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6th grade science practice questions, with answers

Written by Dr. Evan J. Hasson, DC — a dad of three who built this curriculum for his own kids.

50 questions with the answers, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. Drawn across every topic in the grade rather than one — life science, earth science, physical science and engineering design.

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Science — Grade 6

50 questions · answers marked50 questions · answers hidden

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NameDateScore     / 50
  1. 1. About how many days does the Moon take to go through all its phases?
    1. A. About 7 days, the time between a new Moon and first quarter
    2. B. About 1 day, the time Earth takes to spin once
    3. C. About 365 days, the time Earth takes to orbit the Sun
    4. D. About 29.5 days ← Answer
  2. 2. What is the main source of energy that drives evaporation?
    1. A. The Sun ← Answer
    2. B. The Moon
    3. C. Gravity
    4. D. Wind alone
  3. 3. What is an air mass?
    1. A. A huge body of air with nearly even temperature and moisture ← Answer
    2. B. A single large cloud that is holding a lot of rain over one region
    3. C. A layer of thin air that sits above the tallest clouds in the sky
    4. D. A strong wind that keeps blowing in a single direction for many hours
  4. 4. What is the smallest unit that can carry out all the processes of life?
    1. A. A cell ← Answer
    2. B. An organ
    3. C. An atom
    4. D. A tissue
  5. 5. Which cell part holds the cell's DNA?
    1. A. The vacuole
    2. B. The cell membrane
    3. C. The nucleus ← Answer
    4. D. The cytoplasm
  6. 6. What is a tissue?
    1. A. A group of organs working together
    2. B. A whole living organism by itself
    3. C. Similar cells working together ← Answer
    4. D. A single cell doing one job alone
  7. 7. What is an atom?
    1. A. A mixture of two different liquids
    2. B. A kind of living cell
    3. C. The tiny basic particle of all matter ← Answer
    4. D. A shape that a crystal can take
  8. 8. In which state do particles move the fastest and stay farthest apart?
    1. A. Liquid
    2. B. Gas ← Answer
    3. C. Solid
    4. D. They move the same in all
  9. 9. What is it called when the Moon blocks the Sun from view on Earth?
    1. A. A solar eclipse ← Answer
    2. B. A new season
    3. C. A lunar eclipse
  10. 10. What force makes rain fall and rivers flow downhill?
    1. A. Gravity ← Answer
    2. B. Evaporation
    3. C. Magnetism
  11. 11. What is the boundary between two different air masses called?
    1. A. A jet
    2. B. A front ← Answer
    3. C. A ridge
  12. 12. What is any single living thing called?
    1. A. A tissue
    2. B. An organism ← Answer
    3. C. A cell inside it
  13. 13. What is the job of the cell membrane?
    1. A. It makes food for the cell from sunlight
    2. B. It controls what enters and leaves ← Answer
    3. C. It stores the cell's DNA in one place
  14. 14. Which system includes the heart and blood vessels?
    1. A. The circulatory system ← Answer
    2. B. The digestive system
    3. C. The respiratory system
  15. 15. How many hydrogen atoms are in one molecule of H2O?
    1. A. 1
    2. B. 2 ← Answer
    3. C. 3
  16. 16. What is a liquid changing into a solid called?
    1. A. Freezing ← Answer
    2. B. Melting
    3. C. Evaporation
  17. 17. Which object is in the middle during a lunar eclipse?
    1. A. The Moon
    2. B. Mars
    3. C. The Sun
    4. D. Earth ← Answer
  18. 18. What is water vapor turning into liquid droplets called?
    1. A. Condensation ← Answer
    2. B. Evaporation
    3. C. Runoff
    4. D. Precipitation
  19. 19. Which instrument measures air pressure?
    1. A. A barometer ← Answer
    2. B. An anemometer
    3. C. A thermometer
    4. D. A rain gauge
  20. 20. What does unicellular mean?
    1. A. Made of many different cells
    2. B. Made of one organ only
    3. C. Made of no cells at all
    4. D. Made of just one cell ← Answer
  21. 21. Which part releases energy from food for the cell to use?
    1. A. The vacuole
    2. B. The cell wall
    3. C. Mitochondria ← Answer
    4. D. Chloroplasts
  22. 22. Which system brings oxygen into the body?
    1. A. The digestive system
    2. B. The respiratory system ← Answer
    3. C. The circulatory system
    4. D. The muscular system
  23. 23. How many oxygen atoms are in one molecule of H2O?
    1. A. 0
    2. B. 1 ← Answer
    3. C. 2
    4. D. 3
  24. 24. When thermal energy is added to a substance, what happens to its particles?
    1. A. They move faster ← Answer
    2. B. They move slower
    3. C. They shrink
    4. D. They stop
  25. 25. What causes Earth's seasons?
    1. A. Earth's shadow on the Moon
    2. B. Earth's distance from the Sun
    3. C. The Moon's orbit
    4. D. The tilt of Earth's axis ← Answer
  26. 26. What is liquid water turning into water vapor called?
    1. A. Evaporation ← Answer
    2. B. Condensation
    3. C. Runoff
    4. D. Freezing
  27. 27. What does a thermometer measure?
    1. A. Wind speed
    2. B. Air pressure
    3. C. Humidity
    4. D. Air temperature ← Answer
  28. 28. What does multicellular mean?
    1. A. Made of many cells ← Answer
    2. B. Made of one atom only
    3. C. Made of no cells at all
    4. D. Made of just one cell
  29. 29. Which part captures light energy to make food?
    1. A. Mitochondria
    2. B. The nucleus
    3. C. Chloroplasts ← Answer
    4. D. The membrane
  30. 30. What is an organ?
    1. A. Different tissues doing one job ← Answer
    2. B. A whole living organism by itself
    3. C. A single cell that does one job alone
    4. D. A group of identical cells in a row
  31. 31. Which is a compound?
    1. A. NaCl ← Answer
    2. B. O2, two oxygen atoms joined
    3. C. N2, two nitrogen atoms joined
    4. D. H2, two hydrogen atoms joined
  32. 32. What is a solid changing into a liquid called?
    1. A. Freezing
    2. B. Condensation
    3. C. Melting ← Answer
    4. D. Evaporation
  33. 33. What is an orbit?
    1. A. A straight line that an object follows through space
    2. B. The spinning of a planet around its own axis
    3. C. The curved path of one object around another ← Answer
  34. 34. What is water falling from clouds called?
    1. A. Precipitation ← Answer
    2. B. Transpiration
    3. C. Evaporation
  35. 35. What does an anemometer measure?
    1. A. Wind speed ← Answer
    2. B. Rainfall
    3. C. Air pressure
  36. 36. Which tool magnifies tiny things so we can see cells?
    1. A. A thermometer
    2. B. A ruler
    3. C. A microscope ← Answer
  37. 37. Which part gives plant cells a stiff outer layer?
    1. A. The cell membrane
    2. B. The cell wall ← Answer
    3. C. The nucleus
  38. 38. What is an organ system?
    1. A. A single cell with a nucleus
    2. B. A group of organs working together ← Answer
    3. C. A single tissue of similar cells
  39. 39. What is an element?
    1. A. A pure substance of one kind of atom ← Answer
    2. B. A mixture of many different substances
    3. C. A substance made of two kinds of atoms
  40. 40. What is a gas changing into a liquid called?
    1. A. Evaporation, liquid turning to gas
    2. B. Condensation ← Answer
    3. C. Melting, solid turning to liquid
  41. 41. What is a lunar phase?
    1. A. The shape of the lit part of the Moon we see ← Answer
    2. B. The shadow that the Moon casts on Earth's surface
    3. C. The time Earth takes to spin once on its axis
    4. D. The changing distance between Earth and the Moon
  42. 42. What is water flowing downhill over land called?
    1. A. Condensation
    2. B. Transpiration
    3. C. Runoff ← Answer
    4. D. Evaporation
  43. 43. What is humidity?
    1. A. The amount of water vapor in the air ← Answer
    2. B. The speed at which the air is moving across the land each hour
    3. C. The weight of the air pressing down on a surface at ground level
    4. D. The temperature that the air reaches at night when the Sun is down
  44. 44. Which of these is a unicellular organism?
    1. A. A tree with leaves
    2. B. A dog in the yard
    3. C. A bacterium ← Answer
    4. D. A mushroom on the ground
  45. 45. What is the jelly-like fluid inside a cell called?
    1. A. The nucleus at the center
    2. B. The vacuole that stores water
    3. C. Cytoplasm ← Answer
    4. D. The membrane at the edge
  46. 46. What is the correct order from smallest to largest?
    1. A. Cell, tissue, organ, organ system ← Answer
    2. B. Organ, cell, tissue, organ system
    3. C. Tissue, cell, organ, organ system
    4. D. Cell, organ, tissue, organ system
  47. 47. What is a molecule?
    1. A. A single atom by itself
    2. B. Two or more atoms joined together ← Answer
    3. C. A tiny cell of a living thing
    4. D. A kind of mixture of liquids
  48. 48. What is a liquid changing into a gas at the surface called?
    1. A. Freezing
    2. B. Evaporation ← Answer
    3. C. Condensation
    4. D. Melting
  49. 49. How much of the Moon is lit by the Sun at any moment?
    1. A. One quarter
    2. B. About half ← Answer
    3. C. None of it
    4. D. All of it
  50. 50. What is water vapor released from plant leaves called?
    1. A. Transpiration ← Answer
    2. B. Condensation
    3. C. Precipitation
    4. D. Runoff
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · free to print and photocopy for your own studentsScience — Grade 6
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · Science Grade 6
From the workbook

A real page of Science · Grade 6

Sun, Earth and Moon in Motion

The student will use a physical model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system to explain the cycle of Moon phases, solar and lunar eclipses, and the seasons. · 40 min

Warm-up — say this

“The Moon doesn't actually change shape. Let's discover what's really happening using a lamp and a ball.”

Worked example

Why is a solar eclipse only possible during a new Moon?

Answer: A solar eclipse needs the Moon to be between the Sun and Earth. That is the new Moon position, when the lit side faces away from us.

A mistake students make

Moon phases are caused by Earth's shadow.

How the book fixes it

Earth's shadow only falls on the Moon during a lunar eclipse. Phases come from seeing different amounts of the Moon's sunlit half as it orbits us.

Note to the parent

Never let the student look directly at the Sun, even during a partial eclipse; real solar eclipse viewing needs certified eclipse glasses or an indirect pinhole viewer.

That is one topic of many. The free questions above check a skill; this is the part that teaches it.

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These questions check a skill. The workbook teaches it.

  • TeachesA 40-minute lesson per topic that tells you what to say.
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Other grades

KindergartenFree kindergarten science questionsGrade 1Free 1st grade science questionsGrade 2Free 2nd grade science questionsGrade 3Free 3rd grade science questionsGrade 4Free 4th grade science questionsGrade 5Free 5th grade science questionsGrade 7Free 7th grade science questionsGrade 8Free 8th grade science questions

Grade 6, other subjects

MathFree 6th grade math questionsReadingFree 6th grade reading questionsWritingFree 6th grade writing and grammar questions

Further reading

Science at the kitchen table, with things you ownHomeschool science without a lab: the one idea that carries K–5, eight experiments using household items, and what to write down.

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