NM-MSSA Grade 8 Expressions & Equations. Practice it free.

Concepts & Procedures reporting category (grade 8). Expressions and Equations: radicals and integer exponents; the connection between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations; and analyzing and solving linear equations and systems. NM-MSSA core-point share: ~28-34%. This Grade 8 reporting domain maps to 10 practice skills and 8 representative questions from the playable bank.

Grade 8Expressions & Equations10 mapped skills
What the test measures

Expressions & Equations skills

  1. Work with radicals and integer exponents

  2. Understand the connections between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations

  3. Analyze and solve linear equations and pairs of simultaneous linear equations

Standards basis

New Mexico Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (NMCCSS / 'NM STEM Ready! Math'; CCSS-M adopted 2010) — New Mexico

How the NM-MSSA reports it

NM-MSSA is New Mexico's statewide summative assessment for Grades 3-8 (mathematics and ELA), administered by Cognia for the New Mexico Public Education Department. It is not built on a national framework (SBAC/NAEP); its items are aligned to the New Mexico Common Core State Standards (NMCCSS) — the CCSS-M that New Mexico adopted in 2010 and re-branded 'NM STEM Ready! Math'. The official math Test Blueprint and the public-facing Mathematics Test Specifications expose a per-grade reporting-category structure whose Concepts & Procedures categories ARE the CCSS-M content domains (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, Number & Operations in Base Ten, etc.), with published point/percentage ranges. This coverage_map was enriched from those two primary documents (the bare resources page transcribed earlier exposed only resource links, not the content structure). Reporting categories are grouped exactly as the blueprint groups them: Grades 3/4/5, Grades 6/7, and Grade 8 (grade 8 replaces Ratios & Proportional Relationships with Functions, matching CCSS). Two mathematical-practices reporting categories (Problem Solving / Reasoning & Argument; Modeling / Structure & Repeated Reasoning) are reported across all grades and are the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice (process standards), carried here as a separate per-band domain.

Blueprint & weighting

Published per-grade core-point distributions (NM-MSSA Operational Test Blueprint, Mathematics Test Specifications, Cognia/NMPED 2024). Concepts & Procedures content domains as a percent of the per-grade Concepts & Procedures subtotal — Grade 3: Operations & Algebraic Thinking 32-39%, Number & Operations in Base Ten 8-15%, Number & Operations—Fractions 12-19%, Measurement & Data 24-31%, Geometry 4-11%. Grade 4: 18-25% / 18-25% / 30-37% / 10-17% / 4-11%. Grade 5: 8-15% / 22-29% / 22-29% / 22-29% / 6-13%. Grade 6: Ratios & Proportional Relationships 15-22%, The Number System 22-27%, Expressions & Equations 26-33%, Geometry 9-16%, Statistics & Probability 9-16%. Grade 7: 15-22% / 13-20% / 28-35% / 9-16% / 15-22%. Grade 8: Functions 16-23%, The Number System 5-12%, Expressions & Equations 28-34%, Geometry 18-25%, Statistics & Probability 13-19%. Mathematical Practices are scored independently (Problem Solving/Reasoning & Argument and Modeling/Structure & Repeated Reasoning each >=15% of core points per grade); a small fixed number of practice points from constructed-response rubrics contribute to the overall score. Depth of Knowledge: grades 3-6 DOK1 5-25% / DOK2 50-80% / DOK3 5-30%; grades 7-8 DOK1 0-20% / DOK2 50-80% / DOK3 5-30%.

Practice by skill

Topics mapped to this domain

Y-intercept as a point

Grade 810 questions

Exponent rules

Grade 8220 questions

Evaluating exponential functions

Grade 810 questions

Inconsistent linear systems (ACT/SAT/PSAT 8/9/10)

Grade 820 questions

Linear Algebra Basics: Systems

Grade 810 questions

Multi-step linear equations

Grade 810 questions

Scientific notation

Grade 815 questions

Operations with scientific notation (ACT)

Grade 810 questions

Solve linear equation for x (ACT)

Grade 810 questions

Square roots and cube roots

Grade 815 questions
Try it now

8 free questions · 0/0 correct

Practice playeasy

What is the yy-intercept of the graph of y=−3x+22y = -3x + 22 in the coordinate plane?

In y=mx+by = mx + b, the yy-intercept is the point (0,b)(0, b). Here b=22b = 22, so the yy-intercept is (0,22).(0, 22)\textsf{.}

Practice playeasy

Simplify: y6⋅y3y^{6} \cdot y^{3}.

The Product of Powers Property says that powers with the same base are multiplied by adding the exponents, written ym⋅yn=ym+n.y^{m} \cdot y^{n} = y^{m+n}\textsf{.} Both factors have base yy, so y6⋅y3=y6+3=y9.y^{6} \cdot y^{3} = y^{6+3} = y^{9}\textsf{.}

Practice playhard

Let f(t)=6e2tf(t) = 6e^{2t}. Which of the following approximations, written as a×10na \times 10^n with one significant digit, is closest to the value of f(5)f(5)?

Substitute t=5t = 5: f(5)=6e10f(5) = 6e^{10}. Since e10≈22,026e^{10} \approx 22{,}026, f(5)≈6(22,026)=132,156≈1×105f(5) \approx 6(22{,}026) = 132{,}156 \approx 1 \times 10^{5}.

Practice playeasy

Which system below has no solution?

Both equations have slope −1-1 but different yy-intercepts (66 and −2-2), so the lines are parallel and the system has no solution.

Practice playeasy

{2x+y=7x−y=2\begin{cases} 2x + y = 7 \\ x - y = 2 \end{cases}

How many solutions does the given system of equations have?

Rewrite in slope-intercept form: y=−2x+7y = -2x + 7 and y=x−2y = x - 2. The slopes −2-2 and 11 are different, so the lines intersect at exactly one point.

Practice playmedium

Find xx if 2x+9=5x−62x + 9 = 5x - 6.

Subtract 2x2x from both sides: 9=3x−69 = 3x - 6. Add 66 to both sides: 15=3x15 = 3x. Divide by 33: x=5.x = 5\textsf{.}

Practice playeasy

93,000,000=c×10793{,}000{,}000 = c \times 10^7. What is cc?

9.3×107=93,000,0009.3 \times 10^7 = 93{,}000{,}000, so c=9.3c = 9.3.

Practice playmedium

What is 7.2×10−51.2×10−2\dfrac{7.2 \times 10^{-5}}{1.2 \times 10^{-2}}?

Divide coefficients and subtract exponents: 7.2÷1.2=67.2 \div 1.2 = 6 and −5−(−2)=−3-5-(-2)=-3. So the quotient is 6×10−3.6 \times 10^{-3}\textsf{.}

Keep practicing

Turn expressions & equations into game time.

The NM-MSSA placement starts with this test's real coverage map and finds the right difficulty.

Batting Cage game coverBatting CagePlay →Blaster Gate game coverBlaster GatePlay →Blitz Tanks game coverBlitz TanksPlay →Buzzer Beater game coverBuzzer BeaterPlay →
Related Common Core standards
8.EE.A.18.EE.A.38.EE.A.2
Expressions & Equations in other NM-MSSA grades
Grades 6, 7
The same skills on other tests
i-ReadyAASAACAPATLAS
Source and test overview
All NM-MSSA prepOfficial test source
Reporting categories

More Grade 8 domains

FunctionsConcepts & Procedures reporting category (grade 8; replaces Ratios & Proportional Relationships, which CCSS does not carry at grade 8). Functions: defining, evaluating, and comparing functions, and using functions to model relationships between quantities. NM-MSSA core-point share: ~16-23%.8 QsPractice →The Number SystemConcepts & Procedures reporting category (grade 8). The Number System: irrational numbers and approximating them by rationals. NM-MSSA core-point share: ~5-12%.8 QsPractice →GeometryConcepts & Procedures reporting category (grade 8). Geometry: congruence and similarity via transformations, the Pythagorean Theorem, and volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres. NM-MSSA core-point share: ~18-25%.8 QsPractice →Statistics & ProbabilityConcepts & Procedures reporting category (grade 8). Statistics and Probability: patterns of association in bivariate data (scatter plots, two-way tables, lines of best fit). NM-MSSA core-point share: ~13-19%.8 QsPractice →