CAST Practice Test FAQs

How long is a paperback’s license good for?

It is good for 1 year. The paper back books are meant to be written in so we hope by the end of the year, students would have vigorously written their thoughts, observations, and equations in the book. Merely listening to how a phenomenon works, uses one memory channel and that is the listening channel. But when a student writes down the equations used and then uses the equations to get the answer, that student is using not only the listening channel but also the writing channel for memorization and understanding. If a school has extra books that were not used in a given semester, this would mean the school has some clean books with pages that do not have writing on them. Teachers may use these gooks for a second year but should realize these books are considered by Education4Equity as having an old license that has expired. Therefore these books can not be resold or refunded.

How long is the license of an e-flip book?

The license for an e-book is good for two years.

When a school purchases the 2024 version of the books, when does that version expire?

The 2024 version of the books expire June 30th of 2024. The version starts out anytime in the 2023 school year but always concludes June 30th of the next year which in this case (of a 2024 version) concludes June 30th, 2024.

Can teachers make photo copies of the pages of the books?

No. This is not allowed because over time copying pages causes the company to loose money, the integrity of the book to loose its quality, and the answers to questions to be misguided (lacking alignment with the answers in the book). Please do not copy any part of the book by any means.

How are the questions created? Did you copy them from the websites that belong to the California department of Education such as the CAASPP.org websites?

We use 5 means to create questions: and we never copy science questions from another source. Doing so would be plagiarizing. a) First and foremost, we start with the standard itself and utilizing a team of expert science writers, we create questions that align with the grade level; b) We look at science questions from past material written around the world to ensure the rigor of our science questions is age appropriate. From looking at a wide number of questions from other scientists, we compose our own questions; c) We do look at the blueprint of the standards and questions listed on CAASPP.org and https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/castitemspecs.asp. d) We draw ideas from a number of key scientists that we have on our team – i.e. scientists with advanced degrees at Stanford and Berkley; e) We incorporate into our questions a strong consideration for minorities, and youth that are in 5th grade, middle school, and high school.

What makes your book unique in the market place when comparing your books to other science books?

Our books adhere to the highest standards of elementary, middle school and high school rigor and each question is explained within the context of the standard it supports. All of our questions have a DCI (Discrete Core Ideas). And with each question, you can observe an SEP (Science and Engineering Practices) and/or a CCC(Cross Cutting Concepts). At the beginning of each book we help teachers understand a few key science concepts so they can teach the material from the ground up, giving students a solid understanding of the logic behind the answer. We are teachers who teach other teachers and have the mission of rekindling the love that teachers had for the teaching profession which at one time fueled their passion to help every student reach their full potential. We also aim to inspire students with certain questions that we ask and certain science problems that were solved by innovative men and women throughout history. Did you know there is a scientific way to eliminate depression from your life? Did you know that on the Apollo 13 flight on April 13th 1970, the astronauts sat in a space capsule and worked together with engineers 200,000 miles away on earth to fix the problem and bring the crew safely home. How did they do this? By scientific thinking which we all can learn. We believe our books help our students have a love for science, have the ability to compete in science on the international landscape, and have the desire to study science topics. It is with a high level of assurance that we anticipate raising up young scientists that will save lives, empower new inventions, and make innovative breakthroughs in healthcare around the world.