The 2026 MCAS released test questions are now available from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

Released questions are available across ELA, mathematics, science and technology/engineering, civics, Biology, and Introductory Physics. DESE has also published answer keys, scoring guides, and samples of actual student work for released constructed-response and essay questions.

Access the 2026 MCAS Released Test Questions from DESE →

Here’s a look at what was released and how Massachusetts educators can use these resources throughout the school year.

What 2026 MCAS Released Test Questions Are Available?

DESE releases a portion of the operational questions from most MCAS tests. Operational questions are the questions that count toward a student’s score.

For spring 2026, approximately half of the operational questions were released for most Grades 3-8 assessments, while all operational questions were released for Grade 10 ELA and Mathematics and the spring high school Biology and Introductory Physics tests.

2026 MCAS Test	Operational Questions Released
Grades 3-8 ELA	Approximately 50%
Grade 10 ELA	100%
Grades 3-8 Mathematics	50%
Grade 10 Mathematics	100%
Grades 5 & 8 Science and Technology/Engineering	50%
Grade 8 Civics	22%*
High School Biology	100%
High School Introductory Physics	100%

*For Grade 8 Civics, DESE released the state performance task but not the end-of-course test.

Spanish-language released items are also available for Mathematics, Science and Technology/Engineering, Civics, Biology, and Introductory Physics.

Practice with 2026 MCAS Released Test Questions in Edcite

Teachers can also access a growing collection of 2026 MCAS released test questions in Edcite, where we’ve made state-released content available as online assessments that can be assigned directly to students. Additional 2026 released tests will be added as they become available in Edcite.

Teachers can use the released questions with students, collect responses, and review results in Edcite rather than working only from released-item documents.

Edcite also has released MCAS content from previous years, giving teachers additional questions and assessments they can use for practice throughout the school year.

Browse More MCAS Assessments in Edcite →

See How Massachusetts Students Responded

The released questions aren’t the only useful resource available from DESE.

Massachusetts also publishes sample student work and scoring guides for released constructed-response and essay questions. These resources include examples of actual student responses at different score points. For ELA essays, DESE also provides annotations explaining the scoring at each score point.

Explore 2026 MCAS Sample Student Work & Scoring Guides →

These examples can be particularly useful during instruction. Teachers can ask students to examine different responses, discuss why they earned particular scores, and identify characteristics of strong work before applying those ideas to their own responses.

DESE typically provides multiple examples at the highest score point, helping illustrate that students can approach a question differently and still produce a successful response.

Using Released MCAS Questions Throughout the Year

Released MCAS questions can be useful well before the spring testing window.

Teachers can use individual questions or small sets of questions to check understanding after instruction, see how Massachusetts standards have been assessed, or give students experience with different question formats.

They can also combine the released questions with the scoring guides and student work to help students better understand expectations for written responses.

And when results show that students are struggling with a particular skill or standard, teachers can provide additional instruction and return to similar questions later to see whether understanding has improved.

MCAS Grades 3-8 ELA Is Changing in 2027

Massachusetts educators will also see changes to the Grades 3-8 MCAS ELA tests beginning in spring 2027.

The revised assessments will include shorter reading passages, a new extended-response question type, stand-alone questions assessing grade-level language standards, and selected-response questions that are each worth one point.

One of the biggest changes involves writing.

Grades 3-5 will no longer have essay questions. Instead, students will complete two extended responses, which generally require one to two paragraphs.

Grades 6-8 will have one essay and one extended-response question.

Narrative writing will also no longer be assessed on MCAS, although DESE says it should continue to be assessed locally.

DESE expects new practice tests reflecting the revised ELA design to be available in fall 2026.

Learn More About the 2027 MCAS ELA Changes →

More MCAS Practice & Resources

In addition to released questions, DESE provides official MCAS practice tests designed to familiarize students with MCAS test formats and question types.

Teachers looking for additional online practice can explore Edcite’s growing collection of 2026 MCAS released test questions, along with released MCAS content from previous years.