M-STEP Practice Tests
Prepare for M-STEP Assessments with M-STEP Practice Tests
When testing time comes around, your students will be more than ready to crush the M-STEP with the help of M-STEP practice tests. Designed to prepare your students for the annual M-STEP assessments, free M-STEP practice tests enable students to become familiar with the online testing environment while also gaining a clear idea of what content will be covered in the actual exam.
Here’s what you need to know about M-STEP, the practice tests, and how to prepare your students best.
What Is M-STEP?
First introduced in 2014 by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP, or MSTEP) is an annual assessment of students in grades 3–8 and 11. It aims to measure students’ achievements of state learning standards and readiness for college.
M-STEP exams are as follows:
- Math (grades 3–7)
- English Language Arts (grades 3–7)
- Science (grades 5, 8, 11)
- Social Studies (grades 5, 8, 11)
Instead of M-STEP exams, Grades 9 and 10 in Michigan take the PSAT. For non-science and social studies subjects, eleventh graders take the SAT and ACT WorkKeys, which respectively serve as students’ college entrance and workplace readiness exams.
All M-STEP tests are administered online. The online assessments involve fewer multiple-choice questions, thanks to the flexibility of virtual testing platforms, and more technology-enhanced questions that involve critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Math and English Language Arts (ELA) M-STEP exams are computer-adaptive, so the tests change based on how students answer questions and provide a more precise understanding of student mastery. ELA tests include a passage-based writing prompt for every grade. Science and social studies are fixed-form assessments.
M-STEP exams are not timed and don’t have a time limit, but students generally spend 3-7 hours taking the assessments. Schools have access to preliminary results within 48 hours of testing. Final results are released in late summer before the new school year.
A snapshot of M-STEP results in recent years. With M-STEP practice and the right support, your students will do well on state testing. Especially during a time when the pandemic has impacted learning progress, knowing how students are doing and how to support them is more important than ever.
For students with significant cognitive impairments that prevent general assessments from being an appropriate measure of achievement (as determined by their Individual Educational Program team), Michigan offers the MI-Access Alternate Assessment.
How to Use M-STEP Practice Tests to Prepare Your Students
Using digital technology for test-giving means M-STEP exams have question formats not typically offered on pencil-and-paper tests. This benefits assessing student learning (multiple-choice questions can only reveal so much). Still, it also means students must be familiar with virtual test question formats, so they’re not caught off-guard on test day. This is where M-STEP practice tests come in.
M-STEP practice tests enable you to introduce your students to the different question formats they can expect on the M-STEP exam, whether graph building, drag-and-drop, calculator use, selection or deselection, or highlighter and eraser. You can also administer these practice tests on the same device students will use on test day so that they know how to navigate the virtual testing environment whether they use a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer.
In addition to knowing the technology in and out, your students will gain an understanding of the sort of content they’ll be tested on in M-STEP. Test day won’t bring them any unwelcome surprises.
M-STEP Practice Tests Are Available in Pear Assessment
To make M-STEP practice tests as easy to administer as possible, Pear Assessment (formerly Edulastic) has already uploaded M-STEP released items to the Pear Assessment Public Library. With an Pear Assessment account, you can welcome students into a virtual environment to practice for M-STEP assessments. Pear Assessment is free for teachers, so if you’re new, click the button below to create an account and get started.
Empower and prepare your students in the online environment — which mimics the real exam! Your students will gain confidence and test tech-savviness as they navigate the tool and interact with the M-STEP practice tests. All you have to do is set up your free Pear Assessment account and show your students how to log in.
On the count of three, get ready to take your M-STEP: one, two, three!
Join Pear Assessment for FREE to administer the M-STEP practice test
Sources
- https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/student-assessment/m-step
- https://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-22709_70117---,00.html
- https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwToIjIZuJg
- https://education.msu.edu/green-and-write/2014/m-step-michigans-new-assessment-system/
M-STEP Practice tests
M-STEP Grade 3 Math
8 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 4 Math
9 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 5 Math
11 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 6 Math
6 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 7 Math
8 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 3 ELA
13 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 4 ELA
16 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 5 ELA
12 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 6 ELA
16 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 7 ELA
14 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 5 Social Studies
40 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 8 Social Studies
34 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 11 Social Studies
5 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 5 Science
9 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 8 Science
7 questions | M-STEP
M-STEP Grade 11 Science
6 questions | M-STEP
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