FSA Practice Test For 3rd Grade

How to Prepare Your Child for 3rd Grade FSA Test?

Students come into contact with the FSA exam for the first time in 3rd grade. We understand how stressful that experience can be, so we made this informational article.

In it, we will tell you everything you need to know about the FSA exam, its tested subjects, and the format of the questions your child will encounter.

Furthermore, we will direct you to the best FSA practice tests for 3rd grade. Let’s dive in.

What Is The FSA Test?

The FSA is an abbreviation for the Florida Standards Assessments. This mandatory and external testing is conducted in all state and private schools in Florida. It tests students in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and End-of-Course subjects.

The questions on the FSA exam correspond with learned subjects and topics during a particular grade. Even though the standards by which knowledge is compared stay essentially the same during elementary and middle school, the proficiency and the complexity of cognitive skills and knowledge deepen.

The FSA exams aim to unify students’ knowledge during a particular school grade. So, by testing students at the end of the school year, the FSA assessments ensure that each student obtains the minimum knowledge they need to pass the grade.

Furthermore, these assessments ensure that each student is prepared to follow the next grade’s curriculum.

The FSA exams are not the sole determinator if a student moves to the next grade. Instead, they just check the proficiency of students’ knowledge and abilities. If failed, the FSA exam can be retaken.

The raw scores of the FSA exams correspond with one of the five proficiency levels, with Level 1 being the lowest and Level 5 being the highest possible. To pass, students must obtain at least a Level 3 proficiency in the tested subject.

If you want to read more about the FSA assessment, the standards, and its implications, head over to TestPrep-Online and check out their FSA Informational guide and practice tests.

Who Takes The FSA Test?

Children Inside a Classroom

The FSA assessment is mandatory for all 3rd to 10th-grade students in Florida.

FSA ELA (English Language Arts – Reading and Writing) is taken by all students starting from 4th grade and ending in 10th grade. 3rd graders take the FSA Reading alone.

Students take math from 3rd up to 8th grade.

What FSA Tests Do 3rd Graders Take?

3rd grades take the FSA assessments in:

  • English Language Arts (ELA) Reading
  • Mathematics

English Reading (FSA ELA)

The ELA Reading questions are based on the English Language Arts Florida reading, literature, and language standards.

The test includes numerous written materials students need to read, understand, gather information, and manipulate to answer the questions. Those written excerpts will have different themes, structures, intents, and types.

Some will be informational, while others will be literary. Furthermore, some will be newspaper articles, while others will be short stories or poems.

The ELA Reading assessment will have 6 to 8 written excerpts to be read and about 6 to 10 questions for each passage to be answered.

The Florida Standards for ELA Reading are as follows:

  • Main idea and Supporting details

Students must read carefully, comprehend, summarize and analyze important information and concepts. They also should be able to refer to different passages as evidence to support conclusions.

  • Structure

Students need to understand the meaning of words, phrases, and concepts and determine how text structure impacts the meaning of what has been portrayed in the passage. They need to be able to distinguish different points of view, the technical structure of the excerpt, the main point or intent of the writer, and the development of the narrative.

  • Knowledge and Idea summary

Students need to analyze the content presented through different formats, integrate or distinguish topics and find similarities and differences in themes, styles, characters, formats, etc.

  • Language grammar and editing

Students will demonstrate their ability to use and edit English grammar, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and usage of words and structures. Some questions will ask students to correct errors, paraphrase, optimize or edit excerpts, sentences or words.

Head to TestPrep-Online and their FSA ELA assessment article to learn more about the FSA ELA segment.

Math

The Math part of the FSA measures the students’ abilities to work with math operations, think abstractly with the help of numerals, and solve math problems using logic and math concepts.

The FSA Standards for Math are:

  • Algebraic thinking, operations, and numbers

Students will use the four basic mathematical operations to solve math problems. They must understand the properties of numbers and operations and correctly use them to solve problems. They should also be able to identify, explain and use patterns in arithmetics.

  • Numbers and operations with fractions

Students should be able to understand fractions as numbers and perform mathematical operations with them.

  • Geometry, Data interpretation, and measurements

Students must show their abilities to measure and estimate objects’ time, mass, and volume. They also need to be able to present and interpret data in the form of charts, graphs, or pictures. 3rd graders should be able to reason abstractly about shapes and their attributes.

If you want to learn more about the FSA Math Assessment, head to TestPrep-Online and their extensive FSA 3rd grade Math article.

FSA Tests For 3rd Grade Sample Questions

In the following two sections of the article, we will provide some sample questions about what you should expect on the FSA tests for 3rd grade.

English Reading (FSA ELA)

What does the word anxious mean in the sentence?

“Don’t be so anxious. I know you’ll get it right this time”

A. Surprised
B. Worried
C. Angry
D. Dedicated

What does paragraph 5 add to Passage 2?

“ At this point, things got tricky.”

A. It tells where the situation explained takes place.
B. It explains why the main character took action.
C. It suggests that things didn’t go as the main character expected.
D. It serves a poetic purpose to cause emotion in the reader.

Math

Picture source: TestPrep-Online sample questions for FSA 3rd Grade Math

Picture source: TestPrep-Online sample questions for FSA 3rd Grade Math

How Is The FSA Test For 3rd Grade Administered?

This section will give more details about the number of questions, the format of the FSA tests for 3rd grade, and the time limit that students have to finish the assignments.

How Many Questions Are On The FSA For 3rd Grade?

The FSA Reading assessment for 3rd grade contains between 56 and 66 questions. The same goes for the FSA Math assessment, which can have anywhere between 56 and 66 questions.

What Is The Format For The FSA Test For 3rd Grade?

The form of the FSA assignment for 3rd graders is paper and pen-based, both in Reading and Math.

What Is The Time Limit For The FSA FFor 3rd Grade?

The FSA Reading assessment for 3rd grade is done on two consecutive school days, with an 80 minutes session each day. The FSA reading has a total time limit of 160 minutes, or 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The FSA Math assessment for 3rd grade is also done in two 80 minutes sessions, one a day. In total, it takes 160 minutes, or 2 hours and 40 minutes.

FSA For 3rd Grade Scores

The scores of the FSA tests come as Individual Score reports where the scores of all subjects tested are presented to the student and their parents.

The numerical raw scores students get are then placed in one of the five scaled proficiency levels.

  • Level 1 – The student would need substantial help in the next grade.
  • Level 2 – The student would need some help in the next grade.
  • Level 3 – The student might need additional help in the next grade.
  • Level 4 – The student will likely perform well in the next grade with little help.
  • Level 5- The student will likely perform excellently in the next grade with little to no help.

The score ranges for the FSA for 3rd grade are as follows:

To be considered as passing, the 3rd grader needs to receive at least the minimum score marked at Level 3 proficiency, i.e., 300 points for English Reading and 297 points for Math.

If you want to learn more about the FSA scores and the achievement levels, you can get all the necessary information at TestPrep-Online and their FSA Scores FAQ.

3rd Grade FSA Practice Tips

Who Takes The FSA Exams

3rd graders might have some resistance when it comes to studying and practicing. So, we offer a few helpful tips to raise your child’s willingness to practice for the FSA test.

  • Utilize The Help Of Practice Materials

The best way to help your 3rd grader handle the anxiousness of taking their first FSA examination is to help them prepare.

TestPrep-Online is the most extensive online library for practice materials, and they offer hundreds of practice questions, study guides, helpful tips, answer explanations, and progress reports.

With their help, your child can receive complete, thorough, and appropriate practice materials that they can use to improve their knowledge and abilities in English Reading and Math.

  • Make Learning Fun And Engaging

Young children can quickly get bored while studying or practicing. That’s why we propose to make learning fun and interesting for them in the form of games and activities. Also, make sure you praise each successful practice and repeat things that have already been learned.

  • Organize Your Time

Another essential aspect of practice and test preparation is to dedicate enough time to learning. Young children usually have an attention span of around half an hour maximum, so make sure that they take frequent breaks during practice and relax.

  • Determine Strengths And Weaknesses

Even though each tested aspect of the subjects should be practiced and learned, kids usually have both strengths and weaknesses. So, instead of dividing equal practice time through all tested subjects, ensure that your child dedicates the most time and effort to improving their academic deficiencies.

Conclusion

The FSA exam can be stressful for 3rd graders since this is the first time they get in touch with this kind of examination.

To help you and your child understand the FSA exams, we’ve made this article with all the vital info about the FSA. We also provided you with sample questions to understand the nature of the testing areas, and we gave some helpful tips to make practice more enjoyable.

In the end, we directed you to TestPrep-Online, since they are the most dedicated professionals in the field of practice materials, and their FSA bundles are the closest thing to the actual FSA test.

​Written by Victoria Todorovska

Victoria (or Viki) is a Freelance Writer, Psychologist, and Gestalt Therapy Consultant. With years of experience in higher education as well as counselling others, she is well-placed to offer expert advice on guiding others up the career ladder.