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 4 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 5 >> Reading Standards for Literature
Sample Question: Katie stood before the crowd blushing and wringing her hands. She looked out and saw the room full of faces. Some she knew, and some she did not. But, they were all here to listen to her. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth, but no words came out. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she closed them.
With her eyes closed, she imagined her mother helping her get dressed and ready for tonight. “Just do your best,” is what her mother had told her. She opened her eyes and found her mother’s smiling face in the crowd. Relaxing, she took another deep breath and started singing. She did not stop until she finished, and the crowd was on their feet applauding.
After the show, she found her parents and her friends. They all had wonderful things to say about her song and how proud they were because she kept going even when it seemed like she might give up. She shrugged her shoulders and shared a smile with her mother. “I just did my best,” she answered.
Choose a suitable title for this story.
- “Trust People”
- “Listening to Mom”
- “Do Your Best”
- “The Show”
Answer Explanation: The evidence in this passage best supports the choice “Do Your Best,” because in the end, it was Katie doing her best that allowed her to complete her performance. The rest of the phrases are details of the story, but they are not the main idea, nor do they suggest the most appropriate title. Always remember to choose the best answer. Sometimes, the title will summarize the main idea of the story.
Standards: RL 5.2
Click here to practice: Reading Standards for Literature Questions on 5th Grade
Domain: Grade 5 >> Reading Standards for Informational Text
Sample Question: You have to look for the meaning of the word ‘meticulous’ in the dictionary. How would you do that?
- Locate the words beginning with ‘met’, and search word by word till you get the word ‘meticulous’.
- Locate the words beginning with ‘met’ and search word by word until you find the word ‘meticulous.’
- Search for the word ‘meticulous’ from the beginning of the dictionary.
- Look for the word in a Language Arts textbook for grade 5.
Answer Explanation: Choice B is correct. To locate the word meticulous in the dictionary, you would locate words that start with “met” and then go word by word you find the word meticulous, because when you alphabetize or look for words in alphabetical order, all words that have the same first letter are grouped together. The second letter is then compared, then the third letter, and so forth.
Standards: RI.5.7
Click here to practice: Grade 5 Reading Standards for Informational Text Questions
Domain: Grade 5 >> Writing Standards
Sample Question:
Where would this illusration likely be found?
- Novel
- Poem
- Journal
- Informational Text
Answer Explanation: Choice D is correct. This illustration of “The Signing of the Declaration of Independence” would likely be found in informational text about historical events, rather than a novel, journal, or poem, which are primarily text.
Standards: W.5.2.a
Click here to practice: 5th Grade Writing Standards Questions
Domain: Grade 5 >> Language Standards
Sample Question: Marrah lifting her sheets to look under them before dropping to her knees in front of her bed.
What is the correct way to write the underlined verb?
- lift
- will lift
- lifted
- lifting
Answer Explanation: Choice C is correct. Marrah lifted her sheets to look under them before dropping to her knees in front of her bed. The verb lifted is past tense. The correct verb tenses for the other choices are as follows: A.) Present B.) Future C.) Progressive or continuous tense.
Standards: L.5.1
Click here to practice: Language Standards Questions for 5th Grade
