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GACE practice questions

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Question 1Content Assessments

In the numeral 58,432, what is the value of the digit 8?

  1. 8,000
  2. 8
  3. 800 Correct answer.
  4. 80

Explanation

Place value increases by a factor of ten as you move left from the decimal point. In 58,432 the 8 sits in the hundreds place, so it represents 8 hundreds, or 800.

Question 2Content Assessments

Which word contains a consonant digraph?

  1. stop
  2. ship Correct answer.
  3. cat
  4. milk

Explanation

A consonant digraph is two consonant letters that together spell a single speech sound. In "ship," the letters s and h combine to represent the single sound /sh/.

Question 3Content Assessments

Which change of state occurs when water vapor cools and becomes liquid water?

  1. Melting
  2. Condensation Correct answer.
  3. Evaporation
  4. Sublimation

Explanation

Condensation is the change from a gas to a liquid as particles lose thermal energy and draw closer together. Water vapor cooling into droplets on a cold glass is a familiar example.

Question 4Content Assessments

Which document outlines the structure of the U.S. federal government and its three branches?

  1. The U.S. Constitution Correct answer.
  2. The Declaration of Independence
  3. The Articles of Confederation
  4. The Bill of Rights

Explanation

The U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1788, establishes the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and defines their powers. It replaced the Articles of Confederation as the framework of government.

Question 5Content Assessments

Which fraction is equivalent to the decimal 0.75?

  1. 3/5
  2. 4/3
  3. 3/4 Correct answer.
  4. 7/10

Explanation

The decimal 0.75 means 75 hundredths, and 75/100 simplifies by dividing numerator and denominator by 25 to give 3/4. Dividing 3 by 4 yields 0.75.

Question 6Content Assessments

Which sentence uses an apostrophe correctly?

  1. The cat's tail twitched. Correct answer.
  2. Its raining outside today.
  3. The cat licked it's paw.
  4. The cats tail twitched.

Explanation

An apostrophe plus s forms the possessive of a singular noun, so "cat's" correctly shows that the tail belongs to the cat. Possessive pronouns such as "its" take no apostrophe.

Question 7Content Assessments

Which planet is closest to the Sun?

  1. Earth
  2. Venus
  3. Mars
  4. Mercury Correct answer.

Explanation

The planets in order from the Sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Mercury orbits nearest the Sun, completing a revolution in about 88 Earth days.

Question 8Content Assessments

What is the primary purpose of the Bill of Rights?

  1. To protect individual liberties from government action Correct answer.
  2. To establish the three branches of government
  3. To set the terms for presidential elections
  4. To create a national bank

Explanation

The first ten amendments were added to the Constitution to guarantee specific freedoms, such as speech, religion, and fair trial, against infringement by the federal government. Their central aim is limiting government power over individuals.

Question 9Content Assessments

A recipe uses 3 cups of flour for every 2 cups of sugar. If a baker uses 12 cups of flour, how many cups of sugar are needed to keep the same ratio?

  1. 18
  2. 9
  3. 6
  4. 8 Correct answer.

Explanation

Set up the proportion 3/2 = 12/x, where the flour-to-sugar ratio must stay constant. Cross-multiplying gives 3x = 24, so x = 8 cups of sugar.

Question 10Content Assessments

Which literary device appears in the phrase "the wind whispered through the trees"?

  1. Onomatopoeia
  2. Hyperbole
  3. Simile
  4. Personification Correct answer.

Explanation

Personification gives human qualities to nonhuman things, and whispering is a human action attributed here to the wind. No comparison word or exaggeration is present.

Question 11Content Assessments

A balloon rubbed on hair sticks to a wall. Which explanation best accounts for this observation?

  1. Magnetic attraction between the balloon and the wall
  2. A difference in air pressure on the two sides of the balloon
  3. A chemical reaction between the balloon and the wall
  4. Transfer of electrons that leaves the balloon with a static electric charge Correct answer.

Explanation

Rubbing transfers electrons between the hair and the balloon, giving the balloon a net static charge. That charge polarizes molecules in the wall, producing an attractive electric force.

Question 12Content Assessments

Which statement best illustrates the constitutional system of checks and balances?

  1. States may nullify federal laws they consider unconstitutional.
  2. Congress may override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber. Correct answer.
  3. The president selects federal judges without Senate approval.
  4. The Supreme Court drafts bills for Congress to consider.

Explanation

Checks and balances let each branch limit the powers of the others. The veto override is a legislative check on the executive, requiring a supermajority in both the House and the Senate.

Question 13Content Assessments

Which expression represents "five less than three times a number n"?

  1. 5 − 3n
  2. 3(n − 5)
  3. 3n − 5 Correct answer.
  4. 5n − 3

Explanation

"Three times a number n" is 3n, and "five less than" that quantity means subtracting 5 from it. The order matters, giving 3n − 5.

Question 14Content Assessments

Read the sentence: "Although the museum had advertised the exhibit for months, only a handful of visitors arrived on opening day." Which word best describes the outcome relative to the museum's expectations?

  1. Disappointing Correct answer.
  2. Triumphant
  3. Anticipated
  4. Predictable

Explanation

The contrast signaled by "although" sets months of advertising against a very small turnout, implying the result fell short of expectations. "Disappointing" captures that gap.

Question 15Content Assessments

Which of the following is the best example of a physical change?

  1. Ice melting in a glass Correct answer.
  2. Burning a log in a fireplace
  3. Baking batter into a cake
  4. Iron rusting on a fence

Explanation

A physical change alters form or state without creating a new substance. Melting ice changes solid water to liquid water, which is still H2O.

Question 16Content Assessments

What effect did the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 have on the United States?

  1. It ended the War of 1812.
  2. It roughly doubled the size of the nation. Correct answer.
  3. It granted independence to Texas.
  4. It established the Oregon Trail as a federal road.

Explanation

The purchase of the Louisiana territory from France added about 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi. This acquisition approximately doubled the land area of the United States.

Question 17Content Assessments

A triangle has interior angles measuring 45° and 60°. What is the measure of the third angle?

  1. 85°
  2. 45°
  3. 105°
  4. 75° Correct answer.

Explanation

The interior angles of any triangle sum to 180°. Subtracting the known angles gives 180° − 45° − 60° = 75°.

Question 18Content Assessments

Which of the following is a complete sentence?

  1. Because it was raining.
  2. After the long, tiring day.
  3. The children played in the park. Correct answer.
  4. Running down the street quickly.

Explanation

A complete sentence needs a subject and a predicate that express a complete thought. "The children played in the park" supplies both a subject and a finite verb.

Question 19Content Assessments

In a food chain, which organism functions as a producer?

  1. Grasshopper
  2. Grass Correct answer.
  3. Hawk
  4. Snake

Explanation

Producers make their own food through photosynthesis and form the base of a food chain. Grass converts sunlight into chemical energy that other organisms consume.

Question 20Content Assessments

The principle of popular sovereignty holds that governmental authority derives from which source?

  1. The rulings of the federal courts
  2. The consent of the governed Correct answer.
  3. The reserved powers of the states
  4. The president's constitutional authority

Explanation

Popular sovereignty means that the people are the ultimate source of political power and that government rules only with their consent. The idea is expressed in the opening of the Constitution with "We the People."

Question 21Content Assessments

A bag contains 4 red, 6 blue, and 2 green marbles. If one marble is drawn at random, what is the probability that it is not blue?

  1. 1/2 Correct answer.
  2. 1/6
  3. 1/3
  4. 2/3

Explanation

There are 12 marbles total, and 4 + 2 = 6 of them are not blue. The probability is therefore 6/12, which simplifies to 1/2.

Question 22Content Assessments

An author writes, "The factory was a sleeping giant, waiting to be awakened by the morning whistle." What is the primary effect of this figurative language?

  1. It explains how the whistle produces sound.
  2. It creates a vivid image suggesting hidden power about to be released. Correct answer.
  3. It states the author's opinion about industrial working conditions.
  4. It gives a literal description of the building's dimensions.

Explanation

The metaphor compares the silent factory to a sleeping giant, and the whistle to something that awakens it. This imagery conveys latent energy and impending motion rather than literal description.

Question 23Content Assessments

Which statement best explains why the Moon goes through phases?

  1. The Moon emits its own light, which varies in brightness over a month.
  2. Earth's shadow falls across the Moon at different angles each night.
  3. The portion of the Moon's sunlit side facing Earth changes as the Moon orbits Earth. Correct answer.
  4. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere block varying amounts of the Moon's light.

Explanation

Half the Moon is always sunlit, but as the Moon orbits Earth we see different fractions of that lit half. This changing viewing angle produces the cycle of phases over about 29.5 days.

Question 24Content Assessments

Which situation best illustrates federalism in the U.S. system of government?

  1. Both the national government and state governments have the power to levy taxes. Correct answer.
  2. The Senate confirms presidential appointments.
  3. The president serves as commander in chief of the armed forces.
  4. The Supreme Court may declare a law unconstitutional.

Explanation

Federalism is the division of power between a national government and constituent states. Concurrent powers such as taxation are exercised by both levels, which exemplifies this sharing of authority.

Question 25Content Assessments

A rectangular prism has a length of 5 cm, a width of 3 cm, and a height of 4 cm. What is its total surface area?

  1. 47 cm²
  2. 60 cm²
  3. 94 cm² Correct answer.
  4. 120 cm²

Explanation

Surface area equals 2(lw + lh + wh). Substituting gives 2(15 + 20 + 12) = 2(47) = 94 cm².

Question 26Content Assessments

Which amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery?

  1. The Fourteenth Amendment
  2. The Fifteenth Amendment
  3. The Thirteenth Amendment Correct answer.
  4. The Nineteenth Amendment

Explanation

The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, ended slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, ratified shortly afterward, addressed citizenship, equal protection, and voting rights respectively. The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, extended suffrage to women.

Question 27Content Assessments

A jacket is priced at $80. It is marked down by 25%, and then a 10% sales tax is calculated on the reduced price. What is the final cost of the jacket?

  1. $60.00
  2. $72.00
  3. $66.00 Correct answer.
  4. $68.00

Explanation

A 25% markdown leaves 75% of the original price, so $80 × 0.75 = $60. The 10% tax applies to the reduced price, giving $60 × 1.10 = $66.00. Percent changes must be applied sequentially to the new amount, not combined into a single rate.

Question 28Content Assessments

A farmer sprays the same field with an insecticide for several growing seasons. Each year, a larger proportion of the insect population survives the spray. Which explanation best accounts for this pattern?

  1. Insects inheriting traits that reduced susceptibility survived and reproduced more often. Correct answer.
  2. Insect populations from untreated fields migrated in and replaced the sprayed population.
  3. Repeated exposure caused individual insects to build up resistance during their lifetimes.
  4. The insecticide induced new mutations that made each surviving insect immune.

Explanation

Heritable variation already present in the population means some individuals tolerate the chemical better than others. These survivors reproduce and pass their traits to offspring, so the frequency of resistant variants rises over generations. The change is a shift in the population's gene frequencies, not a change within individual insects.

Question 29Literacy Assessments

A first-grade teacher administers a brief universal literacy screening in the fall. The primary purpose of this screening is to

  1. determine each student's final reading grade
  2. measure students' growth since the start of the year
  3. evaluate the effectiveness of a completed intervention
  4. identify students who may need further assessment Correct answer.

Explanation

Universal screening is a brief, proactive procedure used to identify students who may be at risk for reading difficulty and need more comprehensive evaluation. It is not designed to assign final grades, measure growth, or evaluate an intervention that has already ended.

Question 30Literacy Assessments

Which assessment is best described as formative?

  1. A final semester portfolio review scored by two teachers
  2. A norm-referenced intelligence test administered individually
  3. A statewide end-of-year reading achievement test
  4. A quick check for understanding during a lesson Correct answer.

Explanation

Formative assessment occurs during instruction and is used to adjust teaching and provide feedback while learning is still in progress. Summative and standardized measures typically occur at the end of a period and are used to evaluate outcomes.

Question 31Literacy Assessments

A running record is primarily used to assess

  1. a student's handwriting fluency and letter formation speed
  2. a student's breadth of receptive and expressive vocabulary
  3. oral reading accuracy and error patterns Correct answer.
  4. a student's developmental spelling stage and orthographic knowledge

Explanation

A running record captures a student's oral reading in real time, marking accurate reading, substitutions, omissions, insertions, and self-corrections so the teacher can analyze accuracy and error patterns. It is not a spelling, vocabulary, or handwriting measure.

Question 32Literacy Assessments

A test that reports a student's performance relative to a norm group is called

  1. curriculum-based
  2. performance-based
  3. norm-referenced Correct answer.
  4. criterion-referenced

Explanation

A norm-referenced test compares an individual student's score with the scores of a defined comparison group, often reported as percentiles, stanines, or standard scores. Criterion-referenced and curriculum-based measures compare performance with specific skills or expected benchmarks instead.

Question 33Literacy Assessments

A criterion-referenced reading test is designed to

  1. compare a student only with classmates in the same classroom
  2. predict a student's future intelligence quotient score
  3. determine whether a student has mastered specific reading skills Correct answer.
  4. rank students against a large national sample of same-age peers

Explanation

Criterion-referenced tests measure performance against a predetermined standard or set of skills, such as whether a student can decode consonant blends or identify main ideas. They answer what a student can do rather than how the student ranks against peers.

Question 34Literacy Assessments

In miscue analysis, when a reader says "house" for "home" in a sentence, the miscue is classified as

  1. a reversal
  2. an omission
  3. a substitution Correct answer.
  4. an insertion

Explanation

A substitution occurs when a reader replaces a printed word with a different word. An omission leaves a word out, an insertion adds a word not in the text, and a reversal changes the order of letters or words.

Question 35Literacy Assessments

For a student receiving Tier 2 reading intervention, progress monitoring data are typically collected

  1. every three years
  2. once per school year
  3. only at the end of the intervention
  4. weekly or biweekly Correct answer.

Explanation

Progress monitoring is repeated frequently enough to show whether an intervention is working and to allow timely instructional changes. For students in Tier 2 intervention, weekly or biweekly probes are common practice.

Question 36Literacy Assessments

Reliability in an assessment refers to

  1. the degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure
  2. the ease of administering and scoring the test in classrooms
  3. the consistency of scores across occasions or raters Correct answer.
  4. the fairness of test items across different student groups

Explanation

Reliability concerns the consistency and stability of scores, such as whether a test yields similar results on repeated administrations or across different scorers. Validity, by contrast, concerns whether the test measures what it is intended to measure.

Question 37Literacy Assessments

A reading test is correlated with another established reading test administered at the same time. This evidence supports

  1. predictive validity
  2. test-retest reliability
  3. content validity
  4. concurrent validity Correct answer.

Explanation

Concurrent validity is demonstrated when a new measure correlates with an established measure of the same construct administered at approximately the same time. Predictive validity involves future performance, test-retest reliability involves repeated administrations of the same test, and content validity involves expert review of item coverage.

Question 38Literacy Assessments

A kindergarten screening that predicts which students will struggle with reading in third grade is demonstrating

  1. inter-rater reliability
  2. predictive validity Correct answer.
  3. internal consistency
  4. face validity

Explanation

Predictive validity is the extent to which a score forecasts a later outcome, such as third-grade reading difficulty. Internal consistency concerns item homogeneity, inter-rater reliability concerns scorer agreement, and face validity concerns whether a test appears appropriate.

Question 39Literacy Assessments

On a test with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, a student's standard score of 85 is

  1. two standard deviations above the mean
  2. one standard deviation below the mean Correct answer.
  3. at the 85th percentile
  4. one stanine above the mean

Explanation

A standard score of 85 is 15 points below the mean of 100, and 15 points is exactly one standard deviation on this scale. Percentile ranks and stanines are separate reporting scales and cannot be read directly from the standard score.

Question 40Literacy Assessments

A student earns a percentile rank of 50 on a reading test. This means the student

  1. scored as well as or better than half of the norm group Correct answer.
  2. answered exactly 50 percent of the test items correctly
  3. scored at the 50th stanine on the test
  4. is automatically eligible for special education services

Explanation

A percentile rank indicates the percentage of the norm group whose scores fall at or below the student's score. A rank of 50 means the student performed as well as or better than about half of the norm group, not that half the items were answered correctly.

Question 41Literacy Assessments

A major limitation of grade-equivalent scores is that they

  1. they are always lower than standard scores
  2. they are valid only for kindergarten students
  3. they are not equal-interval and are often misread Correct answer.
  4. they cannot be calculated for most reading tests

Explanation

Grade equivalents are ordinal and not equal-interval, so a one-year difference at one point on the scale does not mean the same amount of growth as at another point. They are also frequently misinterpreted as indicating the grade level of material a student should receive.

Question 42Literacy Assessments

On an individually administered reading test, a basal is established to

  1. calculate the student's percentile rank on the test
  2. identify the hardest items the student can answer correctly
  3. measure the student's reading rate in words per minute
  4. set a starting point of easier items answered correctly Correct answer.

Explanation

A basal is the point at which a student answers a specified number of easier items correctly, allowing the examiner to begin or confirm testing at an appropriate level. A ceiling, by contrast, is the point at which the student misses a specified number of items and testing stops.

Question 43Literacy Assessments

A student reads 120 words in one minute with 6 errors. The student's words correct per minute (WCPM) is

  1. 20
  2. 126
  3. 120
  4. 114 Correct answer.

Explanation

Words correct per minute is calculated by subtracting the number of errors from the total number of words read in the time period. In this case, 120 minus 6 equals 114 WCPM.

Question 44Literacy Assessments

A cloze reading assessment primarily measures a student's ability to

  1. decode multisyllabic words in isolation
  2. write a complete summary of a passage
  3. use context to construct meaning from text Correct answer.
  4. identify letter names quickly and accurately

Explanation

In a cloze assessment, words are deleted from a passage and the reader supplies words that fit the surrounding context, which requires constructing meaning using syntactic and semantic cues. It is not a measure of isolated decoding, letter naming, or summarization.

Question 45Literacy Assessments

After reading a passage, a student retells the story in sequence. This assessment primarily measures

  1. reading comprehension Correct answer.
  2. oral reading fluency rate
  3. spelling accuracy
  4. phonemic awareness

Explanation

A retelling requires the reader to recall and organize information from a text, which provides evidence of comprehension and memory for what was read. Fluency rate, phonemic awareness, and spelling are assessed through different tasks.

Question 46Literacy Assessments

The Concepts About Print assessment is designed to measure a young child's understanding of

  1. letter-sound correspondences and blending in isolated words
  2. how print works, including directionality and book handling Correct answer.
  3. vocabulary in expository text
  4. narrative story structure and character development

Explanation

Concepts About Print assesses whether a young child understands how books and print work, such as front-to-back directionality, left-to-right reading, and the difference between pictures and print. It is not a phonics, vocabulary, or story-structure measure.

Question 47Literacy Assessments

A phonics inventory that asks students to read pseudowords such as "fip" and "strab" is used mainly to assess

  1. reading comprehension of narrative text
  2. decoding of unfamiliar words Correct answer.
  3. breadth of oral vocabulary knowledge
  4. sight-word recognition and automaticity

Explanation

Pseudowords are pronounceable nonwords that cannot be recognized as sight words, so reading them requires applying phonics and decoding skills to unfamiliar letter patterns. This task does not assess vocabulary knowledge or comprehension.

Question 48Literacy Assessments

After a screening identifies a student as at risk in reading, the next step is typically to

  1. wait six months to see whether the student improves
  2. conduct diagnostic assessment of specific skill needs Correct answer.
  3. administer a grade-level summative reading test
  4. place the student in special education services immediately

Explanation

Screening indicates risk but does not identify the specific nature of the difficulty. A diagnostic assessment follows to pinpoint which skills need intervention and to guide instructional planning.

Question 49Literacy Assessments

On a classroom reading test, the item discrimination index for an item is negative. This indicates that

  1. the item was too easy for most students in the class
  2. high scorers answered it less often than low scorers Correct answer.
  3. the item had high internal consistency reliability
  4. the item measured a different skill than intended

Explanation

A negative discrimination index means that students who performed well overall were less likely to answer the item correctly than students who performed poorly. Such an item may be miskeyed, confusing, or measuring something unrelated to the rest of the test.

Question 50Literacy Assessments

Two teachers score the same set of student reading responses using a rubric and obtain similar scores. This evidence supports

  1. test-retest reliability
  2. content validity
  3. predictive validity
  4. inter-rater reliability Correct answer.

Explanation

Inter-rater reliability is the degree of agreement between different scorers evaluating the same performance. Test-retest reliability concerns consistency over time, while validity concerns the interpretation and use of scores.