Give your third grader the confidence to succeed on both California CAASPP tests, Mathematics and English Language Arts, in one book.
This Smart Stars combined edition brings together ten full-length practice tests — five Mathematics and five English Language Arts — that mirror the length, item mix, and question types of the real Smarter Balanced assessments. Every question and passage was written and reviewed by experienced educators and built around the California Common Core State Standards at Grade 3.
Take a look inside
CAASPP — the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress — is the Smarter Balanced summative test California gives statewide each spring. The real test is computer-adaptive and pairs an adaptive section with a Performance Task in both subjects. This book renders those same skills as print-friendly items so the thinking is identical even though the answering is on paper.
What’s inside
- Ten full-length practice tests: five Mathematics (30 questions each) and five English Language Arts (30 questions each plus a three-part Performance Task), 300 questions in all — with detailed Answers and Explanations after every test
- Both halves of the real test: each math test pairs an adaptive-style section with a six-question Performance Task; each ELA test ends in a Performance Task built on two sources and a full written article
- Every CAASPP item format, rendered for paper: multiple choice, multiple select (“select two”), type-in answers, matching and true-false tables, two-part evidence items, and short written responses
- True to Grade 3 rules: no calculator, no math reference sheet, and untimed, exactly as California allows at this grade
Topics covered
- Place value, rounding, and comparing numbers within 1,000
- Addition and subtraction with regrouping
- Multiplication and division within 100 — equal groups, arrays, word problems
- Multiplying one-digit numbers by multiples of ten
- Fractions on a number line, equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions
- Telling time to the minute and elapsed-time problems
- Liquid volume, mass, and length to the quarter inch
- Area as repeated addition and as multiplication, and perimeter of polygons
- Two-dimensional shapes and classifying quadrilaterals
- Picture graphs, bar graphs, line plots, and two-step word problems
- Main idea, theme, and the key details that support them
- Character, setting, and plot, and how characters change
- Author’s purpose, point of view, and text features
- Text structure — sequence, cause and effect, compare and contrast
- Vocabulary in context, plus prefixes, suffixes, and root words
- Inferences and citing the exact evidence that supports them
- Listening comprehension through print presentation transcripts
- Research: choosing the right source and supporting an opinion
- Grammar: verb tense, agreement, capitalization, commas, apostrophes
- Informational writing from two sources with a clear beginning, middle, and end
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Educator-authored: Every question and passage is written and reviewed by classroom-experienced educators; no passage is copied from copyrighted work.
- Mirrors test day: Each test matches the official Smarter Balanced item mix and formats for its subject.
- Explanations teach the why: Math shows the worked solution and names the trap behind the top wrong answer; reading points to the exact evidence.
- Both subjects in one book: The same practice tests as our two single-subject Grade 3 editions, combined so families save money and students build math fluency and reading stamina side by side.
