AFOQT · No composite
Physical Science
Physical Science is the AFOQT subtest of high-school physical science questions, and its score counts toward no composite.
- Items
- 20
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Answer options
- 5
- Composites
- None
- Guessing penalty
- None
Screens of the trainer
The subtest
Measures
The subtest measures high-school knowledge of physical science: how forces act, the laws of physics and simple machines.
Its score counts toward none of the composites, not Pilot, CSO or ABM.
Physical Science replaced General Science, revised with a focus on the physical sciences.
Format
The pace is 30 seconds per item.
Scoring
A wrong answer costs nothing, so a guess never scores below a blank.
Item types
Questions and statements to complete
Each item is a physical science question or an incomplete statement. Topics include units of measure, electrical resistance, light, surface tension and the cause of a lunar eclipse.
Most items test a concept.
Free practice test
Item 1 of 5
Heat transfer through direct contact between particles, such as a metal spoon heating up in hot soup, is called what?
Show the answer
Answer: Conduction
Conduction moves heat through direct contact between particles, as from soup to spoon.
Convection needs a moving fluid, and radiation travels as waves without contact.
Insulation slows heat flow, and sublimation is a change of state.
Item 2 of 5
How do astronomers determine which chemical elements are present in a distant star?
Show the answer
Answer: By analyzing the dark absorption lines in the star's spectrum
Each element absorbs light at its own wavelengths, so the dark lines name the elements.
Brightness and apparent size do not reveal what a star is made of.
Crossing time and small shifts in position do not reveal composition either.
Item 3 of 5
A block of metal has a mass of 200 grams and a volume of 25 cubic centimeters. What is its density, using density = mass divided by volume?
Show the answer
Answer: 8 grams per cubic centimeter
Density = mass ÷ volume, so 200 ÷ 25 = 8 grams per cubic centimeter.
Dividing the other way gives 0.125, and multiplying gives 5,000.
Subtracting gives 175, and adding gives 225.
Item 4 of 5
A chemist has a dilute solution of a strong acid and a concentrated solution of a weak acid. The term "strong" describes
Show the answer
Answer: how completely the acid ionizes into ions in water
An acid's strength is how completely it ionizes into ions in water.
The amount dissolved per liter is concentration, a separate property.
Hydrogen count, odor and how fast it reacts with skin do not set strength.
Item 5 of 5
Unlike a converging lens, a diverging lens by itself can form only
Show the answer
Answer: a virtual, upright, reduced image
A diverging lens spreads rays apart, so its image is virtual, upright and reduced.
The image is never real, since the spread rays never meet.
Inverted, projectable or magnified images need a converging lens, and some image always forms.
The Frontline Forge trainer
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Instant feedback
Training mode shows the correct answer after each item and explains why it is right and why the other options miss. The clock pauses while you read.
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The real format
Test mode runs 20 items in 10 minutes, the count and time of the real subtest, drawn from a bank of 400. Each score is ranked against the scores of other test-takers, and every item can be reviewed at the end.
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Physics, chemistry, astronomy, units
The trainer's 400 items are 50% physics, 30% chemistry, 10% astronomy and 10% measurement and units. The five items above come from that bank.