers on this page is not a scaled score.
Is NES Middle Grades General Science 205 the same test as 204?
No. Test 205 is the redeveloped version, first given October 31, 2022, with 100 multiple-choice questions in 2 hours and three domains. The older 204 remains available, so ask your state credentialing agency which one it requires.