Test

Vocabulary
The Key To Raising Scores
by

Teresa Betts, Streetsboro City Schools

tbetts@rockets.sparcc.org

Note to All Users:

I have tried to make a user-friendly
vocabulary unit that incorporates
selective test vocabulary words. In
no way is the unit inclusive. All
work has been checked and doublechecked but errors may be present.

Each of the
icons below
represents the
testing area
under which
the vocabulary
word may fall.

Feel free to adapt the material here

for your own use but please do not
represent the work as your own.
Sincerely,

Teresa Betts
Note: All clip are is subject to copyright laws and may not be duplicated.

Science
Social Studies
Math
Writing
Reading

ANTONYM
- a word opposite in meaning to another

The antonym of hot is cold.

SEQUENCE
a related or continuous series; a
following of one thing after another

The numbers were arranged in sequence from

smallest to largest.

1, 4, 8,

13, 19,

26 34
,

EVENTS
things that happen or occur

There were many important events leading up

to the Civil War.

CHARACTERISTIC
a feature that helps to identify, tell apart,
or describe recognizably

One characteristic of a rabbit is its twitchy

nose.

COMPARISON
noting similarities and differences after
examining something

After making a comparison of the two poems,

Shannon could see that one poem described
rain better than the other one.

METAPHOR
an indirect comparison used to suggest
similarities (does NOT use like or as)

The author used the metaphor, The ship plowed

the seas, to suggest how the ship went through
the water like a farmers plow goes through dirt.

PROBABILITY
the chance that something will occur
(usually expressed as a ratio (1:4), a
percentage (24%), or a fraction (1/4)

The probability of pulling 1 red marble out of a

bag of 1 red and 3 blue marbles is 1 out of 4 (1:4
or or 25%).

SYNONYM
a word having the same meaning as
another

In England, a mobile is a synonym for a cell

phone.

SIMPLE MACHINE
an elementary (simple) tool having only 1
or 2 parts such as a lever, wheel and axle,
pulley, inclined plane, wedge, and/or screw

The childs pulley toy was

actually a simple machine.

PERSUASIVE
having the power to prove something is
credible (worthy of belief)

Her well-written book report was a persuasive

way of getting me interested in reading the
book.

IDENTIFY
to find a characteristic or similarity in a
reading selection

A hero in a book is easy to identify because he

usually does good deeds.

NUMBER LINE
a straight line, usually with arrow points on
either end, divided into equally spaced
numbered parts

She learned to add with a number line by

counting up for each number she added.

TIME ZONE
one of 24 longitudinal zones into which the
world has been divided for the purpose of
setting up time changes

I live in the Eastern Time Zone of the United

States and my friend lives 3 hours away in
California in the Pacific Time Zone.

FOOD CHAIN
a sequence of organisms in an ecological
community each of which (usually) uses the
next lower member of the sequence as a
food source

Plants are at the bottom of the food chain

because cows eat grass and people get milk and
meat from cows. .

FICTIONAL
not real; made-up; make-believe

The babysitter told the child a fictional story

about a baby dragon and a wizard.

CONTRAST
highlighting the differences rather than the
similarities

She was asked to contrast the different heroes

in the story.

HEMISPHERE
a half of the globeeither north/south or
east/west

We sailed down over the equator and entered

the Southern Hemisphere.

PERIMETER
the boundary (edges) of a figure; the
measure of the distance around a figure or
space

The perimeter of the small garden was 12 feet

around.

INFERENCE
a conclusion that can be drawn from
available evidence

He made an inference that the dog would bite

after he heard it growl, bark, and show its
teeth.

NARRATOR
someone who tells or recites the
happenings of a story

The play was in French so the theater hired an

English-speaking narrator to tell the audience
what was happening.

AVERAGE/MEAN
having an intermediate value between two
extremes

The average of the four grades, 95, 88, 83, and

74, was 85 because I added the four scores and
divided the total by four.

95 + 88 + 83 + 74 = 340
340 4 = 85

PROFIT
the excess (left over) money earned after
deducting (subtracting) the cost of providing
or manufacturing goods

After spending $40 on supplies, Tammy sold all

of her hand-made bracelets for $140 and made
a profit of $100.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS
the process by which plants convert
(change) carbon dioxide, water, and light
energy into oxygen and food (carbohydrates)

Ed did experiments on plants, in the light and in

the dark, to see if photosynthesis could take
place without light.

RELATIONSHIP
a connection between two things

The two friends cared a lot for each other and

had a great relationship.

PERCENT
one part of a hundred

Half of the class, or fifty percent, usually

remembers to bring a pencil to class.

50%

RIGHT
privilege given to a person or persons
according to the law; claim recognized by
law

It was their right to register to vote at age

eighteen.

HYPOTHESIS
a proposal that is assumed in order to
prove or disprove it through scientific
investigation

Eds experiments proved his hypothesis that

plants cannot live without water.

EFFECTIVELY
efficiently or successfully

Dr. Seuss effectively used rhyming words in his

books.

DIAMETER
a straight line through the center of an
object

To draw the diameter, Sue drew a straight line

through the center of the circle from one edge
of the circle to another.

PREFIX
an affix (attachment) placed before a base
word

The words unknown and unnamed have the

same prefix.

Our new baby is still unnamed.

CONCLUSION
a final summing up; a reasonable end or
conclusion

Her scientific conclusion was that plants need

water to live because the watered ones lived and
the water-starved plants died.

DESCRIPTIVE
referring to things, events, parts, or
characteristics in an informative way

Charles used descriptive words to tell how the

characters looked and sounded.

Hint:
Descriptive
words most
often
involve
using the
five senses.

VIEWPOINT
a place or attitude from which something is
seen

After reading about the awful accident from the

drivers viewpoint, you could understand why he
was always so upset.

CIRCUMFERENCE
the line or distance around a circle

To win the cake at the cakewalk, the students

had to walk around the circumference of the
circle drawn on the playground.

INDUSTRIALIZATION
changing from a mostly unskilled, farmtype economy to a skilled, labor-run
manufacturing economy

During a time of industrialization, many people

move from farms to cities to work.

ECOSYSTEM
an ecological community together with all
the factors that affect it

When the factory dumped its waste into the

pond, the ecosystem was ruined and all the fish
died.

ROOT
the smallest grammatical word
(morpheme) that cannot be divided further

People debate whether the root of the word

reappraisal is appraise or praise.

PRIME
a prime number is a whole number that is
greater than 1, and has exactly 2 factors:
itself and 1

Cierra knows the numbers 3, 5, 7, and 11 are

examples of prime numbers.

3, 5, 7, 11

RANGE
the difference between the greatest and
the least numbers in a set of data

The lowest test score was 72 and the highest

was 96 so the range was 24.

96 72 = 24

FEWER
a smaller number of things; less

Tiffany ate 3 fewer cookies than John and was

still hungry.

DIFFERENCE
the result from subtracting one number
from another

Jill knows the difference between 37 and 15 is

22.

37 15 = 22

IMAGINATIVE
the result from subtracting one number
from another

Every day, Jerome was able to give a different

and imaginative story about his missing
homework.
Now, let me see. I
think it might be
in my other shoes!

EXPLAIN
to make clear; to make known in detail

Mike was able to explain his answer by including

many descriptive details.

IMMIGRATION
a going into a country for the purpose of
permanently living there

A large wave of immigration

into the United States will
greatly increase its
population.

ORGANISMS
living beings

People, hamsters, and birds are 3 kinds of

organisms that have been in our classroom.

DETAILS
additional facts, explanations, ideas,
and/or descriptions

Jonathan included details in his story to explain

things better.

RESOLVED
decided or settled

The problem was resolved when Shana

apologized for being mean.

LINE GRAPH
a drawing using lines to show
information in an organized way

The line graph of temperatures in November

had a line that kept going lower and lower.
November Average Daily
Temperatures
40

Degrees F

35
30
25
20
15
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Date

AMENDMENT
a change, deletion, or addition to a
lawusually to make it better

The amendment giving

women the right to vote
was a good change.

REFRACTION
the bending of an image through
something

In the glass of water, refraction makes the

spoon look crooked.

UNIDENTIFIED
not known; not described; an unknown

Kim knew the previously unidentified bird was a

blue heron after looking it up in a bird book.

FACT
something known to exist or to have
happened

It is a fact that Earth is not flat.

OPINION
a belief or judgment that is not certain

The school bus is a zoo, is an opinion.

EXCERPT
a passage selected from something
written

Before answering the questions, he carefully

read the short excerpt from the book.

SIMILE
a figure of speech in which two dissimilar
things are compared using like or as

A good example of a simile is, Raquel lit up the

room like sunshine.

LITER
a liquid metric measurement equal to
about 1.06 quarts

Celia and Jerry were so thirsty that they each

quickly drank a liter-sized bottle of water.

1 L

SOCIETY
a community (or part of a community)
bound by common interests and standards

Jennifer read about the ancient Mayan society

and discovered they were bound together by
their religious beliefs.

DIVERSITY
the condition of being different; variety

When she traveled to South America, Nancy

was amazed at the diversity of people she met
in all the different countries.

NARRATIVE
having the form of a story

Nathan included many details in his personal

narrative so people would know a lot about him.

RESPONSE
a reaction or answer to written material

Jarrod wrote a long response to the test

question because he had many things to say.

GRID
a picture of evenly spaced horizontal and
perpendicular linesusually used for
locating things (looks like graph paper).

Ronnie used the grid on the city map to locate

the downtown museum.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
A B

C D

F G

ENVIRONMENT
the nearby conditions or forces that
influence an ecological community

We knew the environment of the neighborhood

was affected by the new trash-burning power
plant because of the odd smell.

INVESTIGATION
a detailed examination; study; research

Jessicas investigation into her familys history

uncovered a famous Underground Railroad
conductor.

EDITING
looking over something written in order
to correct or improve

James made sure he did a good job of editing

his narrative because he wanted it to be
perfect.

EXTENDED
longer; lengthened; stretched out

Ron checked his extended response to make

sure he had written enough.

EVEN
describing a number that is divisible by 2
with no remainder

Rochelle knew that even numbers could be

divided by 2.

10 2 = 5

24 2 = 12

16 2 = 8

28 2 = 14

20 2 = 10

34 2 = 17

ELEVATION
the height of something above or below
sea level

John knew that the tip of Mt. Everest was the

highest land elevation in the world.

ENERGY
capacity for performing work; effort

It didnt take much energy to start the toy car

rolling down the ramp.

EXERCISE
a task or problem done to develop skill

Brittany completed the first writing exercise in

one hour and had another hour and a half to
finish the second writing exercise.

SELECT
choose; pick out; take by preference

On the multiple-choice questions, Karen had to

carefully select the right answer.


COORDINATES
a set of numbers used to locate a point
on a graph or plane

The coordinates of the hidden treasure were

(4, 5) on the map.
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

TIME LINE
events of an age or era shown on a scale
(in order)

The time line showed what important events

came before the Declaration of Independence
and what events happened afterwards.

EQUIVALENT
equal in value

The decimal 0.75 is equivalent to the fraction .

0.75 =

BAR GRAPH
a drawing using rectangles of equal
width to show information (data) in an
organized way

By looking at the bar graph, Jill was able to tell

that it rained more in April than in March or
May.
Rainfall

8
6
4

Month

AUG

JUL

APR

MAR

FEB

JUN

2
JAN

Inches of Rain

10

ROUNDED
stated a number in a briefer or less exact
form by dropping a number on the right
and raising or lowering the number on the
left (based on the dropped number)

Kanisha rounded 6.5 up to 7 and rounded 6.4

down to 6.

6.5 7 and 6.4 6

OMIT
to leave out; to fail to include

Gayle checked over her narrative to make sure

she didnt omit any details that were asked for
in the directions.

ESTIMATE
(verb) to give the best guess based on
available data; (noun) the best guess
based on available data

(verb) Reginald estimated he could afford the

three shirts because he had $22 and each
shirt cost $6.29.
(noun) The estimate Reginald made for the cost
of the three shirts was $19.00.

FACTOR
any number that divides evenly into
another (with no remainder)

Nate found out that 4 was a factor of 12 when

he evenly divided 4 into 12.

12 4 = 3

LINE SEGMENT
a line that has a beginning and an end

Ms. Walton drew a line segment on the board

that started at point A and ended at point B.

CONDENSATION
the change from vapor to liquid

After filling the glass with ice and soda, Ken

noticed condensation droplets quickly forming
on the outside of the glass.

EVAPORATION
the change from liquid to vapor

Hours after the rain shower, Henry noticed

that evaporation had caused the rain puddles to
disappear from his driveway.

PRECIPITATION
a deposit on the earth of rain, mist, hail,
sleet, and/or snow

As part of her science experiment, Ashley

measured and graphed the amount of
precipitation her town received during the
month of April.

PATTERN
a math formula that repeats

Gregory found the number pattern was to

multiply by two and subtract one.

( ___ 2 ) 1 = ____

(3, 5, 9, 17, 33, 65)

YARD
a measure of 3 feet or 36 inches

The size of Mrs. McQueens room is

approximately 8 yards by 14 yards.

OUNCES
small units of weight and measure (16
ounces in a pound and 8 ounces in a cup)

If Mark sold 10 cups of lemonade at the

carnival, he sold a total of 80 ounces.

(10 cups x 8 ounces = 80 ounces)

IGNEOUS ROCKS
rocks formed by solidification of molten
rock

At the base of the old volcano, Mrs. Russell

picked up several igneous rocks to show her
class.

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
rocks formed by material that settles to
the bottom

When the construction crew blasted through

the mountain, it was easy to see the layers of
sedimentary rocks.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
a rock that is different (changed) from
what it was beforehaving been formed
by pressure, heat, and/or water

After centuries of heat and pressure, the

sedimentary rocks became metamorphic rocks.

VOLUME
the space occupied or enclosed by cubic
units

The cake was a 2 by 6 by 10 rectangle and

Katrina figured out its volume was 120 cubic
inches.
10 "
6"
2"

AREA
the space occupied or enclosed by
square units

The garden was a 6 by 10 rectangle and

Charley figured out its area was 60 square
feet.

ACUTE ANGLE
an angle whose measurement is less
than 90

Sally drew an acute angle that looked like the

hands of the clock when it was 3:05.

OBTUSE ANGLE
an angle whose measurement is more
than 90

Tiffany drew an obtuse angle that looked like

the hands of the clock when it was 2:50.

PARALLEL LINES
lying in the same direction but always
the same distance apart

Railroad tracks are a great example of parallel

lines.

PERPENDICULAR
meeting another line at a right angle

The grounds crew set up the goals posts

perpendicular to the ground.

RIGHT ANGLE
an angle whose measure is 90

At 3:00, the hands of the clock form a right

angle.

ORDER
to arrange or rank in a special way

She arranged the set of numbers in order from

lowest to highest.

{ 3, 7, 10, 11, 15 }

SUMMARIZE
to state or express in a brief, concise
form

After reading the entire, long passage, Jackie

was able to summarize it into just two
sentences.

INFORMATION
knowledge communicated; facts

Dave checked all the information provided

before attempting to answer the question.

PASSAGE
a portion or section of a written work

Read the entire passage carefully and look for

clues.

SOURCE
original or basic materials used in
research or to find answers

Two sources you might use to find the capital

of a state are an encyclopedia or an almanac.

MA-ME

ALMANAC

ENCYCLOPEDIA

CAREFUL
cautious; thorough

Jennifer was being extremely careful when she

thoughtfully read each question before writing
her answers.

CHECK
to inspect for accuracy

Devon knew he had to check every answer in

order to pass the test.