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

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

LessonPrint · 3-5-ETS1-3 · Set 6 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Testing Until It Fails

Set 6. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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.