WASHINGTON — A new version of a national test in science has taken the rare step of assessing students’ ability in the subject by requiring them for the first time to perform hands-on experiments, not just answer multiple choice questions.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test that students from around the country take every few years and that is widely used to judge the progress of schools, was revamped in an attempt to make science instruction more relevant and rigorous.

“This tough, new test is going to notch up what our young people know about science and it’s long overdue,” Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said Friday in announcing the first results of the test. It was given last year to randomly selected groups of fourth-, eighth-, and 12th-graders in 40 states and the District of Columbia.

Maine eighth-graders who took the test scored a 148, compared with the national average of 163.