A chapter advisor explains Official Dress to new members before their first contest. Which garment did FFA adopt as Official Dress in 1933?National FFA Organization, "FFA History". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Agricultural Education, performance indicator h
A teacher writing a program description quotes the mission of agricultural education. For what does that mission say agricultural education prepares students?National FFA Organization, "Agricultural Education". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Agricultural Education, performance indicator e
In 1950 President Harry S. Truman signed a bill that became Public Law 81-740. What did that law give the Future Farmers of America?National FFA Organization, "FFA History". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Agricultural Education, performance indicator a
The New Farmers of America, which served Black male youth in agriculture, merged with FFA in 1965. What brought the merger about?National FFA Organization, "FFA History". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Agricultural Education, performance indicator a
The organization's official name is the National FFA Organization. What does the organization say about the letters "FFA"?National FFA Organization, "About FFA". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Agricultural Education, performance indicator h
Two years before FFA was founded, the First National Congress of Vocational Agriculture Students met in Kansas City. For which competitive event, a forerunner of today's career development events, did the students assemble?National FFA Organization, "FFA History". Framework section: Competency 0001, Foundations of Agricultural Education, performance indicator j
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Agricultural business 6
A class uses county data from the Census of Agriculture to plan a marketing project. How often is that census taken, and how small an operation counts?USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, "Census of Agriculture". Framework section: Competency 0002, Agricultural Business, performance indicator h
A farm sells a granola in which 80 percent of the ingredients, not counting salt and water, are organically produced. Which of USDA's organic label categories fits the product?USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, "Labeling Organic Products". Framework section: Competency 0002, Agricultural Business, performance indicator g
A grower wants to know what wholesale buyers paid for apples this week before she sets her price. Which USDA service provides free, unbiased price and sales information for farm commodities?USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, "USDA Market News". Framework section: Competency 0002, Agricultural Business, performance indicator g
A lender asks a dairy farm for the one financial statement that shows its position at a single point in time. Which statement is that?Wikipedia, "Balance sheet". Framework section: Competency 0002, Agricultural Business, performance indicator c
A lesson names four factors of production. The owner of a vegetable farm decides what to plant and bears the risk of the season. Which factor does that work represent?Wikipedia, "Factors of production". Framework section: Competency 0002, Agricultural Business, performance indicator f
Two cousins run a hay business as a general partnership. A customer wins a judgment that is larger than the business can pay. Who is liable for the debt?Wikipedia, "Partnership". Framework section: Competency 0002, Agricultural Business, performance indicator b
Animal science 6
A dairy cow lies down after grazing, brings a bolus of feed back up and chews it again. What is this process called, and what is it for?Wikipedia, "Ruminant". Framework section: Competency 0003, Animal Science, performance indicator b
A farm chops green corn plants and packs them tightly under plastic. What is the resulting feed, and what preserves it?Wikipedia, "Silage". Framework section: Competency 0003, Animal Science, performance indicator e
A handler wants a steer to walk forward along a fence. She steps past the animal's point of balance toward its rear. Where is the point of balance usually located?Wikipedia, "Flight zone". Framework section: Competency 0003, Animal Science, performance indicator c
A student moving heifers through a gate is taught about the flight zone. What is an animal's flight zone?Wikipedia, "Flight zone". Framework section: Competency 0003, Animal Science, performance indicator c
The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 is the main federal law on the treatment of animals in research and exhibition. Which animals does the Act exclude?Wikipedia, "Animal Welfare Act of 1966". Framework section: Competency 0003, Animal Science, performance indicator h
Under EPA's definition, how long must animals be confined and fed on a lot where no crops or vegetation grow for the lot to be an animal feeding operation (AFO)?U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs)". Framework section: Competency 0003, Animal Science, performance indicator h
Plant science 6
A student reads a soil texture triangle. How many major soil texture classes does the U.S. Department of Agriculture define on it?Wikipedia, "Soil texture". Framework section: Competency 0004, Plant Science, performance indicator f
A sugar maple is tapped in a New York sugarbush in late winter. Why does its sap carry sugar at that time of year?Wikipedia, "Maple syrup". Framework section: Competency 0004, Plant Science, performance indicator b
Blueberry bushes planted in a soil of high pH have pale, yellow leaves although the soil holds plenty of iron. What is the condition called, and what explains it here?Wikipedia, "Chlorosis". Framework section: Competency 0004, Plant Science, performance indicator d
On a bag of 18-46-0 the middle number is often read aloud as "phosphorus". Of which substance is it, strictly, a percentage by weight?Wikipedia, "Labeling of fertilizer". Framework section: Competency 0004, Plant Science, performance indicator d
On a hillside field in the Finger Lakes, a farmer plows and plants across the slope, following lines of equal elevation. What is this practice called, and what do the furrows do?Wikipedia, "Contour plowing". Framework section: Competency 0004, Plant Science, performance indicator g
Plants are sorted into three groups by how flowering responds to the lengths of light and dark periods. Two are short-day plants and long-day plants. What is the third?Wikipedia, "Photoperiodism". Framework section: Competency 0004, Plant Science, performance indicator c
Food systems, science and safety 6
A carton is labeled U.S. Consumer Grade AA. Under USDA's standards, what share of the eggs must be of AA quality at origin?USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, "Shell Egg Grades and Standards". Framework section: Competency 0005, Food Systems, Science, and Safety, performance indicator b
A cider mill is writing a HACCP plan. It has done its hazard analysis and determined its critical control points. Which HACCP principle comes next?U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "HACCP Principles & Application Guidelines". Framework section: Competency 0005, Food Systems, Science, and Safety, performance indicator d
A food science class tests grape juice with a refractometer and reads 16 degrees Brix. What does one degree Brix represent?Wikipedia, "Brix". Framework section: Competency 0005, Food Systems, Science, and Safety, performance indicator f
A New York apple grower keeps McIntosh apples firm for months in a sealed storage room. What does a controlled atmosphere room regulate, besides temperature and humidity?Wikipedia, "Controlled atmosphere". Framework section: Competency 0005, Food Systems, Science, and Safety, performance indicator e
A sugarhouse collects sap from tapped maples. How is the sap made into maple syrup?Wikipedia, "Maple syrup". Framework section: Competency 0005, Food Systems, Science, and Safety, performance indicator f
A vegetable grower who sells to a school district is asked for a GAP audit. What does a USDA Good Agricultural Practices audit verify?USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, "Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Audits". Framework section: Competency 0005, Food Systems, Science, and Safety, performance indicator d
Genetics and biotechnology 6
A class loads DNA samples into an agarose gel and switches on the current. Which fragments travel farthest, and toward which electrode?Wikipedia, "Gel electrophoresis". Framework section: Competency 0006, Genetics and Biotechnology, performance indicator f
Cells in the growing shoot of an onion divide by mitosis. How do the two cells that come from one such division compare with each other?Wikipedia, "Mitosis". Framework section: Competency 0006, Genetics and Biotechnology, performance indicator a
Golden rice is a variety produced through genetic engineering. What was it engineered to make in the edible part of the grain?Wikipedia, "Golden rice". Framework section: Competency 0006, Genetics and Biotechnology, performance indicator g
In May 1994 the FDA completed its evaluation of the Flavr Savr tomato. What place does the Flavr Savr hold in the history of biotechnology?Wikipedia, "Flavr Savr". Framework section: Competency 0006, Genetics and Biotechnology, performance indicator e
Modern maize, with its rows of exposed kernels, came from teosinte, a wild grass with only a few fruitcases, as people chose generation after generation which plants to grow on. What is this process called?Wikipedia, "Selective breeding". Framework section: Competency 0006, Genetics and Biotechnology, performance indicator d
To move a gene into a plasmid, a technician first cuts both pieces of DNA with the same restriction enzyme. What does a restriction enzyme do?Wikipedia, "Restriction enzyme". Framework section: Competency 0006, Genetics and Biotechnology, performance indicator f
Agricultural technology and mechanics 6
A dairy farm installs an anaerobic digester for its manure. What does the digester produce that the farm can use as renewable energy?Wikipedia, "Anaerobic digestion". Framework section: Competency 0007, Agricultural Technology and Mechanics, performance indicator f
A small-engines class studies the four-stroke cycle of intake, compression, power and exhaust. In engine terms, what is one "stroke"?Wikipedia, "Four-stroke engine". Framework section: Competency 0007, Agricultural Technology and Mechanics, performance indicator b
A student sets up a gas metal arc (MIG) welder to repair a gate. What is the job of the shielding gas that feeds through the welding gun?Wikipedia, "Gas metal arc welding". Framework section: Competency 0007, Agricultural Technology and Mechanics, performance indicator d
A tractor safety lesson covers rollover protection structures. How effective is a ROPS at preventing the operator's death in an overturn when it is used with a seat belt?Wikipedia, "Rollover protection structure". Framework section: Competency 0007, Agricultural Technology and Mechanics, performance indicator c
A tractor's power take-off stub shaft has six splines and a diameter of 1 3/8 inches. For which speed is that type of shaft made?Wikipedia, "Power take-off". Framework section: Competency 0007, Agricultural Technology and Mechanics, performance indicator b
To free a fence post, a student pushes down on a pry bar with 50 pounds of force, and the tip of the bar raises 400 pounds. How large is the mechanical advantage of the bar?Wikipedia, "Lever". Framework section: Competency 0007, Agricultural Technology and Mechanics, performance indicator a
Environment and natural resources 6
A city plants street trees to ease its summer heat. By which two means do urban forests mitigate the urban heat island?Wikipedia, "Urban forestry". Framework section: Competency 0008, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, performance indicator d
A large dairy that meets the definition of a concentrated animal feeding operation discharges to a stream. Under the Clean Water Act, how is the discharge regulated?U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs)". Framework section: Competency 0008, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, performance indicator g
Acid rain has harmed brook trout in sensitive lakes and streams of the Adirondack Mountains. Which emissions cause acid rain?Wikipedia, "Acid rain". Framework section: Competency 0008, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, performance indicator i
Air is mostly nitrogen gas, which crops cannot use directly. Into what does nitrogen fixation convert it?Wikipedia, "Nitrogen fixation". Framework section: Competency 0008, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, performance indicator c
The emerald ash borer, a beetle native to north-eastern Asia, has spread through New York and many other states. Which human activity carries it to new areas?Wikipedia, "Emerald ash borer". Framework section: Competency 0008, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, performance indicator e
The plants in a pasture hold 10,000 kilocalories of energy. By the usual rule for energy transfer between trophic levels, about how much becomes biomass in the animals that graze them?Wikipedia, "Trophic level". Framework section: Competency 0008, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, performance indicator b
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the eight selected-response competencies of the NYSTCE Field 068: Agriculture Test Design and Framework, September 2014, authorized for distribution by the New York State Education Department (https://www.nystce.nesinc.com/content/docs/NY_fld68_objs.pdf, read 2026-10-14): 0001 Foundations of Agricultural Education and 0008 Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, 12 items each, and 0002 to 0007, 11 items each, of the 90 selected-response items. The bank holds 6 for each, 48 in all. Every fact was read on 2026-10-14 in the public page the question names: the National FFA Organization, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Wikipedia articles that carried no warning banner that day. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This NYSTCE agriculture practice test has 48 questions of our own on the Agriculture CST (068). It is unofficial and is not affiliated with the New York State Education Department or Pearson, neither of which endorses or sponsors it.
Read the full guide
The eight competencies
The framework of September 2014 gives each of its eight competencies 11 or 12 of the 90 selected-response items.
Pace
The framework allows up to 135 minutes for its 90 selected-response items, a minute and a half each. Exam mode keeps that pace with 48 questions in 72 minutes. The written response, a fifth of the real score, is not marked here.
Food systems is its own competency in New York's framework: here it covers HACCP, GAP audits, egg grades, maple syrup, apple storage and Brix.
Questions and answers
What is on the NYSTCE Agriculture test?
Ninety selected-response items on eight competencies: foundations of agricultural education; agricultural business; animal science; plant science; food systems, science and safety; genetics and biotechnology; agricultural technology and mechanics; and environmental science and natural resource management. One written response on teaching follows.
What score passes the Agriculture CST?
A scaled score of 520. The Agriculture (068) page prints that figure and no count of questions, so a result on this page is a number right, with no pass or fail beside it.
How long is the NYSTCE Agriculture test?
Three and a half hours at the test center: a 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement, then 3 hours 15 minutes of testing, of which the framework plans up to 60 minutes for the written response.
Are FFA and SAE on the Agriculture CST?
Yes. Competency 0001 covers the history, goals and structure of FFA and the types and supervision of Supervised Agricultural Experiences, and the written response asks how a lesson brings in classroom, FFA and SAE.