Give your third grader the confidence to succeed on the South Dakota 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 South Dakota Smarter Balanced Mathematics assessment. Every question was written by experienced educators, reviewed for accuracy, and built around the South Dakota State Standards for Mathematics for Grade 3.
The Smarter Balanced Math test is given each spring to South Dakota students in Grades 3-8 (and again in Grade 11), delivered online through the South Dakota Assessment Portal operated by Cambium Assessment. It is an untimed test in two parts: a computer-adaptive section, where the questions adjust to each student and are pulled from a large pool, and a Performance Task built around a single real-world set of data. Because the test is adaptive, no two students see exactly the same test, and a real sitting is shorter (often about 25 questions) showing only a slice of everything a third grader could be asked. This book deliberately uses a fuller 40-question form (a 34-item question section plus a 6-item Performance Task) 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
- A Performance Task on every test, built around a real-world set of data, just like the real exam
- Coverage of every Grade 3 math standard across the Smarter Balanced reporting claims: Concepts and Procedures; Problem Solving; Communicating Reasoning; and Modeling and Data Analysis
- Practice in every item format: multiple choice, multiple select, type-in answers, two-part questions, number lines, picture graphs, bar graphs, and figure-based 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 from Test 1 to Test 5, so students build steadily toward the hardest grade-level problems
- Real-world South Dakota contexts throughout: Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, the Black Hills, bison and pheasants, sunflowers, 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 for fast self-grading
- 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, interpreting remainders, and judging whether an answer is reasonable
- Number and shape patterns, arithmetic rules, and input-output (function) tables
- Fractions as numbers: unit fractions and locating fractions on a number line
- Equivalent fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, and finding a fraction between two fractions
- Telling time to the nearest minute and finding elapsed time, including across the hour
- 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 and bar graphs, and judging which questions a graph can answer
- Classifying quadrilaterals and triangles, and partitioning shapes into equal parts
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 Smarter Balanced format, two-part structure (computer-adaptive section plus Performance Task), item mix, and policy (no calculator and no reference sheet at Grade 3).
- Built for South Dakota. Aligned to the South Dakota State Standards for Mathematics, with a Performance Task on every test.
- 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.