Start Here · 5 min read
Exam Overview
The Iowa Assessments are norm-referenced achievement tests published by Riverside Insights. They compare a student's achievement with a national group of students in the same grade and measure growth from year to year. Level 11 is the level most fifth graders take.
Iowa Assessments Forms E, F and G are equivalent and follow the same blueprint. Schools give the tests on paper or online, and many homeschool families use them as their yearly standardized test. Your school or testing service tells you which form, battery and test dates apply.
The Level 11 tests
A school can give the Complete Battery (all ten tests), the Core Battery (all tests except Science and Social Studies) or the shorter Survey Battery. Each test is timed separately, and the tests are usually spread over several sessions or days.
| Test | Questions | Working time | Battery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading (2 parts) | 43 | 30 + 30 min | Core |
| Written Expression | 40 | 40 min (Form G: 50 min) | Core |
| Mathematics (2 parts) | 60 | 30 + 30 min | Core |
| Computation | 29 | 20 min | Core |
| Vocabulary | 37 | 15 min | Core |
| Spelling | 30 | 10 min | Core |
| Capitalization | 24 | 10 min | Core |
| Punctuation | 24 | 10 min | Core |
| Science | 37 | 35 min | Complete only |
| Social Studies | 37 | 35 min | Complete only |
| Battery | Tests | Questions | Working time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complete | All ten tests | 361 | about 4 hr 55 min (Form G: 5 hr 5 min) |
| Core | All tests except Science and Social Studies | 287 | about 3 hr 45 min (Form G: 3 hr 55 min) |
| Survey | Shorter Reading, Written Expression and Mathematics tests | 93 (Form G: 84) | 1 hr 40 min |
How the questions work
Every Level 11 question is multiple choice. The number of answer choices depends on the test:
| Test | What a question looks like | Choices |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | Passages from a few lines to a full page: stories, poems, folktales, articles, biographies and directions. Questions ask about word meaning, stated facts, inferences, main ideas and the author's craft. | 4 |
| Written Expression | Questions about a short piece of student writing (combining sentences, organization, transitions, word choice) and three-line items: find the line with a usage mistake, or No mistakes. | 4 |
| Mathematics | Number sense, patterns and expressions, data and probability, geometry and measurement, often as multi-step word problems with tables or graphs. | 4 |
| Computation | One calculation with whole numbers, fractions or decimals. The last choice, N, means the correct answer is Not given. | 3 + N |
| Vocabulary | A word in bold inside a short phrase. Choose the word or phrase that means the same, or about the same. | 4 |
| Spelling | Four words; one may be misspelled. If all four are spelled correctly, choose (No mistakes). | 5 |
| Capitalization / Punctuation | A short text split into three lines. Find the line with a mistake (a missing or extra capital or mark), or No mistakes. | 4 |
| Science / Social Studies | Questions about experiments, data tables, maps, timelines, graphs, posters and everyday situations. | 4 |
What each test measures
| Test | Skill areas reported |
|---|---|
| Reading | Vocabulary in context · Explicit meaning · Implicit meaning · Key ideas · Author's craft (literary and informational text) |
| Written Expression | Usage and grammar · Sentence structure · Planning and organization · Appropriate expression |
| Mathematics | Number sense and operations · Algebraic patterns and connections · Data analysis, probability and statistics · Geometry · Measurement |
| Computation | Whole numbers · Fractions · Decimals |
| Science | Scientific inquiry · Life science · Earth and space science · Physical science |
| Social Studies | History · Geography · Economics · Civics and government |
Scoring and reporting
There is no pass or fail score. Results are reported for each test, for totals such as Reading, Language, Mathematics and the Composite, and for the skills inside each test.
| Score | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Standard Score (SS) | A score on one long scale that lets you follow growth from year to year. |
| National Percentile Rank (NPR) | The percent of students in the national comparison group who scored lower. An NPR of 70 means the student scored higher than 70% of that group. |
| Grade Equivalent (GE) | The grade and month of school where a typical student earns the same score, such as 5.8. It describes performance; it is not a placement recommendation. |
| Percent Correct (%C) | The share of questions answered correctly in a test or skill area. |
| Lexile® and Quantile® measures | Reading and math measures that help match students with books and math material. |
Every question counts the same, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so answer every question.
How this book matches the tests
| Level 11 test | Review section in this book |
|---|---|
| Reading | Section 1 · Reading |
| Written Expression | Section 2 · Written Expression |
| Mathematics and Computation | Section 3 · Mathematics |
| Science | Section 4 · Science |
| Social Studies | Section 5 · Social Studies |
| Vocabulary | Section 6 · Vocabulary |
| Spelling | Section 7 · Spelling |
| Capitalization | Section 8 · Capitalization |
| Punctuation | Section 9 · Punctuation |
Each practice test has 100 questions weighted like the Complete Battery: Reading 12, Written Expression 11, Mathematics 17, Computation 8, Science 10, Social Studies 10, Vocabulary 10, Spelling 8, Capitalization 7 and Punctuation 7. The practice tests are untimed; for timing practice, use the working times in the table above.
Finished reading?
Next, start the first chapter.