Take the SBAC 11th Grade Practice Math Test

Imagine you are a high school Junior who struggles with math. But you still hope to get a high school diploma. You have worked hard for 11 long years and have already passed 3 years of high school math courses required for graduation in Washington state - including Algebra One, Geometry and Algebra 2. You have often stayed up until midnight to get all of your math homework done. It hasn't been easy because neither of your parents understand Algebra 2. But despite having passed 3 years of high school math courses, you now also have to pass the SBAC 11^th Grade Math test – a test that you know only 30% of your classmates and prior students have been able to pass. if you fail to pass this test, your punishment is that you will be required to take and pass a 4^th year of an advanced math course called Precalculus during your Senior Year or you will not graduate.

There are 29 questions on this SBAC 11^th Grade Practice math test (there are many more on the real SBAC math test). Ten of the 29 questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 17, 18 and 23 are relatively easy. We will assume you can get them right. Because our purpose is to show you how difficult the most difficult questions are, we have selected 19 questions for you to review. To pass the test, with a score of 3 or 4, you need to get 80% of the 29 questions right. This is 23 questions. We have already given you credit for 10 of the questions. This means you have to answer 13 out of the following 19 questions correctly – or your high school graduation will be placed at risk. You have one hour to complete these 19 questions (about 3 minutes per question). But don't be nervous. It is not like the entire rest of your life depends on passing this test. Well, actually it does. But try not to be too nervous as fear and anxiety will cause you to blank out and forget everything.

START TIME ___________ END TIME _________ NUMBER RIGHT ________

To view all 29 questions, go to the following link: http://wa.portal.airast.org/training-tests/

Then click Take the Practice and Training Tests box in the upper left corner.
Then click Sign In. Then select a grade. 11. Then click Yes. Then click Practice Test.

Here is your first question. It is question 6 on the SBAC practice test. Good luck!

Keep in mind that while you may have studied sines and cosines in high school, it was more than one year ago when you were a sophomore. Hopefully, you still remember what these terms mean. But if your goal is to be a truck driver, should failing this question really cost you a high school diploma and a chance at a truck driving job?

Seven is a tricky question. Read it carefully.

There is no partial credit on this test. To get credit for this problem, you have to check all boxes that have an integer solution and NOT check any boxes that lack an integer solution.

Does a truck driver really need to know fractional exponents to get a high school diploma? For that matter, why does anyone really need to know how to do fractional exponents for any reason?

Did you know that some poor kids walk into the SBAC math test without graph paper?

This is the first problem on the test that involves a skill someone might actually use some day.

This is actually one of the easy ones. But we left it in as a confidence booster.

Being able to answer this question might be useful if you are planning on becoming a farmer.

This is another tricky question. Go slow and read carefully.

My daughter would say that “Ashley needs to get a life.”

Being able to answer this question might be useful if you wanted to start a painting company.

I just love these mirror and rotation problems. But how do they relate to real life problems?

Whoever came up with this problem has some serious mental health issues.

Go ahead and click a button. One of them has to be right. Maybe you will get lucky.

How about just buying a rope that is 20 feet long and using the extra rope as a jump rope?

Get this right and you are on your way to college. Get it wrong and you won't even get a high school diploma. Surely there has to be some middle ground.

This is another tough one – especially if it has been a year or more since you had Geometry.

Wow, #29 is an actual real world math question.

For question 19, here is the last question on the previous SBAC math practice test:

Do you really think high school students need to know how to find the volume of a sphere floating in a prism?

Congratulations, you are now done with this silly test!

Note your time and then use the ANSWER SHEET to score your exam. How did you do?

Pass the test and you go to college. Fail the test and you may not graduate. How is that for a high stakes high failure rate test! Don't feel to bad. Only 30% of high school Juniors can pass the SBAC 11^th Grade Math test. For everyone else, it is off to the coal mines.

What is most outrageous is that there is no reported reliability or validity studies for any of these SBAC questions. So we really have no way of knowing if they are fair questions or not.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE ANSWER SHEET

This test was brought to you by the friendly folks at
Coalition to Protect our Public Schools (dot) org.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at springforschools (at) aol.com

Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.