The grade 4 New York
State Test

The short version

Grade 4 looks like grade 3 from the outside. Same four sessions, same four days, same untimed rules. What changed is underneath: far more of the score now comes from writing something down rather than choosing an option.

The grade 4 tests cover two subjects. English Language Arts and mathematics are four sessions over four days, 79 questions worth 94 credits, of which 15 are written answers rather than multiple choice.

Session	Multiple choice	Written	Credits
ELA, session 1	23	2	27
ELA, session 2	6	4	16
Mathematics, session 1	30	0	30
Mathematics, session 2	5	9	21
Total	79 questions		94

Nobody is watching a clock

The tests are untimed. A grade 4 child who wants to redo the working on a long-division problem may take as long as that needs. Schools communicate this poorly, because the published minute figures look exactly like time limits when they are average completion times used to plan the school day.

From spring 2026 every student in grades 3 to 8 takes these tests on a computer. Grade 4 mathematics now means typing an explanation rather than writing one under the question, and that is a genuinely different skill for a nine-year-old. It is worth one practice session on a screen rather than on paper.

What the result actually decides

Still nothing rides on the result directly. What grade 4 gives you is the first read on whether your child can explain a method, which is a different skill from getting the answer and one that gets harder to fix the longer it goes unnoticed.

Levels, and why there is no percentage

Results come back as a performance level from 1 to 4 with a scale score beside it, and level 3 is the state's definition of proficient. There is no percentage anywhere on the report. A grade 4 scale score cannot be set beside the grade 3 one. Different scale, different test, and only the level number carries across.

Of the 94 credits on the grade 4 test, 30 come from written answers. That is 32% of the whole result riding on questions where a child has to write something down, which is worth knowing before you buy a practice book made entirely of multiple choice.

The results arrive far too late to be a study plan

Here is the part that changes how you should treat these tests. The exams are sat in April and early May. Preliminary figures reach schools over the summer, and the full public release lands in the autumn, by which time your child has a new teacher, a new classroom and in some years a new school.

The grade 4 result lands in the autumn of grade 5, which is to say after the year it describes is over and the fractions have already arrived. So the score is a historical record rather than a diagnosis you can act on. Anything you want to know in time to do something about it, you have to find out yourself during the year, which is the honest argument for a practice test and the only one we will make.

You are allowed to refuse

New York has no statute requiring a child to sit these tests, and it has among the highest refusal rates in the country. The state education department and the Board of Regents recognize that parents refuse; districts handle it as routine.

The mechanism is a letter to the building principal giving your child's name, grade and teacher, and saying which tests you are refusing. You are not required to meet anyone, attend anything, or explain your reasoning. A school that tells you otherwise is describing its preference, not the rules.

Families who sat grade 3 without incident often stop thinking about refusal by grade 4, and families who refused in grade 3 usually refuse again. Either is fine. What is worth avoiding is drifting into a decision you never actually made, because the one thing a refusal costs you is the information.

We sell practice tests, so treat this as coming from an interested party: we think the test is worth sitting, because the information is worth having. But it is your decision and you should make it knowing it is genuinely yours.

Who actually looks at this result

Historically some New York City middle school programs screened on grade 4 results, because grade 4 is the last complete year of data available when a family applies in grade 5. Screening rules have changed repeatedly and vary by district and by program, so the only reliable answer is the one you get from the specific program you are applying to, this year, rather than from a parent forum.

What is worth doing at grade 4

If there is one thing to work on this year, it is showing working. A child who writes the answer and nothing else will lose credit on nine mathematics questions, and no amount of additional arithmetic practice touches that. Ask them to explain one homework problem out loud each week.

How a written answer is marked

Against the state's own rubric, on the content of the response alone. Spelling is not marked. Handwriting is not marked. Grammar is not marked. A correct idea in a child's own words earns full credit even when it is short, and copying a chunk of the passage without answering earns nothing at all.

In grade 4 mathematics the rubric credits the method as well as the number, so a right answer with nothing shown loses marks a wrong answer with sound working keeps. This surprises parents in both directions: children who write beautifully and answer vaguely score worse than they look like they should, and children whose handwriting worries you may be scoring fine.

What we found when we tested our own exam

A grade 4 practice test that flatters a child hides exactly the thing grade 4 is useful for finding: whether they can explain a method or only perform it.

So we measure it. Across the 24 sections of our New York State Tests exams long enough to measure (658 questions, in sections of 20 or more), the best score any length-based strategy reaches is 36%, against the 25% that guessing alone should give. Four strategies are scored: pick the longest option, pick the shortest, cross off the longest and guess, cross off the shortest and guess.

Still nothing rides on the result directly, so the only thing a practice test owes you is an honest number.

Grade 4 Form B ELA was one of the two worst sections in our entire catalogue. Picking the longest answer scored up to 91% on it before it was rewritten, and that section is the reason this measurement now runs on every build.

Where to practice

Our grade 4 practice tests run all four sessions, one per sitting, the way the real week is structured, and they mark the written answers against the state's rubrics rather than skipping them. Every wrong answer carries its own explanation saying what a student who picked it was probably thinking, which is the part that turns a score into something you can act on. There is a free sample on the samples page if you want to see the format before paying for anything.

Our shorter grade 4 guides cover what is on each session and how the scoring works.

Common questions

How many questions are on the grade 4 New York State Test?

79 across four sessions, worth 94 credits. 64 are multiple choice and 15 are written answers.

Is the New York State Test timed?

No. The grades 3 to 8 tests are untimed. A child who needs longer takes longer, and finishing early earns nothing. The minutes you see published are average completion times used for planning.

Can I refuse the grade 4 state test for my child?

Yes. New York has no statute compelling participation, and the practical route is a letter to your child's principal naming your child, their grade and teacher, and the tests you are refusing. You do not have to meet anyone or justify the decision.

When do New York State Test results come back?

Not quickly. Preliminary data reaches schools and districts over the summer, and the full public release follows in the autumn, months after the test and well into the next school year.

Does the grade 4 result affect anything?

Still nothing rides on the result directly.