Quiz & test questions Grade 3 Math

Otterbrook School's Water Week: A Grade 3 Math Quiz

An eleven-item, 22-point quiz set at a fictional school's water week, mixing equal groups, liters, two-step problems, and the perimeter of a splash pad.

Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Math
Material: Quiz & test questions
Time: 30 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

3.OA.A.1 Common Core Math

Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 x 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as 5 x 7.

How this material aligns: Items 1, 5, and 10 ask students to interpret a product as the total held by a given number of equal shelves or rows rather than as the sum of the two factors.

All materials for 3.OA.A.1 →

3.MD.A.2 Common Core Math

Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l). Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Items 2, 3, and 6 solve one-step liquid volume problems stated in liters, using multiplication, subtraction, and equal sharing in turn.

All materials for 3.MD.A.2 →

3.OA.D.8 Common Core Math

Solve two-step word problems using the four operations. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.

How this material aligns: Items 4 and 7 are two-step problems that multiply to find a total volume and then subtract the amount the school used.

All materials for 3.OA.D.8 →

3.MD.D.8 Common Core Math

Solve real world and mathematical problems involving perimeters of polygons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths, finding an unknown side length, and exhibiting rectangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters.

How this material aligns: Items 8 and 9 find the perimeter of a rectangle and of a square from given side lengths. Item 11 checks the word itself and is scored as vocabulary rather than as perimeter work.

All materials for 3.MD.D.8 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will multiply and divide within 100 to solve water use problems.
Students will solve two-step problems about liters of water in a school kitchen.
Students will find the perimeter of a rectangle and of a square in meters.

Vocabulary

Key words: perimeter, liter, product, equal groups

Teacher overview

This quiz covers the water math a grade 3 class works through during Water Week at Otterbrook School, a fictional school that tracks the water in its kitchen, its gym, and its splash pad. It holds eleven items worth 2 points each, for a total of 22 points, and mixes two multiple-choice items with seven computation items, one error-analysis item, and one vocabulary item. The distractors in items 1 and 5 are built from a real misconception: students who add the two factors instead of forming equal groups will find 10 and 11 among the answer choices. Item 10 asks a student to correct that same error in writing, which separates a careless slip from a genuine misunderstanding.

Otterbrook School's Water Week: A Grade 3 Math Quiz — Grade 3 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

Otterbrook School holds a Water Week. The class keeps track of the water the school uses.

(2 points) Otterbrook has 6 shelves of water jugs. Each shelf holds 4 jugs. How many jugs are on the shelves?
A. 10 jugs
B. 24 jugs
C. 20 jugs
D. 46 jugs
(2 points) One jug holds 3 liters of water. How many liters do 7 jugs hold?
(2 points) The gym tank holds 120 liters of water. Workers pour out 45 liters. How many liters are left in the tank?
(2 points) The kitchen fills 7 pots. Each pot gets 5 liters of water. Then the cooks use 8 liters. How many liters are left in the pots?
(2 points) Which shows the number of bottles in 5 rows of 6 bottles?
A. 11 bottles
B. 30 bottles
C. 25 bottles
D. 36 bottles
(2 points) A worker shares 48 liters of water among 6 buckets. Each bucket gets the same amount. How many liters are in each bucket?
(2 points) The class fills 9 jugs with 4 liters of water in each jug. Students drink 10 liters. How many liters are left in the jugs?
(2 points) The splash pad is a rectangle. It is 12 meters long and 9 meters wide. What is the perimeter of the splash pad?
(2 points) The rain barrel stand is a square. Each side is 3 meters long. What is the perimeter of the stand?
(2 points) Sam sees 6 shelves with 4 jugs on each shelf. Sam writes 10 jugs. What mistake did Sam make? How many jugs are really on the shelves?
(2 points) What word names the distance all the way around the splash pad?

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: 24 jugs (choice B). Six shelves with 4 jugs on each shelf is 6 equal groups of 4, so 6 × 4 = 24 jugs. Choice A is the result of adding 6 + 4, and choice D is the result of writing the two numbers side by side.
Answer: 21 liters. Seven jugs with 3 liters in each jug is 7 × 3 = 21 liters.
Answer: 75 liters. Subtract what was poured out: 120 − 45 = 75 liters.
Answer: 27 liters. Step one: 7 × 5 = 35 liters go into the pots. Step two: 35 − 8 = 27 liters are left. A student who answers 35 stopped after the first step.
Answer: 30 bottles (choice B). Five rows of 6 bottles is 5 × 6 = 30 bottles. Choice A adds the two numbers, and choice C uses 5 × 5.
Answer: 8 liters. Share 48 liters among 6 buckets: 48 ÷ 6 = 8 liters in each bucket. Check by multiplying: 6 × 8 = 48 liters.
Answer: 26 liters. Step one: 9 × 4 = 36 liters go into the jugs. Step two: 36 − 10 = 26 liters are left.
Answer: 42 meters. The four sides are 12, 9, 12, and 9 meters, so 12 + 9 + 12 + 9 = 42 meters. A student who answers 21 added one length and one width only.
Answer: 12 meters. A square has four equal sides, so 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 12 meters, or 4 × 3 = 12 meters.
Answer: 24 jugs. Sam added 6 + 4 instead of counting 6 equal groups of 4 jugs. The correct total is 6 × 4 = 24 jugs. Award full credit only when the student both names the error and gives 24 jugs.
Answer: Perimeter. The perimeter is the distance all the way around a shape, which is the measure found in items 8 and 9.

Differentiation

Support

Read every item aloud twice and allow counters, tiles, or grid paper for items 1, 5, 8, and 9. Provide a two-box strip labeled "Step 1" and "Step 2" for items 4 and 7 so the intermediate total has a place to live. Students who need it may answer item 10 orally to the teacher, who records the explanation on the page.

Extension

After the quiz, ask students to write one new two-step item about the school kitchen with an answer under 100 liters, provide its worked solution, and identify which of the four standards on this quiz their item would test. Have them also design a splash pad with a different shape but the same 42-meter perimeter.

ELL supports

Provide a labeled picture bank showing a jug, a bucket, a pot, a splash pad, and a rain barrel stand beside the matching words. Allow a bilingual glossary for "shelf," "share," "left," and "all the way around." Extend the time limit rather than removing items, and accept a drawing with numbers for item 10 as long as 24 jugs appears in the work.

Extensions

Have the class run a Water Week count of their own, tallying how many jugs, pitchers, or bottles the room uses in five days and recording the totals on a chart. Ask students to write two questions about their own data that another class could answer, one using equal groups and one using perimeter of the space where the water is stored.