About this book
Give your eighth grader the confidence to succeed on Ohio's State Test (OST) in Grade 8 Science.
This book contains five full-length practice tests — 230 questions in all — aligned to the Ohio Learning Standards for Grade 8 Science and modeled on the format, difficulty, and content of the real OST Science exam. Every question was written by experienced educators to match the item types and reasoning students meet on test day.
Take a look inside
What’s inside
- Five complete full-length Science practice tests, 46 questions and 56 points each, with detailed answer explanations after every test
- Authentic OST question types: multiple choice, multiple-select, two-part evidence-based questions, select-one-box-per-row grids, and short written responses, all rendered for paper
- 51 diagrams, data tables, and figures, so students practice pulling evidence out of a graphic and not only out of a paragraph
- Questions balanced across Ohio’s own Cognitive Demands: recalling accurate science, interpreting and communicating, and demonstrating scientific knowledge
- Detailed answer explanations for every question that build real scientific reasoning, not just the correct letter
- A parent letter with test-taking tips, a Study Reference sheet, and a Quick Answer Key for fast scoring
Topics covered
- Physical Science: forces that act between objects which are not touching — magnetic, electric, and gravitational
- Physical Science: how forces acting on an object change its motion, including when forces cancel
- Life Science: the diversity of species, natural selection, and extinction
- Life Science: sexual and asexual reproduction, and the cells that result from mitosis and meiosis
- Life Science: heredity, Punnett squares, and dominant, recessive, and co-dominant traits
- Earth and Space Science: seismic waves as evidence for the composition and structure of Earth’s interior
- Earth and Space Science: tectonic plate motion and the features that form where plates meet
- Earth and Space Science: constructive and destructive processes that shape Earth’s surface
- Earth and Space Science: the geologic record, and the relative and absolute age of rock layers
- Science inquiry and application: designing fair tests, interpreting data, and drawing evidence-based conclusions
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Written by experienced educators who study Ohio’s official test blueprints and released items
- Every question mirrors the kinds of questions students see on test day, with no surprises
- Explanations teach the “why” behind every answer, so students learn from every mistake
- Contexts, names, and numbers vary across all five tests, so students never meet the same question twice
- Aligned to the Ohio Learning Standards tested on the real OST Science exam
