Ms Sturgeon said her timetable for holding a second vote on Scottish independence is "as it's always been", having previously said it would be between autumn 2018 and spring 2019.
Her answer raises fears she is pursuing a "neverendum" strategy, demanding new independence votes until she gets the result she wants.
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: "This poll shows us up massively from the last General Election, and that we're receiving the backing of voters across Scotland".
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon faced tough questions from voters on her party's record on education during a televised election special.
"In seats across the country it is the Liberal Democrats that are set to sweep the SNP out and in these key areas people should back the Liberal Democrats to change the direction of this country and send a message to the SNP that they can not keep sweeping our problems under the carpet".
Asked by interviewer Julie Etchingham if she thinks the United Kingdom will have broken up by 2025, Ms Sturgeon replied: "I think Scotland will be independent, yes, but, you know, that's a choice for the Scottish people".
For Theresa May, 52% say that she should resign as Tory leader if she loses the General Election.
A majority of supporters of all parties think independence is the First Minister's priority, running from 55 per cent for those who voted SNP in 2015, to 85 per cent for Lib Dem supporters.
The Labour candidate added that, if the Conservatives genuinely believed they could take the seat from him, their activists would have been campaigning in the area - but he said the Tories had been pouring their resources in the city into the neighbouring seat of Edinburgh South West.
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Carl Hagelin added the empty-netter. "But we always said, 'nobody said that you can't.' And our guys were determined". The Predators went 0 of 4 with the man advantage, including 32 seconds of a 5-on-3 in the third.
"I'm trying to find a compromise".
Scotland's First Minister was also quizzed over her falling personal approval rating, which are the lowest they have been.
The issue of class sizes and teacher numbers were also raised by teachers in the audience.
The move, which could see graduates placed into teaching roles with just five weeks postgraduate training as opposed to a year-long teaching qualification, are vigorously opposed by teaching unions, including Scotland's biggest, the EIS, which has already warned it would oppose any move to "dilute" teachers' status.
The leader of the SNP said she is so hooked on the micro-blogging site that she has to "ration" herself.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale was campaigning in East Lothian, while former chancellor and Better Together chief Alistair Darling met voters in East Renfrewshire.
Both parties have ruled out a formal coalition deal should the election on 8 June not produce a clear victor.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ms Sturgeon said: "If there was to be a hung parliament, if the parliamentary arithmetic allowed it, then I would want the SNP to be part of a progressive alternative to a Conservative government".
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