A bakery makes 4,830 rolls and packs them 42 to a tray. Which is the best estimate of the number of trays?Answer: About 120. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.1.4
A board is 8 feet long. Lena cuts off 2 3/4 feet and then 1 1/2 feet. How long is the piece that is left?Answer: 3 3/4 feet. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.3.4
A camp has 130 campers. Each van holds 12 campers. What is the fewest vans that can carry every camper?Answer: 11. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.1.2
A theater has 28 rows of 135 seats. For one show, 3,150 tickets are sold. How many seats are left?Answer: 630. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.1.4
Show all 42 questions (38 more)
Number & Operation, continued
Four friends share a bill of $51 equally. How much does each friend pay?Answer: $12.75. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.1.2
Sam ran 2.4 kilometers on Monday, 3.15 kilometers on Wednesday and 1.8 kilometers on Friday. How far did he run in all?Answer: 7.35 kilometers. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.3.4
Subtract: 5/8 − 1/6.Answer: 11/24. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.3.1
What is 0.01 less than 6.2?Answer: 6.19. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.2.2
What is 2 1/3 + 1 1/2?Answer: 3 5/6. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.3.1
What is 3.4862 rounded to the nearest hundredth?Answer: 3.49. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.2.5
What is 15.3 − 8.65?Answer: 6.65. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.3.1
What is 864 ÷ 24?Answer: 36. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.1.1
Which decimal is equal to 9/25?Answer: 0.36. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.2.4
Which decimal is four and thirty-seven thousandths?Answer: 4.037. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.2.1
Which improper fraction is equal to 3 2/5?Answer: 17/5. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.2.4
Which list orders 5/8, 0.6, 0.8 and 3/4 from least to greatest?Answer: 0.6, 5/8, 3/4, 0.8. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.2.3
Which shows 157 ÷ 12 as a mixed number?Answer: 13 1/12. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.1.1.1
Algebra 10
A table follows one rule. Inputs of 2, 5 and 9 give outputs of 9, 18 and 30. What is the rule?Answer: Multiply by 3, then add 3. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.1.1
A tile pattern grows by the same amount each step. Step 1 has 5 tiles, step 2 has 9 and step 3 has 13. How many tiles are in step 10?Answer: 41. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.1.1
For which value of n is the inequality 3 × n > 20 true?Answer: 7. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.3.1
Is the equation 4 × k + 3 = 31 true when k = 7?Answer: Yes, because 4 × 7 + 3 = 31. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.3.1
Mia has $45. She buys t tickets that cost $6 each. Which equation gives m, the money she has left?Answer: m = 45 − 6 × t. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.3.2
The rule is y = 2x + 1. Which ordered pair fits the rule?Answer: (4, 9). Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.1.2
What is the value of 5 × a − b when a = 9 and b = 12?Answer: 33. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.3.3
What is the value of 48 ÷ (5 + 3) × 4?Answer: 24. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.2.1
Which expression is equal to 7 × (20 + 6)?Answer: 7 × 20 + 7 × 6. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.2.1
Which property shows that (8 + 5) + 15 = 8 + (5 + 15)?Answer: The associative property. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.2.2.1
Geometry & Measurement 9
A box is filled with 4 layers of unit cubes. Each layer has 3 rows of 5 cubes. What is the volume of the box?Answer: 60 cubic units. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.2.2
A box shaped like a rectangular prism is 6 centimeters long, 4 centimeters wide and 3 centimeters high. What is its surface area?Answer: 108 square centimeters. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.2.2
A fish tank shaped like a rectangular prism is 10 inches long, 6 inches wide and 5 inches high. What is its volume?Answer: 300 cubic inches. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.2.4
A parallelogram has a base of 11 inches and a height of 8 inches. What is its area?Answer: 88 square inches. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.2.1
A triangular flag has a base of 16 inches and a height of 5 inches. What is its area?Answer: 40 square inches. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.2.1
The base of a rectangular prism has an area of 24 square inches, and the prism is 6 inches high. Using V = Bh, where B is the area of the base, what is the volume?Answer: 144 cubic inches. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.2.4
How many vertices does a triangular prism have?Answer: 6. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.1.1
Which figure has exactly 5 faces, 8 edges and 5 vertices?Answer: A rectangular pyramid. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.1.1
Which shapes make up the net of a triangular prism?Answer: 2 triangles and 3 rectangles. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.3.1.2
Data Analysis 6
A data set is 4, 4, 6, 9 and 17. Which is greater, the mean or the median, and by how much?Answer: The mean, by 2. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.4.1.1
A double-bar graph shows cans collected. In week 1, room A collected 60 and room B collected 45. In week 2, room A collected 30 and room B collected 55. Which statement is true?Answer: Room B collected 10 more cans in all. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.4.1.2
A line graph shows the height of a plant: 2.5 centimeters in week 1, 4 in week 2, 6.5 in week 3 and 7 in week 4. Between which two weeks did the plant grow the most?Answer: Weeks 2 and 3. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.4.1.2
Six friends have 3, 8, 6, 10, 4 and 5 stickers. They level out the stickers so that each friend has the same number. How many does each friend get?Answer: 6. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.4.1.1
What is the median of 12, 5, 9, 21 and 15?Answer: 12. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.4.1.1
What is the range of 34, 18, 27, 45 and 22?Answer: 27. Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11 (September 2019), benchmark 5.4.1.1
How this list was compiled: Outline: Mathematics Test Specifications for MCA-III, Grades 3–8 and 11, based on the Minnesota K–12 Academic Standards in Mathematics, 2007 version (Minnesota Department of Education, September 2019): the grade 5 strands, standards, benchmarks and item specifications, Table 2A (items per strand), Table 3A (items by type) and Table 6A (minimum and maximum item counts by standard, online adaptive test). The document is linked from the department's page Test Specifications, https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/test/spec/. The page was read 2026-10-10 in the Internet Archive's copy of 25 August 2026 (https://web.archive.org/web/2026/https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/test/spec/) and the document in the archive's copy of 6 March 2026. Test facts: Procedures Manual for Minnesota Statewide Assessments 2026-27 (Minnesota Department of Education, October 2026), https://mn.mypearsonsupport.com/policies-and-procedures/, read 2026-10-10. Each question names the benchmark it practices as the test specifications print it. The answers are arithmetic on the numbers in the question, each worked a second time. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site. Nothing is copied or reworded from an MCA test, an item sampler or released item of the department, a Student Readiness Tool or another practice test.
How it works
Unofficial practice for the grade 5 mathematics MCA, the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment: 42 questions, written for this site from the state's test specifications. None is a state sample item. Not affiliated with the Minnesota Department of Education.
Read the full guide
What the 5th grade math MCA covers
Minnesota's test specifications give grade 5 four strands, and the 42 questions keep the state's counts. Number & Operation has 17: dividing by two-digit numbers, reading a remainder in context, ordering and rounding decimals, and adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. Algebra has 10: rules and tables, properties, equations and inequalities. Geometry & Measurement has 9: edges and faces, nets, area of triangles and parallelograms, surface area and volume. Data Analysis has 6: mean, median, range, double-bar graphs and line graphs.
Under each answer
The steps come first, then the benchmark the question practices, such as 5.1.3.4, numbered as the state numbers it.
Grade 5 is the first grade with an online formula sheet on the math MCA. Grades 3 and 4 have none.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the 5th grade math MCA?
42 count toward the score on the online test: 32 to 40 multiple choice and 2 to 10 technology-enhanced. With field test questions a student sees about 50, in four groups.
Is the grade 5 math MCA timed?
No. The state's procedures manual says the MCAs are not timed. For scheduling, it gives 1.5 to 2 hours as the typical range for a math MCA in grades 3 to 8.
Can you use a calculator on the 5th grade math MCA?
In part. Calculator and non-calculator questions are in separate groups, and a basic online calculator shows only where one is allowed. A handheld calculator invalidates the online test.
Will the grade 5 math MCA change?
Yes. The manual gives spring 2027 as the last math MCA on the 2007 standards, which these questions follow, and spring 2028 as the first on the 2022 standards.