USTET 2015

SECTION 4: SCIENCE PROFICIENCY NAME: ____________________________

Time -– 45 minutes SCHOOL: _________________________
80 Questions

For each question, decide which is the best answer choice, and encircle the corresponding number.

1. What type of soil is most suitable for plant growth?

(1) loam (2) sand (3) silt (4) clay

2. What instrument measures earthquakes?

(1) seismograph (2) barograph (3) thermograph (4) polygraph

3. What is believed to be the composition of the earth’s core?

(1) heavy liquid (2) heavy solid (3) soft liquid (4) soft gases

4. Where are nutrients mostly absorbed?

(1) small intestine (2) large intestine (3) stomach (4) esophagus

5. Why are whales considered mammals?

(1) They nourish their young with milk. (3) They use lungs to breathe.
(2) They give birth to live youngs and not (4) All of the these
hatched from eggs.

6. Why are most fungi parasitic?

(1) They can kill their host. (3) They can cause diseases or infections.
(2) They take nutrients from their host. (4) They stick to the other organisms.

7. Convert 104°F to Celsius.

(1) 27°C (2) 30°C (3) 40°C (4) 100°C

8. If your mass on Earth is 54 kg, what is your weight on the moon?

(1) 90 kg (2) 54 kg (3) 88 N (4) 540 N

9. Which of the following is true about acids?

(1) It tastes bitter. (3) Its pH is more than 7.
(2) It feels slippery. (4) It turns blue litmus paper into red.

10. Which of the following produces the greatest acceleration?

(1) F = 16 N, m = 4 kg (3) F = 5 N, m = 1 kg
(2) F = 10 N, m = 5 kg (4) F = 2 N, m = 15 kg
11. Which of the following is the function of the liver?
(1) It filters waste materials from the blood.
(2) It manufactures bile to aid fat digestion and remove toxins from the blood.
(3) It supplies most enzymes for digestion.
(4) It destroys old red blood cells, produces lymphocytes, which is a type of white blood cells, and stores blood.

12. Which of the following chemical equations shows a composition reaction?

(1) Cl2 + NaBr 🡪 NaCl + Br2 (3) Na + O2 🡪 Na2O
(2) C20H42 + O2 🡪 CO2 + H2O (4) NaOH + HCl 🡪 NaCl + H2O

13. Why is it warmer in the regions near the equator than those near the poles?
(1) Regions near the equator receive vertical rays of the sun.
(2) The air above the equator is thicker.

ACTS ACHI & AHIA, INC. 🕿 744-6250 / 701-7018

1
USTET 2015

(3) Regions near the equator have longer days than night.
(4) Sunlight is converted into heat faster near the equator.

14. The atomic mass of iron is 56 and its atomic number is 26. How many neutrons does an atom of iron have?
(1) 26 (2) 28 (3) 30 (4) 32

15. What is the most abundant gas in the Earth’s atmosphere?

(1) oxygen (3) carbon dioxide
(2) nitrogen (4) hydrogen

16. The principal quantum number of an atom is 5, what can you conclude?
(1) There are 10 orbitals. (3) The electron has very low energy.
(2) There are 5 subshells. (4) The maximum number of electrons is 25.

17. What is the longest fault?

(1) San Andreas Fault (3) Chaman Fault
(2) Marikina Fault (4) Calaveras Fault

18. The half-life of radon is four days. If at start, you have 32 grams, how many grams will be left after 20 days?
(1) 4 (2) 2 (3) 1 (4) 0.5

19. How many 1.5-volt dry cells can you put in a circuit that has a 12-volt lamp to give maximum light without
breaking the lamp?
(1) 6 (2) 8 (3) 9 (4) 12

20. What do you call a hail rain?

(1) precipitation (2) mixture (3) solution (4) condensation

21. A plant’s leaves have parallel veins and each of its flower has 6 petals; to which group does it belong?
(1) monocot (3) cannot be determined
(2) dicot (4) neither monocot nor dicot

22. What is the largest classification of animals?

(1) Kingdom (2) Phylum (3) Class (4) Species

23. If the resistance of the circuit is decreased, what happens to the current?
(1) Decreases (3) Stays the same
(2) Increases (4) None of these

24. If the distance between two objects is doubled, what happens to the force of attraction between them?
(1) Decreases (3) Stays the same
(2) Increases (4) None of these

25. If you would travel from Earth to Mars, your

(1) mass would stay same but your weight would be different.
(2) mass and weight would both stay the same.
(3) mass would be different but your weight would stay the same.
(4) mass and weight would both change.

26. Barnacles adhering to the skin of a whale is an example of

(1) mutualism. (3) parasitism.
(2) commensalism. (4) predation.

ACTS ACHI & AHIA, INC. 🕿 744-6250 / 701-7018

2
USTET 2015

27. Which of the following is true?

(1) pH of less than 7 is basic. (3) Acids are bitter.
(2) pH of more than 7 is acidic. (4) None of the above.

28. When blood passes through the lungs, what do the lungs do on the blood?
(1) Supply oxygen to the blood (3) Supplies carbon dioxide to the blood
(2) Filters waste from the blood (4) Takes away oxygen from the blood

29. What is the part of the earth in which living organisms exist?
(1) lithosphere (2) hydrosphere (3) biosphere (4) atmosphere

30. How many alleles can be formed in a person with AaBb genotype?
(1) 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (4) 4

31. Temperatures have risen during the last 30 years. As the Earth warms up, seawater level rises. Why is there an
expected increase in seawater level when the temperature increases?
(1) The oceans spread or expand. (3) The ice in the north and south poles melt.
(2) The mountain glaciers melt. (4) All of these

32. Where are chromosomes located?

(1) nucleolus (3) plasma membrane
(2) nucleus (4) cytoplasm

33. Lightning can be defined as

(1) collision of cold air and hot air.
(2) the expansion of rapidly heated air.
(3) violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds and usually rain.
(4) massive electrostatic discharge between electrically charged regions within clouds.

34. What is the moho?

(1) inner core (3) boundary between the outer and inner core
(2) outer core (4) boundary between the crust and the mantle

35. Where is chlorophyll found?

(1) stomata (2) chloroplasts (3) chromoplasts (4) leucoplasts

For numbers 36 and 37, refer to the v-t graph below.

36. What is the slope of the line segment from 3 s to 5 s?

(1) –15 (2) 15 (3) –30 (4) 30

37. To what does the slope of the graph refer?

(1) distance (2) displacement (3) velocity (4) acceleration

38. What does the stomach produce other than hydrochloric acid?
(1) pepsin (2) lipase (3) citric acid (4) lactic acid

ACTS ACHI & AHIA, INC. 🕿 744-6250 / 701-7018

3
USTET 2015

39. A projectile is launched at an angle from the ground. What becomes zero as the projectile approaches the
ground?
(1) vertical displacement (3) acceleration
(2) speed (4) velocity
40. Why can you smell perfume in an open bottle?
(1) Molecules are moving.
(2) Molecules attract one another.
(3) Molecules of air have large spaces between them.
(4) Air has no definite volume.

41. How are all materials alike?

(1) All of them have mass and occupy space.
(2) All of them are useful to man.
(3) All of them are found on the earth’s surface.
(4) There is a force that pulls all of them to the ground.

42. What property will change if a piece of rock from earth were brought to the moon?
(1) Mass (2) Density (3) Phase (4) Weight

43. What are isotopes?

(1) Atoms of the same element with different atomic masses
(2) Atoms with the same atomic number
(3) Atoms which have lost electrons
(4) Atoms which have gained electrons

44. What is the chemical formula of calcium carbonate?

(1) CaCO3
(2) Ca2(CO3)2
(3) Ca2CO3
(4) Ca(CO3)2

45. Which of the following shows a chemical change?

(1) The white of an egg becomes fluffy when beaten thoroughly.
(2) Water in the freezer becomes ice.
(3) Alcohol in a saucer evaporates.
(4) A silver spoon tarnishes.

46. What is the greatest importance of ATP in the cell?

(1) ATP molecules make up the cell.
(2) ATP supplies energy for cellular activities.
(3) ATP is used in the oxidation of food.
(4) ATP produces the enzymes needed by the cell.

47. The food pyramid is also called energy pyramid because the decrease in the amount of food in the food chain
corresponds to the decrease in the amount of
(1) light energy (3) chemical energy
(2) heat (4) mechanical energy

48. Why does an object become larger when heated?

(1) The molecules become larger. (3) The molecules begin to move.
(2) The molecules increase in number. (4) The molecules move farther apart.

ACTS ACHI & AHIA, INC. 🕿 744-6250 / 701-7018

4
USTET 2015

49. What happens to water when it freezes?

(1) It expands. (3) It becomes denser.
(2) It contracts. (4) The molecules acquire greater kinetic energy.

50. Which of the following statements about the moon is NOT true?
(1) The moon has no atmosphere or hydrosphere.
(2) There are huge chunks of rocks and large craters on the moon’s surface.
(3) We see the same side of the moon all the time.
(4) The sun’s gravitational pull on the oceans of the earth is greater than that of the moon.

51. A net force of magnitude 4 N acts on a body of mass 3 kg for 6 s. The body is initially at rest. Which of the
following is the speed of the body after the 6 s interval?
(1) 0.5 m/s (2) 2 m /s (3) 4.5 m/s (4) 8 m/s

52. Which ray encompasses all other electromagnetic waves?

(1) beta ray (2) alpha ray (3) gamma ray (4) ultraviolet ray

53. Which of the following is a result of parasympathetic stimulation?

(5) increased salivation (7) increased heart rate
(6) dilation of the pupils (8) constriction of the urinary sphincters

54. Which of the following pairs are isotopes?

(1) and (3) and

(2) and (4) and

55. What term to the part of the nitrogen cycle where nitrogen compounds are formed by certain bacteria from the
free nitrogen in the air?
(1) denitrification (3) NH4 decomposition
(2) nitrogen fixation (4) nitrate leaching

56. Heat is best transferred to or from solids by

(1) convection (3) conduction
(2) radiation (4) all of the above

57. Which of the following illustrates Newton’s third law of motion?

(1) the recoil of a gun when it is fired (3) a falling object
(2) a rolling ball (4) a ball thrown upward

58. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of an angiosperm?

(1) double fertilization (3) seed coat
(2) flowers and fruits (4) pollination by the wind

59. Which among the following statements is TRUE regarding mitosis and meiosis?
(1) Mitosis occurs in germ cells while meiosis occurs in somatic cells.
(2) Mitosis is for growth, development and repair, while meiosis is for gamete production.
(3) Mitosis is reductional division, while meiosis is educational division.
(4) All of the above statements are true.

60. Which of the following is an example of anabolism?

(1) Digestion (2) Respiration

ACTS ACHI & AHIA, INC. 🕿 744-6250 / 701-7018

5
USTET 2015

(3) Gluconeogenesis (4) Fructolysis

61. Which of the following is the science of grouping, classifying, and naming organisms?
(1) Botany (2) Genetics (3) Taxonomy (4) Zoology

62. Which of the following processes involves evolution of new species?

(1) Evolution (3) Speciation
(2) Natural Selection (4) None of the above

63. Which of the following is the ultimate source of energy in any food web?
(1) oxygen (2) plant (3) soil (4) sunlight

64. The ecological relationship where both organisms benefit.

(1) Commensalism (3) Predation
(2) Mutualism (4) Parasitism

65. Where does DNA replication take place?

(1) cytoplasm (3) nucleus
(2) mitochondria (4) nuclear envelope

66. How does a scientist formulate a possible problem to investigate or experiment on?
(1) by conducting a survey (3) by performing an experiment
(2) by observing a phenomenon (4) by publishing an article in a journal

67. When a sample of gas is cooled, it condenses into a liquid. In which of the following ways do the molecules of
the original gas sample compare with the molecules of the liquid?
(1) The molecules are larger as gas than they are as liquid.
(2) The molecules weigh less as gas than they do as liquid.
(3) The molecules move faster as gas than they do as liquid.
(4) The molecules are closer together as gas than they are as liquid.

68. Which of the following is NOT a physical property of matter?

(1) density (3) paper’s ability to burn
(2) solidification (4) volatility of alcohol

69. Which of the following is a chemical property of matter?

(1) conductivity (2) malleability (3) shape (4) oxidation

70. Which among the following have the same number of protons and different number of neutrons?
(1) isotopes (2) isomers (3) ions (4) allotropes

71. As the elements of period 2 are considered from left to right, there is generally a decrease in
(1) ionization energy (3) metallic character
(2) electronegativity (4) nonmetallic character

72. Which of the following are most directly involved in chemical bonding?
(1) protons (3) alpha particles
(2) neutrons (4) valence electrons

73. Which of the following in NOT correctly named?

(1) NH4CL – ammonium chloride (3) Zn(NO3)2 – zinc (II) nitrate
(2) CrSO4 – chromium (II) sulfate (4) Fe2(CO3)3 – iron (III) carbonate

ACTS ACHI & AHIA, INC. 🕿 744-6250 / 701-7018

6
USTET 2015

74. In the periodic table, which group is considered as halogens?

(1) VIA (2) VIIA (3) IVA (4) IIIA

75. After telophase I of meiosis, the chromosomal makeup of each daughter cell is
(1) diploid, and the chromosomes are each composed of a single chromatid.
(2) diploid, and the chromosomes are each composed of two chromatids.
(3) haploid, and the chromosomes are each composed of a single chromatid.
(4) haploid, and the chromosomes are each composed of two chromatids.
76. This causes an increase in the intensity of UV radiation reaching Earth.
(1) depletion of ozone layer (3) greenhouse effect
(2) acid rain (4) eutrophication

77. Which type of organelle is found in plant cells but not in animal cells?
(1) ribosomes (2) mitochondria (3) nuclei (4) plastids

78. Which structure - function pair is mismatched?

(1) nucleolus - production of ribosomal subunits (3) ribosome - protein synthesis
(2) lysosome - intracellular digestion (4) microtubule - muscle contraction

79. A man drove 5 km east, 5 km north and 7 km east. What is the magnitude of the man’s displacement?
(1) 12 km
(2) 13 km (4) 10 km
(3) 17 km

80. What type of rock is formed as a result of volcanic activity?

(1) metamorphic (3) igneous
(2) sedimentary (4) could be any of the above options

ACTS ACHI & AHIA, INC. 🕿 744-6250 / 701-7018

7