What an 8th grader learns in math and reading

8th grade · the Common Core skills, in plain words · updated 2026-11-02

This is the whole list: 28 math skills and 14 reading skills an 8th grader is expected to learn, with the Common Core code next to each one. In math, 8th grade is mostly geometry, expressions and equations, functions. In reading, the weight is on language and literature.

Math: 8th grade

The number system

• Rational or not 8.NS.A.1 — A fraction as a decimal stops or repeats. A root that is not exact never does.
• Estimating roots 8.NS.A.2 — Which square numbers is it between?

Expressions and equations

• Power rules 8.EE.A.1 — Same base times-ed together? Add the little numbers. Divided? Take them away.
• Square and cube roots 8.EE.A.2 — What number times itself gives this?
• Scientific notation 8.EE.A.3 — The little number says how many places the dot moves.
• Powers of ten math 8.EE.A.4 — Multiply the front numbers. Add the little powers.
• Lines through zero 8.EE.B.5 — Through (0, 0), y is always the same times x. That times is the slope.
• Steepness of a line 8.EE.B.6 — How far up, divided by how far across.
• x on both sides 8.EE.C.7 — Get all the x parts onto one side first.
• Two equations at once 8.EE.C.8 — Add the two equations, or put one into the other. The answer is where the lines cross.

Functions

• Using functions 8.F.A.1 — Swap x for the number in the brackets.
• Which grows faster 8.F.A.2 — The number in front of x is the growth each step. Bigger means faster.
• Straight or not 8.F.A.3 — y = mx + b makes a straight line. An x times x does not.
• Start and rate 8.F.B.4 — In y = mx + b, the b is the start and the m is the climb each step.
• Graph stories 8.F.B.5 — Going up means growing. Flat means no change. Down means less.

Geometry

• Slides, flips and turns 8.G.A.1 — Sliding, flipping or turning never changes lengths or angles.
• Congruent shapes 8.G.A.2 — If slides, flips and turns carry one shape onto the other, they are congruent.
• Moving points 8.G.A.3 — Left means take away from x. Flipping over the x-axis changes the sign of y.
• Similar shapes 8.G.A.4 — A dilation keeps the shape and scales every side by the same number.
• Angles and parallels 8.G.A.5 — A triangle adds to 180°. Alternate and corresponding angles are equal.
• Why Pythagoras works 8.G.B.6 — The two small squares together have the same area as the big square.
• Triangle sides 8.G.B.7 — Times each short side by itself, add them, then find the square root.
• Distance between points 8.G.B.8 — Across and up are the short sides of a right triangle.
• Cylinders, cones, balls 8.G.C.9 — Cylinder: circle area times height. A cone is a third of that.

Statistics and probability

• Scatter plots 8.SP.A.1 — Do the dots climb, fall, or just sit anywhere?
• Line of fit 8.SP.A.2 — The best line goes through the middle of the dots, with about as many above as below.
• Using a fit line 8.SP.A.3 — Start amount plus growth times weeks.
• Two-way tables 8.SP.A.4 — Each kid lands in exactly one box. The boxes add up to everyone.

Reading: 8th grade

Language

• Verbal forms L.8.1a — Gerund: -ing used as a noun. Participle: used as an adjective. Infinitive: to + verb.
• Active and passive voice L.8.1b — Active: the subject does the action. Passive: the subject receives it.
• Verb moods L.8.1c — Indicative states. Imperative commands. Interrogative asks. Subjunctive wishes.
• Pauses and omissions L.8.2b — An ellipsis (...) shows a pause or left-out words. A dash sets off a break.
• Context clues L.8.4a — Use every clue in the passage.
• Roots and affixes L.8.4b — Build the meaning from the parts.
• Irony and puns L.8.5a — Irony is when the opposite of what is expected happens or is said.
• Connotation and denotation L.8.5c — Denotation is the dictionary meaning. Connotation is the feeling.

Literature

• Theme and character RL.8.2 — How do the characters and setting build the theme?
• What dialogue reveals RL.8.3 — What does the way a character speaks show about them?
• Suspense and irony RL.8.6 — When the reader knows more than the character, that is dramatic irony.

Informational text

• Central idea and summary RI.8.2 — A summary has no opinions, only the key points.
• Weighing an argument RI.8.8 — Which evidence is relevant, and which is not?
• Two texts, one topic RI.8.9 — Where do the two texts disagree, and why?

Reading practice includes 30 short texts at this level, among them 6 science and 6 history passages, with questions that check understanding.

SAT: from 8th grade

From 7th grade, SAT practice can be turned on as a third subject on the same login: a 16-question diagnostic sets a projected score out of 1600, then 10 questions a day on the SAT skills worth the most points, with hints that stop before the answer and timed checks at SAT pace.

How Teach Me uses this list

The check asks a few questions from this grade and the ones around it to find where your child really is, which is often not the grade on the door. Each day's set then comes from the skills they have not got yet. A skill counts as known when they get it right on their own, more than once. Parents see which skills are open and which are solid, and can point the practice at any topic above.

Teach Me is free. It follows the Common Core State Standards for math and English language arts; high school math follows California's traditional pathway (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Precalculus).

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