Free STAAR Practice Test Questions

The correct answer is (A).

To solve this problem, you first need to determine the total number of carrots. Since Daisy bought three packs of carrots, and each pack contains 10 carrots, you need to multiply 10 by 3, or add 10 three times: 3 x 10, or 10 + 10 + 10, equals 30. The question says Daisy wanted to give each rabbit six carrots. Thus, to find the total number of rabbits, you need to divide 30 by 6. In other words, 3 x 10 / 6 is the correct answer.

The correct answer is (A).

Since the passage is phrased in the first person—"We believe", "we created"—you know it was written by the company that makes the dolls. The passage gives facts that highlight the doll's good features. The last paragraph hints that the doll's price is low for its quality. This paragraph also speaks to "you" as a person who will have the doll: "The actual name is up to you!" All of these are characteristics of a text meant to sell a product. Answer (B) is incorrect because the passage does not only provide facts about the doll. It is also trying to persuade you to buy it by hinting at its low price and speaking to "you" as someone who will have the doll. Answers (C) and (D) are incorrect because the passage does not explain how to play with the doll or how it is produced. * The passage is based on texts found on www.lammily.com

The correct answer is (C).

The easiest way to solve this problem is to try and draw it. If you start with a straight line and form an obtuse angle at each end of the line, this means that the new lines extend outward from the straight line and away from one another, as opposed to acute angles, in which the lines extend inward toward each other. After drawing two connected obtuse angles, one will see that none of the shapes above can be formed besides the trapezoid. 

You can also solve the problem mathematically: An obtuse angle is an angle that is greater than 90°. Since all the angles in both a rectangle and a square are equal to 900, you know these figures cannot be the right ones. An obtuse triangle contains one obtuse angle, but its other two angles are always acute—less than 90°. This is because the sum of a triangle's angles must always equal 1800. Thus, if one angle is greater than 90°, the sum of the other two angles must be less than 90°. Therefore, there can only be one obtuse angle in an obtuse triangle. Once you’ve ruled these three options out, you can know for certain that the answer is a trapezoid. A trapezoid can have two obtuse angles, so it fits the question's description. 

The correct answer is (B).

The passage discusses the effect of technology on kids in that it limits the effort they need to put forth. The cause is amount of time children spend using technology and media, and the effect is the diminishing of their creativity, imaginations, and bodies. Therefore, the correct answer is (B). Answer (A) is incorrect because the paragraph does not compare two things or ideas. It focuses specifically on the effects of technology, and nothing else is being compared to this. Answer (C) is incorrect because even though the paragraph presents the effects of technology on children as a problem, it does not offer a solution. Answer (D) is incorrect because the passage does not present certain ideas as more important than others.

The correct answer is (D).

Names of specific places and names of months should always be capitalized. Therefore, the word "street" should begin with a capital letter as it is part of the name of a specific place, Baker Street, and the word "june" should begin with a capital letter as it is a month. Thus, the correct answer is (D).

The correct answer is (B). To solve this question, you must use long division. You want to divide 31.76 by 8. 

8 ⟌ 31.76 

First, try to divide 8 into 3. 8 cannot go into 3 since it is larger than 3, so you put a 0 as your first digit in the answer on top, above the 3. 

0 

8 ⟌ 31.76 

3 

Since 8 did not go into 3 at all, you must bring the 3 down together with the next digit, 1, and try to divide 8 into 31. 

0 

8 ⟌ 31.76 

31 

The number 8 goes into 31 three times, so you must put a 3 above as your next digit in the answer.  When 8 went into 31 three times, it only reached 24, so it still had 7 left to reach 31. Therefore, you must bring down that 7 and put it before the next digit, and that forms the next number that 8 needs to divide into: 77. 

03  

8 ⟌ 31.76 

77 

The number 8 goes into 77 nine times, reaching 72, with 5 left to reach 77. So put the 9 on top as your next digit and bring the 5 down with the 6, forming the last number you need to divide 8 into: 56. Remember to keep your decimal point in the same place above. 

03.9  

8 ⟌ 31.76 

56 

The number 8 goes into 56 exactly 7 times. So put the 7 on top as your final digit in the answer, and there is no remainder to bring down.  You are left with your final answer. 

03.97 

8 ⟌ 31.76 

56 

Or: 3.97

The correct answer is (D).

The setting of a story is the place, time, and duration the story takes place in. The only relevant detail that is mentioned in the story is the forest. Therefore, answer (D) is correct. Answers (A) and (B) are incorrect because even though they contain details from the story, those details are not the setting of the story. Answer (C) is incorrect because the passage does not mention that the story happens in late evening.

The correct answer is (D).

To solve this question, you must set up a fraction of 28 over 700.  

28/700 

To get the percentage, you must make sure the denominator is equal to 100, since all percentages measure the value out of 100. In order to get the denominator from 700 to 100, we must simply divide by 7, as 100 goes into 700 seven times. 

700/7=100 

To make sure the fraction remains the same proportion, we must also divide the numerator (28) by 7. 

28/7=4  

After dividing each by 7, we are left with: 

4/100 

This is equal to 4%, so we know that is the correct answer.

The correct answer is (A).

The passage describes the city of Genoa and uses many adjectives to create a mental image of the city; it appeals to the senses and describes the sights, smells, and sounds of the city. One technique that the author uses in the text is personification—assigning the qualities of a person to something that is not human. The two examples of personification that can be found in the text are: "…the water waltzing in the light wind" and "the whisper of the waves." Water cannot waltz; this verb is used to describe the movement of the water. Similarly, waves cannot whisper; this verb is used to describe the sound of the waves. Therefore, the correct answer is (A). Answer (B) is incorrect because a simile is a comparison, saying one thing is like another, often with the word "like" or "as." The passage does not contain similes. Answer (C) is incorrect because an irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of their literal meaning, for example, saying "It will be just fine" when you actually mean "It will be terrible." The passage contains no irony. Answer (D) is incorrect because an alliteration is a series of words that begin with the same sound. The passage contains no alliteration.

The correct answer is (A).

The formula used to calculate the volume of a cylinder is the area of the base times height. To find the height of a cylinder, you need to divide the volume by the area of the base. First, find the area of the circular base. Since you know the radius of the base is 9, you need to multiply 9 squared by π, which is 81π. Now that you have the area of the circular base, you need to divide the volume of the cylinder, 162π, by the area of the base, 81π. The result of 162π / 81π is 2, which is the correct answer.

The correct answer is (D).

The correct meaning of "play devil's advocate" is "present counter arguments to a cause, even while agreeing with it." Even if you do not know this phrase, you can understand its meaning from the paragraph: the narrator and her friend want a Black History class, and the narrator must argue the case in front of the school board. She is nervous about what she will be asked and asks Laura to help her practice; therefore, Laura probably presented arguments against the cause to help the narrator see what she might be asked. You know from the context that, even though she presented counter arguments, Laura agrees with the cause because she helped organize the petition. Therefore, the correct answer is (D). Note that answer (C) is incorrect because Laura helped the narrator organize the petition, so it is unlikely that she disagrees with the cause.

The correct answer is (B).

• The mean is the average of a data set (exam scores in this case). To find it, you add up all the data set items and divide the sum by the number of items.
  
  
• In this question, you are given most of the data set and its mean, so you can find the missing value by creating an equation and marking David's score with a variable (x):

• To solve this equation, multiply both sides by 6:

• Using the formed equation, you could discover the missing item of the data set, David's score on the exam (70), and therefore (B) is the correct answer.
  
  
• Another way of solving is by using the mean's property- the sum of the distances from the mean must be zero. If you then add the differences of all scores, including David's, from 75, it should be equal to zero.
  
  
• You can create an equation of the distances of all scores from 75 and mark David's score difference from 75 as x:
  
  88 is 13 points higher than 75 (+13), 62 is 13 points lower than 75 (-13), 100 is 25 points higher than 75 (+25), 49 is 26 points lower than 75 (-26), and 81 is 6 points higher than 75 (+6).
  Now you can create the equation to find David's difference and discover his score:
      
               
• David's score should be 5 points lower than 75 (-5): 75 - 5 = 70 → David's score in the exam is 70 and (B) is the correct answer.

The correct answer is A. Imagery.

Imagery is a literary device used to help the reader better visualize what things look like, and it is accomplished through descriptive language of appearances. The passage uses imagery when it describes the eggs as “perfectly round white things” and states that they are “a trifle smaller than an English walnut.” This indeed helps the reader visualize the eggs as it describes their color and size, painting a vivid image in the mind of the reader. Option B is incorrect because there is no hyperbole in the passage. Hyperbole is a literary device in which authors exaggerate the truth in order to emphasize something or create a strong impression. Though the words used in hyperbole are not meant to be taken literally, the idea behind the impression they create is accurate. One might get confused and think that the author uses hyperbole when he writes, “Sometimes they would take fifty or sixty eggs out of one hole.” However, there is no reason to believe that this is an exaggeration. It does emphasize that a lot of eggs can be found in one hole, but not through hyperbole. The author seems to be giving an estimate of the actual number of eggs, not emphasizing a point by exaggerating.

If it had said that there were a million eggs, that would clearly be an exaggeration because it would be impossible, or at least highly improbable, if understood literally. Since there is no exaggeration, this is not an example of hyperbole. Option C is incorrect because there are no metaphors in the passage. The eggs are described by comparing their size to that of English walnuts, but this is not a metaphor. A metaphor compares two things by saying figuratively that one thing is the other, such as saying, “That man is a tank,” meaning that he is a powerful force. However, saying that a certain aspect of something is similar or equivalent to that of something else, such as an egg being the same size as a walnut, is not a metaphor.

Option D is incorrect because the passage is not an allegory. An allegory is a literary work or passage that, in addition to its literal meaning, has a deeper level (or levels) of understanding. Each character or event in the work (or anything else found in the story) represents either a different character or event, or some kind of broader idea. For example, an animal that leads its peers could be representing the leader of a country in real life, the jungle they live in could represent the country that he leads, and doves that fly around in the story could represent the idea of peace in that country. This is clearly not taking place in the passage. Note: If you chose allegory, it is possible that you confused it with the literary device “alliteration.” This is when there are words close together that begin with the same sound. Alliteration is, in fact, used in the passage, with the phrase “famous fried-egg feast.” However, alliteration is not one of the answer choices.