PAPER

C
2017
Mark only ONE answer for each question.
Your score will be the number of correct answers.
Marks are NOT deducted for incorrect answers.

SCIENCE
There are 40 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS (1–40).
Use the information provided to choose the BEST answer from
the four possible options.

You may use a calculator and a ruler.

DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET
UNTIL INSTRUCTED.
40 QUESTIONS
TIME ALLOWED: 55 MINUTES

STUDENT’S NAME:

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 1. Sue wants to make coloured eggs by dyeing the eggshells with plant juice.

The diagram shows the eggshell colours that some plant juices produce.

purple cabbage blue elderberry red

yellow onion skins orange red beetroot pink

Mixing blue dye and red dye makes purple dye.

Which plant juices should Sue mix to dye the eggshells purple?

(A) elderberry and red beetroot

(B) purple cabbage and red beetroot
(C) purple cabbage and elderberry
(D) yellow onion skins and elderberry

2. Echoes are produced when sound waves bounce off solid objects. Bats use echoes to determine the
distance between them and objects in their surroundings.

A bat sends out a series of high-pitched sounds. The times it took for sound waves to reach some objects
and bounce back to the bat are recorded in the table.
ct
bje
fo

so
un of
d
d wa
ves bou nce

Time taken for sound to

Object reach object and bounce
Item removed for
a ves sent out by back to bat (seconds)
dw b atest security reasons
u n t butterfly 0.25
so

tree 0.30
building 0.35
bird 0.20

Based on the data in the table, which conclusion is correct?

(A) The bird is flying towards the bat.

(B) The building is the furthest object from the bat.
(C) The butterfly is the closest object to the bat.
(D) The bird is further from the bat than the building.

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3. Like humans, chimpanzees make sounds to express emotions.

The table lists some sounds and the emotion each expresses.

Sound Emotion

‘wraa’ fear

pant-hoot excitement

lip smack, pant happiness

soft bark, cough annoyance

scream, bark fear, anger

‘hoo’, whimper distress

One chimpanzee makes pant-hoot and lip smack noises when seeing another chimpanzee.

What emotions is the chimpanzee expressing?

(A) fear and distress

(B) excitement and distress
(C) distress and annoyance
(D) excitement and happiness

4. In an experiment, the volume of a thumb was measured as shown in the diagram.

Which of the following methods will give the volume of

the thumb?
Item removed for
test(A)
security reasons
measure how much water is in the bottle
(B) measure how much water is left on the thumb
(C) measure how much water it takes to refill the bottle
(D) measure how deep the thumb goes into the water

5. For an electric circuit to work, the circuit requires:

• a power source such as a battery,

• an unbroken pathway of metal wire,
• components, such as bulbs or motors, that allow electricity to pass through them.

Which circuit will have electricity flowing around it?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

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 6. Kyle measured a plant using a ruler, as shown.

How many centimetres long is the stem of the plant?

1
(A) 42
(B) 5
1
(C) 52
(D) 7
cm

7. Each planet in the Solar System spins on its axis while it moves around the Sun, just like Earth. The time it
takes a planet to spin one full rotation on its axis is called a day.

The table lists the approximate duration of a day on different planets in the Solar System.

North Pole
Planet Duration of day (Earth hours)
Mercury 1408
Venus 5832
Earth 24
Mars 25
Jupiter 10
Saturn 11
Uranus 17
Neptune 16

South Pole

How many planets have a day that is longer than a day on Earth?

(A) 4 (B) 3 (C) 2 (D) 1

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8. Dylan wants to investigate whether changing the slope of a ramp affects how long it takes a ball
to roll down it.

He set up a ramp as shown.

Dylan can select only one extra piece of equipment to carry out this investigation.

Which of the following should he select?

(A) a stopwatch (B) a thicker book

(C) a ruler (D) a heavier ball

9. A car travelling at 60 km per hour leaked oil onto the road. An oil drop fell onto the road every second,
making this pattern on the road:

Later, the car travelled at 90 km per hour. What did the oil drop pattern on the road look like
at this speed?

(A)

(A)

(B)

(B)

(C)

(C)

(D)

(D)

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 10. Veronica measured the temperature in her school playground three times a day over four days.
The table shows her results.

Highest Lowest Temperature

Day
temperature (°C) temperature (°C) at 11am (°C)
1 13 2 7
2 15 3 6
3 11 14 6
4 10 5 7

Veronica realised that she had made an error in recording the data.

On what day did Veronica make the error?

(A) Day 1
(B) Day 2
(C) Day 3
(D) Day 4

11. This is a photograph of the sole of one of Bernie’s shoes.

Which of these is a photograph of the other shoe from this pair?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

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12. The frequency of a sound, measured in hertz (Hz), is what gives the sound its pitch. Different animals can
hear sounds in different frequency ranges. This graph shows the hearing range of some mammals.

Frequency (Hz)
0 20 000 40 000 60 000 80 000 100 000 120 000

bat
Mammal

cat

dog

dolphin

human

Which of these mammals can hear a sound with a frequency of 50 000 Hz?

(A) bat and dolphin only (B) bat, cat and dolphin
(C) bat, cat and dog (D) bat, cat, dog and dolphin

13. When one gear turns another gear, the gear with more teeth will rotate more slowly than the gear with fewer
teeth. The two gears will turn in opposite directions.

The diagram represents a number of gears joined together.

Item removed for

test security reasons

Gear X turns clockwise.

Which option describes the turning of gear Y?

(A) clockwise and faster than gear X (B) clockwise and slower than gear X
(C) anticlockwise and faster than gear X (D) anticlockwise and slower than gear X

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 14. Prey is an animal that gets eaten by another animal, a predator.

The diagram represents the relationship between plants and animals living on a sugar cane farm in
Australia.

KEY
A B
A is food for B

mouse
cane toad

snail
grasshopper
weevil

sugar cane
plants weeds

Which of the following are predators of grasshoppers?

(A) weeds and mouse

(B) mouse and weevil
(C) mouse and cane toad
(D) cane toad and weevil

15. A key allows users to identify an object, such as an animal or a plant, using the characteristics of the object.

The diagram shows a key for a group of animals called vertebrates.

has feathers bird

1.
does not have feathers go to 2
has scales go to 3 A caecilian does not have feathers, does not have
2. scales and does not have fur.
does not have scales go to 4
has gills fish What type of vertebrate is a caecilian?
3.
does not have gills reptile (A) fish
has fur mammal (B) reptile
4. (C) mammal
does not have fur amphibian (D) amphibian

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16. Igneous rock and sedimentary rock are two types of rocks. Igneous rocks form when hot liquid rock below
Earth’s surface cools and hardens. Sedimentary rocks form when existing rock pieces and sediment are
pressed together.

Alex used chocolate to demonstrate the formation of rocks of different types, using these steps:

1. Place a container with chocolate in a tub of hot

water until the chocolate melts.

2. Take the container out of the hot water and let the
chocolate cool.
chocolate
3. Once the chocolate is hard again, scrape it into
small pieces. hot water
4. Press the pieces down to make a block.
Which option correctly matches the steps in Alex’s demonstration with the formation of igneous rocks and
sedimentary rocks?

Formation of igneous rocks Formation of sedimentary rocks

(A) Step 2 Step 4

(B) Step 4 Step 2
(C) Step 1 Step 3
(D) Step 2 Step 3

17. Kate’s teacher gave Kate some hydrochloric acid and a rock. She told Kate that some rocks will react with
hydrochloric acid to produce carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas that has no colour or smell.

rock

hydrochloric acid

How can Kate find out whether this rock produces carbon dioxide?

(A) put the rock in the container and smell it

(B) put the rock in the container and look for bubbles in the liquid
(C) put the rock in the container and look for a change of colour
(D) put the rock in the container and look for a rise in water level

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 18. The diagram summarises the steps in producing a number of products from corn.

germ grinding starch-gluten starch

steeping
separation & screening separation conversion

starch
oil refining germ fibre gluten syrup refining
drying
shelled
corn
corn oil feed products starches sweeteners

KEY
process
product

Which of these steps does NOT produce feed products?

(A) oil refining

(B) grinding and screening
(C) starch-gluten separation
(D) starch drying

19. Megan made a musical instrument using some elastic bands and an empty shoe box. The elastic bands
all had different lengths and thicknesses. When she plucked them, each band made a sound with a
different pitch.

shoe box

elastic band

Megan was investigating whether the thickness of an elastic band affects the pitch of the sound
it produces when plucked.

What must she do to make her investigation a fair test?

(A) pluck each elastic band three times

(B) use elastic bands made from different types of rubber
(C) use elastic bands with exactly the same thickness but different lengths
(D) use elastic bands with exactly the same length but different thicknesses

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20. Jack wrapped a measuring tape around his fingers several times, as shown.

Approximately how many centimetres wide

is each of Jack’s fingers at the base?

(A) 3.5
(B) 2
(C) 1.5
(D) 1

21. The graph summarises the average monthly rainfall for the years 1961–1990.

80

60
Rainfall (mm)

40

20

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

Which of the following periods had the lowest average amount of rainfall?

(A) Jan – Mar (B) Apr – Jun (C) July – Sep (D) Oct – Dec

22. Matter can change from one state to another by heating or cooling. The diagram shows the changes of state
for a substance.

gas
co
n

nd
io
at

en
im

sa
n
bl

tio

ev

tio
su

si

ap

Iodine is a purple solid at room temperature. When

n
po

or
de

placed in a warm container, it fills the container with

at
io

a purple gas without melting.

n

melting
Which process does iodine undergo when heated?

solid solidification liquid (A) sublimation

(B) evaporation
(C) deposition
(D) solidification

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 23. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a stage during sleep when the eyes of the sleeping person move rapidly.

The graph represents the hours of REM and non-REM sleep for people in different age groups.

16

14

12
KEY
Hours of sleep

10
Non-REM sleep
8 REM sleep
Item removed for
6 test security reasons

0
0–5 months 2–3 years 10–13 years 19–30 years
Age group

How many hours more than the 19–30 year age group does the 0–5 month age group spend sleeping per day?

(A) 15 (B) 9 (C) 7 (D) 6

24. Joyce shines a torch onto a cylinder, as shown.

wall
wall
Which (A) (B)
diagram shows the shadow produced by the cylinder on the(C)
wall? (D)
(A) (B) (C) (D)

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25. The table classifies flowers by their heights when fully grown.

Short Medium Tall

Name Height (cm) Name Height (cm) Name Height (cm)
Grecian windflower 5 – 15 Lily of the valley 15 – 30 Spanish bluebell 25 – 46
Siberian squill 12 – 20 Jonquilla daffodil 25 – 40 Lily-flowered tulip 36 – 60
Dwarf iris 10 – 15 Hyacinth 20 – 30 Short cup daffodil 30 – 46

Which statement is correct based on the table?

(A) A flower with a height of 34 cm when fully grown must be a tall flower.
(B) A flower with a height of 15 cm when fully grown must be a short flower.
(C) A flower with a height of 20 cm when fully grown must be a short flower.
(D) A flower with a height of 23 cm when fully grown must be a medium flower.

26. Places on the surface of Earth are given a location using coordinates called latitude and longitude. These
coordinates locate places by their distance from the Equator and the Prime Meridian.

One complete revolution of Earth occurs once every 24 hours. The planet is divided into 24 time zones one
hour apart.

Prime Meridian
180 150 120 90 60 30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180

60 60
Eurasia
North America

30 30
●Dhaka
Africa
N
0 Equator 0 W E
South America
S
●Rockhampton
30 Australia 30
Item removed for
test security reasons
60 60

180 150 120 90 60 30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180

A fossil was found at location 20° N and 75° E.

Where was the fossil found?

(A) Eurasia (B) Australia

(C) Africa (D) South America

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 27. The chemical formula for water is H2O and can be represented by the following diagram:

The chemical formula for carbon dioxide is CO2 and can be represented by the following diagram:

(A) (B) (C) (D)

Methane,
(A)the main gas found in natural
(B) gas, has the chemical formula
(C) CH4. (D)

Which diagram could represent methane?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

28. When a surface receives sunlight, the angle at which the sunlight strikes the surface affects the amount of
heat the surface receives.

sunlight
sunlight
sunlight sunlight
sunlight
sunlight

warm less warm least warm

The angle at which the warm less on

sunlight strikes a location warm
Earth’s surfaceleast warm
changes as Earth moves around the
Sun during a year. This causes the different seasons at a location on Earth.

(A)is it warmest at location (B)

In which of the diagrams ? (C) (D)

(A) N (B) N (C) N (D) N

N N N N

S S S
S

S S S
S

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 For questions 29 and 30 use the information below.

Warm air is less dense than cold air and tends to rise. When warm air containing water vapour rises and
cools down, the water vapour condenses onto small particles floating in the air. Eventually a cloud forms.

Jo carried out this experiment to demonstrate the formation of a cloud.

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Pour some Place ice cubes on Take the lid off Put the lid with the ice
boiled water into a the lid of the and quickly squirt in on it, back on top
container and container for a some hairspray. of the container.
swirl it to few minutes. Watch the cloud form.
heat up the sides.

29. What is the purpose of using the hairspray?

(A) to add warm vapour (B) to cool down the air

(C) to introduce small particles (D) to make the cloud rain

30. What will happen to the cloud formed when the lid is taken off after step 4?

(A) It will fall down into the water in the container.

(B) It will be held in the container by the warm air inside.
(C) It will form rain drops that fall into the container.
(D) It will be pushed out of the container by the warm air inside.

31. Tara poured some water into a measuring cylinder and then tilted the measuring cylinder as shown.
L
m
60

50

40

How much water (mL) is in the measuring cylinder?

30

20

(A) 20
10

(B) 30
(C) 35
(D) 40

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 32. One serving of food is the amount of a type of food that an average person would normally eat in one meal.
By measuring food in servings, it is possible to compare the nutrients and energy content (kJ) in foods.

The table outlines the energy content in one serving of some different foods.

Food Serving size Energy (kJ)

According to the table, which of these has
Soft drink 200 mL 21 the greatest energy content?
Popcorn 1 large cup 65
(A) 600 mL soft drink
Pepperoni pizza 1 slice 120 (B) 1 slice of pepperoni pizza
(C) 2 large cups of popcorn
Cheeseburger 1 burger 80 (D) 2 cheeseburgers

For questions 33 and 34 use the information below.

Plants need light, water and nutrients to grow. Plants normally get their nutrients from the soil.

Ben wanted to investigate what is needed to sprout and grow cress seeds. He put some cress seeds on
paper towels in a bowl near the window. For ten days he added a small amount of water each day to keep
the paper towel wet.

Ben summarised his observations in these three drawings:

Day 1 Day 5 Day 10

33. What conclusion could Ben draw?

(A) Cress can only live for 5 to 10 days.

(B) Cress seeds need water to sprout but do not need water to grow.
(C) Cress seeds need more than just water to keep alive.
(D) Cress seeds use water and the nutrients in the paper towels to grow.

34. What does Ben need to do to find out whether light affects the sprouting?

(A) Repeat exactly what he did in the first investigation.

(B) Repeat the investigation with the bowl in a cupboard.
(C) Repeat the investigation with the bowl in a cupboard with no water to be added.
(D) Repeat the investigation with the bowl placed outside the window.

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35. A satellite is any object that moves around a larger object in space. The path that a satellite follows, as it
moves around the larger object, is called its orbit.

The diagram shows the movement of Venus, Earth and the Moon in relation to the Sun.

Moon

orbit orbit
Sun
Earth

Venus

NOT TO SCALE

Which statement is correct?

(A) Earth is in orbit around the Moon and Venus is a satellite of the Sun.
(B) The Moon is in orbit around Earth and Earth is a satellite of Venus.
(C) Earth is a satellite of the Moon and the Moon is in orbit around Venus.
(D) The Moon is a satellite of Earth and Venus is in orbit around the Sun.

36. Our skeleton consists of bones that give our body shape and allow us to move. The bones are moved by
muscles. Tendons and ligaments are connective tissues.

The diagram represents an elbow joint.

tendon
bone

muscle

ligament

Which of these identifies what ligaments and tendons connect?

Ligaments connect Tendons connect

(A) bone and muscle. bone and bone.
(B) bone and bone. bone and muscle.
(C) muscle and muscle. bone and bone.
(D) bone and bone. muscle and muscle.

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 For questions 37 and 38 use the information below.

Michelle read that bread dough needs yeast and warmth to rise.

She set up an experiment to investigate this, as shown.

measuring
cylinder

bread
dough

W X Y Z
25 °C 25 °C 15 °C 15 °C
3 g yeast without yeast 3 g yeast without yeast

She left each measuring cylinder for 24 hours and recorded how high each piece of dough rose.

37. To find out the effect of the presence of yeast on how much the dough rises, which two cylinders can
Michelle compare?

(A) W and X
(B) X and Y
(C) W and Y
(D) W and Z

38. Michelle read that the more yeast added, the higher the dough will rise; the higher the temperature, the
higher the dough will rise.

Michelle then set up another cylinder, V, with the same amount of dough and 6 g of yeast added. She kept it
at 20 °C for 24 hours, and recorded the height of the dough.

Which statement MUST be true based on what Michelle read?

(A) The dough in V will rise the highest among all cylinders.
(B) The dough in W and V will rise the same amount
(C) The dough in X will rise higher than that in V.
(D) The dough in V will rise higher than that in Y.

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39. Water is needed to produce food.

The diagram shows how much water is needed in producing various amounts of different types of food.

200 g 150 g 100 g 175 g

meat rice lettuce orange

3000 L 300 L 10 L 60 L

Which statement is supported by the information in the diagram?

(A) There is less water in an orange than there is in rice.

(B) It takes less water to grow lettuce than to grow the same mass of rice.
(C) It takes more water to produce meat because the animals eat lots of plants.
(D) The more water it takes to produce an amount of food, the heavier this amount of food will be.

40. The volume of an object is equal to the volume of water it displaces when the object is fully underwater.

Frank placed a block in a measuring cylinder that contained some water, as shown.

mL mL
He then added another, smaller block.
40 40
The volume of the larger block is twice
30 the volume of the smaller one. 30

20 20

10 10

How much water is in the measuring cylinder?

(A) 10 mL (B) 20 mL
(C) 25 mL (D) 30 mL

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 ICAS SCIENCE 2017 PAST PAPER KEYS
Question INT A B C D E F G H
1 C A B C C A C A C
2 B B C B D D B C D
3 D A C D A B C B B
4 C B B C C D C C C
5 D C C A D D A C A
6 A C D A B B A B B
7 C A D B A A C C D
8 B C A A C B C A D
9 C D B C D A D B B
10 D C A C A C B A B
11 C C D A D A B A C
12 A A A B D D D B B
13 D B B C A B A B A
14 D D C C B D A D C
15 A D D D B B B A A
16 B C D A C C D C D
17 B B A B B C A C C
18 D D D D C D C A B
19 C D A D D A C B C
20 A A B B A B C D A
21 B C A C C D B C D
22 B B C A B B C C B
23 C D B D D C D B D
24 B A A C B D D A C
25 A B C D D D B D D
26 D C D A C A C D A
27 D B C A C C D C D
28 A D B D A B A D D
29 B B B C D A C D C
30 C A D D B D B A A
31 B B C A D B
32 D A B D C A
33 C C A D A B
34 B D C A D D
35 D A A D B D
36 B A B B A C
37 A B D D D A
38 D A C D B C
39 B B D C A B
40 B D A B B A
41 D B C B
42 C A D B
43 B C B C
44 C B A C
45 C A B B

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