🇺🇸 📖 United States · 6th Grade

Free 6th Grade reading test

Find out in 12 minutes. Free.

This free 6th Grade reading test takes about 12 minutes. Your child reads four short stories and articles written for children, answering questions after each one. The texts adapt as they go, and you get an estimated reading level and reading age, plus their strengths across four reading skills, matched to Texas TEKS and the Common Core.

  • Free and no sign-up to start
  • Matched to your curriculum
  • Made by teachers at 70+ Success Tutoring centers in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada and India

Start the free check

Where do you live?

Questions follow Texas TEKS and the Common Core.

No sign-up needed. About 12 minutes. Best done with your child, on any phone, tablet or computer.

What 6th Grade children learn in reading

In 6th Grade, children read complex fiction and non-fiction, weigh up different viewpoints, and explain how writers use language and structure to shape meaning.

What the 6th Grade check looks at

Finding information

Finding facts and details the text states.

  • Finding information (story)
  • Finding information (discussion)
  • Finding information (facts)

Curriculum: Common Core RL.6.1

Try at home: After reading together, ask your child “who, what, where, when?” questions and let them find the answer in the text.

Word meaning

Working out what words mean from the words around them.

  • Word meaning (story)
  • Word meaning (discussion)
  • Word meaning (facts)

Curriculum: Common Core RL.6.1

Try at home: When your child meets a new word, ask them to guess its meaning from the sentence before you look it up.

Reading between the lines

Working out what the writer suggests but does not say.

  • Reading between the lines (story)
  • Reading between the lines (discussion)
  • Reading between the lines (facts)

Curriculum: Common Core RL.6.1

Try at home: Ask “how do you think they feel?” and “how do you know?” as you read, so your child links clues in the text.

The big picture

The main idea, the message and why the text was written.

  • The big picture (story)
  • The big picture (discussion)
  • The big picture (facts)

Curriculum: Common Core RL.6.1

Try at home: At the end of a chapter or article, ask your child to sum it up in one sentence.

Try a 6th Grade text

This is one of the texts at this level, with some of its questions. The check picks texts that suit your child as they go.

Story

The Last Day of Summer

The jetty creaked under Theo’s feet the way it had every summer since he could remember. Tomorrow the family would pack the car, and in a month he would start high school in the city, where nobody knew that he was the boy who could hold his breath the longest or that he had once caught a fish bigger than his arm.

He sat at the end of the jetty and dangled his feet above the green water. His little sister crept up behind him, clutching two popsicles that were already melting down her wrists. She handed him one without a word and sat down, leaning against his shoulder.

For a while neither of them spoke. The sun slid lower, turning the water copper, and a pelican drifted past as though it owned the bay. Theo realized he had been dreading tomorrow so much that he had nearly missed tonight. He took a bite of the popsicle, and it tasted exactly like every summer before.

Where is Theo sitting?

Show the answer

At the end of the jetty. He sat at the end of the jetty.

In the story, “dreading” means…

Show the answer

worrying about something that is going to happen. He was worried about tomorrow and starting high school.

Why does Theo think about the fish and holding his breath?

Show the answer

He worries nobody will know him in his new school. In the city, nobody knows the things that make him who he is here.

How it works

  1. Your child reads 4 short stories and articles, answering 4 questions on each. The next text gets easier or harder depending on how they went.
  2. See how they’re going. On track, a little behind, or needs support, for their grade.
  3. Get the full report. Strengths and gaps in 4 areas, emailed to you, plus a free assessment at your nearest Success Tutoring center if you’d like one.

Start the free 6th Grade check →

Questions parents ask

What is a reading age?

A reading age compares the texts a child can read and understand with what is typical at each age. This check estimates it from the hardest text your child read well. It is a guide, not a formal, standardised score.

What does the 6th Grade reading test check?

Four skills: finding information in a text, working out word meanings, reading between the lines, and understanding the main idea and the writer’s purpose.

Is it free?

Yes. The test and the full report are free, and there is no sign-up to start.

Should I help my child read?

Let them read on their own so the result shows what they can do now. Younger children can have the text read aloud, but then the result is a guide to listening comprehension rather than reading.

How can I help my child’s reading at home?

Read every day, talk about what you read, and ask questions that go beyond the words on the page, like “why do you think she did that?”. Our report suggests one thing to try for each skill.

Other year levels

1st Grade · 2nd Grade · 3rd Grade · 4th Grade · 5th Grade · 6th Grade

🇦🇺 Australia: Year 6 · 🇳🇿 New Zealand: Year 7 · Free 6th Grade learning games