AskThena

Smarter Balanced grade 6 math practice test

A free practice set in the style of grade 6 math on the Smarter Balanced tests: 12 questions in the online formats state tests use, marked as soon as you finish. Nothing is stored.

Thena, a marble statue of a young Athena

Grade 6 practice set

12 questions, with no clock. A new set every time, marked when you finish, with the marks by Smarter Balanced’s categories.

Have paper and a pencil ready for working out.

What’s on grade 6 math

The Smarter Balanced tests report grade 6 math in 3 categories. The practice set covers each of them:

Claim 1: Concepts and Procedures

  • Unit rates, including unit prices and speed
  • Finding a percent of a number, and the whole from a part
  • Fractions, decimals and percents that are equal
  • Dividing fractions by fractions
  • Multiplying and dividing multi-digit decimals
  • Greatest common factor and least common multiple
  • The coordinate plane in all four quadrants
  • Exponents, and the value of an expression for a given number
  • Solving one-step equations
  • Area of triangles, parallelograms and trapezoids
  • Volume of prisms with fraction edge lengths
  • Mean, median and range of a data set

Claims 2 and 4: Problem Solving and Modeling and Data Analysis

  • Ratios and equivalent ratios
  • Two quantities that change together: tables and equations
  • Surface area from nets
  • Dot plots and what they show
  • Money: saving, balances and paying back a loan

Claim 3: Communicating Reasoning

  • Negative numbers, ordering and absolute value
  • Equivalent expressions and the distributive property
  • Statistical questions, which expect answers that vary
  • The Smarter Balanced tests check the Common Core State Standards (or each member's version of them).
  • The real grade 6 test: About 35-40 questions on the full blueprint: Concepts and Procedures 17-20 (grades 3-5) or 16-20 (grades 6-8); Problem Solving with Modeling and Data Analysis 8-10; Communicating Reasoning 8-10 (those two together 18-20). One performance task of 4-6 items is included. The adjusted blueprint cuts the adaptive part by about half.
  • Calculators: No calculator in grades 3-5. Grades 6-8 mix calculator and non-calculator items, given in separate segments.

How to help at home

  1. Do one set, then talk

    After a set, look at the ones they missed together. Ask how they got their answer before saying what the right one is.

  2. Little and often

    A short set a few times a week does more than a long session the week before.

  3. Use real life

    Prices at the store, recipes, distances and times on a trip: grade-level math is everywhere.

  4. Keep it calm

    The test checks how the year went. A good night’s sleep helps more than cramming.

Other grades

More about the Smarter Balanced tests in 2027

See Thena explain the ones they missed

With an account, Thena goes over every question your child gets wrong: she puts it back on her board, finds the slip and works it through out loud, then gives them one like it to do alone.

Try 3 lessons free
Thena waving hello