Years 3 – 9
NAPLAN
The national assessment of literacy and numeracy, sat in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It is not an entrance exam and there is nothing to pass — schools use it to see where a cohort sits, and families use it as an early read on the same skills a scholarship test will later assume.
Where it runs
Every state and territory
- VIC
- NSW
- QLD
- WA
- SA
- TAS
- ACT
- NT
What’s covered
Year 5, every domain
The real test adapts as your child answers, giving each student a different pathway. These papers do not: everyone sits the same one, at the difficulty of an average pathway. Everything else follows ACARA’s published shape.
- 42 questions · 50 min
Numeracy
42 questions in 50 minutes across number, algebra, measurement, space, statistics and probability. Four options, no calculator.
- 36 questions · 45 min
Numeracy
36 questions in 45 minutes across number, algebra, measurement, space and statistics. Four options, no calculator.
- 52 questions · 45 min
Conventions of Language
52 questions in 45 minutes — spelling, then grammar and punctuation. Four options on the grammar half; the spelling half is typed. The real test also dictates most spelling words aloud, which this paper does not do yet — every word here is shown, not read out.
- 52 questions · 45 min
Conventions of Language
52 questions in 45 minutes — spelling, then grammar and punctuation. Four options on the grammar half; the spelling half is typed.
- 39 questions · 50 min
Reading
39 questions in 50 minutes across six or seven texts — stories, a poem, information and persuasive writing.
- 1 prompt · 42 min · marked
Writing
One prompt, marked against ACARA’s ten published criteria. ACARA sets either a narrative or a persuasive task and does not say which in advance, so both are here.