PARCC - Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Grade 3 ELA Practice Test Questions 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Read this sentence: 'The enormous elephant lumbered slowly through the tall grass.' What does the word 'enormous' mean in this sentence?
- Very fast
- Very large (Correct answer)
- Very colorful
- Very small
Correct answer: Very large
'Enormous' means very large or huge. Context clues like describing an elephant, which is a big animal, help readers figure out that the word means very large.
Question 2: Which word in this sentence is a verb? 'The excited children ran quickly to the playground.'
- excited
- children
- quickly
- ran (Correct answer)
Correct answer: ran
'Ran' is the verb because it is the action word that tells what the children did. Verbs describe actions or states of being.
Question 3: Read this paragraph: 'Maria loved painting. Every day after school, she sat at her desk and mixed colors. She had painted flowers, animals, and rainbows. Her favorite painting was a purple sunset.' What is the BEST title for this paragraph?
- Maria Goes to School
- Maria the Painter (Correct answer)
- How to Mix Colors
- Maria's Favorite Rainbow
Correct answer: Maria the Painter
The whole paragraph is about Maria and her love of painting. 'Maria the Painter' best captures the main idea of all the sentences together.
Question 4: Which sentence uses capital letters correctly?
- my family visited chicago, illinois last july.
- My family visited Chicago, Illinois last July. (Correct answer)
- My Family visited Chicago, illinois last July.
- my Family visited chicago, Illinois Last july.
Correct answer: My family visited Chicago, Illinois last July.
The first word of a sentence, people's names, names of cities and states, and names of months must all be capitalized. Only option B follows all of these rules.
Question 5: Read this passage: 'Snow fell softly outside the window. Jake pulled on his boots and coat. He could hear the wind howling as he stepped onto the frozen porch.' What is the setting of this passage?
- A warm, sunny beach
- A busy classroom
- A cold, snowy place (Correct answer)
- A dark, rainy forest
Correct answer: A cold, snowy place
Details like snow falling, a frozen porch, and howling wind all tell the reader the story takes place somewhere cold and snowy. Setting is where and when a story happens.
Question 6: Read this paragraph: 'Dogs make wonderful pets. They are loyal and love to play. Dogs can also be trained to help people. Some dogs help blind people walk safely, while others help find people who are lost.' Which detail BEST supports the idea that dogs help people?
- Dogs love to play
- Dogs make wonderful pets
- Dogs are loyal
- Some dogs help blind people walk safely (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Some dogs help blind people walk safely
'Some dogs help blind people walk safely' is a specific fact that directly supports the idea that dogs help people. The other options talk about dogs being good pets, not about helping people.
Read this sentence: 'The enormous elephant lumbered slowly through the tall grass.' What does the word 'enormous' mean in this sentence?