NWEA MAP Growth Test for 2nd Grade Online Preparation: Free Practice Questions & Helpful Tips – 2025 Study Guide

What Is the 2nd Grade MAP Growth Test?

The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth Test is a computer-adaptive exam that measures students’ learning growth in grades K-12. Students in the second grade can expect to take the exam three times during the year, in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. This allows teachers and parents to track the student’s growth and ensure they are on track to enter the third grade.

Because the test is adaptive, it is unlike any other standardized test your student will take. As they answer questions correctly, the questions will get more difficult. And if they answer questions incorrectly, the questions will get easier. However, all questions will be based on the second-grade learning benchmarks, so if your student is on track and practices ahead of time, they should do well on the exam.

What Are the 2nd Grade MAP Sections?

The 2nd grade test is unique for your student because it is the first year there are three sections in their MAP Growth test. Kindergarten and 1st grade students will take the Reading and Math sections. However, the 2nd grade students will take Reading and Math as well as Language Use.

The 2nd grade test is also unique because it is the only grade level with two test versions. The MAP K-2 test is designed for students who do not yet feel comfortable reading instructions and test questions. This is similar to what is given to the younger students. The instructions are provided via recorded audio, and some answer choices will integrate pictures. However, the standard MAP exam, which is also taken by the older students, is entirely written.

Each section in the 2nd Grade MAP test has about 43 questions, and there is no time limit for the exam.

Reading Questions

Students in the 2nd grade are just getting a handle on reading. They are learning about words and their relationships, big ideas in stories, and the purpose and structure of passages. The reading section of the MAP test highlights these various concepts.

There are several literary ad informational concept areas that your student should be prepared for on the exam:

• Context clues
• Word nuances, synonyms, antonyms, and homographs
• Letters, syllables, roots, and affixes
• Identifying big ideas and summarizing
• Understanding facts and opinions
• Drawing inferences, conclusions, and making predictions
• Following directions
• Structure and genre
• Understanding arguments and credibility
• Identifying the author’s viewpoint and purpose

Math Questions

The 2nd Grade Math MAP test is focused on basic reasoning and problem-solving. Students at this age are just learning about more advanced operations like multiplication and division and are being introduced to charts and graphs.

The math section will reflect this by covering the following topics:

• Measurement and data: This will include essential geometric measurement and problem-solving, along with interpreting and representing data.
• Geometry: Students will display reasoning with shapes, coordinate planes, and attributes.
• Operations and algebraic thinking: These questions will be about representing problems, solving problems, and analyzing connections and patterns.
• Numbers and operations: Students will show their understanding of counting, sets, and place values. For example, they will work with base ten and fractions.

Language Use Questions

The language curriculum in 2nd grade focuses on learning about the structure, grammar, and parts of a sentence to write. They also learn how to plan their writing and the different genres and audiences passages can have.

The Language Use test reflects this by covering the following topics:

• Punctuation
• Spelling
• Parts of speech
• Capitalization
• Adjectives
• Adverbs
• Verbs
• Prepositions
• Interjections
• Conjunctions
• Phrases and clauses
• Subject-verb agreement
• Sentence structure, types, and meaning
• Genre
• Pre-writing, research, and planning
• Organization
• Transition use
• Topic development and providing supporting details
• Purpose
• Style and tone
• Audience

How to Read the 2nd Grade MAP Score Report?

The MAP Growth Test is scored using the Rasch unIT (RIT) scale, which allows the student’s score to be compared to past tests as well as other students. This standardized number is an easy way to track a student’s progress throughout the year.

Each student will receive a score report once they have completed the test. This report will show the raw scores from this test, comparisons against their past scores, and comparisons with other students in the district.

The score report will have two sections: a graph and a table. The table will show the student’s raw RIT score, their growth from the previous semester, and their projected growth. The graph will show the student’s progress in that test section over time. It will also show the average score for other students their age, how other students typically progress, and the individual student’s predicted progress for future exams.

The table below shows the average MAP scores for 2nd graders:

It is important to stress to your child that even though benchmarks for other students are shown on the results, their focus should be on their scores and progress. The comparison against other children is used by teachers to identify areas in which a child may need more help or may need to be more challenged. Your child should focus on learning and steadily increasing their score over time.

MAP Test Tips for 2nd Graders

Because this exam aims to track growth, you want to ensure that your student is indeed learning and growing their score each time they take the test. Their goal should be to do better on the exam than they did before.

Here are several tips for you and your student to help ensure they get as high of a score as possible each time they take the exam:

• Get a good night’s sleep before the exam. Getting a good night’s sleep before a stressful event such as an exam can be difficult. Our nerves tend to keep us up at night, worrying about how we will do the next day. Try to make the evening before the test a relaxing one to help your child get the sleep they need. Students who are well-rested before the exam are more likely to do well on the test.
• Eat a well-balanced breakfast the morning of the exam. Your student will need fuel to do well on the exam. You don’t want them distracted by hunger while they are trying to focus. Even if they don’t typically eat a good breakfast, try to get them to eat something the morning of the test.
• Make your child read every day. Providing your child with the opportunity to read at home throughout the year is essential to their success on the reading and language use tests. Having the time to practice and learn outside of a stressful school environment is essential to growth and learning. This will give them even more exposure to the material and help them score higher on these two exam sections.
• Make math practice fun. Many students suffer from math anxiety. 2nd grade is a critical year for math learning because they are introduced to concepts they will build on for the rest of their time in school. Work on these concepts at home in a fun and accessible way to help them better understand them ahead of the test. For example, you can order pizza one night and practice fractions! These activities will not only help them better learn the concepts but will also help ease their anxiety around math.
• Practice for the exam throughout the year. One thing that makes tests stressful is cramming for them last minute. The best way to do well on the MAP Growth assessment is to practice for the exam in small doses throughout the year. This will help your child learn the material and understand what to expect from the test. It will also instill good study habits that will benefit them as they get older.

How to Prepare for the 2nd Grade MAP Growth Assessment?

The best way to prepare your 2nd grader for the MAP Growth assessment is by using online practice tests and study guides. Many online resources are free and accessible to students of all ages.

The practice tests are invaluable because they will provide your student with sample questions that are similar to what they will see on the exam. This will help ease their anxiety because there won’t be any surprises when they sit down to take the exam. These tests will also show your student what the correct answer is so they can use that knowledge on future tests.

Study guides are also a great resource because they give tips on how to approach different question types. Because this is your child’s first year taking the language use test, this may be an excellent way for them to learn more about that test and what to expect.

The most important thing is for your child to display growth throughout the year by consistently doing well on the exam. Students who properly prepare for the MAP Growth Test are more likely to do better than they did on the last exam.