The TerraNova Test serves as an achievement test that is administered to students in grades K-12. The exam strives to assess higher-order thinking as well as other academic skills that the child has been taught in school. The test measures specific skill criteria such as achievement in reading, language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, vocabulary and spelling. The test is formatted as a multiple choice test, however 1st graders and above may be given free-response questions. Below are several TerraNova sample questions that are intended for the fourth grade level. Each practice question will reflect a specific subtest that your child will come across.
1.) Language: Spelling
Parent say to your child: “For this section, each question will have a list of words. If one of the words is spelled wrong, fill in the circle next to that word. If none of the words are spelled wrong, fill in the last circle that says “no error.”
- experience
- barely
- crumble
- craggy
- no error
2.) Mathematics
Parents: Please tell your child to read the question and circle the best answer.
How many tens are in a thousand?
- ten
- one hundred
- one thousand
- one
3.) Vocabulary
Parents: At this level, your child will fill in the answer him/herself.
Say to your child: “This practice test is words and what they mean. Look at the phrase and the underlined word. Then mark the word in the list below that has practically the same meaning as the underlined word.”
Descend to 20,000 feet.
- increase
- lower
- rise
- ascend
4.) Reading Comprehension
Parents say to your child: “This is a test that will measure how well you understand what you read. There are 5 passages for you to read. Each is followed by questions about the piece you read. Choose the answer that you think is best.”
1 Does Chewing Gum Make You Smarter?
2 Somebody told me that their teacher lets them chew gum during tests because it makes
3 them smarter. Now, this sounds a little crazy to me.What could chewing gum have to do with
4 taking a test? I decided to check it out, and here is what I found.
5 People have been chewing gum for a really long time. IN ancient Greece people chewed
6 on tree resin to freshen their breath. If you watch the TV ads, that seems to be the biggest
7 reason for chewing gum. Must of them are supposed to give you fresher breath. The cool thing
8 is that it does even more for you.
9 A bunch of psychologists did a study of 159 students doing hard mental test like logic
10 puzzles an drepeating random groups of numbers backwards. Half of the group chewed gum
11 and half did not. The gum chewers always tested better than the students who were not given
12 gum!
13 There is a catch, Though. The benefits of chewing gum only lasted for the first twenty
14 minutes of chewing. After that, the student’s scores were equal to those not chewing gum.
15 Sugared and sugar-free gum were both used and made no difference in the results.
16 So, they found out that chewing gum helps you perform better on mental challenges,
17 but they don’t know why. They think that chewing wakes you up more, so you think more
18 clearly. Another study found that mint gum decreased sleepiness, so that makes sense.
19 The bottom line is this: if your teacher lets you chew gum during a test, you might do
20 better. But remember that the effects don’t last, so save it for the hardest questions.
In the beginning, the author
- Believed chewing gum makes you smarter
- Didn’t believe chewing gum makes you smarter
- Believed drinking caffeine makes you smarter
- Had no opinion about gum chewing
5.) Mathematics
Answer Key
- No error
- B.
- Option 2
- B.
- d.