New York State Testing Program Science Grade 5

1.After a storm, a dune at Jones Beach had less sand than it did the day before. The storm had carried sand away from the dune. Was that change to the dune constructive or destructive?

2.Water from the upper Hudson is weighed, and salt is weighed too. The salt is stirred in until it cannot be seen. Nothing spills, and the water does not boil away. What is the weight of the salty water?

3.Snow falls in Albany for one morning in March. A student says this means Albany now has a polar climate. What is the best response?

4.In an Adirondack lake, algae use sunlight to make food. Insects eat the algae, and a brook trout eats the insects. Where did the energy in the trout's food begin?

5.A puddle lies on a solid pier beside the Hudson. The day is warm and sunny, and by afternoon the puddle is gone. The pier has no cracks for water to drain through. What happened to the water?

6.A shelf fungus grows on a fallen hemlock in an Adirondack forest and feeds on the dead wood. Which role does the fungus play?

7.A sealed jar holds ice from a frozen Adirondack pond. The jar is weighed, the ice melts, and the lid stays closed. How does the weight compare?

8.Long Island's ridges and sandy plains were left when huge sheets of ice melted long ago. The ice had carried rock and soil from farther north. Which statement fits?

9.Water vapor rising from the Hudson cools high above the river. Tiny droplets appear and form a cloud. What process turns the vapor into droplets?

10.Cattails grow in a marsh along the Hudson. They make their own food using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water. What are the cattails in that food web?

11.Dark clouds, lightning, and heavy rain pass over Syracuse in less than an hour, then the sky clears. Which word names that short event?

12.On a clear day at Jones Beach, the shadow of a tall lifeguard chair is long early in the morning. What is true of that shadow around midday?

13.Sugar stirred into hot tea seems to vanish, but the tea tastes sweet. The cup weighs as much as the tea and sugar did before mixing. What is the best explanation?

14.Ice and plant roots crack a boulder on Mount Marcy, and the pieces stay beside it. Later a stream carries those pieces downhill. Which sentence is correct?

15.In April, snow on an Adirondack hillside melts. The water flows across the ground and into a brook. What is that flow across the ground called?

16.A white-tailed deer in the Adirondacks spends the evening eating buds and leaves. It does not eat other animals. Which feeding role fits the deer?

17.A flat soccer ball in a gym in Yonkers weighs less than the same ball after it has been filled with air and sealed. Why does the filled ball weigh more?

18.A class in Buffalo compares the rain falling this afternoon with the city's usual snowy winters, based on many years of records. Which statement is right?

19.In a wide, slow bend of a creek that feeds the Hudson, the water drops sand until a sandbar rises. What kind of change is the growth of that sandbar?

20.A sugar maple in the Catskills makes food in its leaves while sunlight falls on them. Which statement names the inputs and outputs?

21.A globe in a classroom in Ithaca shows Earth covered mostly by oceans. Which statement about Earth's water is correct?

22.Water boils off a kettle in a kitchen in Poughkeepsie. No droplets are visible yet, but the room feels more humid. What are the water particles doing?

23.An osprey nesting near the Hudson catches a fish for its chicks. The bird does not eat plants. Which word best names its feeding role?

24.Cold wind blows across the open water of Lake Ontario toward the Tug Hill plateau. Towns there then get a sudden heavy snow. Where did much of the moisture in that snow come from?

25.Over a long time, rock has broken from the lip of Niagara Falls, and the crest has shifted upstream. What moved the crest?

26.On a summer day, leaves on trees along Lake George give off water vapor. The trees drew that water up from the soil. What is this release of water vapor called?

27.Near Albany, a bucket of dry gravel is weighed, and a bag of dry sand is weighed. All of the sand is poured onto the gravel, and none is spilled. What is the weight of the mixture?

28.During a night program at Lake Placid, a guide compares the bright Sun of the daytime sky with the faint points of light overhead. What is the Sun?

29.In a Hudson marsh, insects and small fish eat algae. Herons eat the fish. Raccoons eat both insects and fish. Why is a food web a better model here than one straight chain?

30.New York has long, warm days in July. A student says July is warm only because Earth is closest to the Sun then. What is accurate?

31.A gentle rain falls on a forested slope in the Catskills. Much of the water soaks into the soil instead of rushing over the surface. What is that stored underground water?

32.Water seeps into a crack in a cliff near Lake Placid. The water freezes, takes up more space, and the crack widens until the rock splits. The pieces remain at the cliff. What process is this?

33.A student in Troy flattens a lump of clay into a tile. No clay falls off, and nothing is added. How does the weight change?

34.A black bear in the Adirondacks eats blueberries in August and catches fish in June. Which feeding role fits an animal that eats both plants and animals?

35.A forecast says Rochester will be windy on Saturday and rainy on Sunday. It does not describe average conditions over many years. What is the forecast describing?

36.On a sunny afternoon, the land beside Jones Beach is hotter than the ocean. Air rises over the warm land, and cooler air moves in from the water. What is that air movement?

37.Water evaporates from the Atlantic off Long Island and later falls as rain over the Hudson Valley. The rain is fresh, not salty like the ocean. Why?

38.Seneca Lake and the other Finger Lakes fill long, deep valleys in central New York. Huge sheets of ice once moved through those valleys. What did the moving ice do?

39.A steel bolt on a Hudson pier was hard and gray. After years in damp air it is reddish and flaky, and bits crumble off. What happened?

40.Along the Hudson, plants store energy from sunlight. Small animals eat the plants, fish eat those animals, and a bald eagle eats the fish. Which statement is correct?

41.On a humid day at Battery Park, droplets appear on the outside of a cold cup. The drink inside has not leaked. Where did the droplets come from?

42.Over many winters, Lake Placid is usually colder than Jones Beach. One January afternoon can be cold in both places. Which comparison of their climates is best?

43.Beach grass grows on part of a dune at Jones Beach. A bare patch of the same dune loses sand more quickly on a windy day. How does the grass affect the dune?

44.Places across New York are in daylight, and hours later those same places are dark. A student says the Sun switched off. What causes the change from day to night?

45.No one can see the separate bits inside a grain of Adirondack sand, yet the grain has weight and takes up space. What model of matter fits the grain?

46.A dead fish lies in a weedy cove of the Hudson. Bacteria and fungi feed on it. Weeks later, much of the fish is gone, and materials from its body are in the water and mud. What did those organisms do?

47.Snow falls for several hours on Lake Placid and piles up on the sidewalks. Which part of the water cycle is the falling snow?

48.At Letchworth, the Genesee River flows between steep walls in a deep gorge. For a very long time the river has carried rock away. Which process cut the gorge deeper?

49.A block of Adirondack granite keeps its shape on a flat truck bed. River water poured into a cup does not keep a block shape. Why does the granite keep its shape?

50.One strong storm washes over Jones Beach and drops a day of heavy rain on Long Island. A headline says the storm has replaced Long Island's climate. What should a careful reader decide?

51.Water leaves the surface of the Hudson faster on a hot, sunny afternoon than on a cold, cloudy morning. What supplies the energy for that faster evaporation?

52.An oak beside the Hudson gains a large amount of weight as it grows. The soil beneath it loses only a little weight. Where does most of the oak's new weight come from?

53.On a hillside near Ithaca, clear water flows from the ground and starts a small stream. The water had been stored in spaces in the soil and rock. What is that outflow?

54.Wind lifts sand from the crest of a dune at Jones Beach and drops it in a new pile nearby. Which description is accurate?

55.In a Syracuse classroom, a magnet lifts a steel nail. It does not lift a wooden stick or an aluminum can. What do these results show?

56.A turkey vulture in the Hudson Valley feeds on a deer that died the day before. The vulture did not kill the deer. Which role is the vulture playing?

57.At noon in Albany, a thermometer in the shade reads 18 degrees Celsius. By evening it reads 11 degrees Celsius. What did the thermometer measure?

58.On a bright March day near Watertown, sunlight falls on a snowy field and on a patch of dark bare soil. The soil feels warmer. Why?

59.Rain falls on the eastern slopes of the Catskills and runs into creeks. Those creeks join larger streams that lead toward the Hudson. Which statement is correct?

60.A creek slows as it enters Skaneateles Lake. Sand and silt settle at the mouth and build a low fan of land into the lake. What is that fan, and what kind of change is it?

61.An open bowl of water sits on a windowsill in Kingston. After two sunny days the water line is lower and the bowl weighs less. The room is more humid. What best explains the change?

62.Algae are the main producers in a small Adirondack pond. A change in the water kills most of the algae. Minnows depend on animals that eat the algae, and herons eat the minnows. What is the likely result?

63.A scientist wants to describe the climate of Elmira. She has today's temperature and also records of temperature and precipitation going back many years. Which data describe the climate?

64.In a schoolyard in Newburgh, a flagpole's shadow points one way in the morning and another way in the afternoon. The pole was not moved. Why did the shadow change direction?

65.In a lesson in Rome, New York, students compare ice from the Erie Canal, liquid water in the canal, and water vapor above it. Which statement is correct?

66.The Ausable River flows through a narrow rock chasm in northeastern New York. Smooth walls rise above the water, and the river carries bits of rock downstream. Which statement fits the chasm?

67.A drop of water evaporates from the Atlantic near New York Harbor. Later it falls as snow in the Adirondacks, melts, and a stream carries it toward the ocean again. What does this path show?

68.A deer in the Catskills uses food and oxygen. It breathes out carbon dioxide and water vapor, and its body gets energy. Which statement names those inputs and outputs?

69.A ranger near Lake George says hardness, color, and whether a material dissolves in water are properties. How can those properties help a hiker identify a sample?

70.Over many years, winters at Jones Beach are usually milder than winters in a high Adirondack valley. Both places are in New York. Which explanation fits?

71.Loose stones on a steep trail near Mount Marcy roll downhill after a boot knocks them free. What pulls the stones down the slope?

72.Sunlight heats a dark parking lot in White Plains more than it heats a nearby pond. Air above the lot warms and rises, and cooler air flows in. What starts this movement of air?

73.A shallow pool of seawater among rocks at Jones Beach dries up on a sunny day. White crystals remain on the rock. What are the crystals?

74.In a quiet bay of the Hudson, algae are eaten by tiny animals, those animals are eaten by a minnow, and a heron eats the minnow. Which organism is the producer?

75.After a night of rain, a rain gauge in a school garden in Utica holds water 2 centimeters deep. What does that reading describe?

76.A long ridge on Long Island is a jumble of clay, sand, and boulders dropped when glacial ice melted. The ice had carried that material. What is the ridge?

77.Two cobbles from the Hudson sit side by side on a dock. One cobble cannot be placed in the exact space the other already fills. What does that show?

78.On a cool morning, gray fog hangs over the Hudson near Nyack. The air feels damp, and tiny droplets drift above the water. What is the fog made of?

79.A muskrat in a Hudson marsh eats cattail stems. The cattails make their own food. What is the muskrat in this feeding relationship?

80.A student in Plattsburgh says New York's winter happens because Earth is farthest from the Sun in January. Which correction is accurate?

81.Soil in an Adirondack forest contains grains of broken rock and dark bits of decayed leaves. Which description fits that soil?

82.Water dipped from the Hudson is poured into a cup and then into a wide bowl. It matches the cup and later matches the bowl. Why can the water change shape?

83.In a pond in the Adirondacks, one bacterium becomes two cells. What is that kind of reproduction called?

84.A panel on a school roof in Rochester faces the Sun. The school uses the panel to run hallway lights. What does the panel do with energy from sunlight?

85.During a summer thunderstorm, hard pellets of ice fall on a park in Binghamton. The Sun comes out afterward. What part of the water cycle are the falling pellets?

86.Along a calm stretch of shore near Jones Beach, waves slow down and leave sand on the beach. Over time that part of the beach grows wider. What kind of change is the widening?

87.Campers in the Catskills see that the ash left from a burned log weighs less than the log did. Smoke and gases rose from the fire. What is the best explanation?

88.A poster of an Adirondack food chain shows green plants, then a rabbit, then a fox. Why do the plants come first?

89.A wind vane on a roof in Schenectady points northwest. What does that tell the class?

90.The Sun looks much larger and brighter than the stars seen at night over Saratoga. The Sun and those night stars are the same kind of object. Why does the Sun look so different?

91.Near New York Harbor, Hudson River water meets Atlantic water. Boats float in water that is less salty than the open ocean but not fully fresh. What is this part of the river?

92.The Palisades along the Hudson in southeastern New York form a steep cliff. Small pieces break off the face, and rain washes some of them downhill. Which processes are at work?

93.Someone opens a bottle of perfume at the back of a room in White Plains. Soon people at the front can smell it, even though nobody carried the bottle forward. What happened?

94.Mushrooms grow on a fallen log in the Catskills. Over time the wood softens, and dark material mixes into the nearby soil. How do the mushrooms affect the forest?

95.Today Oswego is cold and snowy. Over many years, its winters are often cold and snowy, and its summers are milder. Which statement uses those facts correctly?

96.Suppose no sunlight reached a Hudson marsh for a week. The animals there still need food. What would happen to the energy supply of that food web?

97.A village well in the Mohawk Valley fills from spaces in the rock below the fields. Rain and melting snow had soaked into those fields earlier. What is the water in the well?

98.After heavy rain, a mass of soil and rock breaks loose on a steep Catskill slope and slides to the bottom. The slope is left scarred. For the slope that lost the material, what kind of change was the slide?

99.At a dock on Cayuga Lake, a cork floats and a pebble sinks. What can a student conclude from that difference?

100.Algae near the surface of Lake Champlain make food on a sunny day. Which gas do they give off while they make that food?

101.Much of New York City's drinking water comes from reservoirs in the Catskills. Those reservoirs hold fresh water. Why does protecting that supply matter?

102.Waves strike a sandy bluff on Long Island's north shore. Chunks fall from the bluff, and the water carries the sand away. What is happening to the bluff?

103.On the same afternoon, rain falls in Albany and in a high valley near Lake Placid. Albany's long-term winter records are milder than the valley's. What is true?

104.Coal used in New York long ago formed from ancient plants. Those plants made food while they were alive. Where did the energy stored in that coal begin?

105.A cobble from a Hudson beach breaks into chips. Every chip is kept, and none is lost. How does the total weight of the chips compare with the cobble's weight before it broke?

106.In the Hudson, a shad eats tiny animals. A striped bass eats the shad, and an osprey also eats the shad. Why does one straight food chain miss part of this story?

107.A student looking over the Hudson says a white cloud is made of invisible water vapor, because vapor is water in the air. What is the accurate correction?

108.At Howe Caverns in Schoharie County, underground rooms open through limestone. Water moving through cracks has slowly dissolved some of that rock where it sat. What process wore the rock away in place?