CAST Test Prep 5 questions

Test Prep for the CAST

​When answering these questions, one will seem kind of obvious and the other will need prior knowledge. SO even if you don't know the why, you can make predictions as to what will happen, or make inferences.

1. Which is the inference question?
2. Which is the prior knowledge question?

Dropdown

The leaf beetle, Chrysomela aeneicollis, lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Scientists studying the beetles found that exposure to high temperatures during the summer, when the eggs are laid and the larvae are developing, causes physiological stress. The impact is on metabolic enzymes and heat shock protein expression. One allele, Pgi-4, increased in frequency in the beetle population that was exposed to hotter, drier summers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.


Complete the sentence about this change by selecting the correct words from the menus.

If the temperature in the Sierra Nevada Mountains continue to increase, the frequency of the Pgi-4 allele is expected to ​

Select answer

as a result of ​ ​

Select answer

​What tool option would you want to use here?
What information would you need to get from the periodic table in order to answer this question?

Multiple Choice

Students use the periodic table to predict reactions between different elements and elemental bromine . An incomplete equation for the reaction between an element and is shown. Bromine atoms have seven valence electrons.

__ + Br2 --> __

Based on the number of valence electrons of elements in a compound, which is a ionic compound that can form in a reaction between and element and Br2?

​Some questions will have multiple parts, and graphs.
Graphs questions will ask you to compare the two variables, and make inferences as to what is going to happen. Or they questions will ask you to compare and find the relationship.
What are the two variables and wha is their relationship?

​If you don't know what something means in a question, please ask me. For instance: You need to know what resource management is here in order to answer this question. Do you?

​What are they asking you to determine in this question?

Dropdown

Based on the graph, if the population density increases from 1 to 500 people/km2, the forest cover will likely ​

Select answer

Multiple Choice

Part B

The students identified four resource management strategies intended to help preserve forest cover and maintain biodiversity.

The students then ran computer simulations to graphically compare the different resource management strategies.

Which graph shows results for a resource management strategy that will best preserve forest cover as population density increases?

Key words: Reaction and Produced
LAW OF CONSERVATION
Count the number of each color ball on the reactant side. The only one that will work will have the same number of each color ball on the product side.

Multiple Choice

Assuming the reaction is complete, which would be the correct number of molecules of A2B that will be produced to the empty box?

​Scientific process starts with observations, we make predictions, and investigate
Reading the question stem: What does the student observe and what does the student want to know (look for specifics wants).
The questions asks you to determine which will produce data to answer the students question.

​Read each response
1. Determine the factor
2. Ask your self: Can this factor (something that influences results) affect the type and amount of sediment?

Multiple Choice

Students noticed that a nearby pond, fed by a single stream, was filling with sediment. The students want to determine what factors are contributing to the amount and type of sediment entering the pond. Which investigation is most likely to produce data that will help answer their questions?

• Measure the depth of the sediments in the center of the pond once a week during the school year.

• Collect and emasure the mass of particles carried by the stream in one minute and then in ten minutes

• Collect and measure the mass of clay particles, silt particle, sand grans, and small pebbles carried by the stream at different stream flows

• Obtain samples from different depths in the sediments at the bottom of the pond and determine how the sizes and amount of particles have changed over time.