A 15-year-old tries out different clothing styles, joins and quits several clubs, and debates his political and career views with friends, often changing his mind from week to week. According to Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory, this behavior is MOST consistent with which developmental stage?

Autonomy versus shame and doubt

A 14-year-old records a typical week of activity. Day Activity Minutes Intensity Mon Soccer practice (running, jumping) 75 Vigorous Tue Brisk walk to and from school 60 Moderate Wed Soccer practice (running, jumping) 75 Vigorous Thu Bike ride 60 Moderate Fri Soccer game (running, jumping) 70 Vigorous Sat Hiking 90 Moderate Sun Recreational swimming 60 Moderate Compared with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans for youth, what is missing from this student's week?

Vigorous-intensity activity on at least 3 days per week

At least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily

Students sort influences on whether a teen tries a cigarette. Which item should be classified as an internal influence?

The teen's personal curiosity about how smoking feels

A favorite movie character who smokes in several scenes

An older brother who smokes on the back porch at home

A convenience store that displays tobacco near the register

A seventh grader explains that she follows the school's no-cheating rule because "rules keep things fair for everyone, and the whole school would fall apart if people ignored them." According to Kohlberg's theory of moral development, this reasoning is MOST characteristic of which stage?

Stage 4, law-and-order orientation (conventional level)

Stage 1, obedience-and-punishment orientation (preconventional level)

Stage 2, instrumental-exchange orientation (preconventional level)

Stage 5, social-contract orientation (postconventional level)

An adult jogs vigorously for 20 minutes on 3 days and walks briskly for 30 minutes on 2 days each week, plus resistance training on 2 days. Counting 1 minute of vigorous activity as about 2 minutes of moderate activity, how does this routine compare with the aerobic guideline for adults?

It provides 180 moderate-equivalent minutes and meets the guideline

It provides 120 moderate-equivalent minutes and falls short of it

It provides 90 moderate-equivalent minutes and falls short of it

It provides 240 moderate-equivalent minutes and exceeds the upper range

Students compare sunscreen labels to determine which product best meets dermatologist recommendations for sun protection. Which National Health Education Standards skill are they practicing?

Accessing valid health information, products, and services

Using decision-making skills to enhance health

Using interpersonal communication to enhance health

Advocating for personal, family, and community health

GACE Health P–12 (729)

Free GACE Health P–12 (729) Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the GACE Health P–12 (729), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Skills for Enhancing Health and Reducing Risks, Health and Physical Education Program.

Question 1 · Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
A 15-year-old tries out different clothing styles, joins and quits several clubs, and debates his political and career views with friends, often changing his mind from week to week. According to Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory, this behavior is MOST consistent with which developmental stage?
- A.Identity versus role confusion
- B.Intimacy versus isolation
- C.Industry versus inferiority
- D.Autonomy versus shame and doubt
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Identity versus role confusion
Experimenting with roles, values, and future plans is the central task of "Identity versus role confusion," Erikson's stage for adolescence. "Industry versus inferiority" describes the school-age child building a sense of competence, and "Intimacy versus isolation" is the young-adult task of forming close, committed relationships.

Question 2 · Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

A 14-year-old records a typical week of activity.

Day	Activity	Minutes	Intensity
Mon	Soccer practice (running, jumping)	75	Vigorous
Tue	Brisk walk to and from school	60	Moderate
Wed	Soccer practice (running, jumping)	75	Vigorous
Thu	Bike ride	60	Moderate
Fri	Soccer game (running, jumping)	70	Vigorous
Sat	Hiking	90	Moderate
Sun	Recreational swimming	60	Moderate

Compared with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans for youth, what is missing from this student's week?

A.Bone-strengthening activity on at least 3 days per week
B.Muscle-strengthening activity on at least 3 days per week
C.Vigorous-intensity activity on at least 3 days per week
D.At least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily

Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. Muscle-strengthening activity on at least 3 days per week

Youth ages 6 to 17 need 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily, including vigorous, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening activity on at least 3 days each. Every day here has 60 or more minutes, and the three soccer days provide both vigorous and bone-strengthening (running and jumping) activity, so only "Muscle-strengthening activity on at least 3 days per week" is missing.

Question 3 · Skills for Enhancing Health and Reducing Risks
Students sort influences on whether a teen tries a cigarette. Which item should be classified as an internal influence?
- A.A favorite movie character who smokes in several scenes
- B.An older brother who smokes on the back porch at home
- C.A convenience store that displays tobacco near the register
- D.The teen's personal curiosity about how smoking feels
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The teen's personal curiosity about how smoking feels
Internal influences come from within the person, such as feelings, values, likes, and curiosity, so "personal curiosity about how smoking feels" is internal. A movie character, a family member, and a store display are all external influences from media, family, and the environment.
Question 4 · Skills for Enhancing Health and Reducing Risks
After failing to make the soccer team, a student tells everyone, "I didn't really want to play anyway. The practices would have taken too much time from my studies." Which defense mechanism is the student using?
- A.Rationalization
- B.Intellectualization
- C.Projection
- D.Compensation
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Rationalization
Making up a logical-sounding excuse to protect self-esteem after a disappointment is "Rationalization." "Projection" would mean attributing one's own unacceptable feelings to others, and "Intellectualization" would mean discussing the cut in detached, abstract terms to avoid feeling it rather than inventing a justification.
Question 5 · Health and Physical Education Program
In a lesson on communicable diseases, a teacher divides the class into groups of five. Each group member studies one disease and meets with members of other groups who studied the same disease, then returns to teach it to the original group. Which instructional strategy is the teacher using?
- A.Jigsaw
- B.Think-pair-share
- C.Fishbowl
- D.Gallery walk
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Jigsaw
In "Jigsaw," each member of a home group becomes an expert on one piece of content by meeting with an expert group and then teaches it to the home group, exactly as described. Think-pair-share has partners discuss a single prompt, a fishbowl has an inner circle discuss while an outer circle observes, and a gallery walk has groups rotate among posted displays.
Question 6 · Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
A seventh grader explains that she follows the school's no-cheating rule because "rules keep things fair for everyone, and the whole school would fall apart if people ignored them." According to Kohlberg's theory of moral development, this reasoning is MOST characteristic of which stage?
- A.Stage 1, obedience-and-punishment orientation (preconventional level)
- B.Stage 4, law-and-order orientation (conventional level)
- C.Stage 2, instrumental-exchange orientation (preconventional level)
- D.Stage 5, social-contract orientation (postconventional level)
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Stage 4, law-and-order orientation (conventional level)
Following rules to maintain social order and keep the system functioning is the hallmark of "Stage 4, law-and-order orientation (conventional level)." Stage 1 reasoning centers on avoiding punishment, and Stage 5 treats rules as agreements that can be changed when they fail to serve people's rights, which the student does not mention.
Question 7 · Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
An adult jogs vigorously for 20 minutes on 3 days and walks briskly for 30 minutes on 2 days each week, plus resistance training on 2 days. Counting 1 minute of vigorous activity as about 2 minutes of moderate activity, how does this routine compare with the aerobic guideline for adults?
- A.It provides 180 moderate-equivalent minutes and meets the guideline
- B.It provides 120 moderate-equivalent minutes and falls short of it
- C.It provides 90 moderate-equivalent minutes and falls short of it
- D.It provides 240 moderate-equivalent minutes and exceeds the upper range
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. It provides 180 moderate-equivalent minutes and meets the guideline
Vigorous minutes are 3 × 20 = 60, which equals 60 × 2 = 120 moderate-equivalent minutes; adding 2 × 30 = 60 moderate minutes gives 120 + 60 = 180, so "It provides 180 moderate-equivalent minutes and meets the guideline" of 150 to 300 minutes. The figure 120 comes from adding 60 + 60 without doubling the vigorous minutes.
Question 8 · Skills for Enhancing Health and Reducing Risks
Students compare sunscreen labels to determine which product best meets dermatologist recommendations for sun protection. Which National Health Education Standards skill are they practicing?
- A.Using decision-making skills to enhance health
- B.Accessing valid health information, products, and services
- C.Using interpersonal communication to enhance health
- D.Advocating for personal, family, and community health
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Accessing valid health information, products, and services
Evaluating products against credible criteria, such as broad-spectrum protection and SPF 30 or higher, is "Accessing valid health information, products, and services." Students are not persuading others, which would be "Advocating," and they are judging products rather than examining how outside factors affect behavior.
Question 9 · Skills for Enhancing Health and Reducing Risks
A student who feels jealous of a classmate's success keeps telling others, "She is so jealous of me. She can't stand that I'm doing well." Which defense mechanism is the student using?
- A.Projection
- B.Displacement
- C.Sublimation
- D.Repression
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Projection
Attributing one's own unacceptable feelings, here jealousy, to another person is "Projection." "Displacement" redirects emotions toward a safer target, and "Sublimation" channels unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities such as sports or art.
Question 10 · Health and Physical Education Program
A high school surveyed students anonymously before planning a prevention unit.
Survey item Result
Students who used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days 14%
Students' average estimate of the percent of peers who vaped in the past 30 days 55%
Based on these data, which instructional approach is MOST likely to reduce vaping at the school?
- A.Report that 55 percent of students vape to show how serious the school's problem is
- B.Emphasize that 14 percent of students vape, a rate that closely matches what students expected
- C.Avoid sharing the survey results so students do not learn that any of their peers vape
- D.Share that 86 percent of students do not vape to correct the belief that most peers do
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Share that 86 percent of students do not vape to correct the belief that most peers do
Students estimated that 55 percent of peers vape, but the actual rate is 14 percent, so 100 − 14 = 86 percent do not vape; a social norms approach corrects this misperception, which is why the teacher should "Share that 86 percent of students do not vape to correct the belief that most peers do." The 55 percent figure is a misperception rather than the actual rate, the actual 14 percent is far lower than students expected, and hiding the data forfeits a proven way to reduce perceived pressure.

Survey item	Result
Students who used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days	14%
Students' average estimate of the percent of peers who vaped in the past 30 days	55%

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