The Australian Science Item Bank consists of three volumes of multiple-choice questions. Book 1 contains questions on Physics and Astronomy. The questions are designed to be suitable for high school students (year 8 to year 12 in Australian schools). The questions are classified by the subject content of the question, the cognitive skills required to answer the question, and the difficulty of the question. Major content topics are: (1) Scientific Measurement and Mechanics; (2) Heat, Light, and Sound; (3) Electricity, Electronics, and Magnetism; and (4) Astronomy. The cognitive skills are classified according to a modification of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives in the cognitive domain. The classifications of cognitive processes are: knowledge, of specifics, of ways and means of dealing with specifics, and of the universals and abstractions in a field; comprehension, as shown by translation, interpretation, and extrapolation; application; and higher processes. Difficulty is coded in five categories. The correct responses, as well as brief instructions for testing, are included. (CTM)