Is your 6th grader keeping up
with what they are learning now?
Sixth grade is the start of middle school math: ratios and rates, negative numbers, and equations with a letter in them. History turns to the ancient world and the Eastern Hemisphere. A short check on this quarter’s topics shows where your child stands, and weekly practice aimed at any gaps fixes them now, so there is no catching up later.
Check 6th grade nowCheck now, practice the gaps, see the progress.
Buy a quarter and your child signs in on their own NY Exam account. Each of the four subjects runs the same way, on its own, for the whole quarter.
1. A quick check, first
Each subject opens with about seven questions on this quarter’s 6th grade topics, before any practice. Your child answers once and sees no scores or answers; you see the results on your side as soon as it is done, so you know where things stand before a single practice session.
2. About ten questions a week
After the check, your child gets a short session roughly once a week for the rest of the quarter — about ten questions, a few minutes. Every answer, right or wrong, comes with a short explanation, not just the correct choice. From the third week on, half of each session is aimed at whichever two topics are weakest so far, instead of spreading evenly across everything.
3. “We haven’t learned this yet”
If a topic has not come up in class yet, your child marks it “not learned yet” instead of guessing. It is never counted wrong, is left out of that topic’s score, and comes back for another try about four weeks later, by which time most classes have reached it.
4. A short check at the end, and a clear report
The quarter closes the same way it opened, with a short check on the same topics, so you can see the change. Your report shows one line per topic — On track (at least 70% right), Needs practice, or Not enough answers yet — and nothing is judged on fewer than four answers, so one bad session cannot brand a topic for the rest of the quarter.
Two real questions from the first quarter.
Not a free trial — just what a session actually looks like, with the answer and the reason shown.
Math
Compute 6,463 ÷ 23 using division.
- 280
- 281 — correct
- 283
- 284
6463 ÷ 23 = 281. Check the relationship between the two quantities.
English
What inference follows from the volunteer asking for one update procedure?
- The volunteer assumes two records can never provide useful support.
- A clear update procedure is needed. — correct
- The volunteer wants the earlier notebook entries erased automatically.
- The volunteer believes no record should ever be updated.
The request addresses the observed disagreement between an updated record and an older one.
What most New York 6th graders learn, quarter by quarter.
Division and decimal fluency and common factors first, then ratios, rates and negative numbers, then expressions and one-step equations, and statistics last.
| Quarter | Math | English | Science | Social studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall September to November | Fluent multi-digit division; Fluent decimal operations; GCF, LCM and distributive factoring; Divide fractions and interpret quotients and 4 more | Reading, writing and language skills, on new passages | Atomic models of molecules and extended structures; Natural resources and synthetic materials; Mixture separation and reaction evidence; Particle motion, phases and measured density and 3 more | Environment, settlement and present issues; Eastern Hemisphere maps and regions; Artifacts, features and evidence about early humans; Agriculture, domestication and turning points |
| Winter December to February | Use ratios to convert units; Signed numbers and the meaning of zero; Opposites, number lines and reflections; Order rational numbers and use absolute value and 4 more | Reading, writing and language skills, on new passages | Balanced forces, mass, motion and collisions; Kinetic, potential and transferred energy; Attractive gravity, mass and distance; Electric current and energy transfer and 3 more | Specialization, hierarchies and social access; Compare early river-valley civilizations; Shared values, diversity and religious social influence; Origins and core ideas of major belief systems and 1 more |
| Early spring March and April | Test equations and inequalities by substitution; Write and solve one-step rational equations; Represent constraints and solution sets; Dependent and independent variables and 4 more | Reading, writing and language skills, on new passages | Interacting body systems and sensory information; Cells and the functions of cell parts; Resources, interactions, matter flow and biodiversity; Matter and energy in photosynthesis and respiration and 3 more | Laws, authority and classical political structures; Cultural contributions and golden-age claims; Roman decline and feudal Western Europe; Byzantine continuity, trade and Orthodox Christianity |
| Late spring May and June | Recognize statistical questions and variability; Representative samples and sampling variability; Describe center, spread and shape; Dot plots and histograms and 4 more | Reading, writing and language skills, on new passages | Variation and natural selection in populations; Rock strata, geologic time and plate evidence; Earth-Sun-Moon models, gravity and solar-system scale; Rock and water cycles and surface changes and 3 more | Islamic caliphates and Mediterranean connections; Causes and consequences of medieval conflicts; Silk Roads, Indian Ocean and trans-Saharan exchange; Mongol expansion and cultural diffusion and 1 more |
The order follows a typical New York school year. It is our estimate, not a state or school schedule, so you can buy any quarter at any time, including one your child has not reached yet.
What 6th grade covers in each subject.
Math
Division and decimal fluency and common factors first, then ratios, rates and negative numbers, then expressions and one-step equations, and statistics last.
English
Longer informational texts and arguments, with questions about how an author builds a claim and supports it.
Science
Middle school science begins: matter and its particles, forces, motion and energy, then cells, body systems and ecosystems.
Social studies
The Eastern Hemisphere: early humans, the first river-valley civilizations, world religions, Greece and Rome, and trade across Asia, Africa and Europe.
Watch ratios and negative numbers. They are new ideas rather than harder versions of old ones, and a child who misses them in the winter carries the gap into seventh grade proportions.
Read the full guide to what 6th graders learn this year, quarter by quarter.
Before you start.
What changes in sixth grade math?
It stops being only arithmetic. Ratios, rates and negative numbers are new kinds of thinking, and letters start standing for numbers.
Which science does sixth grade cover?
New York sets middle school science for grades 6 to 8 together, not grade by grade. Our sixth grade quarters cover matter, forces and energy, cells and ecosystems; how the band is split across the three years is our choice.
How much does 6th grade practice cost?
Each quarter is 5 credits ($29.99 with the 5-credit pack) and covers all four subjects. The whole 6th grade year is four quarters, 20 credits ($99.99 with the 20-credit pack). It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.
Are the questions based on what New York actually teaches?
Yes. Every question is written to New York State's own learning standards for this grade, and is checked against them before it goes on sale.
On sale now.
6th grade practice is on sale, along with every other grade from 3 to 8. Buy a quarter, or the whole year, from the parent portal.