STAAR Algebra 1 Practice Test Questions

1. f (x) = 5x + 10. If x=10, then what is the value of f(x)?
  1. 25
  2. 60
  3. 12
  4. 5
2. Mr. Robinson has 20 students in his martial arts class. The ratio of boys to girls is 4:1. How many boys and girls are in Mr. Robinson’s class?
  1. 15 boys, 5 girls
  2. 5 boys, 15 girls
  3. 16 boys, 4 girls
  4. 4 boys, 16 girls
3. Which of the following equations is an example of the distributive property?
  1. (5)(3) = (3)(5)
  2. 5+3 = 3+5 
  3. (5)(1+2) = (5)(1) + (5)(2)
  4. 15=15
4. Which of the following equations is an example of the commutative property?
  1. (3)(6+10) = 18 + 30 
  2. 18 + 30 = 30 + 18 
  3. (3)(6) + (3)(10) = 3(16) 
  4. 48 = 48
5. Let the equation of a line be described by Equation A:
10y – 5x = 40
What are the y-intercept and slope of the line?
  1. The y-intercept is 40, and the slope is 10
  2. The y-intercept is 10, and the slope is 40
  3. The y-intercept is 40, and the slope is 2
  4. The y-intercept is 4, and the slope is 0.5
6. Line G has a slope of 20 and intercepts the y axis at point (0, 100). What is the equation of line G?
  1. y = 100
  2. y = 20 
  3. y = 20x – 100 
  4. y = 20x + 100
7. Vivian wants to plant a vegetable garden that contains only tomatoes and cucumbers. However, she has a limited amount of space for the garden, and she can only afford to buy a specific number of each vegetable. Vivian has enough space to plant a total of 40 vegetables, and she has a total of $80 to purchase the vegetables. Tomatoes cost $1 per plant and cucumbers cost $3 per plant. Let T represent the number of tomatoes and let C represent the number of cucumbers Vivian will plant in her garden.

Which system of linear equations can be used to solve for the number of tomatoes and cucumbers Vivian will plant in her garden?

  1. T + C = 40 and T + 3C = 80 
  2. T + 3C = 40 and T + C = 80 
  3. T + C = 80 and T + 3C = 40 
  4. 3T + C = 80 and T + C = 40
8. {(5,8), (3,4), (-1,-4), (-3, -8), (-5,-12)}

What is the range of the coordinate pairs?

  1. {5, 8, -5, -12}
  2. {-1, -4}
  3. {-5, -3, -1, 3, 5}
  4. {-12, -8, -4, 4, 8}
9. Joshua has to earn more than 92 points on the state test in order to qualify for an academic scholarship. Each question is worth 4 points, and the test has a total of 30 questions. Let x represent the number of test questions.

Which of the following inequalities can be solved to determine the number of questions Joshua must answer correctly?

  1. 4x < 30
  2. 4x < 92
  3. 4x > 30
  4. 4x > 92
10. Aisha runs a small business selling candy bars to her classmates in school. She buys each candy bar for $0.75, and she sells each candy bar for $1.50. Let y represent Aisha’s profit. Let x represent the number of candy bars she sells per day.

Which equation best represents Aisha’s daily profit from selling candy bars?

  1. y = 0.75x – 1.50x
  2. y = 0.75x + 0.75x
  3. y = 1.50x + 0.75x
  4. y = 1.50x – 0.75x

STAAR Test Prep Materials - Compound Percentages

Algebra 1 Answer Key


1. Answer: B
The equation describes a functional relationship between x and f(x). To solve the equation, substitute 10 as the value of x, such that f(10)=5(10)+10=50+10=60.

2. Answer: C
Let = the number of girls in Mr. Robinson’s class. The ratio of boys to girls is 4:1. So for every 1 girl in the class, there are 4 boys in the class. Therefore, 4y equals the number of boys in Mr. Robinson’s class. The total number of students in the class is 20. Therefore, the number of boys plus the number of girls equals 20 or
y+4y=20
5y=20
y=4

Hence y = 4 and 4y = 16. Therefore, 4 = the number of girls and 16 = the number of boys. Also, 4 + 16 = 20, the total number of students in the class.

3. Answer: C
The distributive property says that terms inside a set of parentheses can be multiplied by a factor outside the parentheses. In other words, a(b+c) = ab + ac. Answer C fits this definition.

4. Answer: B
A mathematical operation is commutative if altering the order does not alter the result of the operation. In other words, a+b = b+a, or ab = ba. Answer B fits this definition.

5. Answer: D
First write Equation A in slope-intercept form: y =mx+b where b is the y-intercept and m is the slope:
10 y – 5x = 40
10 y = 5x + 40
y = 0.5x + 4
Based on the slope-intercept form of Equation A, the y-intercept b = 4, and the slope m = 0.5.

6. Answer: D
Write the equation in slope-intercept form: y = mx+b where m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept. In this case, the slope m = 20 and the y-intercept b = 100. Hence y = 20x+1000.

7. Answer: A 
Since Vivian will plant a total of 40 vegetables, the number of tomatoes plus the number of cucumbers is 40 or T+C = 40. Each tomato costs $1; so multiply the number of tomatoes by 1. Each cucumber costs $3; so multiply the number of cucumbers by 3. Vivian has a total of $80 to spend on tomatoes and cucumbers. So T+3C = 80.

8. Answer: D
The list of coordinate pairs represents the x and y values of five points. The range is all the y values. Answer D contains all the y values of the coordinate pairs.

9. Answer: D
In order to determine the number of questions Joshua must answer correctly, consider the number of points he must earn. Joshua will receive 4 points for each question he answers correctly, and x represents the number of questions. Therefore, Joshua will receive a total of 4x points for all the questions he answers correctly. Joshua must earn more than 92 points. Therefore, to determine the number of questions he must answer correctly, solve the inequality 4x>92

10. Answer: D
To calculate Aisha’s daily profit, first determine the amount of money Aisha earns from selling candy. Since x represents the number of candy bars she sells per day, and she sells each bar for $1.50, then her daily earnings equal 1.50x. Next, determine how much money Aisha spends buying the candy. Since each bar costs $0.75, she spends a total of 0.75x buying the candy. Finally, subtract the amount of money she spends buying the candy from the amount of money she earns selling the candy. Since y represents her daily profits, y = 1.50x – 0.75x.

STAAR High School Algebra 1 Standards. There are 5 reporting categories for the High School STAAR Algebra 1 Test: Functional Relationships-8 questions; Properties and Attributes of Functions-12 questions, Linear Functions-15 questions; Linear Equations and Inequalities-10 questions; Quadratic and Other Nonlinear Functions-9 questions.