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About the SBACs for 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade
The SBAC Test for grades 6, 7, and 8 is the second stage of year-end assessments administered by the board of Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium. SBAC exams are designed to track student progress as well as to gauge student readiness for future college and career paths. Students take the SBACs once more in grade 11 to test college readiness.
The exam includes two sections: an English Language Arts (ELA) section and a Math section. Both sections contain a series of content claims. Content claims are lists of predetermined skills that the SBAC board believes are crucial components for college and career readiness. All SBAC tests are aligned with the Common Core Curriculum.
Because the junior high years will be your child’s last exposure to the SBAC Tests until 11th grade, proper preparation is crucial to his or her success in the future. Learning about the test, as well as exposing your child to SBAC test practice questions and methods, can ensure your child excels on the test in 11th grade.
SBAC English Language Arts (ELA)
The SBAC ELA Test is composed of two different testing methods: the performance task (PT) and the computer adaptive test (CAT).
- The performance task asks students to read a few passages and collect research based on the texts. Students must then complete a writing task, such as a personal narrative or an essay that is either argumentative, explanatory, informational, or opinion-based. Students must demonstrate their research skills by composing a well-organized, purposeful, and evidence-filled piece. Students are also assessed based on their use of proper writing conventions. Testing time is approximately two hours.
- The CAT section is a computerized test that asks students a series of multiple-choice questions. Test items assess student ability across the four predetermined content claims: reading, writing, listening, and research. The test is adaptive, meaning that difficulty increases or decreases depending on past answers. This test is untimed, but it takes students on average an hour and a half to two hours to complete.
For more information about the ELA section of the SBACs, and for more SBAC practice, visit ourSBAC ELA page.
SBAC Math
Like the ELA Test, the SBAC Math Test is comprised of two separate testing methods: the performance task and the computer adaptive test.
- The performance task provides students with a multi-step, complex, and real-life scenario that they must solve using appropriate mathematical conventions. Students are assessed based on their demonstration of the four predetermined mathematical content claims. Skills that fall under the content claims include mathematical procedure application, problem-solving, reasoning skills, and modeling and data analysis. For a more detailed understanding of content claims and even more SBAC practice, visit our SBAC Math page.
- The CAT section assesses the same content claims as the PT section, but students must demonstrate their mathematical knowledge by answering the multiple-choice questions. The exam is adaptive and untimed. The test items on the CAT section for 6th–8th gradeevaluate student knowledge of the following areas:
- Ratios and proportional relationships
- The number system
- Expressions and equations
- Geometry
- Statistics and probability
SBAC Scores
SBAC scores are reported using two methods: scale scores and achievement levels. Scale scores are raw scores represented by a numerical value ranging between 2000 and 3000. These scores are then assigned achievement levels, which rank students from 1 to 4. For a detailed breakdown of scale scores compared to achievement levels, visit the SBAC Scores section of our SBAC Practice page.
SBAC Practice Tests for 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade
Though scores in 8th grade are merely used to track student progress, by 11th grade, students must score an achievement level of 3 or higher to be considered college and career ready. Thus, practicing for the SBAC in grades 6–8 may be the key to your child’s success in 11th grade. TestPrep-Online provides authentic SBAC practice tests and prep material to ensure this success. Whether your child is taking the SBACs for the first or fifth time, TestPrep-Online’s SBAC practice tests can better familiarize your child with the test. Moreover, they will provide him or her with the proper test practice and exposure to ensure a high score on all SBAC tests.
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