Free 8th Grade MAP Math Practice Questions & Answers

Eighth grade is the last year before high-school algebra, and it is mostly spent building the thing algebra is about. Two ideas do the work: the function, a rule that turns one number into another, and the line, which is what a function looks like when that rule is linear. Nearly everything else attaches to one of the two.

Start the 14-question grade 8 check below, or try the sample questions first: each one comes with a worked explanation.

Start the grade 8 check →14 questions, about 15 minutes, no sign-up.

Your child answers on screen, finds out straight away whether each one is right with a short explanation of why, and gets a summary by topic at the end.

Sample grade 8 questions

Sample question 1 · Rearrange formulas with squares, cubes, and roots

The volume of a cylinder is V = πr²h. If you know V and h, rearrange to find r.

  1. r = V/(πh)
  2. r = √(V/(πh))
  3. r = √(Vh/π)
  4. r = πh/V
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: r = √(V/(πh)). Starting with V = πr²h, divide both sides by πh: V/(πh) = r². Then take the square root of both sides: r = √(V/(πh)).

Sample question 2 · Describe effects of transformations using coordinates

Triangle RST has vertices R(2, 1), S(−1, 4), and T(3, 5). The triangle is rotated 90° counterclockwise about the origin. What are the coordinates of S' after the rotation?

  1. (4, 1)
  2. (1, -4)
  3. (-4, -1)
  4. (-1, 4)
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: (-4, -1). We need the coordinates of S' after rotating S(−1, 4) by 90° counterclockwise about the origin. The rule is (x, y) → (−y, x). Applying it to S(−1, 4): (−4, −1). The image S' is at (−4, −1).

Sample question 3 · Solve compound percentage problems

The value of a computer decreases by 15% each year. If the computer is worth $600 today, what will it be worth after 2 years?

  1. $420.00
  2. $450.00
  3. $433.50
  4. $510.00
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: $433.50. After 1 year: 600 × 0.85 = $510. After 2 years: 510 × 0.85 = $433.50. Choice A incorrectly subtracts 30% total. Choice B is an arithmetic error. Choice D is after only 1 year.

Try the full grade 8 check — 14 more original questions with feedback after each one.

About these questions. These are original Helix Math questions designed to practice skills commonly assessed on adaptive math assessments such as MAP Growth. Helix Math is not affiliated with or endorsed by NWEA or HMH, and these are not official MAP questions.

What grade 8 math covers

Five areas, and the weighting is unusual: geometry is the biggest this year, not the smallest.

Expressions and equations. Exponents, roots and scientific notation, then the line: slope as a rate of change, y = mx + b, and solving linear equations. Finally systems, first as the point where two graphs cross and then solved on paper.

Functions. Small in size and large in consequence. What a function is, comparing two given in different forms, and telling linear from nonlinear. This is the part Algebra 1 assumes is already there.

Geometry. Rotations, reflections and translations, and what they leave unchanged, which is how congruence and similarity get defined this year. Then the Pythagorean theorem and its uses, and the volume of cylinders, cones and spheres.

The number system. Short, and easy to underrate: that some numbers cannot be written as a fraction, and roughly where they sit on a number line.

Statistics. Scatter plots, fitting a straight line to one by eye, and reading a two-way table.

If functions are genuinely understood rather than spotted by shape, and slope means a rate rather than a formula, Algebra 1 tends to go well.

What the right answers don't show

Two of the questions are the same skill in two costumes, and the pair is the most useful thing here. One asks which equations represent linear functions, and most eighth graders answer by shape: if it looks like y = mx + b, tick it. The other gives three functions in three forms, one as an equation, one as two points a line passes through, one described in words, and asks your child to sort them by rate of change. Nothing there can be pattern-matched. A child fluent at spotting the form can still be unable to get a slope out of two points, and that is the gap Algebra 1 opens up.

That distance between getting an answer and knowing what it means is what we call fluent but fragile.

Another is worth watching: solving a system by plotting where two lines meet. Solving systems on paper is a procedure most eighth graders can be drilled through. Knowing that the solution is the crossing point is a different thing, and it is what the whole topic rests on.

Is your eighth grader ready for fall MAP testing?

Most schools give MAP Growth in a fall window, often late August into September. An eighth grader's fall score leans heavily on seventh-grade foundations, proportional reasoning and negative numbers and multi-step equations, as much as on new eighth-grade material.

Fourteen questions is a spot-check. The Helix diagnostic adjusts across many more skills and several difficulty levels, and comes back with a skill-by-skill map of what is secure, what is developing, and what to work on first.

Which grade should I choose?

Choose the grade whose material you want to practice. For review before a new school year, choose the grade your child just completed. Grade labels describe the material, not your child's ability.

Where to go next

MAP® and RIT® are registered trademarks of NWEA. Helix Math is not affiliated with or endorsed by NWEA.