Taking the Fear Out of the FCAT

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Taking the Fear Out of the FCAT
The School District of Orange County Margaret
Walker, Secondary Mathematics Specialist
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Four Minute Gridding Activity
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To Conquer the FCAT

• Know question formats
• Avoid common gridding mistakes
• Practice using FCAT Reference Sheet and FCAT
  calculator
• Daily FCAT vocabulary and rigor

PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!
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Types of Questions Used on the FCAT Mathematics
Test
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• Multiple Choice (MC) 1 point each

• Gridded Response (GR) 1 point each

• Performance Tasks

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FCAT Question Formats and Approximate Number of
Questions by Grade Level
Operational Test has 50 questions
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FCAT GRIDDING
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Composition of released FCAT Test (10th Grade)

• 32 of questions were gridded response for 10th
  grade

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Elementary Grid
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Middle and High School Grid
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Parts of a Response Grid
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How to Complete the Response Grid

• Work the problem and find the answer.
• Write your answer in the answer boxes at the top
  of the grid.

• Print your answer with the first digit in the
  left answer box. Do NOT leave a blank answer box
  in the middle of an answer.

• Be sure to write a decimal point or fraction
  bar in the answer box if it is a part of the
  answer.

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How to Complete the Response Grids

• Fill in a bubble under each box in which you
  wrote your answer.

• Fill in one and ONLY one bubble for each box.
  
• Do NOT fill in a bubble under an unused box.

• Fill each bubble by making a solid black mark
• that completely fills the circle.

• You MUST fill in the bubbles accurately
  to receive credit for your answer.

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Reducing and Rounding Issues

• Reducing--- We recommend
• Do not reduce fractions UNLESS the directions
  tell you to reduce to lowest terms OR if the
  answer doesnt fit in the grid unless you reduce
  it.
• Rounding--- We recommend
• Dont round UNLESS the directions tell you to
• do so.

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Examples
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Gridding a Whole Number
27 33
60
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Gridding a Decimal
or
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Gridding a Fraction
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What to do with a mixed number...
Improper Fraction
Decimal
OR
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Be aware
7 1 / 4
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Gridding Percents
What percent of 100 is 9? Answer 9
9
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Gridding Repeating Decimals..
Answer 5.3333333
Correct
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Grid the answer 4.666666
OR
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Examples of
Common
Gridding Mistakes
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The answer is
Can you find the error?
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Can you find the error?
The answer is 25.04
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The answer is 318
Can you find the error?
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The answer is
Do you see the mistake?
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The answer is 43
Do you see the mistake?
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The answer is 54
Do you see the error?
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Whats wrong?
The answer is 3.66666666
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Whats wrong?
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The answer is
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Summary of Common Gridding Mistakes

• Adding extra zeros
• Bubbling more than one number in a column
• Adding unnecessary spaces
• Forgetting to bubble
• Omitting the decimal point
• Gridding mixed numbers incorrectly
• Gridding percents incorrectly
• Adding extra symbols outside/inside of the grid

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Now its your turn
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Item Spec Problems
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MA.A.1.4.4
On a mathematics test, Ken earned a score of 446
points out of a possible score of 500 points.
What percent is equivalent to Kens score?
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MA.A.1.4.4
On a mathematics test, Ken earned a score of 446
points out of a possible score of 500 points.
What percent is equivalent to Kens score?
446 .892 89.2 500
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MA.B.1.4.2
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MA.B.1.4.2
360 x .28 100.8 or 28 - 12 16 360 x
.12 43.20 360 x .16 57.6 100.8 43.2
57.6
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MA.C.2.4.1
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MA.C.2.4.1
90
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180 160 20
180 90 20 70
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MA.D.1.4.1
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MA.D.1.4.1
x 3 2(3)2 y 0 2(9) y 0 18 y
0 - y -18 y 18
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MA.E.1.4.1
The following stem-and-leaf plot shows the hourly
wages of a group of 25 workers are performing
similar tasks but, because of differences in
length of work experience and skill, are paid at
different rates.
What percent of the workers are paid less than
18 per hour?
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MA.E.1.4.1
The following stem-and-leaf plot shows the hourly
wages of a group of 25 workers are performing
similar tasks but, because of differences in
length of work experience and skill, are paid at
different rates.
What percent of the workers are paid less than
18 per hour?
14/25 .56 56
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Grid the following answers(Solve first when
necessary)

• 601 2. 0.03 3. 8/3 4. 3.65
• 5. 5¼ 6. 7 2.3 7. 8.66666 8. What
  is 20 of 80
• 6 3 x 5 10. 7.333333 11. 31/3 12.
  2?
• 13. 4 is what percent of 16? 14. 12 is 20 of
  what number?
• 15. Change 2¼ to a
  decimal.

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49
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50
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51
2. 2 5
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6 0
14.
2 5