Give your third grader the confidence to succeed on the Illinois Grade 3 Math state test.
This Smart Stars practice book provides five full-length, standards-aligned practice tests that mirror the format and item mix of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) Mathematics test. Every question was written by experienced educators, reviewed for accuracy, and built around the Illinois Learning Standards for Mathematics for Grade 3.
The IAR is given each spring to Illinois students in Grades 3-8 in English language arts and mathematics, delivered online by Pearson for the Illinois State Board of Education and built on the same item bank once used by the PARCC assessment, now managed by New Meridian. The Grade 3 Math test is given in three units and is scored on a fixed number of points rather than a fixed number of questions: a real form is worth about 52 scored points spread across roughly 33 questions, and every form also mixes in a few embedded field-test questions, in Units 2 and 3, that look exactly like the scored ones but do not count toward the score. This book is built to that same test-day experience: 37 questions per test, 33 that count toward the score (worth 52 points) plus 4 field-test-style questions: so your student practices the complete range of question types, math skills, and reporting categories they could meet on test day. At Grade 3 there is no calculator (calculators begin in Grade 6) and no reference sheet.
What’s inside
- Five full-length practice tests, with detailed Answers and Explanations after every test
- The real three-unit IAR structure, with embedded field-test-style questions in Units 2 and 3, just like the real exam
- Coverage of every Grade 3 math standard across the four IAR reporting categories: Major Content; Additional and Supporting Content; Mathematical Reasoning; and Modeling and Application
- Practice in every item format: multiple choice, multiple select, fill-in-the-blank and equation answers, two-part questions, open-response “explain your thinking” questions, number lines, picture graphs, bar graphs, line plots, and figure-based questions
- Every explanation gives a full worked solution plus a labeled Strategy and a Tip, Check, or Estimate, and every open-response question shows how its points are earned, so students learn the reasoning, not just the answer
- A graduated set of tests that step up in difficulty from Test 1 to Test 5, so students build steadily toward the hardest grade-level problems
- Real-world Illinois contexts throughout: Lake Michigan and the lakefront, Lincoln Park Zoo, the Field Museum, Starved Rock State Park, the Illinois prairie, sandhill cranes, sweet corn and pumpkin farms, the Mississippi River, and more
- A Grade 3 Math Study Reference Sheet to learn and review between tests (the state does not provide one on test day)
- A combined Quick Answer Key at the back of the book, with the field-test questions marked so you score only what counts
- A “How to Score and Performance Levels” page that turns earned points into an estimated IAR level (Below, Approaching, Proficient, or Above Proficient)
- A family letter and a test-taking tips section
- No-calculator, no-reference-sheet practice throughout, matching the official Grade 3 policy
Topics covered
- Place value to thousands, and reading and writing whole numbers within 1,000
- Rounding whole numbers to the nearest ten and hundred
- Addition and subtraction within 1,000, including regrouping
- Multiplication and division within 100, using equal groups, arrays, and area
- Multiplying one-digit numbers by multiples of ten
- The relationship between multiplication and division, including unknown-factor problems
- Two-step and multi-step word problems using the four operations and judging whether an answer is reasonable
- Number and shape patterns and arithmetic rules, such as odd and even and the properties of operations
- Fractions as numbers: unit fractions and locating fractions on a number line, including fractions greater than 1
- Equivalent fractions, and comparing and ordering fractions with the same numerator or the same denominator
- Telling time to the nearest minute and finding elapsed time, including across the hour and working backward to a start time
- Liquid volume and mass in grams, kilograms, and liters
- Area and perimeter, including composite (L-shaped) figures, finding a missing side, and comparing two areas
- Reading and interpreting scaled picture graphs, bar graphs, and line plots, and judging which questions a graph can answer
- Classifying quadrilaterals and partitioning shapes into equal parts and unit fractions
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Educator-authored. Every question is written and reviewed by classroom-experienced educators.
- Mirrors test day. Each practice test matches the official IAR format, three-unit structure, points-based scoring, item mix, and policy (no calculator and no reference sheet at Grade 3).
- Built for Illinois. Aligned to the Illinois Learning Standards for Mathematics, and organized around the same four reporting categories the IAR scores.
- Explanations teach the why. Every Answers and Explanations entry gives a full worked solution, then a labeled Strategy and a Tip, Check, or Estimate, and open-response items show how the points are earned, so students learn the move, not just the answer.
- Varied and graduated. Slot positions, contexts, names, and number choices rotate test-to-test, and the five tests step up in difficulty so no two feel like the same practice run.