MAP Test 1st Grade Reading: Free Practice, Scores & Tips
Welcome to your complete NWEA MAP 1st Grade Reading Test preparation guide.
Below, you’ll find everything you need to improve your child’s reading score potential, including free practice questions, useful information, and solving tips.
So if you’d like to help your child prepare effectively and maximize their chances of scoring high, you’ll love this guide.
Let’s dive right in!
What’s on This Page
What Is on the MAP 1st Grade Reading Test?
The Reading MAP Test for 1st Grade, a component of the MAP Growth Reading K-2 (Early Learners), is an untimed assessment crafted to evaluate your child’s reading proficiency. Comprising approximately 43 questions, the test dynamically adapts to your child’s answers, modifying its difficulty level based on their accuracy or errors.
Check our detailed guide for more valuable information about the MAP 1st Grade test.
Areas Covered on the MAP First Grade Reading Test
Phonology and Phonics
This section evaluates the ability of students to distinguish between different sounds, comprehend concepts such as vowels, consonants, syllables, and recognize rhyming words.
Example: Which word rhymes with “cat”: bat, dog, or sun?
Concepts of Print
Students’ understanding of the hierarchical structure between letters, words, and sentences is scrutinized. This includes proficiency in recognizing the characteristics and structure of books and an adept comprehension of alphabetic order.
Example: What is the first word in this sentence?
Word Structure and Meaning
This segment assesses the application of linguistic concepts such as prefixes and suffixes. Furthermore, it evaluates the student’s capacity to infer word meanings from context, identify synonyms and antonyms, and categorize words.
Example: What does the word “happiness” mean in the story?
Comprehension
An integral part of the test, this section measures reading (or audio) comprehension. Students are required to distinguish between various types of texts and identify characteristics such as setting, characters, and conflicts in stories.
Example: Why did the character go to the store in the story?
Writing
The writing component examines proficiency in capitalization, punctuation, spelling, verb tenses, and the ability to distinguish between different parts of speech.
Example: Look at the signs and choose the exclamation mark.
Take a Free MAP Reading Practice Test for Grade 1
The following sample test is divided into easy, moderate, and difficult questions, enabling you to estimate your child’s level.
Easy Questions
Sample Question #1
What is the connection between the words “banana” and “fruit”?
A. They have the same meaning (synonyms)
B. They have opposite meanings (antonyms)
C. a “banana” belongs to the “fruit” category
D. a “fruit” belongs to the “apple” category
Correct Answer & Explanation:
The correct answer is C.
A category is a group of things that are similar in some way.
Banana is a type of fruit, so it belongs to the fruits category, which also contains apples, oranges, melons, etc.
Sample Question #2
Look at the following sentence that is missing a word:
In the winter, Mia likes to stay home and eat ___ soup.
Which word completes the sentence?
A. Cold
B. Kind
C. Short
D. Hot
Correct Answer & Explanation:
The correct answer is D.
Read the whole sentence with the missing word, and try to think which word will complete the sentence in a way that makes sense.
The missing word describes the soup that Mia likes to eat in the winter.
The word “hot” completes the sentence in a way that makes sense- soup is a hot type of food, and in the winter, people usually eat hot foods.
Moderate Questions
Sample Question #1
Look at the signs. Choose the comma:
1) .
2) !
3) ,
4) ?
Correct Answer & Explanation:
The correct answer is (3).
The sign of a comma is “,”
Sample Question #2
Look at the following diagram:
What is the main idea of this diagram?
A. To show an illustration with different colors.
B. To show people’s choices for their favorite food.
C. To show people’s choices for their favorite color.
Correct Answer & Explanation:
The correct answer is B.
A diagram is a visual way to present information.
In this diagram, every color represents a different food type, as you can see in the line below the circle, and the size of every part represents the number of people who chose this food.
For example, the largest part in the chart is the blue part, which represents pizza, so pizza was chosen by the largest number of people.
You can also see that the title of this chart is “Favorite Food”.
Therefore, the main idea of the diagram is to show people’s choices for their favorite food.
Difficult Questions
Sample Question #1
Which word is spelled correctly?
A. About
B. Meny
C. Jast
D. Intu
Correct Answer & Explanation:
The correct answer is A.
The only word that is spelled correctly is “About”
“Meny” should be “Many”, “Jast” Should be “Just”, and “Intu” should be “Into”
Sample Question #2
Natalie _____ second grade next year.
Which word should be used in the blank?
A. starts
B. started
C. will start
Correct Answer & Explanation:
The correct answer is C.
To figure out how to complete this sentence, you have to first figure out the tense of the sentence.
The words “next year” say that this sentence is in the future tense, so the missing verb must also be in the future tense.
When the word “will” appears before a verb, it means that the verb is in the future tense.
Therefore, the words “will start” complete this sentence: Natalie will start second grade next year.
Navigating MAP Reading Scores for 1st Grade
RIT Scores: Academic Benchmark
The RIT score serves as a benchmark for your child’s academic standing. This unique numerical representation indicates their current skill level. Higher RIT scores correlate with advanced skills. For instance, a RIT score of 170 implies a commendable level of academic proficiency.
Percentiles: Comparative Performance
Percentiles offer a comparative perspective on your child’s performance relative to their peers. Achieving the 85th percentile means outperforming 85% of students. It provides context to your child’s standing within the larger cohort.
Achievement Levels: Spectrum of Performance
Understanding achievement levels involves recognizing the spectrum of performance. High achievement denotes surpassing the majority of students, median achievement places your child in the middle range, and low achievement signals areas for potential improvement. It’s a nuanced way to gauge overall performance.
See the table below for specific RIT scores and percentiles for 1st Grade Reading (based on this official PDF):
| Percentile | Reading (RIT Score) | |
|---|---|---|
| Higher Achievement | 95 84 69 | 177 169 162 |
| Median | 50 | 156 |
| Lower Achievement | 31 16 5 | 150 143 135 |
Improving Your Child’s Scores
Assisting your young learner in comprehending Reading concepts might pose a challenge in 1st Grade, but with a bit of guidance and creativity, you can make the learning journey enjoyable and effective:
- Interactive Reading: Ask questions during storytime to boost comprehension and encourage expression.
- Word Games: Introduce Scrabble and puzzles to make learning vocabulary enjoyable.
- Daily Reading Routine: Establish a consistent reading habit for foundational skill reinforcement.
- Library Visits: Explore different genres together for a personalized reading experience.
- Real-world Connections: Relate reading to daily life, discussing menus, signs, and practical applications.
- Cozy Reading Nook: Designate a comfortable space at home to make reading inviting.
- Educational Apps: Use interactive apps designed for 1st graders to reinforce skills in a fun way.