How the grade 3
state test is scored

Levels, not percentages

Results come back as a performance level from 1 to 4 with a scale score beside it. This is the first score a New York family ever receives, and it is worth knowing before it arrives that level 3 means proficient and that there is no percentage anywhere on it. Level 3 is the state's definition of proficient, there is no percentage anywhere on the report, and a scale score cannot be compared across grades.

Where the credits come from

The grade 3 test is worth 83 credits across 72 questions. 59 of those questions are multiple choice and worth one credit each. The other 13 are written, and worth more.

Which means 24 of the 83 credits — that is 29% of the whole test — come from questions where a child has to write something down. On a practice test that only offers multiple choice, 29% of the score is not being practiced at all.

What grade 3 results are for

Nothing rides on a grade 3 result. It is a baseline, and the useful thing it buys you is five more years of knowing whether a worry is real.

How a written answer is marked

Written answers are marked against the state's own rubric, and far more generously than parents of eight-year-olds expect. Spelling is not marked. Handwriting is not marked. A correct idea in a child's own words earns full credit even in one sentence; copying a line out of the passage earns nothing.

Our grade 3 practice tests mark those written answers the same way and show you the rubric the marker was using, which is the part of this test a worksheet cannot rehearse and the part a first-time family has no way to picture.