CMT Study Guide

In the spring, grade eight students will be taking the Connecticut Mastery Test. This test assesses reading, writing, and mathematics. In order to review, we are providing an online review resource in all three areas. The review is designed for home use; the exercises should be completed and corrected at home. You may wish to work on sample exercises, select a few exercises that you find most helpful, or complete the entire package over the summer months.

Reading | Writing | Math | State Department of Education Links

Connecticut Mastery Test - Language Arts: Reading

The language arts section of the CMT assesses reading and writing.

The reading portion consists of two sections:
(1) Reading Comprehension and (2) Degrees of Reading Power.

Reading Comprehension
In the reading comprehension section of the test, students will be asked to read three passages. These passages are chosen from material that is narrative or informational. Students will respond to multiple-choice items as well as a significant number of open-ended questions. Open-ended questions require the student to respond in writing. The multiple-choice and open-ended questions prompt the student to refer to the reading material as well as to the student's own ideas.

Degrees of Reading Power (DRP)
In the DRP section of the test, students will be exposed to 11 informational passages. At varying intervals, a word is deleted from a sentence. The choices for each deletion are located in the right-hand margin. The only way a student can select the best choice is by reading the sentence in the context of the paragraph and passage. Therefore, the student must engage in sustained reading in order to make meaning of the passage - piecing clues together before the deletion as well as after the deletion.

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Connecticut Mastery Test - Language Arts: Writing

The language arts section of the CMT assesses reading and writing.

The writing portion consists of two sections:
(1) Direct Assessment of Writing and (2) Editing and Revising.

Direct Assessment of Writing
This section of the test requires students to respond in writing to a grade-level prompt within a 45-minute period. The grade 8 student will write a persuasive essay. The CMT scoring employs a six-point scale. Each paper will be read independently by at least two trained scorers, so the final score range is from 2 to 12 points.

Editing and Revising
This section focuses on a student's ability to proofread another student's writing. Students read a one-page text that resembles what they would encounter in a classroom. They apply editing and revising strategies to the text and answer questions about appropriate changes. Students demonstrate their knowledge of composing and revising when they make appropriate and effective content choices, organize for clarity, and revise for diction. Students demonstrate their knowledge of editing when they can correct for capitalization, correctly apply rules of punctuation, apply conventional rules of the English language, and spell words correctly.

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Connecticut Mastery Test - Mathematics

The math portion of the CMT assesses mathematical understanding of concepts in 11 major areas called strands. Each strand is then divided into subcategories or standards. In all, there are 25 standards assessed on the math portion of the CMT. Students' scores reflect their performance on all strands.

There are four types of questions on the CMT. These include multiple choice, grid-in, open-ended and extended. Some questions are worth 1 point while others are worth a maximum of 2 or 3 points each. Students earn points based on completeness, accuracy and an overall understanding of the processes involved in answering the question. If students are aware of this holistic grading, they may be more inclined to show their work for possible partial credit. So, share this with your child.

Students may use calculators during two of the three sessions of the grade 8 CMT test. On this test, as in the past, calculators will not be available when students are tested on basic facts, computation, estimation and selected conceptual understanding items. Calculators will be permitted when students are tested on problems such as measurement, geometry, statistics, probability and algebra. Please make sure that your child comes to school prepared for the test with two number two pencils and a calculator. Most of the students and all of the teachers use the TI-34 Math Explorer plus, which can be found in most local stores. The main office also has a supply and sells them to students at the beginning of the school year. If there is a hardship, please let me know and I will loan your child a calculator. Please check with your child to see that he/she arrives to school with the necessary tools.

Answer Key: Math

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Below are links to documents that are to be used as study guides for the Grade 8 CMT's

They are in pdf format and require Acrobat Reader to view

Links from the State Department of Education:

If you would like to know more about the CMT's, go to the "handbook" section of the State Department of Education's Website. Select the subject area Handbook. You will find some interesting sample exercises, samples of student scored work, and some general information regarding the tests.

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Last updated August 16, 2006
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