New York's Elementary-level Science Test in the four domains of its blueprint, on the standards of grades 3 to 5.
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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the New York State Education Department. Bank checked October 13, 2026.
The real test: New York science, grade 5
Time limit
None
Questions
34 to 41 in 7 to 9 question clusters, counting embedded field test questions that do not count toward the score. About 60% multiple choice and 40% constructed r
Session
One session on one day, on computer. No time limit: schools plan at least 90 minutes.
Blueprint
Physical Sciences 34 to 40%, Life Science 23 to 30%, Earth and Space Sciences 27 to 33%, Engineering, Technology, and the Applications of Science 3 to 7%.
Standards
The grades 3 to 5 performance expectations of the New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards.
Tools
A four-function calculator and a ruler are provided in the computer test.
Score levels, 2026
Level 1 405 to 423, Level 2 424 to 449, Level 3 450 to 479, Level 4 480 to 506. Level 3 is proficient.
A camper sends the word HELP with drum beats: long and short sounds in a set order. What makes this a way to transfer information?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-PS4-3
A cat sits in a sunny window. Which model best explains how a boy across the room sees the cat?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-PS4-2
A child on a swing moves back, forward, back, forward. She has just reached the top of a forward swing. Based on the pattern, what happens next?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-PS2-2
A cork floats on a pond. A wave passes under it. What does the cork do?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-PS4-1
A fast cart is about to hit a parked cart of the same size. Which outcome should a student predict?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-PS3-3
A girl eats a slice of bread made from wheat. Where did the energy in the bread first come from?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-PS3-1
Show all 40 questions (34 more)
Physical Sciences, continued
A sled slides down the same hill twice. The second time it moves much faster. What can be said about the sled's energy?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-PS3-1
A student builds a small fan that runs on a battery. Which energy change does the spinning fan make?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-PS3-4
A student drops a sugar cube into a cup of warm water. A minute later the cube is gone, yet the water tastes sweet. Which model explains where the sugar went?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-PS1-1
A student graphs the weight of a sealed jar holding steel wool and a little water each week as the steel wool rusts: 180 grams, 180 grams, 180 grams. What does the graph show?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-PS1-2
A student has samples of two silver-colored metals. Which test would help identify them?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-PS1-3
A student holds a magnet 1 centimeter from a paper clip and the clip jumps to the magnet. At 10 centimeters the clip does not move. What does this show?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-PS2-3
Baking soda is stirred into water in one cup and into vinegar in another. Only the vinegar cup bubbles and gives off a gas. What can the student conclude?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-PS1-4
People on opposite sides of Earth each drop a ball. In which direction does each ball fall?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-PS2-1
Two students push on opposite sides of a heavy box with equal force, and the box does not move. What does this show?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-PS2-1
Life Science 10
A bird has a strong, pointed beak and eats insects that live under tree bark. Which argument does this evidence support?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-LS1-1
A frog's life cycle and an apple tree's life cycle look very different. What do all life cycles have in common?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-LS1-1
A gardener plants two sunflower seeds from the same flower head. One plant gets plenty of water and grows tall. The other gets very little water and stays short. What best explains the difference?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-LS3-2
A herd of deer grazes in a field. One deer senses a coyote and runs, and the others run too. How does living in a group help the deer?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-LS2-1
A new road cuts through a forest where salamanders cross to reach the pond where they lay eggs. Which solution would best help the salamanders?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-LS4-4
A pond slowly dries into a meadow. The fish die, the frogs survive less well and the grasshoppers do well. What does this show?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-LS4-3
A raccoon smells food in a trash can, walks over and lifts the lid. In a model of this, what does the raccoon's brain do?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-LS1-2
Fossil sea shells are found in rock on a dry hilltop far from any ocean. What do the fossils show about the area long ago?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-LS4-1
Mushrooms and bacteria break down the fallen leaves on a forest floor. In a model of matter moving through the forest, which group do they belong to?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-LS2-1
Some moths of one species are dark and some are light. On dark tree bark, birds find and eat more of the light moths. Which moths are more likely to survive there and have offspring?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-LS4-2
Earth and Space Sciences 13
A bar graph shows a town's average snowfall by month: December 20 inches, January 30 inches, February 25 inches, March 10 inches. In which month should the town expect the most snow next winter?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-ESS2-1
A city near a volcano wants to reduce harm to its people. Which solution would do that?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-ESS3-2
A community gets its drinking water from a lake. Which action uses science ideas to protect that resource?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-ESS3-1
A power company can use wind, sunlight, water behind a dam or fossil fuels. Which of these is a nonrenewable resource?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-ESS3-1
A river town floods most springs. Which design would reduce the damage?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-ESS3-1
A student graphs the length of a fence post's shadow each hour from morning to evening. The shadow gets shorter until midday and then longer again. What will the graph look like tomorrow?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-ESS1-2
A student graphs where Earth's freshwater is found. Which bar should be the tallest?U.S. Geological Survey, Where is Earth's Water?; New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-ESS2-2
A student pours water over two trays of soil tilted the same way. One tray has grass growing in it and the other is bare. The bare tray loses more soil. What does this show?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-ESS2-1
Earthworms tunnel through garden soil and loosen it. Which two of Earth's systems are interacting?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-ESS2-1
Long, straight scratches run across bare rock on a mountaintop. What do the scratches show about the area's past?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-ESS1-1
Two stars give off the same amount of light. Star A is much farther from Earth than star B. How do they look from Earth?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 5-ESS1-1
Water evaporates from a lake, rises, cools and forms clouds, and later rain falls. What does this show about weather?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-ESS2-3
Which kind of map is most useful for seeing the mountains and deep trenches of the ocean floor?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 4-ESS2-2
Engineering, Technology, and the Applications of Science 2
A team tests three paper bridges to find the strongest design. To make the test fair, what should stay the same for every bridge?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-5-ETS1-3
Students must design a latch that keeps a classroom gate closed. It must use only the magnets in the class kit, cost less than 3 dollars and be built in one class period. Which part of the task is a criterion for success?New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, performance expectation 3-5-ETS1-1
How this list was compiled: Outline: New York State Education Department, Educator Guide to the Elementary-level (Grade 5) and Intermediate-level (Grade 8) Science Tests (copyright 2025), https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/state-assessment/5-8-educator-guide-science.pdf, the educator guide listed on https://www.nysed.gov/state-assessment/grades-3-8-test-manuals on the day checked: the domain-level blueprint, the claims and evidence for the grades 3 to 5 band, the test design and the testing session. Each question names the performance expectation it practices in the New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/curriculum-instruction/p-12-science-learning-standards.pdf; the fact in an answer is one the performance expectation, its clarification statement or its disciplinary core idea gives, or is read from the data in the question. One question on Earth's freshwater rests on a public page named under the answer: U.S. Geological Survey, Where is Earth's Water?, https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/where-earths-water. All read 2026-10-13. No sample item, question sampler or past test of the department was opened. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site from New York's published science standards. Nothing is copied or reworded from a New York State test, a sample item, the Question Sampler, a required Investigation or another practice test.
How it works
Unofficial practice for New York's grade 5 science test, which the state calls the Elementary-level Science Test. All 40 questions were written for this site from the state's standards; none is a sample or past question. Not affiliated with the New York State Education Department.
Read the full guide
What the New York grade 5 science test covers
The test is given in grade 5 but assesses the standards of grades 3, 4 and 5. NYSED's educator guide sets the blueprint: Physical Sciences 34 to 40 percent, Earth and Space Sciences 27 to 33, Life Science 23 to 30, and engineering 3 to 7. So third grade forces, magnets, life cycles, inherited traits and climate sit beside fourth grade energy and waves and fifth grade matter, gravity and star brightness.
The Investigations
Students also complete required hands-on Investigations in class. Their scores are not reported to the state, but the guide says about 15 percent of the written test measures content related to them.
Questions on the real test come in clusters built around one story. Read every table and graph before you answer.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the New York grade 5 science test?
34 to 41, in 7 to 9 question clusters, by the educator guide. About 60 percent are multiple choice and about 40 percent constructed response. Embedded field test questions are part of that count and do not affect the score.
Is the NYS grade 5 science test timed?
No. It is one session on one day, and students get as much time as they need within the school day. For planning, the guide tells schools to allow at least 90 minutes.
Can students use a calculator on the 5th grade science test in New York?
Yes. The computer-based test provides a four-function calculator and a ruler tool. Schools may also give students the hand-held calculator they use in class. Graphing calculators are not permitted.
What score is proficient on the NYS grade 5 science test?
Level 3 of four performance levels. On the 2026 test, Level 3 covered scale scores 450 to 479 and Level 4 began at 480. A percent on this page cannot be turned into a level.
Where are the official New York grade 5 science sample questions?
NYSED posts sample items and a Question Sampler for the Elementary-level Science Test. The box under the questions links to them. The questions on this page are separate and unofficial.