Free Kindergarten MAP Practice Questions – Help Your Child Excel Today!
What Is the NWEA MAP Test for Kindergarten?
The NWEA MAP test for kindergarten is an early academic assessment designed to measure what young students know and what they’re ready to learn next. It’s a computer-adaptive test, meaning the questions adjust in difficulty based on each child’s answers. This helps provide a personalized picture of your child’s strengths and learning needs in subjects like math and reading. The MAP test isn’t about getting everything right — it’s about understanding where your child is on their learning journey so teachers can better support them in the classroom.
Check out our general Free MAP Practice or access PrepPacks by grade.
NWEA MAP Sample Questions
MAP Kindergarten Sample Question 1: Math
Jane had 6 flowers in her garden. She planted 3 more flowers. How many flowers does Jane have in her garden now? You can use the pictures to help you solve the problem:
MAP Kindergarten Sample Question 2: Math
What is the name of the following shape?
Tutor Tip for Parents:
When practicing math for the NWEA MAP test, keep it fun and hands-on! Use everyday moments — like counting snacks, sorting toys by color or size, or comparing who has more or less — to build your child’s number sense. Focus on simple skills like counting to 20, recognizing shapes, understanding more/less, and basic addition. Short, playful practice every day goes a long way at this age!
Tutor Tip for Parents:
To help your child get ready for reading questions on the MAP test, read together every day — even just for 10 minutes. Ask simple questions while reading, like “What happened first?” or “How do you think the character feels?” The goal is to build your child’s confidence with listening, understanding stories, and recognizing words — all in a fun, relaxed way!
Prepare Your Child for the MAP Kindergarten Test!
Practice with the most complete studying materials including 250 sample questions, MAP math quizzes, MAP reading quizzes, two full-length MAP simulation, a comprehensive study guide, and a detailed score report to track your child's progress.
MAP Kindergarten FAQ’s
The NWEA MAP Growth scoring system is based on the Rasch unIT (RIT) scale. This scale provides a grade-independent score, which demonstrates the child's ability and knowledge on the various subjects that the test measures.
Every question on the test has an RIT value that reflects the question's complexity. The final RIT score given to the child represents the specific complexity level in which he or she is predicted to answer approximately 50% of the questions correctly. In addition to a general RIT score, the child will also receive separate RIT scores for each section of the MAP test, which enables them to spot their strengths and weaknesses.
According to the 2020 NWEA MAP Kindergarten norms, the mean RIT score was 145 for the reading section, and 148 for the math section.
Visit TestPrep-Online’s MAP scores page to find the most updated information on MAP Kindergarten scores, percentiles, averages, and more.
There is no such thing as a good MAP score for kindergarten, as different schools and programs have different standards. In 2020, the average math score was around 145, and the average reading score was around 148.
However, in many gifted programs a child must be in the 95th percentile on the math or reading assessments to be identified as gifted. In 2020, the 95th percentile math score was around 170, and the 95th percentile reading score was around 165.
The math section of the MAP Kindergarten test consists of approximately 43 questions from various mathematical topics:
- Computation and Problem Solving – calculations with basic operations and applying properties of computation to solve mathematical word problems.
- Number Sense – applying concepts of identifying, counting, comparing and ordering numbers.
- Measurement – understanding concepts of different measures such as length, area, time, temperature, etc.
- Geometry – applying geometric concepts, including 2-D and 3-D figure identification and classification, symmetry, and congruence.
- Statistics and Probability – interpretation of simple graphs of different types, determining the likelihood of simple events to happen.
- Algebra – applying algebraic concepts such as equivalence, patterns and series, and the properties and relationships of operations.
We know that understanding mathematical concepts might be difficult for 5-year-old kids, so we highly recommend using physical elements to help your child. For instance, counting with your fingers or objects like pencils or marbles instead of calculating, or explaining geometrical shapes by comparing them to objects from everyday life.
The reading section of the MAP Kindergarten consists of approximately 43 questions from various topics:
- Phonology and Phonics – distinguishing between different sounds, understanding concepts such as vowels and consonants, syllables, and rhyming words.
- Concepts of Print – applying concepts such as the hierarchy between letters, words and sentences, books’ characteristics and structure, and the alphabetic order.
- Word Structure and Meaning – applying concepts such as prefixes and affixes, inferring words' meaning from the context, synonyms and antonyms, and categorization of words.
- Comprehension – listening and reading comprehension, distinguishing between different types of texts, identifying stories' characteristics such as setting, characters, and problems.
- Writing – understanding the correct usage of capitalization, punctuation, spelling, verb tenses, and distinguishing between different parts of speech.
Remember – all the questions are recorded, so there is no need to panic if your child does not know how to read yet and there are questions with more complicated wording. He or she will be able to listen again as many times as needed. You can help your child practice their listening comprehension by reading them stories and asking them questions.
