MAP Growth practice questions
MAP Growth practice questions for 3rd grade reading, with answers explained
Ten reading questions in the style of MAP Growth. Tap an answer to see whether it is right, and why.
Point of Progress practice questions, not NWEA’s. Tap an answer to start.
Literary text questions
Question 1 · Literary text
Buster the dog carried his bone to the yard and dug a hole under the rose bush. He dropped the bone in and covered it with dirt. A week later, Buster sniffed all around the fence, but he could not remember where his bone was hidden.
Where did Buster bury his bone?
Show the answer and why
Answer: D. under the rose bush
The passage says Buster dug a hole under the rose bush and dropped the bone in.
Question 2 · Literary text
Kofi had promised to return the bicycle by six. At half past five the chain slipped off and would not go back on. He pushed it the last two miles, arriving with oil to the elbows and eleven minutes to spare. His cousin looked at the black hands, then at the clock, and said nothing at all.
How much time did Kofi have to spare?
Show the answer and why
Answer: A. Eleven minutes
The passage says he arrived with eleven minutes to spare.
Question 3 · Literary text
On the first night of the camping trip, Dad showed Ruby how to pitch the tent. He said the stakes must go into the ground first, before the poles. Ruby hammered each stake down. Soon the tent stood tall between two pine trees.
According to Dad, what goes into the ground first?
Show the answer and why
Answer: B. the stakes
Dad said the stakes must go into the ground first, before the poles.
Question 4 · Literary text
The twins argued over whose turn it was to hold the kite string, and the kite crashed twice. Finally, Emma held the spool while Erin ran with the kite. It rose higher than any other kite on the beach.
What lesson does this passage teach?
Show the answer and why
Answer: D. Working together brings better results
The kite crashes while the twins argue but flies highest once they cooperate, so teamwork brings success.
Informational text questions
Question 5 · Informational text
Soccer is played in nearly every country on Earth. One reason is that the game needs very little equipment. Players only need a ball and some open space. Children everywhere mark goals with rocks, backpacks, or shoes and start a match.
What is this passage mainly about?
Show the answer and why
Answer: A. why soccer is easy to play almost anywhere
The passage explains that soccer is played everywhere because it needs so little equipment.
Question 6 · Informational text
A mural is a very large painting made right on a wall. Some murals cover the whole side of a building. To reach the highest parts, artists stand on tall scaffolds or ride in lifting machines. A single mural can take many weeks to finish.
How do artists reach the top of a tall mural?
Show the answer and why
Answer: D. They stand on scaffolds or ride in lifts.
The passage says artists stand on tall scaffolds or ride in lifting machines to reach the highest parts.
Question 7 · Informational text
Astronauts on the space station do not lie down in beds. Because everything floats there, each astronaut zips into a sleeping bag attached to a wall. Without the straps, a sleeping astronaut would drift around the cabin and bump into things.
Why do astronauts strap their sleeping bags to a wall?
Show the answer and why
Answer: C. so they will not float around while asleep
The passage says that without straps a sleeping astronaut would drift around the cabin.
Point of Progress in 20 seconds
Ready to see where your child stands?
See where they stand →Vocabulary questions
Question 8 · Vocabulary
The spelling list had "careless, hopeless, useless" written in one column.
What does "-less" mean in these words?
Show the answer and why
Answer: A. Without
Careless means without care.
Question 9 · Vocabulary
Be careful not to trip on the loose step by the front door.
Which meaning of the word trip is used in this sentence?
Show the answer and why
Answer: C. To catch your foot and stumble
Tripping on a loose step means catching your foot and stumbling.
Question 10 · Vocabulary
In the museum case lay an ancient flute carved from bone. Scientists say it was made more than forty thousand years ago.
What does ancient mean?
Show the answer and why
Answer: C. very old
The flute was made more than forty thousand years ago, which shows ancient means very old.
How these questions work
MAP Growth reading is adaptive: every right answer makes the next question harder and every wrong one makes it easier, so the test settles where your child is working and most children get about a third of the questions wrong. A typical 3rd grader scores 185 in reading in the fall and 194 in the spring on the 2025 norms.
Each question comes with a short passage, the way MAP Growth reading questions do. Read the passage first, then the question, then every option before choosing. The explanation says where in the passage the answer comes from, which is the habit that moves reading scores: going back to the text rather than answering from memory.
What your child’s answers tell you
Ten questions are a taste, not a measurement. A child can miss one through a slip and get another by guessing, so read the pattern rather than the total: two wrong answers in the same skill area, for the same reason, say more than the score out of ten.
To see the whole picture, the full Point of Progress test does the same thing across math and reading & writing in about forty minutes: it adapts like MAP Growth, then reports every skill as strong or worth work and every wrong answer with the likely thinking behind it, and turns the gaps into a ten-week workbook. For what a 3rd grade reading score means, see what is a good MAP score for 3rd grade, and try the 3rd grade math questions too.
Questions parents ask
Are these real MAP test questions?
No. NWEA does not share the questions in its tests, and anything sold as the real MAP questions is not. These are Point of Progress’s own questions, written in the same multiple-choice style and spread across the same kind of skill areas.
What is a good MAP reading score for 3rd grade?
On the 2025 norms the average 3rd grader scores 185 in reading in the fall and 194 in the spring. The full ranges, percentiles and the proficiency bar are on what is a good MAP score for 3rd grade.
Will practising questions raise my child’s MAP score?
Knowing the format helps a child stay calm, which is worth something. What moves a RIT score is the skills underneath, so the useful step after a practice set is to work on the area where the wrong answers cluster, not to repeat more questions of the same kind.
Why does my child see questions above their grade?
Because MAP Growth is adaptive and not tied to a grade. It keeps raising the difficulty until your child starts getting questions wrong, so meeting harder questions usually means the earlier ones went well.
Is the MAP Growth reading test timed?
No. MAP Growth is untimed, so there is no reason to rush. A child who slows down and checks each option usually does better than one who races, which is worth practising on the questions above.
Sources and dates
NWEA, 2025 MAP Growth Norms Quick Reference, October 2025: student achievement means by grade and season. The questions are Point of Progress’s own, from the item bank behind its adaptive test, October 2026. Point of Progress is independent and is not affiliated with NWEA. MAP and MAP Growth are trademarks of NWEA.
Where does your child actually stand?
Point of Progress is an independent at-home adaptive test for grades 3 to 10. One purchase covers math and reading & writing, and the report comes the same day: the level, what the child can already do, and the specific skills to practise next. It is not an official assessment and no school accepts the result - it is for you.
Test your child, $9.99 →or with the ten-week workbook, $19.99