Praxis Elementary Education Assessment: Mathematics and Science Practice Test
The Mathematics and Science portion of Praxis Elementary Education Assessment (5008) brings together elementary-level quantitative reasoning and foundational scientific understanding. Its practice questions sample arithmetic and geometry, measurement and scale, plant structures, forces, heat, evaporation, circuits, and simple experimental comparisons. These contexts call for interpreting familiar classroom and everyday situations using mathematical relationships and basic science concepts.
Exam overview
About the Praxis Elementary Education Assessment: Mathematics and Science Exam
Mathematics questions in the practice bank involve calculating totals, applying multiplication to equal groups, finding an unknown angle in a triangle, and converting map distances with a stated scale. Solving them requires selecting an operation, tracking units, and checking whether a result fits the context. Science items ask learners to connect observations to explanations: identify the plant part that takes up water and minerals, recognize friction opposing motion, predict particle behavior when air is heated in a fixed volume, and explain how heat affects evaporation. Questions about a disconnected circuit test understanding of a complete path for electric current. Experimental-design items focus on controlling variables, such as keeping cup and ice-cube sizes alike when comparing insulation. For elementary teaching, these concepts support clear explanations, evidence-based predictions, and recognition of whether a comparison is fair.
Sample Practice Questions
Review a selection from this exam's published US Practice Tests practice bank.
A triangle has angles measuring 50° and 60°. What is the measure of its third angle?
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Correct answer: BThe interior angles of a triangle add to 180°. The third angle is 180° − 50° − 60° = 70°.
Which plant structure absorbs most of the water and minerals that a plant takes up from soil?
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Correct answer: CRoots take up water and dissolved minerals from the soil. They also help anchor the plant.
A school collects 37 cans during a morning drive and 46 cans in the afternoon. How many cans does it collect in all?
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Correct answer: BAdd the amounts: 37 + 46 = 83 cans.
A student pushes a toy car across a level floor. Which force most directly acts against the car's motion where its wheels contact the floor?
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Correct answer: AFriction is a force between surfaces in contact that opposes their relative motion. It acts where the car's wheels meet the floor.
A sealed jar of air is warmed while its volume stays the same. What generally happens to the air particles?
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Correct answer: AHeating adds thermal energy. At a fixed volume, gas particles move faster on average as their temperature rises.
Which change would most directly help a puddle evaporate faster, if the amount of water and other conditions remain the same?
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Correct answer: AHeat supplies energy to water molecules, helping more escape into the air as water vapor. Covering the puddle or reducing its exposed surface would generally slow evaporation.
A map uses a scale of 1 centimeter for every 4 kilometers. Two towns are 6 centimeters apart on the map. What is the actual distance between them?
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Correct answer: CEach centimeter represents 4 kilometers, so 6 centimeters represent 6 × 4 = 24 kilometers.
How to use this practice test
The free US Practice Tests practice session draws up to 20 random questions from the available 50-question bank and displays results after the session. Use the results to identify which calculations or science explanations need closer attention. For missed items, write down the relationship or observation that determines the answer, then solve a similar example without looking at the result.
Preparation tips
- Practice choosing operations for addition totals and equal groups, and verify each result against the quantities in the question.
- Solve angle and map-scale problems by recording the relationship first, then retaining degree or distance units in the answer.
- Explain friction, plant water uptake, heating of trapped air, evaporation, and circuit continuity in terms of the relevant structure or process.
- For comparison experiments, identify the factor being changed and the conditions that must stay alike to support a fair conclusion.