Thirty questions across four sections make up this 9-page 3rd grade world geography unit test. Students locate continents and oceans from clues on a world map and match map tools to their descriptions. They fill in cardinal and intermediate directions on a compass rose, then read a town map with a school at its center. Three full-sentence questions finish it. The test covers C3 Framework D2.Geo.3.3-5, and the answer key lists all 30 answers with model sentences.
D2.Geo.3.3-5
“Use maps of different scales to describe the locations of cultural and environmental characteristics.”
Sections 1 and 3, which move from a world map of continents and oceans to a town map where students give directions between the school, library, and fire station.
Questions 1 to 7 use a continent word bank, from where the United States is to the continent directly south of Europe. Questions 8 to 12 name oceans, such as the one on the East Coast and the one around Antarctica.
Questions 13 to 16 match title, map key, scale, and compass rose to descriptions. Questions 17 to 21 ask for three cardinal and two intermediate directions on a compass rose with only North labeled.
A town map puts a park north of the school, a library with a book symbol to the east, a fire station to the south, and a post office with an envelope symbol to the west. Questions 22 to 27 ask about buildings, directions, and the symbols in the map key.
Students explain how a map key helps a reader, why a compass rose matters, and one difference between a globe and a flat map.
Two sittings
At nine pages, this runs best over two days. Give Sections 1 and 2 on the first day, then the local map and written answers on the second.
Direction trap
Question 24 asks which way to walk from the library to the school. Students who answer East are reading the library's position, not the walk, so have them trace the arrow with a finger.
Read-aloud support
Questions 6 and 7 sit next to each other and are easy to swap, Europe for Africa. Read both clues aloud for students who need support.
Get started today
