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Testing Until It Fails is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 science worksheet on fair tests with variables controlled to find what to improve, 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 2 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.

Testing Until It Fails

3-5-ETS1-3

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Why is identifying a failure point more useful than a pass or fail?
  • A.It tells you exactly what to improve
  • B.It is quicker to write
  • C.It is not more useful
2.What should be recorded besides the result?
  • A.Every variable held constant, so somebody else can judge the test
  • B.The weather
  • C.Who worked hardest
3.Why run each test three times?
  • A.One run may reflect a build fault rather than the design
  • B.To fill the lesson
  • C.To use more water
4.You change the filter material and the seal together. What is the problem?
  • A.Nothing, it improved
  • B.You cannot attribute the change in performance to either
  • C.It saves a lesson
5.You test three filter designs. What must be identical?
  • A.The colour of the containers
  • B.Who pours
  • C.The water, the volume poured and how clarity is judged
6.After the seal is fixed, the frame collapses instead. What does that show?
  • A.The design got worse
  • B.The failure point moved, so the first fix worked
  • C.Nothing was learned
7.A prototype passes every test easily. What should you do next?
  • A.Stop testing
  • B.Test it harder until it fails, to find its limit
  • C.Declare it finished
8.A filter leaks at the seal every time. What is that?
  • A.A failure point, and the thing to redesign first
  • B.Bad luck
  • C.A reason to abandon the design

LessonPrint · 3-5-ETS1-3 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Testing Until It Fails

Set 2. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.It tells you exactly what to improve
  2. 2.Every variable held constant, so somebody else can judge the test
  3. 3.One run may reflect a build fault rather than the design
  4. 4.You cannot attribute the change in performance to either
  5. 5.The water, the volume poured and how clarity is judged
  6. 6.The failure point moved, so the first fix worked
  7. 7.Test it harder until it fails, to find its limit
  8. 8.A failure point, and the thing to redesign first

More practice for 3-5-ETS1-3

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

Teaching this next? Testing Until It Fails is the 60-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.