Praxis Family and Consumer Sciences (5122)
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Praxis® is a registered trademark of ETS, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse Test Treasure Publication or TTP Prep.
10 sample questions for the Praxis Family and Consumer Sciences (5122), 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: Food and Nutrition, Housing and Interior Design, Textiles, Fashion, and Apparel, Human Development and Interpersonal Relationships, Foundations of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, Resource Management.
Question 1 · Food and Nutrition
Near the end of a lab period, a foods class finishes a 3-gallon stockpot of chili that will be refrigerated overnight and served at a school event the next day.
Answer: A. Divide it into shallow pans, chill in an ice bath to 70°F within 2 hours, then refrigerate
The Food Code requires two-stage cooling: from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, and to 41°F within a total of 6 hours. Shallow pans and an ice bath expose more surface area so the food passes quickly through the range where bacteria grow fastest. A deep, covered stockpot holds heat in its center for many hours, even in a refrigerator or freezer, so it cannot meet either time limit.
Question 2 · Food and Nutrition
Answer: B. CACFP
CACFP (the Child and Adult Care Food Program) reimburses child care centers, family child care homes, and adult day care centers for meals and snacks that meet federal meal patterns. WIC provides a prescribed food package to individual women, infants, and young children, not to care facilities. SNAP gives households benefits to buy groceries, and TEFAP distributes commodity foods through food banks.
Question 3 · Textiles, Fashion, and Apparel
During a sewing lab, a student reports that the top of a seam looks fine but large loops of thread are tangling on the underside of the fabric. The needle is new and is the correct type and size for the woven cotton being sewn.
Answer: D. Rethread the upper thread with the presser foot raised
Loops on the underside mean the upper thread has too little tension, most often because it is not seated between the tension discs. Raising the presser foot opens the discs so the thread can be threaded correctly. Adjusting the bobbin case is tempting because the tangle appears underneath, but the bobbin thread is not the source.
Question 4 · Human Development and Interpersonal Relationships
A high school's child care lab follows the state licensing ratios shown. On Tuesday, 9 infants, 13 toddlers, and 21 preschoolers attend, and each age group is cared for in its own room.
| Age group | Maximum children per staff member |
|---|---|
| Infants (birth to 12 months) | 4 |
| Toddlers (13 to 35 months) | 6 |
| Preschoolers (3 to 5 years) | 10 |
Answer: C. 9
Each room must round up to a whole staff member: 9 ÷ 4 = 2.25, so 3 for infants; 13 ÷ 6 = 2.17, so 3 for toddlers; 21 ÷ 10 = 2.1, so 3 for preschoolers; 3 + 3 + 3 = 9. Rounding each room down gives 6, which leaves children over the ratio in every room, and adding the unrounded figures (about 6.5) and rounding up gives 7, which ignores that each room is staffed separately.
Question 5 · Foundations of Family and Consumer Sciences Education
A teacher scores a sewing project with the analytic rubric below. Each criterion is rated from 1 to 4, and the rating is multiplied by the weight of the criterion.
| Criterion | Weight | Student's rating |
|---|---|---|
| Seam construction | ×3 | 3 |
| Pressing and finish | ×2 | 4 |
| Accuracy of measurements | ×3 | 2 |
| Lab work habits | ×2 | 3 |
Answer: D. 29 out of 40
Weighted points are (3 × 3) + (2 × 4) + (3 × 2) + (2 × 3) = 9 + 8 + 6 + 6 = 29, and the maximum is 4 × (3 + 2 + 3 + 2) = 40. Adding the ratings without the weights gives 12 out of 16, and converting that unweighted 75% to the 40-point scale gives 30, which overstates the score because the lowest rating is on a heavily weighted criterion. Adding the weights to the ratings gives 22.
Question 6 · Food and Nutrition
An FCCLA chapter sets out chicken salad and deviled eggs at an outdoor picnic at 11:45 a.m. The air temperature is 95°F, and no ice or coolers are used on the serving table.
Answer: B. 12:45 p.m.
USDA guidance limits perishable food to 2 hours at room temperature, and to 1 hour when the air temperature is above 90°F. At 95°F, food set out at 11:45 a.m. reaches the limit at 12:45 p.m. The 1:45 p.m. answer applies the 2-hour rule without the hot-weather adjustment.
Question 7 · Food and Nutrition
| Nutrient | % Daily Value |
|---|---|
| Saturated fat | 4% |
| Sodium | 22% |
| Dietary fiber | 25% |
| Added sugars | 8% |
| Calcium | 15% |
| Iron | 4% |
Answer: C. It is high in sodium and high in dietary fiber
A nutrient at 5% DV or less per serving is low, and one at 20% DV or more is high. Sodium (22%) and dietary fiber (25%) are both high. Saturated fat (4%) and iron (4%) are low, but calcium at 15% and added sugars at 8% fall between the two cutoffs, so any statement calling calcium or added sugars high is inaccurate.
Question 8 · Textiles, Fashion, and Apparel
A student cuts out a blouse front from a loosely woven fabric, then handles and pins the piece several times over two class periods. When the facing is attached, the curved neckline has stretched and no longer matches the facing.
Answer: D. Staystitching the neckline within the seam allowance
Staystitching is a row of regular machine stitching on a single layer, placed in the seam allowance close to the seamline, that keeps curved and bias edges from stretching during handling. Understitching keeps a facing from rolling to the outside, and clipping lets a curved seam lie flat; neither stabilizes the cut edge.
Question 9 · Human Development and Interpersonal Relationships
A high school student will read a picture book to a small group of 4-year-olds in the playschool lab. The teacher's goal for the lesson is to build the children's expressive language.
Answer: B. Ask open-ended questions about the pictures and expand on what the children say
In dialogic reading the adult prompts the child to talk about the book, evaluates and expands the child's response, and has the child repeat the expansion, so the child gradually becomes the storyteller. An expressive read-through keeps the children in a listening role, and the print-focused plans target letter knowledge rather than expressive language.
Question 10 · Foundations of Family and Consumer Sciences Education
A teacher drafts the assessment plan below for a foods and nutrition unit.
| Objective | Planned assessment |
|---|---|
| Define common food-safety terms | Matching quiz |
| Dice an onion using a safe knife grip | Multiple-choice test |
| Plan a one-day menu that meets a client's needs | Menu project scored with a rubric |
| Calculate the unit price of three products | Worked problem set |
Answer: D. Dice an onion using a safe knife grip
Dicing an onion with a safe grip is a psychomotor objective, so valid evidence requires a performance assessment in which the teacher observes the skill with a checklist or rubric; a multiple-choice test shows only what a student knows about knife use. The other three pairs match: recall of terms with a matching quiz, a planning task with a rubric-scored project, and a calculation with worked problems.
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