Give your fifth grader the confidence to succeed on the California Science Test (CAST).
This book contains five full-length practice tests — 205 questions total — aligned to the California Next Generation Science Standards (CA NGSS) and built to match the format, difficulty, and content of the real Grade 5 CAST.
Take a look inside
Each test carries the true 41 questions worth 48 points: twenty-six stand-alone questions, plus three performance tasks — one per science domain — that open with a scenario and then ask five questions about it. That is the load a student meets on test day, so each sitting builds real endurance for the full untimed session.
The Grade 5 CAST is not a test of Grade 5 science: It assesses grades 3, 4, and 5 together. On California’s own released Grade 5 practice test the questions point back to grade 3 standards more often than to grade 5 standards. A child who reviews only this year’s science has prepared for about a third of the test. Every test in this book spreads its questions across all three years, the way a real form does.
On test day: the CAST is untimed, and most students finish in about two hours.
What’s inside
- 5 complete 41-question practice tests (205 questions total), each worth 48 points, built the way a real CAST form is built
- Questions drawn across grades 3, 4, and 5 — the whole band the CAST assesses — not grade 5 content alone
- Every CAST question style rendered for paper: multiple choice, the signature two-menu drop-down sentence scored as one point for both menus, select-two and select-three, table marking, typed answers, models, two-part questions, and two-point written responses
- Reporting categories exactly as on the official test: Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Earth and Space Sciences, each carrying one third
- Engineering questions folded into the science scenario they belong to, two to four per test — never a fourth subject
- Detailed answer explanations for every question — not just the correct letter, but step-by-step reasoning that builds real understanding
- A parent letter with test-taking tips, a Grade 5 Science Study Reference covering all three years, and a quick answer key for fast scoring
Topics covered
- Balanced and unbalanced forces, and patterns in motion that predict what happens next
- Magnets, static electricity, and gravity’s pull toward the center of Earth
- Speed and energy, collisions, waves and amplitude, light and reflection, and why an object is visible
- Particle models of matter, conservation of matter, and evidence that a new substance formed
- Plant and animal structures for survival, and inherited traits shaped by the environment
- Fossils and rock layers as evidence of past environments
- Food webs, decomposers, and where a plant’s material really comes from
- Weather and climate, Earth’s water, and the weathering, erosion, and deposition that shape the surface
- Patterns in the day and night sky — the sun, the stars, and shadows
- Natural hazards, and testing whether a design really reduces damage
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Written by experienced educators who study California’s official CAST blueprint, scoring guides, and released practice form
- Every question mirrors what students will see on test day — no surprises in format, content, or rigor
- Explanations teach the “why,” not just the “what,” so students learn from every mistake
- Item types and contexts varied across the five tests — just like a real exam, every question feels fresh
- Built to the grades 3–5 band the CAST actually assesses — the thing California families are most often surprised by
