MAP Inside Out

The MAP Test is usually conducted 2-4 times each school year, depending on your school district’s policy. The exam tests students' math, reading, language usage, and science skills. The math and reading sections are given by nearly every district that uses MAP. The language usage and science sections meanwhile may only be given at certain grade levels or not at all. Essentially, the test is designed to inform the teacher exactly where each individual student lies academically. It will also show the teacher results for the whole class, indicating which topics should be emphasized during classroom time. Lastly, the test is sometimes used as the first round of screening to determine a student's eligibility for a gifted and talented program.

MAP is a computer adaptive test. This means it is taken on a computer, with questions progressively getting harder (or easier) depending on how the student answers. Skipping questions or returning to previously answered questions is not allowed. There is no time limit for this test, but most students complete each section in about one hour. Thus, the MAP takes up much less classroom time than many "high stakes" state tests.

NWEA, or Northwest Evaluation Association, is a non-profit organization that creates assessment tests for schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 separate countries (not just in the Northwest U.S.). The primary goal is to measure the growth of students by creating insightful materials. MAP is one of many tests produced by NWEA.

What’s special about MAP is that it is a quick test that adapts to each student's level. This is because the test’s difficulty level increases or decreases depending on how the student answers each question. Matching the level of questions to students' abilities distinguishes the MAP from regular classroom tests and many other standardized tests. The MAP test can be a bit of a surprise to both high and low achieving students who on other tests are used to seeing questions that are, respectively, too easy or too hard for them. A student can answer many questions incorrectly and still get a high score, or alternatively can answer many questions incorrectly and still get a low score.

MAP scores are available immediately after the test is completed. This score report presents a complete evaluation of a student’s skill level, allowing teachers to easily locate results on these particular subjects. The teacher will receive a graph that shows the student’s progress over the course of the year. Furthermore, there’s a section that informs the teacher where the student stands in regard to the “Norms Percentile”, if he’s considered advanced, and, for high schoolers, if he is on track for “ACT College Readiness”. Scores are also presented in the form of RIT Levels, which indicate students' specific skillsets correlated with grade level. Learn more about the scoring method by clicking here.

On this website, we have created PrepPacks™ for 2nd through 7th grade reading, language usage, and math. Packs include drills, full-length test simulations, and study guides. Complete solutions are included for each question. Find your child’s grade level by clicking “Browse Topics” in the tool bar. There you can easily locate the available MAP tests.

Below are a few details to remember about the MAP test.

• MAP is a product of NWEA
• Students are individually mapped out academically (hence the name MAP)
• The test “maps” out the progress of the student to further help the teacher teach the class
• The test is administered at least 3 times a year (sometimes 4)
• Given that the test increases or decreases in difficulty according to how the student answers, it takes less time than most other standardized tests and provides a meaningful assessment for all students, whether they're performing at, above, or below grade level