(NEXSTAR) — Are you smarter than a Texas fifth-grader taking the STAAR Test? As another new school year begins, it’s never a bad idea to know what the kids are learning — or how hard the lessons are.
Each year, Texas students prep for months leading up to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests, also known as STAAR. The following questions were taken from the Grade 5 Mathematics test administered in May 2022 and answers from its key.
And while the term “easiest” is subjective, these are five math problems that don’t require graphing, don’t incorporate geometry and don’t include fractions. Use your cursor or finger to highlight and reveal the answers. Calculators allowed. Pencils up!
Mathematics
Question: A restaurant bill was paid equally by 7 friends. The bill was $99.96. How much money in dollars and cents did each person pay?
Answer: $14.28.
Question: The frequency table shows the numbers of visitors in different age ranges who visited a children’s museum on Saturday. What is the difference between the number of visitors who were younger than 20 and the number of visitors who were 20 and older?
Table:
Answer choices: A. 75, B. 52, C. 18, or D. 23
Answer: D.
Question: A family used a total of 2.24 pounds of ground beef to make 8 equal-size hamburgers. How much ground beef in pounds was used for each hamburger?
Answer choices: A. 0.33 lb, B. 0.28 lb, C. 0.3 lb, or D. 2.8 lb
Answer: B. 0.28 lb.
Question: Penelope earns $450 each month. Penelope made a list of her expenses for the month of May. Which change can Penelope make to balance her budget for the month of May?
Table:
Answer choices: A. Increase her budgeted amount for savings by $20; B. Decrease her budgeted amount for entertainment by $20; C. Increase her budgets amount for food by $10; or D. Decrease her budgeted amount for clothing by $10
Answer: B.
Question: Kassidy walks and bathes dogs. She charges $8.50 if a customer wants a dog bathed and walked. She charges $5.75 if a customer only wants a dog walked. The list shows the jobs Kassidy did last weekend.
- On Saturday she took 6 dogs for walks only.
- On Sunday she took 5 dogs for walks only.
- On Saturday she walked and bathed 4 dogs.
- On Sunday she walked and bathed 4 dogs.
Kassidy used the following expression to determine the amount of money she earned walking and bathing dogs last weekend: 5.75(6 + 5) + 8.50(2 × 4).
How much money did Kassidy earn walking and bathing dogs last weekend?
Answer choices: A. $97.25; B. $1,411; C. $194.50; or D. $131.25.
Answer: D.
In case that last question got you, a helpful hint (since it’s been a while since many of us have tried written math problems): in Kassidy’s equation, the sum calculated inside the parentheses should be multiplied by the dollar amount beside it (5.75 multiplied by 6+5).
Congrats! You did it.
You can find more sample STAAR tests and answer keys at the Texas Education Agency.
