This study aims to assess students’ scientific literacy skills on energy and simple machines. This quantitative descriptive research employed a survey method. It involved 63 ninth-grade students who had covered the material on energy and simple machines from three junior high schools in Malang, Indonesia. The research utilized an instrument consisting of 8 items from the Energy and Simple Machines Scientific Literacy Skills Test with a Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.807 (very high). Data analysis employed descriptive statistics, followed by ranking classification based on sub-topics and each scientific literacy indicator. The results showed that students’ average scientific literacy skills were in the “not good” category. This was due to students not being accustomed to solving scientific literacy-indicated problems, which tend to contain long, complex readings requiring extra comprehension. Additionally, teacher involvement was lacking in applying methods, models, or learning strategies related to scientific literacy. When reviewed by each sub-topic and scientific literacy indicator, the energy sub-topic scored higher than the simple machines sub-topic, and the first indicator, explaining phenomena scientifically, scored the highest among the three indicators. Based on these findings, implementing project-based learning models that enhance students’ scientific literacy, such as STEAM elements, is highly recommended.