What the SBAC is and how it works

According to Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, “For the adjusted blueprint, the CAT portion is expected to take about half the time as the full version, with the same amount of time needed for the PT portion.”^[1]

The Smarter Balanced summative assessments measure what students know and can do in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics. They report whether each student is on track for college and career readiness. The tests are given by the states that use Smarter Balanced. Your state education department decides the testing window, which students take which test, and the rules for accommodations.

The tests are taken online and are computer adaptive. That means later questions get harder or easier depending on how the student answered earlier ones. Smarter Balanced says this measures skills more accurately than a traditional fixed-form test. In each subject the test has a computer-adaptive test (CAT) portion and a performance task (PT), which is a separate, longer task. Some states use an adjusted blueprint. In that version the CAT portion takes about half the time of the full version, and the PT takes the same amount of time.

Results are reported as achievement levels. The target is Level 3 (Standard Met) or higher: Smarter Balanced adds Levels 3 and 4 together to show the share of students who are on track for college and career readiness.

Testing dates, time limits, accommodations, when score reports arrive and whether a student can retest are all set by each state. Check your state education department and smarterbalanced.org for the rules that apply to you.

SBAC Exam at a Glance

Facts verified Oct 22, 2026 against Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Dates that have passed are removed automatically.

SBAC content outline and where to practise each area

The content areas below are copied from the official SBAC content outline published by Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. The right-hand column shows which of our practice sets covers it.

Worked examples: how to reason through SBAC questions

These are practice questions written for this site, not questions from the real exam. Each explanation shows why the right answer is right and why the others are wrong.

Example 1

Question: What does it mean when a story has a 'conflict'?

1. The story has a happy ending
2. There is a problem or struggle that the character must face
3. The story is based on real events
4. The story has more than one main character

Answer: B. There is a problem or struggle that the character must face

Explanation:

B is correct. A conflict is the problem or struggle a character has to deal with. The plot is built around how that problem grows and gets resolved. A conflict can be between characters, between a character and nature, or inside a character's own mind.

A is wrong because a happy ending describes how the story ends, not the problem in it, and many stories with a conflict end sadly. C is wrong because being based on real events describes where a story comes from, not what goes wrong in it. D is wrong because how many main characters a story has is unrelated to conflict. A story with a lone main character can still have a strong conflict.

Rule to remember: ask 'What does the character want, and what stands in the way?' The answer is the conflict.

Example 2

Question: Which fraction is equivalent to 0.45?

1. 4/5
2. 9/20
3. 1/4
4. 45/10

Answer: B. 9/20

Explanation:

B is correct. 0.45 is read as 45 hundredths. To check 9/20, multiply the top and bottom by 5. That gives 45 hundredths, which is exactly 0.45.

A, 4/5, reuses the digits 4 and 5 but not their value, and 4/5 is much larger than 0.45. C, 1/4, equals 5/20, which is less than 9/20, so it is too small. D, 45/10, is 45 tenths, which is more than 4 wholes, so it is far too large. That choice comes from putting the decimal digits over the wrong denominator.

Rule to remember: name the decimal by its smallest unit (hundredths here), write that as a fraction, then simplify it or scale it to match the answer choices.

Example 3

Question: A car travels 150 miles in 2.5 hours. What is its average speed in miles per hour?

1. 40 mph
2. 50 mph
3. 55 mph
4. 60 mph

Answer: D. 60 mph

Explanation:

D is correct. Average speed is distance divided by time: 150 miles ÷ 2.5 hours = 60 miles per hour. Check by multiplying back: 60 × 2.5 = 150.

A (40 mph), B (50 mph) and C (55 mph) are all too slow. At any of those speeds the car would travel less than 150 miles in 2.5 hours. Wrong choices like these usually come from rounding the time or misplacing the decimal point in 2.5.

Rule to remember: speed = distance ÷ time. After dividing, multiply your answer by the time and make sure you get the distance back.

For a fuller set of questions on this topic, see our sbac practice test resource.

How to use these practice tests

1. Take a baseline. Start with a full ELA set and a full math set close to the student's grade, such as the middle-school ELA practice test or the elementary math practice test. Note every question that was missed or guessed.
2. Sort the misses by topic. Then work through the matching topic sets: fractions and decimals, ratios and proportions, reading literature, informational text and writing arguments.
3. Explain, don't just check. For each miss, read our explanation. Then have the student say in their own words why the right choice works and why each wrong choice fails.
4. Use the official material. Look on smarterbalanced.org and your state's testing site for official practice tests. They let the student get used to the online tools and the adaptive format, and to try a performance task from start to finish.
5. Keep the last days light. Re-do a few missed questions, skip brand-new topics, and get good sleep before testing.