CMAS Practice Test

Prep for Colorado Testing with CMAS Practice Tests

Online testing requires specific virtual skills — but with the right preparation, your students will be more than ready to tackle Colorado’s annual assessments. With CMAS practice tests, they’ll get an idea of what content they’ll be tested on, while also gaining familiarity with online testing technology. Test time will be just another opportunity for them to show off everything they’ve learned.

Here’s what you need to know about CMAS, CMAS practice tests, and how to best prepare your students for testing.

What Is CMAS?

Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS, is a state summative assessment that tests students in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. CMAS specifically measures students’ learning against the state’s academic standards to assess whether or not they are mastering the standards and are prepared for the next grades. The computer-based assessments include Colorado-specific questions on both the English language arts and mathematics tests.

Various grades are tested on the following subjects:

Mathematics (grades 3–8)
English language arts (grades 3–8)
Spanish language arts, or CSLA (grades 3 and 4 of identified English learners)
Science (grades 5, 8, and 11)
Social studies (grades 4, 7, and 11)

CMAS tests provide insight into the progress students have made in mastering the state academic standards, while also enabling data for analysis across the state and within districts. Teachers can use the test outcomes to adjust their teaching methods to particular student needs, whether weaknesses or strengths. The test results can also be used by schools and districts to adjust curriculum or programming for the new school year.

CMAS tests are primarily administered online, with a paper option for students who require accommodations or schools that don’t have the necessary technology. Tests results are released in early fall.

Colorado also offers alternate assessments (CoAlt) for students with significant cognitive disabilities. These assessments cover the same subjects and grades as the CMAS tests. The English language arts and math CoAlt tests are computer-adaptive, while science and social studies CoAlt tests are on paper. All CoAlt tests are administered one-on-one. Students who need assistance with the computer-based test may have their test examiner enter their answers on the computer.

Colorado high school students take the PSAT in grades 9 and 10 and the SAT in grade 11 for their ELA and mathematics assessment. The state also provides ACCESS for ELLs, an assessment of English language proficiency for English language learners in all grades, as well as the Colorado Spanish Language Arts (CSLA) test which is an accommodation of the CMAS ELA assessment for qualifying Spanish-speaking students in grades 3 and 4.

How to Use the CMAS Practice Tests to Prep Your Students

CMAS tests are conducted online, which means questions aren’t just old-school multiple choice. Students will encounter questions in a variety of formats, including technology-enhanced items which take advantage of digital capabilities. Your students will need to be prepared to not just choose an answer, but develop their answer on the screen, whether through drag-and-drop, graph building, table filling, or some other question style.

This is where CMAS practice tests come in.

CMAS practice tests enable your students to practice using virtual test-taking technology, so when test day rolls around, they’ll know exactly how to answer a question (not just what the answer is). By engaging your students with CMAS practice tests, you’ll give them the opportunity to master the technology so they can focus on the test content. For even greater impact, have them practice on the same device they’ll use on test day—whether tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. That way, they’ll know exactly how the technology interacts with their device and they won’t be caught off-guard.

CMAS practice tests in the virtual testing environment help build student confidence. With this preparation, they’ll be more than ready for the real CMAS test.