Free Year 3 Earth & space Quiz — 10 Questions, Instant Results

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Earth & space at Year 3: what the curriculum expects

In Year 3 earth and space science covers the Earth's rotation on its axis causing day and night.

This topic sits inside the Victorian Curriculum for Year 3 science; the questions stay at the easy and at-level tiers so the result is a fair check of the foundations.

Common earth and space misconceptions tutors see

The distractors in this quiz are built from real misconceptions rather than random wrong numbers, so a specific wrong answer usually points to a specific gap. The ones we see most at Year 3:

• Earthquakes and volcanoes are thought to be unrelated.
• Day and night are explained by the sun moving around the Earth.
• The seasons are explained by distance from the sun.

None of these is a sign of low ability. Each is a reasonable idea that worked in an earlier year and needs replacing, which is exactly what a good explanation, or a tutor, does.

Practising earth and space with a Year 3 student

The habits that move earth and space from shaky to secure at Year 3:

1. Watch water erode a pile of sand or soil in the garden.
2. Look at a map of the solar system and talk about scale.
3. Discuss news of a natural disaster and what caused it.

Middle primary science is best learned by doing and explaining. Simple home investigations, a results table and a one-sentence conclusion build the habits the curriculum wants.

About the questions on this page

Every set on this page is a seeded selection of 10 from the 26 earth and space questions that pass our quality gate. A different seed gives a different set, and there are many more combinations than any one student will need. The correct answers never appear in the page source; the browser asks our server for them after you press Mark my answers.

A single-topic quiz is more precise than a mixed one: if the score here is low, the gap is in earth and space, not somewhere in Year 3 science generally. It is still short, though, and it cannot show how a student copes with the stretch and challenge questions that decide a top result. That is what the free Skills Check adds.

The quiz: 10 questions

Choose one answer for each question, then press Mark my answers. Set 16082 · New set of questions →

Question 1

Earth & space

Most of Earth's surface is covered by…

Sand Water Ice Forest

Question 2

Earth & space

Every month, Maya draws the Moon's shape in the sky. In Week 1 she sees a full circle of light. By Week 2 she sees only half a circle lit up. By Week 4 she can barely see the Moon at all. What is the best reason the amount of the Moon we can see keeps changing?

The Moon moves around Earth, so we see different amounts of its sunlit side from where we stand. Clouds block more of the Moon as the weeks go on. Earth's shadow slowly covers more and more of the Moon each week. The Moon gets smaller each week and then grows back again.

Question 3

Earth & space

At night, tiny points of light called stars can be seen. What are stars?

Aeroplane lights Small pieces of the Moon Very far away suns Holes in the sky

Question 4

Earth & space

During the day, where do we get most of our light and heat from?

The stars Streetlights The Moon The Sun

Question 5

Earth & space

A student says: 'When it is daytime in Australia, children in Spain are also having daytime.' Is this correct? Choose the best answer.

No — when Australia faces the Sun for daytime, Spain faces away from the Sun and has night-time. Yes — daytime happens at the same time everywhere, but some countries have clouds that make it darker. Yes — the whole world has daytime at the same time because the Sun lights up all of Earth. No — Spain always has night-time because it is on the other side of the universe.

Question 6

Earth & space

What do we call the shape of the Sun, Earth and Moon?

Round like a ball Long like a stick Square like a box Flat like a plate

Question 7

Earth & space

Which season in Australia is usually the hottest?

Autumn Spring Summer Winter

Question 8

Earth & space

Which season is usually the coldest in Australia?

Winter Spring Summer Autumn

Question 9

Earth & space

Tom watches the shadow of a fence post at 8 am, 12 noon and 3 pm. At which time will the shadow be shortest, and why?

At 12 noon, because the Sun is highest in the sky and shines most directly downward. At 8 am, because the Sun has just risen and is very bright. The shadow stays the same length all day because the fence post does not move. At 3 pm, because the Sun has had more time to warm the ground.

Question 10

Earth & space

What causes day and night?

The Sun moving around Earth The Moon Clouds Earth spinning on its axis

Mark my answers →

Your result

0 / 10

Take the free full Skills Check →   Try another set

How to read a score out of 10

9 or 10 out of 10

The easy and at-level content is secure. The useful question now is how far above the year level the student can go, which a ten-item quiz cannot show. The free Skills Check adds stretch and challenge questions on every topic so you can see the ceiling as well as the floor.

7 or 8 out of 10

Solid, with one or two specific gaps. Look at which topic the incorrect answers came from (the results panel names the weakest topic) and spend a week on that topic before re-testing with a different seed.

5 or 6 out of 10

Some core ideas are shaky. The pattern matters more than the score: two misses in the same topic is a gap; misses scattered across topics usually means reading the question too fast. Either way, the Skills Check will tell you which.

4 or fewer out of 10

Foundations from an earlier year are probably missing, which is common and fixable. Try the quiz one year level down to confirm, then talk to a tutor about a short catch-up plan rather than more of the same practice.

What to do with the result

Questions? Call 03 9509 3293 or book a free consultation. RHZ Tutoring, 17/47 Apex Drive, Truganina VIC 3029.

Frequently asked questions

Other Science topics for Year 3

Mixed Year 3 Science quiz (all topics) →

Earth & space in other year levels

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All 3,261 free practice questions, Prep to Year 12 →