Virginia SOL Algebra I End-of-Course test (VDOE): the 2023 reporting categories, the standard families (A.EO, A.EI, A.F, A.ST), the technology-enhanced item types, the formula sheet, the Desmos calculator, and the 0 to 600 scale with the 400 and 500 cut scores

The Algebra I Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course (EOC) test is Virginia's state assessment for the Algebra I course, administered by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). It is built from the 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning, the new standards that replaced the 2016 SOL for testing beginning in 2024 to 2025. This page is the index for the whole course: it explains the four reporting categories, the standard families, the online technology-enhanced item types, the formula sheet, the Desmos calculator, the scoring scale, the verified-credit role, and how to study each strand. The topic pages below carry the worked Virginia-SOL-style questions across the item types you will meet on screen.

What the EOC is and why it matters

Virginia awards a high school diploma on a system of standard credits (for completing a course) and verified credits (for completing the course and passing the associated SOL test). The Algebra I EOC is one of the mathematics verified-credit options, so passing it both confirms your Algebra I learning and helps satisfy a graduation requirement. Students usually sit it at the end of the Algebra I course, often in grade 8 or 9 for students who take Algebra I early.

The Algebra I EOC is delivered online in TestNav. It is a fixed-form test (Virginia uses computer-adaptive testing only for the grades 3 to 8 mathematics and reading SOLs, not for the high school EOCs), so every student answers the same number of items. Students who do not pass can retake the test in a later window, and Virginia offers an expedited retake for students who narrowly miss the passing score.

The standard families

The 2023 Mathematics SOL code every Algebra I standard with a strand abbreviation. There are four:

The four reporting categories

The VDOE test blueprint groups the standards into reporting categories and weights the operational (scored) items. Equations, functions, and statistics dominate the test.

The test has 50 operational items that count toward your score, plus about 10 field-test items that are embedded for research and do not count, for roughly 60 items total. You cannot tell which items are field-test, so answer every one carefully.

Two consequences follow. First, Equations and Inequalities is the single largest category, so fluent equation and inequality solving (linear, absolute value, systems, and quadratic) is the surest route to a passing score. Second, Functions and Statistics together are another large block, and statistics in particular is the strand students most often under-prepare, even though the Desmos calculator makes its computations quick.

The technology-enhanced item types

The EOC is delivered in TestNav, and beyond standard multiple choice it uses technology-enhanced items (TEIs). You will meet these on Algebra I:

• Multiple choice (MC). Four options, one correct, no partial credit.
• Fill-in-the-blank / numeric entry. You type a number, an expression, or an equation into a response box, for example entering $x = 7$ or $\frac{-3 \pm \sqrt{17}}{4}$. There are no distractors to catch a slip, so precision matters.
• Drag-and-drop. You move tiles, values, expressions, or solution steps into blanks, a table, or an ordering. A common version asks you to drag values to complete a table of a function.
• Hot spot. You click to select points, cells, bars, or regions on a graph, number line, histogram, or table, for example clicking every point that lies on a line, or the cells of a two-way table that match a condition.
• Coordinate-plane (bar graph and plotting) items. You plot points, graph a line, or place a bar to a given height, for example plotting the vertex of a parabola or graphing $y = 2x - 3$.

The formula sheet

Every Algebra I SOL includes an Algebra I Formula Sheet in TestNav. Knowing what it does not give you matters as much as knowing what it does.

The sheet provides:

• Linear forms and slope. Slope $m = \dfrac{y_2 - y_1}{x_2 - x_1}$; slope-intercept form $y = mx + b$; point-slope form $y - y_1 = m(x - x_1)$; standard form $Ax + By = C$.
• Coordinate-geometry tools. Distance $d = \sqrt{(x_2 - x_1)^2 + (y_2 - y_1)^2}$ and midpoint $\left(\dfrac{x_1 + x_2}{2}, \dfrac{y_1 + y_2}{2}\right)$.
• The quadratic formula. $x = \dfrac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}$ for $ax^2 + bx + c = 0$.
• Sequence formulas. Arithmetic $a_n = a_1 + (n - 1)d$ and geometric $a_n = a_1 \cdot r^{\,n-1}$.
• Exponent and radical properties and a set of basic geometry formulas (area and perimeter of common shapes, and volume of common solids).

The sheet does NOT provide, so you must carry these in your head (or build them with the calculator):

• Vertex form $f(x) = a(x - h)^2 + k$ and the axis of symmetry $x = \dfrac{-b}{2a}$.
• Exponential models $f(x) = a \cdot b^x$, growth $y = a(1 + r)^t$, and decay $y = a(1 - r)^t$.
• Any statistics formulas: mean, the five-number summary, standard deviation, and the correlation coefficient. These you compute with Desmos.
• Factoring identities (difference of squares, perfect-square trinomials).

The Desmos Virginia calculator

Since the 2022 to 2023 school year, online Virginia mathematics SOLs provide the built-in Desmos Virginia calculator inside TestNav, and the Algebra I EOC uses it. Unlike a bare scientific calculator, Desmos graphs: you can plot a function and read its intercepts, vertex, and intersections, evaluate a function from a table, and run a regression to get a line or curve of best fit and the correlation coefficient. Because the calculator can do so much, the skill the test rewards is knowing what to ask it: which feature answers the question, and how to read the result back into the language of the problem.

The score scale

Raw points convert to a scaled score from 0 to 600, reported in three performance levels:

400 is the minimum passing score and 500 marks the advanced level. The conversion from raw points to scaled score is not a fixed percent correct, because harder items contribute differently, but the 400 and 500 thresholds are constant across test forms. Aim past 400: securing Equations and Inequalities reliably and adding the Functions and Statistics points is what moves a student comfortably over the line and toward 500.

How to study the Algebra I SOL

1. Bank Equations and Inequalities first. It is the largest category (18 items): linear equations and inequalities, literal equations, absolute value, systems, and quadratic equations. This is the most reliable block of points.
2. Master Functions. Function notation and key features, writing linear equations, and quadratic and exponential functions decide the higher scores. Read graphs and tables fluently.
3. Do not skip Statistics. Univariate displays, center and spread, standard deviation, scatterplots, the curve of best fit, and the correlation coefficient are very gettable with Desmos and lift a borderline score.
4. Train every item type. Practice numeric entry, drag-and-drop ordering, hot-spot selection, and coordinate-plane plotting, not just multiple choice. The test rewards producing answers.
5. Memorize what the sheet omits. Vertex form, the axis of symmetry, exponential models, and the factoring identities are not on the sheet, and no statistics formula is either.
6. Learn the Desmos workflow. Graph a function, read intercepts and a vertex, find an intersection, and run a regression. The calculator turns several SOL items into quick reads if you know its features.

The course, topic by topic

Each topic below has its own answer page with worked Virginia-SOL-style questions across the technology-enhanced item types, plus an overview guide and a quiz for each module.

Expressions and Operations (A.EO).

• Properties and simplifying expressions, exponents and scientific notation, radicals and rational exponents, polynomial operations, factoring polynomials, equivalent expressions.

Equations and Inequalities (A.EI).

• Solving linear equations, literal equations and formulas, solving linear inequalities, absolute-value equations and inequalities, systems of linear equations, systems of linear inequalities.

Quadratic Equations (A.EI).

• Solving quadratics by factoring, solving quadratics by square roots, completing the square, the quadratic formula and the discriminant.

Functions (A.F).

• Function notation and evaluation, domain and range, linear functions and rate of change, writing linear equations, zeros and key features, quadratic functions.

Exponential and Comparing Functions (A.F).

• Exponential functions, exponential growth and decay, arithmetic and geometric sequences, comparing function families.

Statistics (A.ST).

• Univariate data displays, measures of center and spread, standard deviation and outliers, scatterplots and association, the curve of best fit, the correlation coefficient.

For the official materials

VDOE publishes the Algebra I test blueprint, the 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning, SOL practice items in TestNav, the Algebra I Formula Sheet, and the calculator and ancillary-materials policy on its Virginia SOL assessment program pages. Always study from the current released practice items and the test blueprint, because the item types, the scoring, and the standards are specific to the Virginia SOL assessment.