The tests

NAPLAN tests skills in literacy and numeracy that are developed over time through the school curriculum. Excessive test preparation using previous tests is not necessary or useful.

NAPLAN tests identify whether all students have the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for their learning, and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community. Students are assessed using common national tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

NAPLAN tests broadly reflect important aspects of literacy and numeracy in the Australian Curriculum adopted by each state or territory.

Types of questions

The types of test formats and questions are generally familiar to teachers and students across Australia. From 2017, the NAPLAN paper tests will include some new types of questions, such as questions with multiple choices. Students may also be asked to answer questions that require them to look at two reading texts on the same topic.

Two example question booklets are provided, along with the example reading texts, which show the range of question types in the tests.

Example question booklets	Example reading texts
Year 3/5 example question booklet ( 493KB)	Year 3/5 example reading text - How to grow a pizza ( 3.4MB) Year 3/5 example reading text - The escape artist ( 578KB)
Year 7/9 example question booklet ( 391KB)	Year 7/9 example reading text - Strange weather in Wongarron ( 291KB) Year 7/9 example reading text - Animals from the sky ( 1.6MB)

Example tests

ACARA also provides example tests so that teachers and students can get a sense of the ‘look and feel’ of the tests and understand what types of questions are asked.

NAPLAN tests are not tests students can cram for. Students should continue developing their literacy and numeracy skills through their school curriculum because the tests contain content identical to what is undertaken in regular classroom learning and assessment.

Year 3 example NAPLAN tests

Example tests	Answers
Year 3 reading - example test ( 303KB) Year 3 reading - reading magazine ( 1.74MB)	Year 3 reading - answers ( 66KB)
Year 3 language conventions - example test ( 249KB)	Year 3 language conventions - answers ( 68KB)
Year 3 numeracy - example test ( 1.52MB)	Year 3 numeracy - answers ( 63KB)
Example NAPLAN writing prompts: City or country ( 1.47MB), The Box ( 960KB). See also information about assessing the writing task. Note: the writing topic assigned to Years 3 and 5 will differ from the topic assigned to Years 7 and 9. However, the genre (narrative or persuasive) for all years will be the same and all students will be required to produce writing of the same text type.

Year 5 example NAPLAN tests

Example tests	Answers
Year 5 reading - example test ( 269KB) Year 5 reading - reading magazine ( 4.3MB)	Year 5 reading - answers ( 90KB)
Year 5 language conventions - example test ( 365KB)	Year 5 language conventions - answers ( 67KB)
Year 5 numeracy - example test ( 240KB)	Year 5 numeracy - answers ( 64KB)
Example NAPLAN writing prompts: City or country ( 1.47MB), The Box ( 960KB). See also information about assessing the writing task. Note: the writing topic assigned to Years 3 and 5 will differ from the topic assigned to Years 7 and 9. However, the genre (narrative or persuasive) for all years will be the same and all students will be required to produce writing of the same text type.

Year 7 example NAPLAN tests

Example tests	Answers
Year 7 reading - example test ( 150KB) Year 7 reading - reading magazine ( 4.61MB)	Year 7 reading - answers ( 85KB)
Year 7 language conventions - example test ( 144KB)	Year 7 language conventions - answers ( 70KB)
Year 7 numeracy - example test (Part A calculator allowed)  ( 1.68MB) Year 7 numeracy - example test (Part B non-calculator)  ( 330KB)	Year 7 numeracy - answers ( 99KB)
Example NAPLAN writing prompts: City or country ( 1.47MB), The Box ( 960KB). See also information about assessing the writing task. Note: the writing topic assigned to Years 7 and 9 will differ from the topic assigned to Years 3 and 5. However, the genre (narrative or persuasive) for all years will be the same and all students will be required to produce writing of the same text type.

Year 9 example NAPLAN tests

Example tests	Answers
Year 9 reading - example test ( 125KB) Year 9 reading - reading magazine ( 808KB)	Year 9 reading - answers ( 66KB)
Year 9 language conventions - example test ( 106KB)	Year 9 language conventions - answers ( 70KB)
Year 9 numeracy - example test (Part A calculator allowed) ( 1.41MB) Year 9 numeracy - example test (Part B non-calculator)  ( 340KB)	Year 9 numeracy - answers ( 98KB)
Example NAPLAN writing prompts: City or country ( 1.47MB), The Box ( 960KB). See also information about assessing the writing task. Note: the writing topic assigned to Years 7 and 9 will differ from the topic assigned to Years 3 and 5. However, the genre (narrative or persuasive) for all years will be the same and all students will be required to produce writing of the same text type.

Past NAPLAN test papers

ACARA has also released a range of past NAPLAN test papers. Releasing these previous test papers forms a part of our response to Freedom of Information Act requests received by ACARA. The NAPLAN tests are subject to copyright restrictions and are for personal use only.

ACARA would like to stress that we do not believe in the value of excessive preparation for NAPLAN beyond teaching the Australian Curriculum and familiarising students with the NAPLAN process. These tests should not be used for drilling students for future NAPLAN tests. See the ACARA website for more information about past NAPLAN test papers.