Pretest Information

The following pretests are intended to provide you with a quick and crude assessment of your existing knowledge of the topics included in this lesson. If you do well on these pretests, that indicates that you are already familiar with these particular topics and may want to skip or briefly skim those portions of the lesson. If you miss just a few questions you should study at least those aspects of the topics. Although there are no absolute cut-off scores that distinguish between sufficient and insufficient prior knowledge and you should use your own best judgement to evaluate your scores, there are some guidelines below to help you.

Evaluating Pretest Results

As mentioned before, there are no firm cutoff scores for "passing" or "failing" these pretests. However, consider these recommendations:

If you scored 100%, skip the corresponding section of the lesson or look it over to see if there might be an additional idea or two for you.

If you scored 80% to 90%, look at your work to see if you made a simple error. If so, make note of it and proceed as if you scored 100. If your error indicates that you don't understand a particular aspect of the topic, work on that particular aspect of the topic in the course material.

If you scored 60% to 70%, work through all of the course materials on that topic paying attention to the aspects that you missed.

If you scored 50% or below, work through all of the course materials on that topic and plan to spend extra time working on these topics.

Metric System Pretest

There are three aspects of the metric system that are addressed in this pretest. They are (1) metric units and the properties they measure, (2) metric prefixes and their meaning, and (3) converting between metric units.

1. The unit "liter" measures the property of

a. mass

b. length

c. volume

d. density

e. temperature

2. The unit "meter" measures the property of

a. mass

b. length

c. volume

d. density

e. temperature

3. Chemists measure mass using this unit.

a. gram

b. meter

c. liter

d. milliliter

e. centimeter

4. "Milli-" means

a. 0.001

b. 0.01

c. 0.1

d. 100

e. 1000

5. "Centi-" means

a. 0.001

b. 0.01

c. 0.1

d. 100

e. 1000

6. "Kilo-" means

a. 0.001

b. 0.01

c. 0.1

d. 100

e. 1000

7. 25 g =

a. 0.025 kg

b. 0.25 kg

c. 2.5 kg

d. 250 kg

e. 2500 kg

f. 25,000 kg

8. 43 liters is the same as

a. 0.043 mL

b. 0.43 mL

c. 4.3 mL

d. 430 mL

e. 43,000 mL

9. How many grams are there in 42.3 milligrams?

a. 42,300 g

b. 423 g

c. 4.23 g

d. 0.423 g

e. 0.0423 g

10. A measurement of 55 cm is the same as

a. 0.055 mm

b. 0.55 mm

c. 5.5 mm

d. 550 mm

e. 5500 mm

Answers: 1.c, 2.b, 3.a, 4.a, 5.b, 6.e, 7.a, 8.e, 9.e, 10.d.

Scientific Notation Pretest

Three aspects of scientific notation are addressed in this pretest: (1) converting a regular number into scientific notation, (2) converting a number from scientific notation into regular notation, and (3) doing calculations using scientific notation.

1. 0.0057 is properly shown in scientific notation as

a. 57 x 10⁴

b. 57 x 10^-4

c. 5.7 x 10³

d. 5.7 x 10^-3

e. 5.7 x 10^-4

2. 500.7 is properly shown in scientific notation as

a. 5007

b. 5007 x 10^-1

c. 5.007

d. 5.007 x 10²

e. 5.007 x 10^-2

3. 2.3 x 10⁴ is the same as

a. 0.000023

b. 0.00023

c. 2300

d. 23,000

e. 230,000

4. 3.2 x 10^-1 is the same as

a. 0.032

b. 0.32

c. 3.2

d. 32

e. 320

5. (7.1 x 10⁷) x (1.2 x 10^-5) =

a. 8.5 x 10¹²

b. 8.5 x 10²

c. 8.5 x 10^-2

d. 8.5 x 10^-12

e. 8.5 x 10^-35

6. (2.1 x 10^-8) x (1.7 x 10³) =

a. 3.6 x 10¹¹

b. 3.6 x 10⁵

c. 3.6 x 10^-5

d. 3.6 x 10^-11

e. 3.6 x 10^-24

7. (5.0 x 10⁷) / (2.0 x 10¹⁰) =

a. 2.5 x 10^-10

b. 2.5 x 10^-4

c. 2.5 x 10^-3

d. 2.5 x 10⁴

e. 2.5 x 10¹⁰

f. 2.5 x 10²¹

8. (3.0 x 10^-6) / (4.0 x 10²) =

a. 7.5 x 10^-9

b. 7.5 x 10^-8

c. 7.5 x 10^-7

d. 7.5 x 10^-6

e. 7.5 x 10^-3

9. (2.0 x 10²) x (3.0 x 10³) / (4.0 x 10⁴) =

a. 1.5

b. 1.5 x 10¹

c. 1.5 x 10^1.5

d. 1.5 x 10²

e. 1.5 x 10⁹

10. (2.0 x 10²) x (3.0 x 10³) / (4.0 x 10^-4) =

a. 1.5 x 10^-3

b. 1.5 x 10¹

c. 1.5 x 10²

d. 1.5 x 10⁹

e. 1.5 x 10¹⁰

Answers: 1.d, 2.d, 3.d, 4.b, 5.b, 6.c, 7.c, 8.a, 9.b, 10.d.

Significant Digits Pretest

Two important aspects of significant digits (or significant figures) are dealt with in this pretest: (1) determining the number of significant digits in a written value and (2) rounding off calculated values to the appropriate number of significant digits.

Two additional aspects are included in the course content (but not included in this pretest): (3) the general concept of significant digits as it relates to precision and (4) how to record a measured value using the correct number of significant digits.

1. 0.0507 has how many significant digits?

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

e. 5

2. 2000 has how many significant digits?

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

3. The number 10.10 has how many significant digits?

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

4. 5.300 / 3.1 =

a. 1.7

b. 1.71

c. 1.710

d. 1.7097

e. 2

5. 11.1 x 0.8 =

a. 8.

b. 8.8

c. 8.88

d. 8.9

e. 9

Answers:1.c, 2.a, 3.d, 4.a, 5.e.

Conversion Calculations Pretest

This pretest contains questions on making conversions between the metric and American (English) systems of measurement. Because the focus is on doing the conversion calculations, rather than on memorizing the conversion factors, needed relationships are given here.

1 kg = 2.20 lb

1 inch = 2.54 cm

1. 5.5 lb = ?

a. 2.5 kg

b. 3.3 kg

c. 4.8 kg

d. 7.7 kg

e. 12. kg

2. 5.5 kg = ?

a. 2.3 lb

b. 3.3 lb

c. 4.8 lb

d. 7.7 lb

e. 12. lb

3. How many inches are there in 12 centimeters?

a. 0.047 inches

b. 0.30 inches

c. 4.7 inches

d. 15. inches

e. 30. inches

4. How many inches are there in 12 meters?

a. 4.7 x 10^-2 in

b. 3.0 x 10^-1 in

c. 4.7 in

d. 4.7 x 10² in

e. 3.0 x 10³ in

5. How many meters is 0.22 inches?

a. 0.00087 m

b. 0.0056 m

c. 0.087 m

d. 0.56 m

e. 8.7 m

f. 56. m

Answers: 1. a, 2.e, 3. c, 4. d, 5. b.

Density Calculations Pretest

Working with density involves at least three factors: (1) understanding the concept of density, (2) calculating a value for density given the appropriate information, and (3) using a value for density to convert between mass and volume. This pretest has questions on the last two of these.

1. What would be the mass of a 7.0 mL sample of material if it had a density of 5.0 g/mL?

a. 0.71 g

b. 1.4 g

c. 2.0 g

d. 12 g

e. 35 g

2. What would be the volume of a 7.0 g sample of material if it had a density of 5.0 g/mL?

a. 0.71 mL

b. 1.4 mL

c. 2.0 mL

d. 12 mL

e. 35 mL

3. What would be the volume of a 5.0 g sample of material if it had a density of 7.0 g/mL?

a. 0.71 mL

b. 1.4 mL

c. 2.0 mL

d. 12 mL

e. 35 mL

4. Calculate the density of a material for which a 6.4 mL sample has a mass of 13.203 g.

a. 0.48 g/mL

b. 0.48473 g/mL

c. 2.0629 g/mL

d. 2.1 g/mL

e. 6.8 g/mL

5. Use the following data to calculate the density of the metal.

Volume of water in cylinder without metal = 6.0 mL

Volume of water and metal in cylinder = 9.0 mL

Mass of water and cylinder without metal = 32.0 g

Mass of water and metal and cylinder = 40.0 g

a. 0.23 g/mL

b. 0.38 g/mL

c. 1.5 g/mL

d. 2.7 g/mL

e. 4.4 g/mL

Answers: 1.e. 2.b. 3.a. 4.d. 5.d.