Praxis Elementary Education Fundamentals: Science (8005) Study Guide

Updated for 2026–2027 and written for the 8005 in its current form: three 30-minute sections, one for each science, since September 1, 2026.

The Praxis Elementary Education Fundamentals: Science test (8005) gives you 74 selected-response questions in 90 minutes: about 24 on Earth and Space Sciences, 25 on Life Sciences, and 25 on Physical Sciences, each category on its own 30-minute clock, with an on-screen scientific calculator. Roughly 10 to 15 percent of the questions build in a Science and Engineering Practice, and a similar share set the science inside a classroom decision from the Tasks of Teaching Science. You can take the whole test at once or one category at a time as Praxis Steps 8501, 8502, and 8503. This study guide covers that test and no other.

Each chapter follows the test's own topic list. The science you will teach, from the layers of the Earth and the phases of the Moon to cells, heredity, food webs, states of matter, circuits, light, and sound, is explained in plain language with diagrams drawn for this book. Most chapters include a Classroom Connection and the ideas students and candidates most often mix up, and every content chapter ends with twelve practice questions.

What is inside

• 1,195 practice questions, with a reason given for every wrong option as well as the right one

• Three full-length 74-question practice tests at the official 24/25/25 split, printed as three 30-minute sections, each with Science and Engineering Practice and Tasks of Teaching Science questions

• A 37-question diagnostic test that sends each missed question to the chapter that teaches it

• 80 chapters: rocks, plate tectonics, and Earth's history; water, weather, and climate; the solar system and the sky; cells, genetics, and evolution; classification, plants, and the human body; ecology; matter and its changes; forces, motion, and energy; electricity, magnetism, waves, light, and sound; and seven chapters on the Science and Engineering Practices and the Tasks of Teaching Science

• 171 diagrams and graphs, with multiple-selection (Which TWO, Which THREE) questions in every content chapter and calculator questions where the test uses them

• Study plans for eight weeks, four weeks, two weeks, and the final week, and advice on taking the test as three Steps

• Review tools: a quick reference, commonly confused ideas at a glance, a glossary, a topic coverage map, an answer key at a glance, a score tracker, and a wrong-answer log

• Qualifying scores for the states that listed the 8005 in September 2026

Checked at the source. Question counts, timing, fee, calculator, Praxis Steps rules, category weights, and state qualifying scores were read from the Praxis Study Companion for test 8005 and the Praxis website in September 2026. Science facts were checked against NASA, NOAA, USGS, NIH, and other government and scientific sources. The 8005 is new and states are adopting it one at a time, so confirm that your state requires the 8005 before you register.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by ETS. Praxis is a registered trademark of ETS (Educational Testing Service), which does not sponsor or endorse this product.