The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments—Series II (MCA-IIs) are the state tests that help districts measure student progress toward Minnesota's academic standards and meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind. The reading and mathematics tests are used to determine whether schools and districts have made adequate yearly progress toward all students being proficient in 2014.

Reading and mathematics tests are given in grades 3-8, 10 and 11.

Item samplers are provided to familiarize students with the format of a test. An item sampler contains fewer items than students will see on the actual full length test, and should not be used to predict how well students will do on the tests.

Each test has approximately 30 questions divided into three segments and is aligned to the Minnesota Academic Standards.

MCAII Reading Item Samplers	MCAII Math Item Samplers
Grade 3 Reading	Grade 3 Math
Grade 4 Reading	Grade 4 Math
Grade 5 Reading	Grade 5 Math
Grade 6 Reading	Grade 6 Math
Grade 7 Reading	Grade 7 Math
Grade 8 Reading	Grade 8 Math
Grade 10 Reading	Grade 11 Math

Minnesota Department of Education provides test specifications for the MCAIIs. Test specifications are specific rules and characteristics that guide the development of a test's content and format. They indicate which strands, sub-strands, standards and benchmarks will be assessed on the test and in what proportions. Test specifications are excellent tools for gaining an in-depth understanding of the content and format of the MCAIIs.