Grade 5 Science SOL Practice Test — Set 2 of 2
Set 2 of 2 — 40 more free Grade 5 Science SOL practice questions from official VDOE released tests.
1. An ocean food chain is shown as: Phytoplankton → Fish → Seal → White shark, with animal-like plankton also included as a consumer of phytoplankton. Which pair of organisms needs to switch places for the food chain to be correct?
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Answer: B — Animal-like plankton and fish
2. A mineral identification flow chart shows that a mineral is nonmetallic, brown-gray in color, and has a hardness of about 6. Based on this information, which mineral belongs in square X of the flow chart?
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Answer: D — Hornblende
3. A conveyor belt moves groceries by transforming electrical energy into —
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Answer: C — mechanical energy
4. Students build a classroom barometer using a jar, a stretched balloon, and a straw taped on top. This device can be used to measure —
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Answer: C — air pressure
5. Which of these is an example of a behavioral adaptation?
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Answer: C — A fish that has scales
6. Coal is important for Virginia because it —
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Answer: B — can be divided into four types
7. A porcupine has sharp quills that protect it from predators. Which of these is a behavioral adaptation of porcupines that makes the quills more effective for protection?
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Answer: D — Curling up into a ball when threatened
8. The table below compares characteristics of insects and arachnids. Insects: body divided into three parts, three pairs of legs, one pair of antennae Arachnids: body divided into two parts, four pairs of legs, no antennae According to this information, which animal is an arachnid?
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Answer: B — Tick
9. Which of these instruments would be used to measure wind speed?
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Answer: H — Anemometer
10. The table below shows the speed of sound through different materials (in meters per second): Air: 331 Fresh water: faster than air Salt water: faster than fresh water Wood: faster than salt water Plastic: slower than wood Glass: faster than plastic Silver: fastest listed According to the table, sound travels fastest through matter that —
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Answer: C — has particles that are close together
11. A kingdom is the largest classification of living things. What other organisms, besides plants and animals, make up the five kingdoms?
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Answer: A — Fungi, protists, and monerans
12. Different types of clouds are associated with different types of weather. Which type of clouds would most likely be seen during a thunderstorm?
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Answer: B — Cumulonimbus
13. Sand dunes in the desert are caused by erosion from —
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Answer: D — wind
14. What do plants take in through their root systems?
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Answer: G — Water
15. Which of these is a mixture?
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Answer: C — Lemonade
16. The graph shows the breeding period of a species of lacewing across the months of the year. Breeding occurs primarily from March through May, with the highest activity in April. During what season would most of these lacewings breed?
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Answer: C — Spring
17. Who invented and patented the electric light bulb?
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Answer: J — Thomas Edison
18. The chart below describes feeding types: Carnivores: eat meat, usually live alone or in small groups, preyed on only by other carnivores Herbivores: eat only plants, can be large hoofed mammals, preyed on by carnivores Omnivores: eat both plants and animals, can be primary and secondary consumers Based on this information, which animal is a herbivore?
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Answer: G — Deer
19. Which of these will change solid iron to a liquid?
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Answer: B — Increasing its temperature
20. Lava cools to form —
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Answer: A — igneous rock
21. In a healthy ecosystem, many species may share the same habitat because they have different niches. An animal’s niche is best described as —
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Answer: A — the role it plays in its habitat
22. Sound is a type of mechanical energy that is transmitted in the form of —
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Answer: F — waves
23. The table compares Venus and Earth: Venus: diameter 12,104 km, mass compared to Earth 0.82, density 5.24, surface temperature 470°C Earth: diameter 12,756 km, mass compared to Earth 1.00, density 5.50, surface temperature 56°C How are the two planets most different?
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Answer: D — Surface temperature
24. Barnacles and corals both build hard layers of calcium around their soft body parts. What is the most likely reason they build these layers?
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Answer: B — Protect them from predators
25. A student tested plant growth in soil with salt. The only thing that should be different between the two groups is the amount of —
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Answer: H — salt in the soil in each pot
26. When in operation, a tool powered by electricity that moves parts transforms electrical energy mostly into —
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Answer: D — mechanical energy
27. The wingspan of a moth shown relative to a ruler measures slightly less than 1 centimeter, approximately 8 millimeters. The wingspan is about —
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Answer: G — 8 mm
28. The main difference between ocean water and lake water is that ocean water contains —
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Answer: B — salt
29. Which of the following is a benefit that many flowering plants get from animals?
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Answer: B — Seeds carried to new places
30. Which animal no longer lives on Earth?
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Answer: A — Woolly mammoth
31. Water, ice, and steam are alike because they —
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Answer: A — are the same compound
32. In which plant cell structure does photosynthesis occur?
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Answer: G — Chloroplast
33. Blue whales have baleen that filters food from water. Which sea creatures are their most common food?
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Answer: J — Small fish and shrimp-sized krill
34. By August, sunflowers were as tall as a house back door, about 2 meters high. About how tall were the sunflowers?
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Answer: B — 2 meters
35. Which diagram best shows the arrangement of molecules in a solid?
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Answer: B — Molecules close together in a fixed, orderly pattern
36. About 400 years ago, Galileo recorded what the moon looked like through a telescope. He was able to tell that the moon had —
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Answer: A — many craters
37. Algae in the ocean provide much of Earth’s —
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Answer: F — oxygen
38. The life cycle of a beetle includes egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages. At which stage are the eggs laid?
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Answer: A — Adult
39. A precipitation map of the continental United States shows the lowest rainfall in the southwestern desert region. Which state would be least likely to have floods during this period?
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Answer: F — Arizona
40. A student recorded body temperature at different times: After getting up in the morning: 36.8°C After reading a book: 37.1°C After math class: 32.2°C After playing outside: 37.7°C When did the student most likely record the temperature inaccurately?
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Answer: C — After math class
Grade 5 Science SOL practice test — FAQ
Are these Grade 5 Science SOL practice questions free?
Yes — this Grade 5 Science SOL practice test is completely free with no signup. Answer each question to check it instantly, or open "Show answer" to review.
How many Grade 5 Science SOL practice questions are there?
Across all sets, there are 90 Grade 5 Science practice questions drawn from official Virginia Department of Education released SOL tests. This set has 40.
Are these real Virginia SOL questions?
The questions are adapted from official VDOE released SOL tests for Grade 5 Science. SOL Prep is an independent study aid and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Virginia Department of Education.
Practice items adapted from Virginia Department of Education released SOL tests. Practice items are provided for study purposes and are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Virginia Department of Education.