Give your third grader the confidence to succeed on the DC CAPE Grade 3 Math test.
This book provides five full-length practice tests built for the test District of Columbia students take from spring 2027 onward. From the 2026-27 school year, DC CAPE in Grades 3-8 uses Smarter Balanced content in mathematics: so this book is written for the new test, not the PARCC-style exam it replaces.
DC CAPE (the District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessments of Progress in Education) is given by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education and delivered by Pearson, with students testing online in TestNav. The Grade 3 math test is computer-adaptive, uses no calculator and no reference sheet, and follows the Common Core standards the District adopted in 2010. Results report four levels across four claims. Students answer 22 scored questions with unscored field-test questions mixed in invisibly; each test here follows that shape (24 questions) to build test-day endurance.
What’s inside
- Five full-length practice tests, each ending with a performance task, with detailed Answers and Explanations after every test
- Weighted as DC CAPE weights it: Claim 1, Concepts and Procedures, is about half of every test, and Claim 3, Communicating Reasoning, roughly one question in four: far more explaining than a typical workbook asks for
- A different performance task in every test: one situation with a table or diagram, then five questions that build on one another and end in writing
- A printed scoring guide for the written responses, so families can mark them as a trained scorer would
- Every item format rendered for paper: multiple choice, select-all-that-apply, type-in answers, Yes/No grids, table fill-ins, number lines, shading fraction models, line plots, and written response
- Field-test-style questions blended invisibly into each test, and fully answered here
- Every explanation ends with a labeled Tip, Check, or Estimate, and a Strategy on multi-step questions
- A Quick Answer Key for all five tests, a family letter, test-taking tips, and a Grade 3 study reference sheet
The real test adapts to each student, so no two children see the same form. These are fixed forms built to the same blueprint (the same claims in the same proportions, the same kinds of questions) so they are practice in content and format, not a score prediction.
Topics covered
- Multiplying and dividing within 100: equal groups, arrays, and missing factors
- Properties of multiplication: order, grouping, and breaking a factor apart
- Two-step word problems across all four operations, including ones where the leftover decides the answer
- Adding and subtracting within 1,000, and rounding to the nearest ten or hundred
- Fractions as numbers: unit fractions, number-line fractions, equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions
- Area by counting unit squares and by multiplying side lengths
- Perimeter, unknown sides, and rectangles with equal area but different perimeter
- Telling time to the minute, and elapsed time forward and backward
- Liquid volume and mass in liters, grams, and kilograms
- Scaled picture and bar graphs, two-way tables, and line plots in halves and quarters of an inch
- Quadrilaterals and their attributes, and partitioning shapes into equal parts
- Judging whether another student’s reasoning is correct, and questions with more than one right answer
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Educator-authored and reviewed question by question.
- Mirrors test day: real item count, claim balance, formats, performance-task structure, and no-calculator policy.
- Built for the new DC CAPE: the Smarter Balanced content the District moves to in 2026-27.
- Explanations teach the why, with a full worked solution and a labeled closing note.
- Varied: contexts, names, and numbers rotate test to test, and no character name or object repeats anywhere in the book.