About this book
Give your fourth grader the confidence to succeed on the Illinois Grade 4 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 4.
Take a look inside
The IAR is given each spring to Illinois students in Grades 3-8 in English language arts and mathematics.
- Delivery: delivered online by Pearson for the Illinois State Board of Education.
- Item bank: built on the same item bank once used by the PARCC assessment, now managed by New Meridian.
- Format: the Grade 4 Math test is given in three units and is scored on a fixed number of points rather than a fixed number of questions.
- Length: a real form is worth about 83 scored points spread across roughly 50 questions, and every form also mixes in a few embedded field-test questions that look exactly like the scored ones but do not count toward the score.
- Tools at Grade 4: there is no calculator (calculators begin in Grade 6) and no formula or reference sheet; a protractor is the one tool students use, for the questions that ask them to measure or read an angle.
- Each practice test here: 50 questions per test, worth 83 points — so your student practices the complete range of question types, math skills, and reporting categories they could meet on test day.
What’s inside
- Five full-length practice tests, with detailed Answers and Explanations after every test
- The real three-unit IAR structure, with the same kinds of embedded field-test-style questions the actual test mixes into its units
- Coverage of every Grade 4 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 “show your work” and “explain your reasoning” questions, number lines, line plots, area and angle figures, and protractor-reading questions
- Every explanation gives a full worked solution plus a labeled Strategy and a Tip, Check, or Estimate, so students learn the reasoning, not just the answer
- A graduated set of tests that step up in difficulty across the book, so students build steadily toward the hardest grade-level problems
- Real-world Illinois contexts throughout — Navy Pier and the Chicago lakefront, Willis Tower and Millennium Park, the Field Museum and Adler Planetarium, Shawnee National Forest, the Mississippi River, soybean and pumpkin farms, Lincoln’s New Salem, Cahokia Mounds, and more
- A Grade 4 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
- A family letter and a test-taking tips section
- No-calculator practice throughout, matching the official Grade 4 policy — and a clear note that a protractor is needed for the angle questions, just as on the real test
Topics covered
- Place value to one million, and reading, writing, comparing, and rounding multi-digit whole numbers
- Adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm
- Multiplying up to four-digit by one-digit numbers and two-digit by two-digit numbers, using arrays and area models
- Dividing up to four-digit numbers by one-digit numbers, with remainders, and interpreting the remainder in context
- Factors and multiples, and prime and composite numbers
- Multiplicative comparisons and multi-step word problems using the four operations, and judging whether an answer is reasonable
- Number and shape patterns and the rules behind them
- Equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions with different numerators and different denominators
- Adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers with like denominators, and multiplying a fraction by a whole number
- Decimal notation for fractions to tenths and hundredths, and comparing decimals
- Measurement and converting from a larger unit to a smaller unit, with multi-step measurement and money word problems
- Area and perimeter of rectangles, including finding a missing side and comparing two areas
- Making and reading line plots with halves, quarters, and eighths
- Measuring and drawing angles with a protractor, and finding unknown angles using angle addition
- Points, lines, rays, and parallel and perpendicular lines; classifying two-dimensional figures; and lines of symmetry
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 at Grade 4); a protractor is used for the angle questions, just as on the real test.
- 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, 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.
