• 44 questions

5th Grade Science PSSA Practice Test

Grade 5 science in the four reporting categories of Pennsylvania's test design, each answer tied to its STEELS standard.

The life cycles of plants and animals are very different. Which four things do all of them have in common?

Pick an answer, then press Check answer. Then you see Correct or Not quite, with the reason. Keys: A to D pick, Enter checks.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Bank checked October 12, 2026.

The real test: PSSA science, grade 5

Questions
42
Core items
42, worth 48 points: 39 autoscored items worth 1 point each and 3 open-ended items worth 3 points each.
Field-test items
7 autoscored items and 1 open-ended item are embedded in each form beside the core items.
Sections
Two. Each has 23 autoscored items and 2 open-ended items, with an estimated testing time of 41 minutes.
Reporting categories
Life Sciences and Environmental Literacy & Sustainability, Physical Sciences, Earth & Space Sciences, and Technology and Engineering: each 20% to 30% of the cor
Standards
85 for grade 5: 19 in life and environment, 18 in physical, 14 in Earth and space, 34 in Technology and Engineering.
Who takes it
Every Pennsylvania student in grade 5. Results come as four performance levels: advanced, proficient, basic and below basic.

Checked October 12, 2026 against the PSSA Science Test Design (STEELS Aligned, 2025) and the PSSA page of the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Rules change, so confirm with the agency itself before your test.

The department's PSSA page, with its item samplers

Next step PSSA math practice, grade 5PSSA science, grade 8

All 44 questions

Life Sciences and Environmental Literacy & Sustainability 11

  • A deer catches the scent of a coyote on the wind and bounds away. Which order shows how the deer used the information? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.4.B
  • A meadow is covered with roads and sidewalks. Which change to the environment is most likely? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.4.3-5.A
  • A wetland dries up after the stream that fed it is moved. What happens to the plants and animals that lived there? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.3.H
  • Fossils of sea shells are found in rock high on a dry hillside. What is the best conclusion? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.3.E
  • The life cycles of plants and animals are very different. Which four things do all of them have in common? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.3.A
  • Plants grow thickly along a stream bank. How do the plants affect the bank? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.4.3-5.A
  • Some animals live in groups. How does being part of a group help an animal survive? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.3.B
Show all 44 questions (37 more)

Life Sciences and Environmental Literacy & Sustainability, continued

  • Some moths of one species blend in with tree bark better than others. Why is the better camouflage an advantage? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.3.F
  • Two plants of a kind that normally grows tall are raised side by side. One gets too little water and stays short. What does this show? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.3.D
  • Where does a growing tree get most of the material that makes up its wood and leaves? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.5.A
  • Which organisms break down dead plants and animals and return some materials to the soil? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.1.5.B

Physical Sciences 11

  • A fox eats a rabbit that ate grass. The energy the fox gets from its food was once energy from what? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.5.G
  • A kite hangs on the wall of a lit room. Why can you see it? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.4.F
  • A passive solar heater warms a room on a sunny day. Which energy change does it make? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.4.D
  • A student dissolves 15 grams of salt in 200 grams of water in a jar. What is the weight of the salt water? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.5.D
  • A sugar cube is dropped into a cup of warm tea and stirred until none of it can be seen. What is the best explanation? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.5.A
  • The same ball rolls across a floor twice, once slowly and once fast. When does the ball have more energy? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.4.A
  • Two marbles collide with a click. What happens to some of the energy in the collision? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.4.C
  • Two students push on a box from opposite sides with forces of the same strength. What happens to the box? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.3.B
  • What is the wavelength of a water wave? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.4.E
  • Which statement about the force between two magnets is true? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.3.C
  • Which way does Earth's gravity pull an object that is near Earth's surface? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.2.5.F

Earth & Space Sciences 11

  • A flagpole stands in a sunny schoolyard. How does its shadow change from morning to afternoon? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.5.B
  • A map marks the world's earthquakes and volcanoes with dots. What pattern do the dots make? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.4.C
  • From Earth, the sun looks far bigger and brighter than any star in the night sky. What is the reason? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.5.A
  • In a cliff, rock layers with shell fossils lie above rock layers that have plant fossils and no shells. What does the pattern show? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.4.A
  • Most of Earth's water is salty ocean water. Where is most of the fresh water found? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.5.D
  • Three of these energy resources are renewable. Which one is not? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.4.D
  • Water seeps into a crack in a rock, then freezes and thaws over many winters. What is the likely effect on the rock? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.4.B
  • What does the climate of an area describe? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.3.B
  • Which of Earth's major systems is made up of all living things, people included? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.5.C
  • Which statement about natural hazards such as earthquakes and floods is true? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.4.E
  • Why do scientists record patterns of weather across many times and places? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.3.3.A

Technology and Engineering 11

  • A laptop will not turn on after its battery is taken out. What does this show about a system? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.BB
  • A student compares two backpacks. One costs less and the other lasts longer. Giving up the lower price to get the longer-lasting bag is an example of what? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.B
  • A team builds three different paper towers to hold a book. What is the best way to decide which design to keep? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standards 3.5.3-5.P and 3.2.4.G
  • A team designing a lunch box writes that it must keep food cold for four hours. What is this requirement called? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standards 3.5.3-5.O and 3.5.3-5.U
  • A team must build a model bridge and may spend no more than $20 on materials. What is the $20 limit called? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standards 3.5.3-5.O and 3.2.4.D
  • A town's water source runs dry, so engineers design a new way to clean water and move it from another place. What does this example show? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.J
  • An escalator uses a wheel and axle, an inclined plane, pulleys, gears, belts and an electric motor. What does the escalator show? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.DD
  • The handle of a cooking pot is covered with a material that slows the flow of heat. What kind of material is it? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.W
  • The water pipes in a house are part of a town's fresh-water distribution system. What are the pipes in the house? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.CC
  • What does sustainable use of a resource mean? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.E
  • Which of these exists only because of human effort and innovation? Pennsylvania Department of Education, STEELS Foundation Boxes, standard 3.5.3-5.FF

How this list was compiled: Outline: PSSA Science Test Design, STEELS Aligned, 2025 (designs for grades 5 and 8), Pennsylvania Department of Education, https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/education/documents/instruction/assessment-and-accountability/pssa/assessment-anchors/pssa-science-test-design_2025.pdf, linked from Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/instruction/elementary-and-secondary-education/assessment-and-accountability/pennsylvania-system-of-school-assessment-pssa, read 2026-10-12. Each question names the standard of grade 3, 4 or 5 it practices in the department's STEELS Foundation Boxes, https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/education/documents/instruction/assessment-and-accountability/pssa/assessment-anchors/steels%20foundation%20boxes.pdf, linked from the same page and read 2026-10-12; each science fact is stated in the clarifying statement or the disciplinary core ideas printed with that standard. No item sampler and no released item of the department was read. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site. Nothing is copied or reworded from a PSSA test, an item and scoring sampler, a released item or another practice test.

How it works

Forty-four unofficial practice questions for the grade 5 science PSSA, written for this site from Pennsylvania's STEELS standards of grades 3, 4 and 5. None is a released item. Not affiliated with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Read the full guide

What the 5th grade science PSSA covers

The test is reported in four categories, and the state's test design gives each one 20 to 30 percent: Life Sciences with Environmental Literacy and Sustainability, Physical Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences, and Technology and Engineering. The design counts 85 standards for grade 5, which is every STEELS standard of grades 3, 4 and 5. So third grade forces, fossils and weather are tested beside fifth grade matter, gravity and Earth's water. Technology and Engineering alone holds 34 of the 85.

Where the science in each answer comes from

Each answer names its standard. The fact itself is printed with that standard in the department's STEELS Foundation Boxes, either in the clarifying statement or in the core ideas.

  • Learn the design words of Technology and Engineering: criterion, constraint, trade-off and subsystem.

Questions and answers

Is the science PSSA in 4th grade or 5th grade?

Grade 5. The department's PSSA page says science is tested in grades 5 and 8, and every student in those grades takes it. Its science samplers through 2023 are for grade 4, and those from 2024 on are for grade 5.

How many questions are on the 5th grade science PSSA?

42 core items for 48 points: 39 autoscored items at one point and 3 open-ended items at three points. A form also carries field-test items that do not count: 7 autoscored and 1 open-ended.

How long is the 5th grade science PSSA?

Pennsylvania's test design estimates 41 minutes for each of the two sections. A section has 23 autoscored items and 2 open-ended items.

Where are the official 5th grade science PSSA practice questions?

The department publishes item and scoring samplers for grade 5 science on its PSSA page, linked in the box under the questions. This page is unofficial, and none of its 44 questions comes from a sampler.

What score is proficient on the 5th grade science PSSA?

The department reports four performance levels: advanced, proficient, basic and below basic. The test design gives no percent for any of them, so a percent on this page is practice only.

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