About this book
Give your third grader the confidence to succeed on the Connecticut Smarter Balanced Mathematics assessment — the test every Connecticut public-school third grader takes each spring.
This book contains five full-length practice tests, 135 questions total, built to mirror the real online test as closely as a printed book can. Each test is aligned to the Connecticut Core Standards for Grade 3 Mathematics, the same standards Cambium Assessment uses to write the operational Smarter Balanced items.
Take a look inside
Each practice test includes the realistic two-part format Connecticut students see at the test center.
- Format: a 22-question Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT) covering the full range of Grade 3 standards, followed by a 5-question Performance Task (PT).
- On the real test: the Performance Task is a richer scenario with multiple related questions all drawing on one shared stimulus (a table, bar graph, line plot, or pictograph).
- On paper instead of a screen: this book is the only Grade 3 Smarter Balanced workbook that delivers the full PT experience on paper, including short-answer items scored against a 2-point rubric.
What’s inside
- 5 complete 27-question practice tests (22 CAT items + a 5-item Performance Task each)
- Untimed format with no calculator and no reference sheet — the same rules Connecticut applies at Grade 3
- All three official Smarter Balanced reporting categories represented in every test: Concepts and Procedures; Problem Solving and Modeling & Data Analysis; Communicating Reasoning
- Every Grade 3 item type used on the real exam in a printed equivalent: multiple-choice, multi-select (“select all that apply”), typed numeric, two-cell tables, drag-and-drop sorting, line-plot completion, shape shading, two-part items, and constructed-response short text
- Detailed answer explanations for every question — not just the correct letter, but step-by-step reasoning that builds real understanding
- Item types, names, contexts, and numbers varied across all 5 tests — students never see the same problem twice in the same slot
- A parent letter explaining the test structure (untimed, no calculator, three reporting categories, what a Performance Task is) and a study plan
- A quick-reference combined answer key for fast scoring across all 5 tests
Topics covered
- Place value, comparing, ordering, and rounding whole numbers within 1,000
- Adding and subtracting within 1,000 using place-value strategies and regrouping
- Multiplication and division facts within 100 (single-digit fluency by end of Grade 3)
- Two-step word problems with all four operations
- Multiplying one-digit numbers by multiples of 10
- Fractions as parts of a whole and points on a number line (denominators 2, 3, 4, 6, 8)
- Equivalent fractions, comparing fractions with the same numerator or same denominator, whole numbers as fractions
- Telling and writing time to the nearest minute and solving elapsed-time word problems
- Measuring and estimating liquid volume (mL, L) and mass (g, kg)
- Area of rectangles by counting unit squares and by multiplying side lengths
- Perimeter of rectangles, including finding a missing side when the perimeter is known
- Classifying quadrilaterals and partitioning shapes into equal unit fractions
- Reading and interpreting bar graphs, pictographs, line plots, and frequency tables
- Identifying arithmetic patterns and using properties of multiplication (commutative, associative, distributive)
- Constructing chains of reasoning to justify or critique a peer’s answer
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Written by experienced educators who study the official Smarter Balanced specifications and released practice items
- Every question mirrors what students will see on test day — no surprises
- Explanations teach the “why,” not just the “what,” so students learn from every mistake
- Item types and contexts varied across the five tests — just like a real exam, every question feels fresh
- The only Grade 3 SBAC workbook with full Performance Task scoring rubrics for every test
