Diagnostic Test Science GaHSGT
1. A cell has mitochondria, ribosomes, smooth
and rough ER, and other parts. Based on
this information, it could NOT be
a. a cell from a pine tree.
b. a grasshopper cell.
c. a yeast (fungus) cell.
d. a bacterium.
2. Which are the four most abundant
elements in living cells?
a. carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur
b. carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen
c. carbon, oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus
d. carbon, sulfur, hydrogen, magnesium
3. What is the basic unit of structure and
function of living things?
a. cell
b. organ
c. molecule
d. organelle
4. Which of the following correctly matches an
organelle with its function?
a. mitochondrion . . . photosynthesis
b. vacuole . . . storage
c. ribosome . . . manufacture of lipids
d. lysosome . . . movement
5. The diagram below shows the same type of
molecule in area A and area B. With the
passage of time, some molecules move from
area A to area B. This movement is the result of
the process of
a. phagocytosis
b. pinocytosis
c. diffusion
d. active transport
6. Which of the following matches the
Macromoleculewith its correct building block?
- protein-nucleotide
- lipid-fatty acid
- nucleic acid-monosaccharide
- carbohydrate-amino acid
7. An animal cell is placed in a solution of distilled
water. If left overnight, this cell will
a. shrivel and die
b. swell and burst
c. undergo plasmolysis
d. remain the same since it has a cell
8. Which statement best describes active transport?
a. Molecules move very quickly across a
membrane.
b. Energy is expended to movemolecules across
a membrane.
c. Fewer molecules move across amembrane
than in diffusion.
d. Water molecules stream across a membrane
into a concentrated solution.
9. Mendel's discovery that characteristics are
inherited due to the transmission of hereditary
factors resulted from his
a. careful microscopic examinations ofgenes and
chromosomes
b. dissections to determine how fertilization
occurs in pea plants
c. breeding experiments with manygenerations of
fruit flies
d. analysis of the offspring producedfrom many
pea plant crosses
10.Homeostasis can best be defined as the
a. mature period of an organism’s life cycle
when little change occurs
b. maintenance of a relatively stable internal
environment
c. maintenance of a constant external
environment
d. period of no change in evolutionary
history
11. What does the process of photosynthesis
produce?
a. starch, which is metabolized intoless
complex molecules
b. protein, which is metabolized intoless
complex molecules
c. glycerol, which is metabolized intomore
complex carbohydrates
d. glucose, which is metabolized intomore
complex carbohydrates
12. In living plants, when does respiration occur?
a. only during digestion
b. only in the daytime
c. only in total darkness
d. all the time
13. Which diagram most correctly represents the
process of mitosis?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
14. How many chromosomes does a normal,
mature, human sperm cell contain?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 23
d. 46
15. Which nitrogenous bases make up DNA
nucleotides?
a. cytosine, adenine, guanine, and thymine
b. adenine, uracil, guanine and cytosine
c. uracil, adenine, cytosine, andthymine
d. adenine, thymine, guanine, anduracil
16. A sudden change in the DNA of a chromosome
can usually be passed on to future generations if
the change occurs in a
a. skin cell
b. sex cell
c. liver cell
d. brain cell
17. In squirrels, the gene for gray fur (G) is dominant
over the gene for black fur (g). If 50% of a large
litter of squirrels are gray, the parental cross that
produced this litter was most likely
a. GG x Gg
b. GG x GG
c. Gg x gg
d. gg x gg
18. Flowers known as four o’clocks may
be red, white, or pink. The genes show
incomplete dominance. If a red and a white
gene are inherited, the flower is pink. If two red
genes are inherited, it will be red. If two white
genes are inherited, it will be white. What
happens if you cross two pink plants?
a. All of the offspring will be pink.
b. Half the offspring will be pink, one quarter
will be red, and the other quarter will be
white.
c. Half of the offspring will be red and the other
half will be white.
d. One-third of the offspring will be pink;
one-third red; and one-third white
.
19. Which is a biotic factor operating within an
ecosystem?
a. the type of climate in a given region
b. the carnivores that consume otheranimals
c. the amount of helium gas in the air
d. the rate of flow of water in a river
20. All the plants, animals, and protists living in a
forest make up a
a. population
b. community
c. species
d. ecosystem
21. Which of the following is correctlyorganized from
most to least inclusive?
a. biosphere, ecosystem, community,
population, individual
b. individual, population, community,
ecosystem, biosphere
c. ecosystem, community, population,
individual, biosphere
d. biosphere, ecosystem, population,
community, individual
22. What does the shape of the food pyramid
indicate about energy in an ecosystem?
a. most of the energy is stored in plantsat the
top of the pyramid.
b. most of the energy is stored in animals at the
base of the pyramid.
c. most of the energy is stored in animals at the
top of the pyramid.
d. most of the energy is stored in plantsat the
base of the pyramid.
23. What is the original source of energy for
ecosystems?
a. plants
b. the soil
c. the sun
d. water
24. A scorpion stalks, kills, and then eats a spider.
Based on its behavior, whichecological terms
describe the scorpion?
a. producer, herbivore, decomposer
b. producer, carnivore, heterotroph
c. predator, carnivore, consumer
d. predator, autotroph, herbivore
25. The sequence of energy flow through a food chain
is
a. primary consumers producers higher order
consumers.
b. producers higher order consumers primary
consumers.
c. higher order consumers primary consumers
producers.
d. *correct*producers primary consumers higherorder
consumers.
26. Certain bacteria living in a human's large
intestine help to produce vitamin K. This
relationship is an example of
a. animal parasitism
b. plant parasitism
c. commensalism
d. mutualism
27. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the trophic level that
would contain the largest biomasswould be the
a.producers.
b. primary consumers.
c. secondary consumers.
d. decomposers.
28. The diagram below represents a pyramid ofenergy in an ecosystem. Which level inthe pyramid would most likely contain members of the plant kingdom?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
29. Which statement best describes some organisms
in the food web shown below?
a. Minnows and fish are primary consumers.
b. Algae and floating plants are decomposers.
c. Aquatic crustaceans are omnivores.
d. Raccoons, fish, and ducks aresecondary
consumers.
30.Which food chain correctly lists the steps
according to energy flow?
- sun grass deer mountain lion
- mountain lion deer grass sun
- grass sun mountain lion deer
- deer mountain lion grass sun
31. A compound differs from a mixture in that a
compound always has a
a. homogeneous composition
b. maximum of two components
c. minimum of three components
d. heterogeneous composition
32.Four electron arrangements are given below.
Which is for a Group 3 element?
a. 2, 8, 5
b. 2, 8, 8, 2
c. 2
d. 2, 3
33. Compared to the charge and mass of a proton,
an electron has
a. the same charge and a smaller mass
b. the same charge and the same mass
c. an opposite charge and a smaller mass
d. an opposite charge and the same mass
34. When alpha particles are used to bombard gold
foil, most of the alpha particlespass through
undeflected. This result indicates that most of the
volume of a gold atom consists of ____.
a. deuterons
b. neutrons
c. protons
d. unoccupied space
35. Which symbols represent atoms that are
isotopes?
a. C-14 and N-14
b. O-16 and O-18
c. I-131 and I-131
d. Rn-222 and Ra-222
36. Which atom contains exactly 15 protons?
a. P-32
b. S-32
c. O-15
d. N-15
37. What is the mass number of an atom which
contains 28 protons, 28 electrons, and34
neutrons?
- 28
- 56
- 62
- 90
38. Which substance cannot be decomposed into
simpler substances?
a. ammonia
b. aluminum
c. methane
d. methanol
39. Which statement describes a chemical property?
a. Its crystals are a metallic gray.
b. It dissolves in alcohol.
c. It forms a violet-colored gas.
d. It reacts with hydrogen to form a gas.
40. Which set of elements contains a metalloid?
a. K, Mn, As, Ar
b. Li, Mg, Ca, Kr
c. Ba, Ag, Sn, Xe
d. Fr, F, O, Rn
41. Atoms of elements in a group on the Periodic
Table have similar chemical properties. This
similarity is most closely related to the atoms'
a. number of principal energy levels
b. number of valence electrons
c. atomic numbers
d. atomic masses
42. Which substance is the best conductor of
electricity?
a. nitrogen
b. neon
c. sulfur
d. silver
43. The nucleus of sodium-23 contains:
a. 23 protons and 11 neutrons
b. 23 protons and 11 electrons
c. 11 protons and 12 electrons
d. 11 protons and 12 neutrons
44. The mass number of an element is 19 and the
atomic number is 9. The totalnumber electrons
in the atom is:
a. 19
b. 9
c. 29
d. 10
45. The atom z has a mass number of 32. It contains
in its nucleus:
- 32 protons
- 32 protons and 32 electrons
- a total of 40 protons and neutrons
- 16 protons and 16 neutrons
46. In a solution the substance that does the
dissolving is called ___ .
a. soluble
b. the solute
c. the solvent
d. an ion
47. Many laboratory preparations of solutions call for
stirring the solvent while addingthe solute. Which
of the following is always an effect of this
procedure?
a. It decreases the reactivity of the solute.
b. It decreases the solubility of the solute.
c. It brings the solute and solvent rapidlyinto
contact.
d. It produces a chemical reaction.
48. A solution in which the crystallizing and
dissolving rates of the solute are equal is
a. saturated
b. unsaturated
c. concentrated
d. dilute
49. The half-life of the isotope carbon-11 is 20
minutes. Which conclusion can be madefrom
that statement?
a. any given amount of this isotope will
only last 40 minutes
b. due to its short half-life, all of the
carbon-11 on earth has disappeared
c. half of any amount of this isotope will
decay in 20 minutes
d. if broken in half, the half-life of each
piece of carbon-11 will be ten minutes
50. The half-life if iodine-131 is 8.07 days. How long
would it take a 28.4 gram sample to decay to
3.55 grams?
a. 8.07 days
b. 16.14 days
c. 24.21 days
d. 32.28 days
51. The greater the mass of an object,
a. the less force it can exert.
b. the more space it takes up.
c. the more balanced it is.
d. the greater the inertia.
52. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years. How
much carbon-14 would remain after 11,460
years, if any?
a. none
b. one-eighth
c. one-fourth
d. one-half
53. When your cell phone rings, chemical energy is
transformed into electrical energy and then
a. sound energy
b. mechanical energy
c. heat energy
d. more chemical energy
54. Which substance has chemical properties similar to those of radioactive 235U?
- 235Pa
- 233Pa
- 233U
- 206Pb
55. A simple machine has an input force of 5
newtons and an output force of 100newtons.
What is the mechanical advantage of the
machine?
a. 0.2
b. 2
c. 20
d. 95
56. Heat transfer through space from our sun occurs
by
- conduction
- convection
- radiation
- insulation
57. Which phrase best describes the arrangement of
particles in a liquid?
- Close together and moving freely
- Very far apart and moving quickly
- Far apart and vibrating
- Close together and stationary
58. Which statement best describesthe energy
transformation thatoccurs when a log burns?
a. Mechanical energy changes to chemical
energy
b. Chemical energy changes to heat and light
energy
c. Heat and light energy changes to chemical
energy
d. Mechanical energy changes to heat and light
energy.
59. Which diagram below best represents refraction?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
60. As a satellite is accelerated away from the Earth
by a rocket, the satellite's mass
a. remains the same
b. decreases
c. increases
d. increases then decreases
61. A car passed a truck on the road. The car
accelerates from 20 meters/second to 24
meters/second in 2 seconds. What was the car’s
acceleration?
a. 2 meters/second/second
b. 4 meters/second/second
c. 12 meters/second/second
d. 22 meters/second/second
62. A baseball pitcher throws a fastball at 42 meters
per second. If the batter is 18meters from the
pitcher, approximately how much time does it
take for the ball toreach the batter?
a. 1.0 s
b. 2.3 s
c. 0.86 s
d. 0.43 s
63. The displacement-time graph below represents
the motion of a cart along a straight line. During
which interval is the cart NOT moving at constant
speed?
a. AB
b. BC
c. CD
d. DE
64. A vehicle travels a distance of 160 km in 5 hours.
The average speed is
a. 32 km/hr
b. 40 km/hr
c. 80 km/hr
d. 165 km/hr
65. What is an example of a longitudinal wave?
a. gamma ray
b. x-ray
c. sound wave
d. water wave
66. A characteristic common to sound waves and
light waves is that they
a. transfer energy
b. are longitudinal
c. travel in a vacuum
d. are transverse
67. In a 4.0-kilometer race, a runner completes the
first kilometer in 5.9 minutes, thesecond
kilometer in 6.2 minutes, the third kilometer in 6.3
minutes, and the final kilometer in 6.0 minutes.
The average speed of the runner for the race is
a. 0.16 km/min
b. 0.33 km/min
c. 12 km/min
d. 24 km/min
68. An object is dropped from rest and falls freely 20.
meters to Earth. When is the speed of the object
9.8 m/s?
a. during the entire first second of itsfall
b. at the end of its first second of fall
c. during its entire time of fall
d. after it has fallen 9.8 meters
69. The diagram below shows the lines of magnetic
force between two north magneticpoles. At
which point is the magnetic field strength
greatest?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
70. How far will a brick starting from rest fall freely in
3.0 seconds?
a. 15 m
- 29 m
- 44 m
- 88 m
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