Praxis 5001 Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: "When Grandpa handed me the rusty key, I had no idea it would open the attic door I had never been allowed to enter.": Narrative; "Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar’s body breaks down and reorganizes into a butterfly over about two weeks.": Informative/Explanatory; "Every student should learn to swim, because swimming is a skill that can save lives.": Opinion; "To make a paper airplane, first fold a sheet of paper in half lengthwise. Next, fold the top corners down to the center crease.": Informative/Explanatory; "In my view, the town library should stay open on Sundays, since many families can visit only on weekends.": Opinion; "The rain drummed on the roof as Maya crept down the dark stairs, clutching her flashlight.": Narrative

Narrative tells a story; informative/explanatory conveys facts or explains processes (including how-to steps); opinion states a claim supported by reasons.

Answer: B, D

Copy whole paragraphs from the source and reword them later.: Copied paragraphs are easily pasted into the report unchanged, which invites plagiarism.

Write notes as key words and short phrases, then write the report from the notes without looking at the source.: Key-word notes force students to rebuild sentences in their own words.

Replace every few words in a source sentence with synonyms.: Swapping synonyms while keeping the original structure is patchwriting, a form of plagiarism.

Record the title and author of each source with every note, and put quotation marks around any exact words copied.: Tracking sources and marking direct quotations makes accurate citation possible.

Use only one source so that there are fewer sources to cite.: Using one source does not remove the need to paraphrase and cite; it also tends to increase close copying.

Key-word notes, source tracking and quotation marks for exact words are the core habits for avoiding plagiarism.

Answer: D

Correct the spelling and punctuation of each sentence before writing anything new.: The narrative already uses conventional spelling and punctuation; the main need is development of ideas, not editing.

Begin with a sentence that states an opinion about whether water parks are fun for kids.: An opinion statement belongs in opinion writing; it does not fit the purpose of a personal narrative.

Add more events from the rest of the day so that the reader knows everything that happened.: More events would lengthen the list without adding the elaboration the narrative lacks.

Expand one key moment, like the tube flipping, with dialogue, actions and feelings.: Correct. The draft lists events with equal, minimal weight ("bed-to-bed"). Focusing on one key moment and elaborating with narrative techniques (dialogue, description, feelings) develops the story.

For list-like ("and then…") narratives, teach students to slow down and elaborate a key moment with dialogue, sensory detail and feelings.

Answer: D

Ask the student to think of another animal name that begins with the same letter.: Guessing from the first letter alone is still not decoding the whole word.

Praise the student, because pony makes sense with the picture and keeps the meaning.: This rewards guessing from a picture (three-cueing); the student did not read the printed word.

Tell the student to skip the word and read to the end of the sentence to find a word that fits.: Skipping and guessing from context bypasses decoding, the skill a decodable text is meant to practice.

Point to the word and prompt the student to look at each letter and blend the sounds from left to right.: Correct. Directing the student back to the print to decode it sound by sound builds the letter–sound mapping that skilled reading depends on, instead of rewarding a guess.

Science of Reading practice: prompt students to decode through the word (all letters, left to right); never treat picture or context guessing as a word-reading strategy.

Answer: A

a job done carelessly will only have to be done again: Correct. Ines yanked the dandelion so that its root broke off in the soil (paragraph 1); Lela points out that the root left behind lets the weed grow back, so hurried work must be repeated.

Ines should stop helping because she is damaging the garden: Lela immediately hands Ines a trowel and coaches her ("Slow hands"), so she wants Ines to keep working.

weeds are stronger plants than tomatoes and will always win: Lela is not comparing plant strength; she is reacting to how Ines pulled the weed so hard that the root snapped off.

the garden will be destroyed if the weeds are not removed: Lela says nothing about the garden being destroyed; the later damage comes from a hailstorm, not weeds.

Interpret a character's figurative remark by linking it to the action that prompted it (here, the snapped root).

Answer: A

1. Read the five-number summary: minimum 12, Q1 18, median 24, Q3 30, maximum 44.
2. IQR = Q3 − Q1 = 30 − 18 = 12.
3. Range = 44 − 12 = 32; the mean cannot be read from a box plot; about 25% of values are above Q3.

The interquartile range is 12 minutes.: Correct. The box runs from the first quartile (18) to the third quartile (30), so the IQR is 30 − 18 = 12 minutes.

The range is 26 minutes.: This subtracts the first quartile from the maximum (44 − 18); the range is maximum − minimum, 44 − 12 = 32.

The mean is 24 minutes.: 24 is the median (the line inside the box); a box plot does not show the mean.

About 75% of the students read for more than 30 minutes.: 30 is the third quartile, so only about 25% of students read more than 30 minutes.

A box plot shows the five-number summary: minimum, Q1, median, Q3, maximum; IQR = Q3 − Q1 and each section holds about 25% of the data.

Answer: B

1. Differences in y: 11 − 7 = 4, 15 − 11 = 4, … so y grows by 4 for each 1 in x.
2. Start with $y=4x+b$. Use (1, 7): $7=4+b$, so $b=3$.
3. Check (4, 19): $4(4)+3=19$. ✓

$y=x+6$: This fits only the first row ($1+6=7$); for $x=2$ it gives 8, not 11.

$y=4x+3$: Correct. Each time $x$ increases by 1, $y$ increases by 4, so the rate of change is 4. When $x=1$, $4(1)+3=7$, and the rule fits every row (for example $4(5)+3=23$).

$y=3x+4$: This fits only the first row ($3+4=7$); for $x=2$ it gives 10, not 11.

$y=4x+7$: This uses the correct rate but takes 7, the y-value when $x=1$, as the constant; for $x=1$ it gives 11.

In a linear table, the constant change in y per 1-unit change in x is the coefficient; check the rule against more than one row.

Answer: D

1. 503 − 278: ones 8 − 3 = 5, tens 7 − 0 = 7, hundreds 5 − 2 = 3 → 375.
2. 82 − 47: ones 7 − 2 = 5, tens 8 − 4 = 4 → 45.
3. 641 − 319: ones 9 − 1 = 8, tens 4 − 1 = 3, hundreds 6 − 3 = 3 → 338.
4. 96 − 52 needs no regrouping and is correct, so the error appears only when the top digit is smaller.

The student does not know basic subtraction facts within 10.: Every column difference the student wrote (5, 7, 3, 4, 3, 8) is a correct basic fact; the error is in which digit is subtracted from which.

The student regroups correctly but forgets to reduce the digit that was regrouped from.: That error would give answers such as 335 for 503 − 278 (regrouping without reducing), not 375; the student never regroups at all.

The student adds the digits in the ones column instead of subtracting them.: Adding the ones would give 11 (or 1) for 3 and 8, not 5; the ones digits in every answer equal the larger digit minus the smaller.

In each column, the student subtracts the smaller digit from the larger digit instead of regrouping.: Correct. In 503 − 278 the student did 8 − 3 = 5 and 7 − 0 = 7 in the ones and tens instead of regrouping, giving 375. The same pattern gives 45 for 82 − 47 and 338 for 641 − 319. The one problem that needs no regrouping (96 − 52) is correct.

The "smaller-from-larger" bug comes from treating each column as a separate problem; place-value models and base-ten blocks show why a ten must be traded instead.

Answer: D

In what year was the first bridge built across the river?: This has one factual answer, so it could be a supporting question but cannot drive an inquiry.

Which factories were built along the river before 1900?: This factual question could support the inquiry by gathering evidence, but it is not open to argument.

What is the name of the river that flows through our town?: This is a simple recall question; it needs no evidence or argument.

Has the river helped our town more than it has harmed it?: Correct. A compelling question is open-ended, worth debating and answerable with evidence from several sources; students must weigh benefits such as trade against harms such as floods.

In the C3 Inquiry Arc, a compelling question frames an enduring, debatable issue; supporting questions are narrower and help build the answer.

Answer: B

Point A: Point A is at 40°N, 90°W, one grid line north and one grid line west of the given location.

Point B: Correct. Point B sits where the 35°N line of latitude crosses the 85°W line of longitude.

Point C: Point C is at 30°N, 80°W; it lies south and east of the given location.

Point D: Point D is near 35°N but lies east of 80°W, not at 85°W.

Absolute location is given as latitude (north/south of the equator) first, then longitude (east/west of the prime meridian).

Answer: Coin and print money: Federal (delegated); Declare war: Federal (delegated); Collect taxes: Shared (concurrent); Set up public school systems: State (reserved); Issue driver's licenses: State (reserved); Borrow money: Shared (concurrent)

Delegated powers are listed for the national government, reserved powers remain with the states (Tenth Amendment), and concurrent powers are held by both.

Answer: A

The urban share of the population rose in every decade shown.: Correct. Each bar is taller than the one before it (28, 35, 40, 46, 51), so the claim is fully supported.

The number of Americans living in rural areas fell in every decade shown.: The graph shows percentages, not numbers of people, so it cannot show whether the rural population itself fell.

The largest one-decade rise in the urban share came between 1910 and 1920.: The rise from 1910 to 1920 was 5 points; the rise from 1880 to 1890 was 7 points, the largest shown.

Most Americans were living in urban areas by 1910.: The 1910 urban share is 46%, which is less than half.

An evidence-based claim must stay within what the data shows; a percentage display cannot support claims about absolute numbers.

Answer: D

The box slows down and stops, because the two forces cancel each other.: Balanced forces do not stop a moving object. Slowing down would require a net force opposite the motion, which is not present.

The box speeds up, because the student is pushing it to the right.: Speeding up requires an unbalanced (net) force. Here the push and friction are equal, so the net force is zero.

The box cannot move, because the push must be greater than friction for motion.: This is the common belief that motion needs a net force. A moving object keeps moving with no net force; the push only has to match friction.

The box keeps sliding at a constant speed because the net force is zero.: Correct. The forces are balanced (40 N − 40 N = 0), so by Newton's first law the box's velocity does not change: it keeps moving at the same speed in the same direction.

Balanced forces (net force = 0) mean no change in motion: an object at rest stays at rest and a moving object keeps a constant velocity. Only an unbalanced force changes speed or direction.

Answer: A

Ask the student which beetles survived to reproduce and what color their offspring were.: Correct. This points the student to the real mechanism: color already varied, dark beetles survived and reproduced more often, and they passed dark color to their offspring, so the population shifted over generations.

Explain that individual beetles slowly darkened their shells as they grew older.: This repeats the error: individual beetles do not change color to match the soil. The population changed, not individuals.

Tell the student that the color change happened only by chance and had no cause.: Variation arises by chance, but which beetles survive is not random: birds remove light beetles more often. Calling the whole change chance is also wrong.

Praise the explanation because it correctly names the birds as the cause of the change.: This accepts need-based reasoning. Organisms do not develop traits because they need them, so praise would strengthen the misconception.

Natural selection acts on variation that already exists: individuals with helpful inherited traits survive and reproduce more, so the trait becomes more common in the population. Individuals do not change because they "need" to.

Answer: B

D, C, B, A, X: This places X last, but layer A lies undisturbed across the top of X. A must have been deposited after X had already formed.

D, C, B, X, A: Correct. By superposition, D is the oldest layer and B is above C. X cuts through B, C, and D, so it is younger than all three (cross-cutting relationships). Layer A covers X without being cut, so A formed last.

X, D, C, B, A: This treats the intrusion as the oldest unit, but a rock unit must already exist before magma can cut through it.

A, B, C, X, D: This reverses superposition. In layers that have not been overturned, the bottom layer is the oldest.

Law of superposition: in undisturbed layers, lower is older. Cross-cutting relationships: anything that cuts through a layer is younger than that layer.