The content topics for the General Science test span the general science curriculum, including content related to (I) Nature and Impact of Science and Engineering, (II) Physical Science, (III) Life Science, and (IV) Earth and Space Science. The assessment is designed and developed through work with practicing general science teachers, teacher educators, and higher education content specialists to reflect the science knowledge teachers need to teach the general science curriculum and to reflect state and national standards, including the National Science Teaching Association Preparation Standards for general science.

Content and practices measured reflect the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) and Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) established by the National Research Council in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and included in the Next Generation Science Standards.

The 135 selected-response questions measure concepts, terms, phenomena, methods, applications, data analysis, and problem solving in science. Test takers will not need to use calculators in taking this test.

The periodic table of the elements is available as a Help screen, along with a table of information that presents various physical constants and a few conversion factors among SI units. Whenever necessary, additional values of physical constants are included with the text of a question.

Test takers can expect half of the questions on the test to integrate general science content knowledge with one or more of the SEPs. Test takers will also find that approximately one-quarter to one-third of the questions call for application of general science content and processes within a teaching scenario or an instructional task. Such questions—designed to measure applications of general science knowledge to the kinds of decisions and evaluations a teacher must make during work with students, curriculum, and instruction—situate general science content questions in tasks critical for teaching.

This test may contain some questions that will not count toward your score.