Try your hand at some sample questions from the third-grade English language arts portion of the MSTEP.

Does requiring struggling students to repeat 3rd grade lead to better reading results? It's complicated.

Courtesy of EngageNY The correct answer is D; 48% of third-grade students answered correctly. Students also had to complete short-answer math questions, which were graded out of two or three points.

New research calls into question the widespread practice of retaining students in 3rd grade based on their reading proficiency.