Sixth grade science by Utah's four SEEd strands: the solar system, energy and matter, weather and climate, ecosystems.
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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Utah State Board of Education. Bank checked October 13, 2026.
The real test: RISE science, grade 6
Time limit
None
Blueprint
8 clusters: 2 on each of the four strands, 25% of the test each. The blueprint gives no number of questions.
Strands
6.1 Structure and Motion Within the Solar System, 6.2 Energy Affects Matter, 6.3 Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate, 6.4 Stability and Change in Ecosystems.
How it is given
On a computer, adaptive and not timed. The blueprint calls it a matrix-designed test: each student is assessed on a subset of the standards in a strand.
Subjects in grade 6
English language arts, mathematics and science.
Scores
A scale score and one of four proficiency levels: Below Proficient, Approaching Proficient, Proficient or Highly Proficient.
Spring 2027 window
March 9 to June 4, 2027 for the summative tests. Each district or charter school tests within 8 weeks of that window.
Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System 10
A calendar marks a new moon. About how long is it until the next new moon?NASA Space Place, What Are the Moon's Phases?; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.1 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
A class builds a scale model in which 1 centimeter stands for 5,000 kilometers. A planet is 50,000 kilometers wide. How wide is it in the model?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.3 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
A table gives the diameters of four planets: Mercury 4,879 kilometers, Mars 6,792 kilometers, Venus 12,104 kilometers and Earth 12,756 kilometers. Which planet is closest to Earth in size?NASA, Planetary Fact Sheet; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.3 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
During a full moon, what do people on Earth see?NASA Space Place, What Are the Moon's Phases?; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.1 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
Show all 40 questions (36 more)
Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System, continued
During a lunar eclipse, what covers the Moon?NASA Space Place, Lunar Eclipses and Solar Eclipses; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.1 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
During a new moon, why can the Moon's lit side not be seen from Earth?NASA Space Place, What Are the Moon's Phases?; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.1 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
In a model of the Sun, Earth and Moon, where is the Moon during a solar eclipse?NASA Space Place, Lunar Eclipses and Solar Eclipses; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.1 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
It is July in Utah, and a student claims Earth must be nearer the Sun than it was in January. What really causes the seasons?NASA Space Place, What Causes the Seasons?; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.1 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
Which two things together keep a moon in orbit around a planet?NASA, What Is an Orbit? (Grades 5-8); Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.2 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
Without Earth's gravity, how would a satellite that is now in orbit move?NASA, What Is an Orbit? (Grades 5-8); Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.1.2 (Strand 6.1: Structure and Motion Within the Solar System)
Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter 10
A student builds a ball-and-stick model of one water molecule, H2O. Which atoms does the model need?NASA Glenn Research Center, Phases of Matter; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.1 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
A student heats 100 milliliters and 500 milliliters of water on identical burners for 3 minutes. The small sample warms by 40 degrees and the large sample by 8 degrees. What do the data show?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.3 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
A student pours hot water into three cups and measures how far the temperature drops in 10 minutes: metal cup 25 degrees, glass cup 15 degrees, foam cup 5 degrees. Which cup is the best insulator?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.4 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
A substance is heated and its particles spread farther apart, so the same amount of matter fills more space. What happens to its density?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.2 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
As the temperature of a gas rises, what happens to the motion of its particles?NASA Glenn Research Center, Kinetic Theory of Gases; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.3 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
How is a molecule different from an atom?NASA Glenn Research Center, Phases of Matter; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.1 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
On a cold morning the inside of a car windshield fogs over as water vapor in the air turns into tiny drops of liquid water. Which phase change is this?U.S. Geological Survey, Condensation and the Water Cycle; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.2 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
What does a conductor do?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.4 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
Which model shows a molecule of carbon dioxide, CO2?NASA Space Place, The Greenhouse Effect; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.1 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
Which statement describes the particles in a solid?NASA Glenn Research Center, Phases of Matter; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.2.2 (Strand 6.2: Energy Affects Matter)
Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate 10
A weather station records air pressure falling for several hours as a new air mass moves in. What should a student expect?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.2 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
Air pressure in one valley is much higher than in the next valley over. Which way will the air between them flow?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.2 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
At night Earth's surface cools and releases heat. What happens to some of that heat?NASA Climate Kids, What Is the Greenhouse Effect?; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.4 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
Cold air moves across a large, warmer lake, picks up warmth and moisture, rises and forms clouds. Which weather can follow downwind?National Weather Service, What is a Lake Effect Snow?; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.3 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
Earth's surface is heated unequally. In which direction do warm water and warm air generally move?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.3 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
In the water cycle, which force pulls rain to the ground and makes rivers flow downhill?U.S. Geological Survey, The Water Cycle; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.1 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
The Sun's energy changes liquid water at the ocean surface into water vapor. What is this part of the water cycle called?U.S. Geological Survey, The Water Cycle; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.1 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
Uneven heating of Earth's surface changes the density of air and water. What do these density changes produce?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.3 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
What does the natural greenhouse effect do for Earth?NASA Climate Kids, What Is the Greenhouse Effect?; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.4 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
What is the primary source of the energy that drives the water cycle?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.3.1 (Strand 6.3: Earth's Weather Patterns and Climate)
Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems 10
A bee gets nectar from a flower and carries the flower's pollen to other flowers, so both benefit. Which interaction is this?National Geographic Society, Symbiosis: The Art of Living Together; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.2 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
A community tests two plans to slow soil erosion on a hillside. A plot planted with native grasses lost 2 centimeters of soil in a year. A plot left bare lost 9 centimeters. By the evidence, which plan better protects the soil?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.5 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
A coyote and a red fox both hunt jackrabbits in the same valley. What is the interaction between the coyote and the fox?National Geographic Society, Symbiosis: The Art of Living Together; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.2 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
A food web model shows grass eaten by grasshoppers, grasshoppers eaten by lizards and lizards eaten by hawks. Which organism is a consumer that eats a producer?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.3 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
A new fish that eats the eggs of native fish is released into a lake. What is the most likely effect on the native fish population?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.4 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
A table gives a wetland's water level and frog count for four years: high water 120 frogs, high water 115 frogs, low water 60 frogs, low water 55 frogs. What do the data suggest?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.1 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
An owl catches and eats a mouse in a desert. A shark catches and eats a fish in the ocean. Which pattern of interaction appears in both ecosystems?National Geographic Society, Symbiosis: The Art of Living Together; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.2 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
In a dry year a mountain meadow grows half as much grass as usual. What is the most likely effect on the deer that graze there?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.1 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
In a food web, which organisms make their own food?National Geographic Society, Food Web; Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.3 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
Which is a change to a nonliving part of an ecosystem that could affect its populations?Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (June 2023), Standard 6.4.4 (Strand 6.4: Stability and Change in Ecosystems)
How this list was compiled: Outline: Utah RISE Science Grades 6-8 Blueprints, the grade 6 table (clusters and percent of the test for each strand), on the Utah RISE portal, https://utahrise.org/resources (https://utahrise.org/content/contentresources/en/Science-Gr-6-8-Public-Facing-Blueprints.pdf), read 2026-10-13. Each question names the standard it practices in the Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (Utah State Board of Education, June 2023), grade 6, https://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/science/_science_/UtahSEEdStandards.pdf, read 2026-10-13; the fact in an answer is one the standard or its strand text gives, or is read from the data in the question. 24 of the 40 questions also rest on a public page named under the answer, each opened 2026-10-13: NASA Space Place (What Are the Moon's Phases?, Lunar Eclipses and Solar Eclipses, What Causes the Seasons?, The Greenhouse Effect), NASA (What Is an Orbit? Grades 5-8; Planetary Fact Sheet), NASA Glenn Research Center (Phases of Matter; Kinetic Theory of Gases), NASA Climate Kids (What Is the Greenhouse Effect?), U.S. Geological Survey (The Water Cycle; Condensation and the Water Cycle), National Weather Service (What is a Lake Effect Snow?) and National Geographic Society (Food Web; Symbiosis: The Art of Living Together). Test facts: RISE Testing: A Guide for Utah Families (June 2026), Making Sense of RISE Scores (June 2026) and RISE Testing Overview (October 2025), linked from https://schools.utah.gov/assessment/assessments/rise, read 2026-10-13. No training test, benchmark module or released item was opened. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site from Utah's published science standards. Nothing is copied or reworded from a RISE test, a training test, a benchmark module, a released item or another practice test.
How it works
Unofficial practice for Utah's grade 6 RISE science test. Each of the four SEEd strands gets 10 of the 40 questions, matching the blueprint's equal weights, and none comes from a RISE test or training test. Not affiliated with the Utah State Board of Education.
Read the full guide
What the grade 6 RISE science test covers
Four strands share the blueprint evenly, two clusters and 25 percent each. Strand 6.1 is the solar system: Moon phases, eclipses, seasons, and the gravity and inertia behind orbits. Strand 6.2 is energy and matter: atoms and molecules, states of matter, density, conductors and insulators. Strand 6.3 is weather and climate: the water cycle, air masses, convection and the natural greenhouse effect. Strand 6.4 is ecosystems: resources, competition, predation, mutualism and food webs.
Utah in the standards
The grade 6 standards name Utah's own examples: lake-effect snow and wintertime temperature inversions for circulation, and mountains, Great Salt Lake, wetlands and deserts for ecosystems.
Seasons come from the tilt of Earth's axis, not from Earth's distance to the Sun, though many people believe the opposite.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the 6th grade RISE science test?
No number is published. The grades 6-8 science blueprint gives grade 6 a total of 8 clusters, 2 from each strand, and says a student is assessed on only some of the standards within a strand.
Does the RISE science test get harder as you answer?
It can. RISE is computer adaptive: after a correct answer the system moves to a harder question, and after an incorrect one to an easier question, until it finds the student's level.
When do families get 6th grade RISE science scores?
The State Board says the Individual Student Report usually arrives within three weeks of the school's testing window. It shows a scale score, a proficiency level and comparisons with school, district and state averages.
When is the RISE science test given in 6th grade?
In spring. For 2026-2027 the statewide summative window is March 9 to June 4, 2027, and each district or charter school tests within 8 weeks inside it.