STAAR Science Category 2

The San Andreas fault is a transform fault. The map below shows a student’s approximation of where the fault line crosses through the United States. Students were asked to make maps predicting which way land would most likely move over thousands of years. Which map best predicts the likely movement of land along the fault line over thousands of years?

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Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

The map shows some of Earth’s plate tectonic boundaries. Based on the map, volcanic activity would most likely be found at —

• Location W

• Location X

• Location Y

• Location Z

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

The topographic map shows the location of a park ranger at Point X when a message is received that an injured hiker needs help at Point Z. Which of these is closest to the difference in elevation between the locations of the ranger and the injured hiker?

• 2,050 m

• 450 m

• 910 m

• 3,650 m

What is the difference in elevation in meters between Point X and Point Y on the map?

Which diagram models a hypothetical situation in which every location on Earth would have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness per day?

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Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

A phase of the moon is shown. Which pair of diagrams shows the moon’s phase immediately before and immediately after this phase?

A.

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Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

Some students used records from the U.S. Naval Observatory to make the table below of the percent of the moon that was visible on each night in January 2011.Based on these data, what part of the lunar cycle occurred between January 5 and January 7?

• Waxing crescent moon

• Waning crescent moon

• Full moon

• New moon

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

The moon reflects different amounts of sunlight onto Earth at different times. This reflected sunlight is commonly called moonlight. The graph below shows the intensity of moonlight at different times in a lunar cycle. Which moon phase most likely occurs at the time in the cycle represented by an X on the graph?

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Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

A student must complete the column of the table that lists the dates of the full moons. What are the most likely dates of the full moons?

• February 5, March 7, April 5, May 4

• February 15, March 17, April 15, May 14

• February 25, March 27, April 25, May 24

• February 29, March 31, April 29, May 28

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

A Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is shown below. Based on this diagram, which type of stars would belong to spectral class M and have the highest luminosity?

• Main-sequence stars

• Giants

• White dwarfs

• Supergiants

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS1-3