Massachusetts High School Biology MCAS: complete guide to the STE framework, the four reporting categories, the computer-based item types, the achievement levels, and the post-2024 graduation rules

The Massachusetts High School Biology MCAS is one of the high school Science and Technology/Engineering (STE) tests administered by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). It is built on the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework and assesses the high school life science standards. This page is the index: it explains the STE framework, the four reporting categories, the computer-based item types, the achievement levels, the post-2024 graduation rules, and how to study each part of the course. The content is organized into six modules built around the four high school life science core ideas.

One of four STE test options

High school students in Massachusetts must take one high school STE test, and they choose from four: Biology, Introductory Physics, Chemistry, or Technology/Engineering. Biology is the most common choice. Whichever a student takes, it is built from the Massachusetts STE Curriculum Framework, the state standards adopted in 2016 and based on the framework behind the Next Generation Science Standards.

The Biology test covers the high school life science standards, coded HS-LS1 through HS-LS4. These are the same standards a strong high school biology course teaches: biochemistry and cells, energy in living systems, genetics, body systems, evolution, and ecology.

What Question 2 changed about graduation

This is the most important update, and it is easy to get wrong. In November 2024, Massachusetts voters approved ballot Question 2. It removed the long-standing rule that a student had to pass the MCAS to earn the statewide competency determination (CD) that is required to graduate.

What this means in practice:

• Passing the MCAS is no longer the state graduation gate. Effective in early December 2024, students earn the competency determination by satisfactorily completing district-certified coursework aligned to the standards the high school MCAS measured, not by passing a test.
• The MCAS is still administered, and participation is still required. DESE has been explicit that participation in the MCAS is required by state and federal law and that the ballot question did not change that. The Biology MCAS continues to run, and its data is still used for school and district accountability.
• Districts still set their own local graduation requirements. A district can require credits, courses, and other conditions beyond the state CD, but a local requirement cannot replace the CD.

So you will still very likely sit the Biology MCAS, and doing well still matters for your record and your school, but a passing score is no longer the state requirement for a diploma. Always check the current DESE guidance and your district's policy, because this area changed recently.

Exam format

The High School Biology MCAS is computer-based and delivered in two test sessions. It combines three item types:

• Selected-response. Multiple choice with four options and one correct answer. These are worth 1 point each.
• Technology-enhanced. The computer collects the answer in other ways: dragging labels onto a diagram, selecting more than one correct answer (multi-select), placing steps in order, completing a table, or plotting on a grid.
• Constructed-response (open-response). You write an answer, usually to interpret data, construct an explanation supported by evidence, or evaluate an investigation. These are worth more than 1 point and are marked with rubrics.

Many items open with a stimulus: a data table, a graph, a labeled diagram, a model, or a short passage, and then ask you to use it. The test is designed so that content and a science practice are assessed together.

The four reporting categories

DESE groups the high school life science standards into four reporting categories. This library mirrors them across six modules.

From Molecules to Organisms (HS-LS1), about 35 percent

The biggest category. Biochemistry and the chemistry of life, cell structure and function, the cell membrane and transport, enzymes, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, homeostasis and feedback, and the body systems that maintain dynamic equilibrium. This is covered across Module 1, Module 2, and Module 4.

Heredity (HS-LS3), about 20 percent

DNA structure and replication, protein synthesis and gene expression, mitosis and meiosis, patterns of inheritance, and how mutation and meiosis create variation. This is Module 3.

Biological Evolution (HS-LS4), about 20 percent

Natural selection and adaptation, the evidence for evolution, common ancestry and phylogeny, speciation, and biodiversity. This is Module 5.

Ecology (HS-LS2), about 20 percent

Ecosystem structure, energy flow and matter cycling, population dynamics and carrying capacity, ecological interactions, and human impact on ecosystems. This is Module 6.

The achievement levels

Results are reported in four next-generation MCAS achievement levels:

1. Exceeding Expectations
2. Meeting Expectations
3. Partially Meeting Expectations
4. Not Meeting Expectations

Each level has a performance level description that says what a student at that level can typically do. Because the competency determination is now coursework-based, these levels are best read as a measure of how well you have learned the standards rather than as a pass or fail gate.

The science and engineering practices

The Massachusetts STE framework, like the NGSS it is based on, expects you to do science, not just recall it. The eight science and engineering practices are:

1. Asking questions and defining problems
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

DESE codes at least half of the Biology items to one of these practices and reports them as a separate practices dimension. In study terms, this means almost every question asks you to apply biology to a model, a data set, or a claim.

How to study High School Biology

1. Learn the content, then learn to use it. Master the biology for all four reporting categories, but practice applying it: most items give you a stimulus and ask you to do something with it.
2. Drill the practices. Get comfortable reading graphs and data tables, identifying variables and controls, interpreting models and diagrams, completing Punnett squares, and writing a claim supported by evidence and reasoning.
3. Practice the computer-based item types. Use DESE practice tests so drag-and-drop, multi-select, ordering, table completion, and open-response feel familiar before test day.
4. Write complete constructed responses. A multi-point open-response item needs the full chain: state the claim, give the evidence from the stimulus, and explain the reasoning. Partial answers earn partial credit.
5. Connect topics across modules. The framework rewards seeing structure and function, cause and effect, matter and energy, and stability and change run through every topic.

The modules, topic by topic

Each topic has a standard-level answer page with worked exam questions and cross-links, plus a deep-dive guide and a quiz. Browse the set at /ma-mcas/biology/syllabus.

Module 1: Chemistry of life and cells

chemistry of life and biological molecules, cell structure and function, the cell membrane and transport, enzymes and biochemical reactions, water and the properties of carbon, levels of biological organization.

Module 2: Energy in living systems

ATP and energy in cells, photosynthesis, cellular respiration, the carbon cycle and matter in organisms, comparing photosynthesis and respiration.

Module 3: Genetics and molecular biology

DNA structure and replication, protein synthesis and gene expression, mitosis and the cell cycle, meiosis and sources of variation, patterns of inheritance, mutations and biotechnology.

Module 4: Anatomy and physiology

homeostasis and feedback, the nervous and endocrine systems, transport and gas exchange, digestion and the immune system, interacting body systems.

Module 5: Evolution and biodiversity

natural selection, evidence for evolution, common ancestry and phylogeny, speciation and population genetics, biodiversity and classification.

Module 6: Ecology and ecosystems

ecosystem structure and organization, energy flow in ecosystems, cycling of matter in ecosystems, population dynamics and carrying capacity, ecological interactions, human impact on ecosystems.

For the official guidance

DESE publishes the STE test design and development page, released test items, sample student work and scoring guides, performance level descriptions, and the Massachusetts STE Curriculum Framework. For the graduation rules after Question 2, see the DESE graduation requirements guidance. Always study from the current DESE materials, because both the assessment design and the graduation rules are specific to Massachusetts and have changed recently.