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Keeping the Test Fair is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 science worksheet on planning fair tests with variables controlled, aligned to Common Core standard 3-5-ETS1-3. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 12 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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One paper per pupil

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Keeping the Test Fair

3-5-ETS1-3

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Why run each test more than once?
  • A.To make the sheet longer
  • B.To use more time
  • C.One result might be unusual
2.You change two things and the result improves. What is the problem?
  • A.Nothing, it improved
  • B.Two changes are always better
  • C.You cannot tell which change helped
3.A pupil tests one design outdoors and one indoors. What is wrong?
  • A.Indoors is always better
  • B.The conditions differ, so the results cannot be compared
  • C.Nothing, both were tested
4.What is a failure point?
  • A.The part that gives way first under test
  • B.A design nobody liked
  • C.A test that was not done
5.Your model bridge fails at the same joint every time. What does that tell you?
  • A.That joint is the failure point to improve
  • B.Bridges cannot be improved
  • C.The whole design is fine
6.You test two windbreaks. What must be the same for both?
  • A.The colour of each
  • B.The wind, the place and how you measure the damage
  • C.Nothing at all
7.Why record what you controlled as well as what you changed?
  • A.It is not necessary
  • B.So somebody else can judge whether the test was fair
  • C.To fill the page
8.In a slope test, what is the variable you change?
  • A.The amount of water
  • B.The angle of the slope
  • C.The cover on the slope

LessonPrint · 3-5-ETS1-3 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Test Fair

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.One result might be unusual
  2. 2.You cannot tell which change helped
  3. 3.The conditions differ, so the results cannot be compared
  4. 4.The part that gives way first under test
  5. 5.That joint is the failure point to improve
  6. 6.The wind, the place and how you measure the damage
  7. 7.So somebody else can judge whether the test was fair
  8. 8.The cover on the slope

More practice for 3-5-ETS1-3

Run fair tests, controlling the variables, to find what to improve.

Teaching this next? Keeping the Test Fair is the 55-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 3-5-ETS1-3 of the Next Generation Science Standards.