PRELIM EXAMINATION in EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE

S.Y 2025-2026
Name: _______________________________ Grade and Section:
Teacher: Date:
Test I. Multiple Choice.
Direction: Read the questions carefully. Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

I have organized the multiple-choice examination by number, as requested, to create a final test paper format.
The questions are ordered from 1 to 50, with the answer key and explanations following the full exam.

General Physics Prelim Examination

Instructions: Read each question carefully and choose the best answer from the options provided.

1. What is the SI unit for temperature?

a) Celsius

b) Fahrenheit

c) Kelvin

d) Joule

2. Which of the following is the base unit for mass in the International System of Units (SI)?

a) Gram

b) Pound

c) Kilogram

d) Ounce

3. How many meters are there in 2.5 kilometers?

a) 250 m

b) 25 m

c) 2500 m

d) 0.0025 m

4. A car travels at a speed of 72 km/h. What is its speed in meters per second (m/s)?

a) 20 m/s

b) 7.2 m/s

c) 10 m/s

d) 72 m/s

5. If a container holds 500 milliliters (mL) of water, what is its volume in liters (L)?

a) 50 L

b) 5 L

c) 0.5 L

d) 0.05 L

6. The mass of a planet is 5.972 x 10^24 kilograms. How would this be written in standard notation?
a) 5972000000000000000000000 kg

b) 5.972 kg

c) 5972 x 10^21 kg

d) 597.2 x 10^23 kg

7. What is the definition of the mean of a set of data?

a) The difference between the highest and lowest values.

b) The most frequently occurring value.

c) The average of all the values.

d) The middle value when the data is ordered.

8. Which of the following describes the absolute error in a measurement?

a) The difference between the measured value and the actual value.

b) The ratio of the error to the actual value.

c) The percentage of error in a measurement.

d) The average of all the measured values.

9. The standard deviation measures:

a) The central tendency of the data.

b) The maximum value in the data set.

c) The spread or dispersion of the data from the mean.

d) The most common value in the data set.

10. A student measures the length of a pendulum five times and gets the following results: 30.1 cm, 30.5
cm, 29.9 cm, 30.3 cm, and 30.2 cm. What is the mean length of the pendulum?

a) 30.0 cm

b) 30.2 cm

c) 30.3 cm

d) 30.1 cm

11. If the actual length of the pendulum in the previous question is 30.0 cm, what is the absolute error of the
first measurement (30.1 cm)?

a) -0.1 cm

b) 0.1 cm

c) 0.01 cm

d) 30.1 cm

12. A data set has a mean of 50 and a variance of 25. What is the standard deviation?

a) 25

b) 5
c) 50

d) 10

13. A quantity that has both magnitude and direction is called a:

a) Scalar

b) Vector

c) Unit

d) Dimension

14. Which of the following is an example of a scalar quantity?

a) Force

b) Velocity

c) Distance

d) Acceleration

15. Which of the following best defines a vector?

a) A number with units.

b) A quantity with magnitude only.

c) A quantity with both magnitude and direction.

d) A measurement without units.

16. The direction of a vector is often represented by an arrow. What does the length of the arrow represent?

a) The direction of the vector.

b) The magnitude of the vector.

c) The angle of the vector.

d) The starting point of the vector.

17. A car is traveling at 60 mph to the east. This statement describes the car's:

a) Speed

b) Velocity

c) Distance

d) Acceleration

18. Two vectors of equal magnitude are added together. The resultant vector will have a magnitude greater
than the original vectors if the angle between them is:

a) 180 degrees

b) 90 degrees

c) 0 degrees

d) 270 degrees

19. What is the total length of the path traveled by an object called?
a) Displacement

b) Distance

c) Velocity

d) Speed

20. The rate at which an object changes its position, including direction, is known as:

a) Speed

b) Distance

c) Velocity

d) Acceleration

21. Which of the following is a scalar quantity?

a) Displacement

b) Velocity

c) Speed

d) Acceleration

22. A runner runs one lap around a circular track with a circumference of 400 meters. What is the runner's
displacement?

a) 400 m

b) 200 m

c) 0 m

d) 800 m

23. If a car travels 100 km in 2 hours, what is its average speed?

a) 50 km/h

b) 200 km/h

c) 100 km/h

d) 2 km/h

24. A dog walks 5 meters east, then 5 meters west. What is the dog's displacement?

a) 10 meters

b) 5 meters east

c) 0 meters

d) 5 meters west

25. The acceleration of an object in free fall near the Earth's surface is approximately:

a) 9.8 m/s2

b) 9.8 m/s

c) 10 m/s
d) 9.8 km/h

26. What is the velocity of an object at its maximum height when thrown vertically upward?

a) 9.8 m/s2

b) 0 m/s

c) 9.8 m/s

d) -9.8 m/s

27. The equation

d=v0t+21at2 is used to solve for which of the following?

a) Final velocity

b) Acceleration

c) Displacement

d) Time

28. A ball is dropped from a cliff. What is its velocity after 2 seconds? (Assume g = 9.8 m/s2)

a) 19.6 m/s

b) 9.8 m/s

c) 4.9 m/s

d) 39.2 m/s

29. A car starts from rest and accelerates uniformly at 2 m/s2 for 5 seconds. What is its final velocity?

a) 5 m/s

b) 10 m/s

c) 20 m/s

d) 25 m/s

30. An object is thrown vertically upward with an initial velocity of 20 m/s. How long does it take to reach
its maximum height? (Assume g = 9.8 m/s2)

a) 2.04 s

b) 4.08 s

c) 10 s

d) 20 s

31. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3.0 x 10^8 m/s. What is this speed in kilometers per
hour (km/h)?

a) 1.08 x 10^9 km/h

b) 3.0 x 10^5 km/h

c) 1.08 x 10^12 km/h

d) 3.0 x 10^8 km/h

a) 10 km/h

b) 36 km/h

c) 100 km/h

d) 3.6 km/h

33. A solid block has dimensions of 20 cm x 10 cm x 5 cm. What is its volume in cubic meters (

m3)?

a) 0.001 m3

b) 1.0 m3

c) 1000 m3

d) 0.1 m3

34. A set of measurements for a spring constant is: 15.2 N/m, 15.5 N/m, 15.0 N/m. The mean is 15.23 N/m.
Calculate the variance for this data set.

a) 0.0467 (N/m)2

b) 0.0511 (N/m)2

c) 0.226 (N/m)2

d) 0.021 (N/m)2

35. Using the variance from the previous question, what is the standard deviation?

a) 0.226 N/m

b) 0.0467 N/m

c) 0.145 N/m

d) 0.216 N/m

36. Five students measure the time it takes for a ball to fall from a certain height and get the following
values: 1.25 s, 1.28 s, 1.24 s, 1.27 s, and 1.26 s. What is the average time?

a) 1.24 s

b) 1.26 s

c) 1.27 s

d) 1.25 s

37. A car travels 50 km to the north. This value represents:

a) A scalar quantity because it has a magnitude.

b) A vector quantity because it has a direction.

c) A scalar quantity because it is a distance.

d) A vector quantity because it is a displacement.

38. A person walks 3 km east and then 4 km north. What is the magnitude of their displacement?
a) 7 km

b) 1 km

c) 5 km

d) 25 km

39. A boat travels at a velocity of 10 m/s due east relative to the water. The river has a current of 2 m/s due
south. What is the resultant velocity of the boat?

a) 12 m/s SE

b) 8 m/s SE

c) 104 m/s SE

d) 104 m/s E

40. A car travels 60 km/h for 2 hours and then 80 km/h for 1 hour. What is the total distance traveled?

a) 140 km

b) 120 km

c) 200 km

d) 240 km

41. A person walks 10 meters to the north, then 5 meters to the south. What is their total displacement?

a) 15 m North

b) 5 m South

c) 15 m South

d) 5 m North

42. A plane flies 500 km east in 1 hour, then 500 km west in 1 hour. What is the plane's average velocity for
the entire trip?

a) 500 km/h

b) 0 km/h

c) 1000 km/h

d) 250 km/h

43. A stone is dropped from a bridge and hits the water 3 seconds later. How high is the bridge? (Assume g
= 9.8 m/s2)

a) 29.4 m

b) 44.1 m

c) 9.8 m

d) 14.7 m

44. A car accelerates from 10 m/s to 30 m/s in 4 seconds. What is its acceleration?

a) 5 m/s2

b) 10 m/s2
c) 20 m/s2

d) 40 m/s2

45. A coin is tossed vertically upward with an initial velocity of 15 m/s. What is its velocity after 1 second?
(Assume g = 9.8 m/s2)

a) 5.2 m/s upward

b) 5.2 m/s downward

c) 24.8 m/s upward

d) 24.8 m/s downward

46. A student measures the length of a table to be 1.50 m. If the actual length is 151 cm, which of the
following statements is the most accurate evaluation of the student's measurement?

a) The measurement is precise but not accurate.

b) The measurement is accurate but not precise.

c) The measurement is both accurate and precise.

d) The measurement has an error of 1 cm.

47. Three students measure the speed of sound and get the following results: Student A: 345 m/s, Student B:
330 m/s, Student C: 340 m/s. The accepted value for the speed of sound is 343 m/s. Which student's
measurement is the most accurate?

a) Student A

b) Student B

c) Student C

d) It is impossible to determine accuracy without more data.

48. Two forces of 5 N each are applied to an object. Which of the following orientations of these forces will
result in the greatest net force?

a) Both forces are applied in the same direction.

b) Both forces are applied in opposite directions.

c) The forces are applied at a 90-degree angle to each other.

d) The forces are applied at a 180-degree angle to each other.

49. A hiker walks 3 km north and then 4 km west. Which of the following correctly describes the difference
between the distance and displacement?

a) The distance is 7 km, and the displacement is 5 km.

b) The distance is 5 km, and the displacement is 7 km.

c) Both the distance and displacement are 7 km.

d) Both the distance and displacement are 5 km.

50. An object is launched from the ground at a velocity of 19.6 m/s straight up. A second object is dropped
from a height of 19.6 m at the same time. At what height will they pass each other? (Assume g = 9.8
m/s2)

a) 9.8 m
b) 19.6 m

c) 4.9 m

d) They will not pass each other.

Answer Key and Explanations

1. c) Kelvin

o Explanation: The seven fundamental SI units include Kelvin for temperature, kilogram for mass,
second for time, meter for length, mole for amount of substance, ampere for electric current, and
candela for luminous intensity. Celsius and Fahrenheit are common temperature scales but are
not the SI base unit.

2. c) Kilogram

o Explanation: The base SI unit for mass is the kilogram (kg).

3. c) 2500 m

o Explanation: Since 1 kilometer (km) is equal to 1000 meters (m), you multiply 2.5 km by 1000
to get 2500 m.

4. a) 20 m/s

o Explanation: To convert km/h to m/s, you use the conversion factor: 1 km/h=3600 s1000 m. So,
72 km/h×3600 s1000 m=20 m/s.

5. c) 0.5 L

o Explanation: Since 1 liter (L) is equal to 1000 milliliters (mL), you divide 500 mL by 1000 to get
0.5 L.

6. a) 5972000000000000000000000 kg

o Explanation: Scientific notation 5.972×1024 means you move the decimal point 24 places to the
right.

7. c) The average of all the values.

o Explanation: The mean is a measure of central tendency, calculated by summing all data points
and dividing by the number of data points.

8. a) The difference between the measured value and the actual value.

o Explanation: Absolute error is the magnitude of the difference between a measured value and the
true or accepted value.

9. c) The spread or dispersion of the data from the mean.

o Explanation: Standard deviation quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of data
values. A low standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be close to the mean, while
a high standard deviation indicates that the data points are spread out over a wider range of
values.

10. b) 30.2 cm

o Explanation: The mean is calculated by summing the values and dividing by the number of
values: (30.1+30.5+29.9+30.3+30.2)/5=151/5=30.2 cm.

11. b) 0.1 cm
value: ∣30.1 cm−30.0 cm∣=0.1 cm.
o Explanation: The absolute error is the difference between the measured value and the actual

12. b) 5

o Explanation: The standard deviation is the square root of the variance. 25=5.

13. b) Vector

o Explanation: A vector quantity is defined by both its magnitude (size) and its direction.

14. c) Distance

o Explanation: Distance is a scalar quantity because it only has magnitude (e.g., 5 km). Force,
velocity, and acceleration are all vector quantities because they have both magnitude and
direction.

15. c) A quantity with both magnitude and direction.

o Explanation: This is the fundamental definition of a vector quantity in physics.

16. b) The magnitude of the vector.

o Explanation: A vector is often represented by an arrow. The length of the arrow corresponds to
the vector's magnitude, and the direction the arrow points indicates the vector's direction.

17. b) Velocity

o Explanation: Velocity is a vector quantity that includes both speed (60 mph) and direction (east).
Speed is the scalar component of velocity.

18. c) 0 degrees

o Explanation: When two vectors are in the same direction (0 degrees between them), their
magnitudes add up, resulting in the largest possible resultant vector.

19. b) Distance

o Explanation: Distance is a scalar quantity that measures the total path traveled. Displacement is a
vector quantity that measures the change in position from start to end.

20. c) Velocity

o Explanation: Velocity is defined as the rate of change of position, which includes both the speed
and the direction of motion.

21. c) Speed

o Explanation: Speed is a scalar quantity, as it only describes how fast an object is moving
(magnitude) without specifying a direction. Displacement, velocity, and acceleration are all
vector quantities.

22. c) 0 m

o Explanation: Displacement is the change in position from the starting point to the ending point.
Since the runner ends up at the same point where they started, their displacement is zero.

23. a) 50 km/h

o Explanation: Average speed is calculated by dividing the total distance by the total time.
100 km/2 hours=50 km/h.

24. c) 0 meters

o Explanation: The dog's starting and ending positions are the same, so its displacement is zero.
25. a) 9.8 m/s2

o Explanation: This is the approximate value for the acceleration due to gravity on the Earth's
surface.

26. b) 0 m/s

o Explanation: At its maximum height, an object thrown vertically upward momentarily stops
before it begins to fall back down. Therefore, its velocity at that instant is zero.

27. c) Displacement

o Explanation: This is one of the kinematic equations used to calculate the displacement (d) of an
object under uniform acceleration.

28. a) 19.6 m/s

o Explanation: Using the kinematic equation vf=v0+at. The initial velocity (v0) is 0 m/s (since it is
dropped), the acceleration (a) is 9.8 m/s2, and the time (t) is 2 s. So, vf=0+(9.8 m/s2)
(2 s)=19.6 m/s.

29. b) 10 m/s

o Explanation: Using the equation vf=v0+at. The car starts from rest, so v0=0. The acceleration (a)
is 2 m/s2, and the time (t) is 5 s. So, vf=0+(2 m/s2)(5 s)=10 m/s.

30. a) 2.04 s

o Explanation: At the maximum height, the final velocity (vf) is 0 m/s. Using the equation vf=v0
+at, we have 0=20 m/s+(−9.8 m/s2)t. Solving for t, we get t=20/9.8≈2.04 s.

31. B) 165 s

o Explanation: 1min. = 60 s  2.75 x 60 = 165 s

32. C) 1,200 g

o 1 kg = 1000 g  1.2 x 1000 = 1,200 g

33. C) 411.48 cm

o Explanation: 4.5 x 91.44 = 411.48 cm

34. C) 15.23 N/m

o Explanation: add all given then divide by the total number of given.

35. A) all values are the same

o Explanation: SD = 0 only if there is no variation in data

36. b) 1.26 s

o Explanation: Sum the measurements and divide by the number of measurements:

37. b) A vector quantity because it has a direction.

o Explanation: A vector quantity is defined by having both magnitude (50 km) and direction
(north).

38. c) 5 km

o Explanation: The displacement is the straight-line distance from the starting point to the ending
point. This forms a right triangle with legs of 3 km and 4 km. Using the Pythagorean theorem,
32+42=c2, so 9+16=25, and c=25=5 km.
39. c) 104 m/s SE

o Explanation: The boat's velocity and the river's current are two vectors perpendicular to each
other. The resultant velocity is the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by these two vectors.
Using the Pythagorean theorem, vresultant2=102+22=100+4=104. The resultant velocity is 104
m/s. The direction is southeast (SE) because the boat is moving east and south.

40. c) 200 km

o Explanation: Distance = speed x time. For the first part of the trip: 60 km/h×2 hours=120 km.
For the second part: 80 km/h×1 hour=80 km. The total distance is 120 km+80 km=200 km.

41. d) 5 m North

o Explanation: The person walks 10 m in one direction (North) and then 5 m in the opposite
direction (South). The total displacement is the net change in position, which is 10 m−5 m=5 m
to the North.

42. b) 0 km/h

o Explanation: Average velocity is total displacement divided by total time. The plane's total
displacement is zero because it returns to its starting point. Therefore, the average velocity is also
zero.

43. b) 44.1 m

o Explanation: Use the kinematic equation for displacement: d=vi t+2gt2. The initial velocity (v0) is
0 since the stone is dropped. The time (t) is 3 s, and g is 9.8 m/s2. So, d=(0)(3)+21(9.8)
(3)2=4.9×9=44.1 m.

44. a) 5 m/s2

o Explanation: Acceleration is the change in velocity divided by the time taken. a=(vf−v0
)/t=(30 m/s−10 m/s)/4 s=20 m/s/4 s=5 m/s2.

45. a) 5.2 m/s upward

o Explanation: Use the kinematic equation vf=v0+at. The initial velocity (v0) is 15 m/s, the
acceleration (a) is −9.8 m/s2 (since gravity acts downward), and the time (t) is 1 s. vf=15+(−9.8)
(1)=15−9.8=5.2 m/s. Since the velocity is positive, it is still moving upward.

46. d) The measurement has an error of 1 cm.

o Explanation: Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true value. The true value is
151 cm. The student's measurement is 1.50 m, which is 150 cm. The difference (error) is
151 cm−150 cm=1 cm.

47. a) Student A

o Explanation: Accuracy is how close a measurement is to the accepted value. Student A's
measurement (345 m/s) is only 2 m/s away from the accepted value of 343 m/s. Student B is 13
m/s away, and Student C is 3 m/s away.

48. a) Both forces are applied in the same direction.

o Explanation: When forces (vectors) are in the same direction, they add together to produce the
maximum possible resultant force.

49. a) The distance is 7 km, and the displacement is 5 km.

o Explanation: The distance is the total path traveled, which is 3 km+4 km=7 km. The
displacement is the straight-line distance from the start to the end, which forms a right triangle.
Using the Pythagorean theorem, 32+42=c2, so c=5 km.

50. a) 9.8 m
o Explanation: Let the upward direction be positive. The equations for the height of the two objects
are:

Object 1 (launched): y1=v0t−21gt2=19.6t−4.9t2

Object 2 (dropped): y2=h−21gt2=19.6−4.9t2

To find when they pass each other, set y1=y2:

19.6t−4.9t2=19.6−4.9t2

19.6t=19.6

t=1 s

Now substitute t=1 s into either equation to find the height.

Using the launched object's equation: y1=19.6(1)−4.9(1)2=19.6−4.9=14.7 m.

Using the dropped object's equation: y2=19.6−4.9(1)2=14.7 m.

The correct height is 14.7 m. Since this is not an option, there is a probable typo in the question
or options.