SBAC SAMPLE QUESTIONS: GRADE 3 ELA

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) is a standardized test that includes a variety of new technology-enhanced questions.

Some of them are Multiple choice-single correct responses, Multiple choice-multiple correct responses, Matching Tables, Drag and Drop, Hot text, Table Fill in, Graphing, Equation/numeric, Extended constructed response, Short answer, and many more.

This page contains several sample questions along with practice test links for Grade 3 ELA that gives you an idea of questions that your students are likely to see on the test. After each sample question, an answer explanation follows. The explanation includes essential aspects of the task that you may need to consider for the skills, processes, and information your students need to know.

Domain: Grade 3 >> Reading Standards for Literature

Sample Question: Charlie’s friends planned to rob a bank. Charlie wanted no part of such a plan, but he listened to them while they plotted the time and place of the robbery. He even waited outside the bank to see if his friends succeeded. When the police saw him talking with them, they arrested him as well. When Charlie said that he was innocent, the policeman didn’t believe him because ________________________________________.

  1. Liars are not believed, even when they tell the truth.
  2. Birds of a feather flock together.
  3. Better half of a meal in freedom that a full meal in chains.
  4. To be well known is not always to be admired.

Answer Explanation: The best answer is, “birds of a feather flock together,” for the moral of this text. The author wants the reader to realize that you can be guilty by association. Charilie should not have gone anywhere near the bank that his friends talked of robbing. Knowing of their actions and then watching them do it made him appear to be part of their plan.

Standards: RL3.2

Click here to practice: Reading Standards for Literature Questions on 3rd Grade

Domain: Grade 3 >> Reading Standards for Informational Text

Sample Question: Read the passage and answer the question.

Matter is everything that surrounds you on a daily basis. There are five primary states of matter. Matter is made of atoms and molecules, mass, and takes up any amount of space. There are five states that matter can be found in solid, liquid, gas, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate; but, the main states are solid, gas, and liquid. It is possible for matter to move from one state to another. One example of this is water. In its liquid form, we can put water in a cup and drink it. Water can also be found in a solid form which is ice, or in a gas form which is fog.

Which of the following could be included to improve the information provided in this passage?

  1. a picture of space
  2. a picture of water as a solid, liquid, and a gas
  3. a picture of rain
  4. a diagram of an atom

Answer Explanation: Answer choice B is correct. Since matter can be found in all three examples listed in this choice, a picture would help the reader understand the different forms.

Standards: RI3.5

Click here to practice: Grade 3 Reading Standards for Informational Text Questions

Domain: Grade 3 >> Writing Standards

Sample Question: The bright sun can be dangerous. It is important to put on sunscreen before spending time in the summer sun. The ultraviolet rays from the sun can hurt your skin. Sunscreen protects your skin from these rays and helps keep your skin healthy.

What detail would the author of this paragraph NOT want to add to it?

  1. Those who do not use sunscreen can get sunburns.
  2. Many people who spend lots of time in the sun without sunscreen develop skin cancer.
  3. Sitting in the sun is a great way to get a nice, dark sun tan.
  4. Sunscreen comes in different “SPFs” which means there are different protection levels for your skin.

Answer Explanation: Answer choice C is correct for one detail that the author would NOT want to add to this text. This answer states something favorable about the sun while the text is giving you reasons to avoid the sun or ways to protect yourself from the sun.

Standards: W3.2

Click here to practice: 3rd Grade Writing Standards Questions

Domain: Grade 3 >> Language Standards

Sample Question: What form of the underlined verb agrees with the subject in this sentence?

My brother and I does all the work at my house.

  1. does
  2. do
  3. doing
  4. done

Answer Explanation: “Does” should be replaced with “do”. If you read through the other options, they do not create a sentence that makes sense.

Standards: L.3.1f

Click here to practice: Language Standards Questions for 3rd Grade

Looking for online practice tests? Here is the link to practice more of OST Grade 3 English Language Arts questions.

Jenny Watson