A full fifth grade science test in the shares of Tennessee's TCAP blueprint: physical, then Earth and space, then life.
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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Tennessee Department of Education. Bank checked October 9, 2026.
The real test: TCAP science, grade 5
Time limit
90 minutes
Subparts
Two of 45 minutes each.
How it is given
On paper: a test booklet and a separate answer document.
Items
48 to 49 in all. 39 to 40 of them count; the rest are field test items.
Calculator
Not allowed.
Categories
Physical Sciences 39 to 44% of items, Earth and Space Sciences 34 to 38%, Life Sciences 22 to 26%. Engineering items (0 to 10%) are reported with one of the thr
Item kinds
Multiple choice, one point each, alone or in clusters of up to six on one phenomenon; multiple select, two points with partial credit.
A ball is let go at the top of a long ramp. It rolls 10 centimeters in the first second, then 30, then 50, then 70 centimeters in the seconds that follow. If the pattern continues, how far does it roll in the fifth second?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS2.2
A ball thrown straight up slows, stops for an instant and comes back down. Why does it come back?NASA Space Place, "What Is Gravity?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS2.3
A book rests on a table. Gravity pulls the book down, and the table pushes up on it with an equal force. What happens to the book?The Physics Classroom, "Balanced and Unbalanced Forces"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS2.1
A candle burns down to a stub. Why do scientists call burning a chemical change?LibreTexts Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, section 3.6, "Changes in Matter: Physical and Chemical Changes"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.3
Show all 40 questions (36 more)
Physical Sciences, continued
A hockey puck glides across smooth ice in a straight line at a steady speed. What must be true of the forces on the puck?NASA Glenn Research Center, "Newton's Laws of Motion"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS2.1
A paper bridge holds 12 coins before it falls. Students want to know if folding the paper lets it hold more. Which test tells them?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ETS1.1
A student hangs a weight on strings of three lengths and times 10 swings of each. With a 20 centimeter string the swings take 9 seconds, with 40 centimeters 13 seconds, and with 60 centimeters 16 seconds. What do the data show?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS2.4
A student heats a pot of water and reads a thermometer each minute: 70, 85, 100, 100 and 100 degrees Celsius. Bubbles rise the whole time the reading stays at 100. Which phase change is taking place?U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School, "Evaporation and the Water Cycle"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.1
A student pours two clear liquids into one cup, and a white solid forms. What is this evidence of?LibreTexts Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, section 3.6, "Changes in Matter: Physical and Chemical Changes"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.3
A student seals a fizzing tablet and some water in a plastic bag and puts it on a balance. Before the tablet fizzes away, the reading is 62 grams. After no tablet can be seen, the reading is still 62 grams. What do the data show?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.2
A student stirs 15 grams of sugar into 200 grams of water in a jar. The sugar can no longer be seen. What is the mass of the sugar water?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.2
On a humid day, drops of water form on the outside of a cold glass of lemonade. Which phase change made the drops?U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School, "Condensation and the Water Cycle"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.1
One student drops a ball in Tennessee. Another drops a ball in Australia, on the other side of the world. Which way do both balls fall?NASA Space Place, "What Is Gravity?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS2.3
Salt is stirred into water until it can no longer be seen. Later the water is boiled away, and the salt is left in the pot. What does this show about mixing salt and water?LibreTexts Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, section 3.6, "Changes in Matter: Physical and Chemical Changes"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.3
Two teams pull on a rope in opposite directions. Team A pulls with a force of 300 newtons and Team B with 340 newtons. What happens to the rope?NASA Glenn Research Center, "Newton's Laws of Motion"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS2.1
Which pair matches a phase change with what happens?LibreTexts Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, section 3.6, "Changes in Matter: Physical and Chemical Changes"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.PS1.1
Life Sciences 10
A calf has a spotted coat like its mother and curved horns like its father. What is the best explanation?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS3.2
A dog has floppy ears and a brown coat like its parents. It also has a scar on its leg from a fence. Which statement is correct?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS3.1
A new puppy does not react to the sound of its food bag. A few weeks later it runs to its bowl each time the bag rustles. What best explains the change?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS1.1
A spider that hatched alone and has never seen a web spins one. What kind of behavior is this?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS1.1
A student grows 8 sunflowers from the seeds of one plant in the same garden bed. Their heights are 150, 158, 161, 165, 165, 170, 172 and 180 centimeters. Which statement do the data support?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS3.2
Flamingo chicks have white-gray feathers. Adults are pink because of pigments in the algae and brine shrimp they eat. What does this show about a flamingo's feather color?Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, "Why Are Flamingos Pink? And Other Flamingo Facts"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS3.1
How does a learned behavior differ from an instinct?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS1.1
On an island, a drought leaves only large, hard seeds. A few birds of one species have thicker beaks that can crack these seeds. Which birds are more likely to survive and raise young?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS4.1
Scientists count beetles of one species on dark soil. In the first count there are 50 green and 50 brown beetles. A year after birds arrive, there are 10 green and 45 brown. What is the best explanation?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS4.1
Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of a person's height is set by inherited DNA, with a smaller part from factors such as nutrition. What kind of characteristic is height?MedlinePlus Genetics, National Library of Medicine, "Is height determined by genetics?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.LS3.1
Earth and Space Sciences 14
A student sees a full Moon tonight. About how long will it be until the next full Moon?NASA Science, "Moon Phases"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.4
A student uses a star chart to find the same constellation at 9 p.m. every night for a month. What does the student observe?NASA Space Place, "What Are Constellations?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.6
Astronomers sort galaxies by their shapes. Which list names shapes of galaxies?NASA Science, "Galaxies"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.2
The constellations in the evening sky in January are not the ones seen in July. What causes the change?NASA Space Place, "What Are Constellations?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.6
During a lunar eclipse, the full Moon grows dim. What causes it?NASA Science, "The Moon and Eclipses"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.4
Earth is closest to the Sun in January. What season is it in Tennessee then, and what does that show?NASA Space Place, "What Causes the Seasons?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.5
In a model, a flashlight stands for the Sun. The higher it is held above a pencil standing on a table, the shorter the pencil's shadow. Outside, a meter stick casts a shadow of 150 centimeters at 9 a.m., 80 at 11 a.m., 75 at 1 p.m. and 140 at 3 p.m. When was the Sun highest in the sky?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.3
In December the Northern Hemisphere is tipped away from the Sun. What does that mean for Tennessee?National Weather Service, Sioux Falls, "What Causes the Seasons?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.5
It is noon in Nashville. Why is it night at the same moment on the opposite side of Earth?NASA Space Place, "What Causes the Seasons?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.3
The Sun is a star. Why does it look so much brighter from Earth than the stars seen at night?NASA Science, "Our Sun: Facts"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.1
Tennessee has warm summers and cold winters. What causes this yearly cycle of seasons?NASA Space Place, "What Causes the Seasons?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.5
Two streetlights have the same kind of bulb. One is 10 meters away and one is 200 meters away, and the near one looks brighter. What does this model show about stars?Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.1
What causes the tides of the ocean?NOAA National Ocean Service, "What are tides?"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.4
Where is our solar system in the Milky Way galaxy?NASA Science, "Galaxies"; Tennessee Academic Standards for Science, grade 5, standard 5.ESS1.2
Unofficial practice for Tennessee's fifth grade science TCAP. These 40 questions are this site's own, built on the state's standards and blueprint; none is from a real test or an item release. Not affiliated with the Tennessee Department of Education.
Read the full guide
What fifth grade science covers in Tennessee
Physical science is the largest share: phase changes, matter that is conserved when it seems to vanish, substances that do or do not make something new, balanced and unbalanced forces, gravity and patterns of motion. Earth and space science is next: star brightness, the Milky Way, shadows, eclipses, tides, Moon phases, seasons and constellations. Life science asks about instinct and learning, inherited and acquired traits, and variation.
How the answers are checked
Each question names its Tennessee standard. Where the answer needs a fact the standard does not state, a public page is named with it: the U.S. Geological Survey for water changing state, NASA for gravity, eclipses, seasons and galaxies, NOAA for tides.
For a force question, ask first whether the motion changes. No change means the forces are balanced.
Questions and answers
Is this the TN TCAP grade 5 science practice test from the state?
No. It is unofficial. Tennessee keeps its own test practice on the TCAP Portal, sorted by content area and grade, each with a release guide that gives the key.
What is on the 5th grade science TCAP?
The blueprint lists Physical Sciences at 39 to 44 percent of items, Earth and Space Sciences at 34 to 38 percent and Life Sciences at 22 to 26 percent. Engineering items, at most 10 percent, are counted inside one of those three.
How many questions are on the 5th grade TCAP science test?
Students answer 48 to 49 items. Only 39 to 40 are operational and scored, and the others are field test items. The 40 questions here match the scored part.
How long is the 5th grade science TCAP?
It runs 90 minutes, split into two 45-minute subparts. Fifth graders take it on paper, with a test booklet and a separate answer document, and may not use a calculator.