School Improvement in Maryland

Using the State Curriculum: Mathematics, Grade 8

Algebra | Geometry | Measurement | Statistics | Probability | Number | Processes

Public Release Items: Public release items have appeared on MSA forms and then are released for public viewing and use. Releasing items is one step to ensuring that schools, districts, and other stakeholders understand how the content standards are assessed on the MSA.

Standard 3.0 Knowledge of Measurement

Topic C. Applications in Measurement

Indicator 1. Estimate and apply measurement formulas

Objective a. Estimate and determine the circumference or area of a circle

Assessment limit: Include circles using rational numbers with no more than 2 decimal places (0 – 10,000)

Extended Constructed Response (ECR) Item

The diameter of a circular pizza is 16 inches.

Step A
What is the area of this pizza? Use 3.14 for π.

___________square inches

Step B

  • Use what you know about the area of circles to explain how you determined the area of this pizza. Use words, numbers, and/or symbols in your explanation.
  • The owner of the pizza shop says the circular pizza has a greater area than a square pizza with 16-inch sides. Use what you know about the areas of circles and squares to justify whether or not the owner's statement is correct. Use words, numbers, and/or symbols in your justification.
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_math_8_033.xml

Assessment limit:
Include circles using rational numbers with no more than 2 decimal places (0 – 10,000)

View Scoring Information