PiCAT Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: C

Evaporation: Evaporation is the opposite change: liquid water turning into vapor.

Transpiration: Transpiration is water vapor released from plant leaves.

Condensation: Correct. Condensation is the change from a gas to a liquid; cooling vapor condenses on dust particles to form cloud droplets.

Precipitation: Precipitation is water falling from clouds as rain, snow, sleet or hail.

Condensation (gas to liquid) forms clouds; evaporation and transpiration add vapor; precipitation returns water to the ground.

Answer: D

1. Earnings = hourly rate × hours.
2. $12 × 16 = $192$ and $0.50 × 16 = $8$.
3. $192 + $8 = $200.00.

$28.50: This adds the pay rate and the hours (12.50 + 16) instead of multiplying them.

$192.00: This is 12 × 16; the extra $0.50 per hour (another $8) was dropped.

$192.50: This adds the $0.50 only once instead of once for each of the 16 hours.

$200.00: Correct. 12.50 × 16 = 200, so she earned $200.00.

Total pay is the hourly rate times the hours worked; split a decimal rate into whole dollars and cents to multiply by hand.

Answer: C

angry: Nothing in the sentence suggests anger; "remained" points to a steady, positive outlook despite losses.

worried: Worried is the expected reaction to losing; "even after" signals that the coach felt the opposite.

hopeful: Correct. Sanguine means cheerfully optimistic. Example: "Investors were sanguine about the new product's sales."

unaware: The coach clearly knows about the losses; sanguine describes attitude, not knowledge.

Sanguine = optimistic, confident about the future.

Answer: B

careless: Careless means not paying attention; a diffident person may be very careful.

shy: Correct. Diffident means shy and lacking self-confidence. Example: "The diffident new recruit rarely spoke up in meetings."

different: This is a sound-alike trap; diffident has nothing to do with being different.

stubborn: Stubborn means unwilling to change; it is not about lack of confidence.

Diffident = shy, lacking confidence (the opposite of self-assured).

Answer: B

To hide from nighttime predators: Predators are never mentioned in the passage.

To save energy while unable to feed: Correct. "At night, when they cannot feed," torpor lets a bird use "only a small share of the energy" it would otherwise need.

To digest the nectar from the day: Digestion is not discussed; the passage is about saving energy.

To grow new feathers for flight: Feather growth is not mentioned.

The reason is stated: torpor lets the bird survive the hours when it cannot feed by using far less energy.

Answer: C

1. Corresponding angles: the angle above $n$ on the right of the transversal equals the 65° angle above $m$ on the right.
2. Angle $x$ and that 65° angle lie along line $n$ on the same side, so they are supplementary.
3. $x=180-65=115$.

$25$: This subtracts 65 from 90, treating the angles as complementary; angles on a straight line sum to 180°.

$65$: The angle equal to 65° at line $n$ is on the right of the transversal (corresponding angle); $x$ is next to it on the left.

$115$: Correct. The corresponding angle at line $n$ is 65°, and $x$ forms a straight line with it: $180-65=115$.

$295$: This subtracts 65 from 360; $x$ and the 65° corresponding angle form a straight angle (180°), not a full turn.

With parallel lines, corresponding angles are equal, and adjacent angles on a straight line add to 180°. Every angle in the figure is either the acute angle or its supplement.

Answer: D

1. Ohm’s law: $I=\frac{V}{R}$
2. Substitute: $I=\frac{24\text{V}}{6\Omega }$
3. $I=4$ A

144 A: Multiplied voltage by resistance ($24\times 6$); that is not a current formula.

0.25 A: Divided resistance by voltage ($6÷24$), the formula upside down.

30 A: Added the numbers ($24+6$); Ohm’s law divides.

4 A: Correct. $I=V/R=24÷6=4$ A.

Ohm’s law: $V=IR$, so current equals voltage divided by resistance.

Answer: B

thread reach: Reach is the length of the threaded shell that screws into the cylinder head, not the space at the firing tip.

electrode gap: Correct. X is the space between the center electrode and the bent ground electrode; the spark jumps across it, so it is checked with a gap gauge.

heat range: Heat range describes how quickly the plug sheds heat (set by insulator design); it is a rating, not a distance you adjust.

insulator length: The insulator is the white ceramic body around the center electrode; the arrow points to the open space between the two electrodes.

The spark jumps the electrode gap between the center and ground electrodes. A gap that is too wide or too narrow causes misfire or a weak spark, so it is set with a gauge.

Answer: D

Shaping sheet metal: Metal is shaped with a ball-peen or body hammer, whose rounded face has no split claw.

Setting nail heads below the surface: Nail heads are sunk with a nail set struck by the flat face, not the claw.

Splitting firewood: Wood is split with a maul or axe; the thin claw would bend.

Pulling out nails: Correct. This is a claw hammer; the split claw slips under a nail head and levers it out.

A claw hammer drives nails with its flat face and pulls them with its curved, split claw.

Answer: C

A: The bottom arm is a whole square, so this cross uses two squares and no triangles (wrong pieces, one piece fewer).

B: The bottom arm is cut into two narrow rectangles, not two triangles (wrong piece shape).

C: Correct. The L-shaped piece makes the top arm, center and right arm; the square is the left arm; and the two triangles join along their long sides to make the bottom arm of the cross.

D: An extra square lengthens the bottom arm, so five pieces are used instead of four (extra piece).

Two right triangles with equal legs join along their long sides into a square; check whether the answer shows that diagonal cut.

Answer: C

A: The parallelogram is mirrored: it leans the opposite way, which turning alone cannot produce. Only a flipped shape looks like this.

B: The line attaches at a lower corner of the roof (an eave) instead of at the peak of the pentagon (wrong attachment point).

C: Correct. The line leaves the house-shaped pentagon at its peak (point x) and meets the parallelogram at one of its sharp (acute) corners (point y), with the parallelogram leaning the same way as in the question once it is turned.

D: The line meets the parallelogram at a wide (obtuse) corner, but point y is at a sharp (acute) corner (wrong attachment point).

A parallelogram has two sharp and two wide corners, and its lean reverses if it is flipped, so check both the corner type and the lean.