Education

Ready for Success: How to Step up Your Youngsters’ NAPLAN Test Preparation

October 18, 2024 — by Richard Dawson

The National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy, or NAPLAN, is an annual assessment that is administered to students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in Australia. Its goal is to assess the literacy and numeracy skills such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and numeracy that are essential for a child’s academic and personal growth.

Although the NAPLAN test has been administered online, offering a more tailored testing experience that adapts to a student’s performance, it can be a source of great anxiety for students, teachers and parents alike. However, there are still some effective ways to build your kids’ knowledge and confidence when taking the test.

NAPLAN Preparation

students reading from naplan year 5 book
source: freepik.com

ACARA advises that the best preparation for NAPLAN is instruction in the literacy and numeracy content of the Australian Curriculum. They don’t encourage excessive drilling or cramming. So, one of the best ways to prepare your youngsters for the test is with fun and engaging NAPLAN year 5 books. These year 5 NAPLAN books are designed to help your youngsters conquer key literacy and numeracy skills and boost your year 5 NAPLAN scores.

They target essential skills and concepts and will skyrocket your test-taking confidence and marks in a fun, engaging manner. Packed full of useful exercises and practice tests, they can help students master persuasive and narrative writing, reading, language conventions, and numeracy.

When taking the test, students must read multiple passages and respond to questions based on them on the reading paper, which is essentially a series of comprehension assessments. The Reading Year 5 NAPLAN books contain sample questions, a 20-page colour stimulus booklet (basis of test questions) as well as 3 reading tests (recommended to be completed within 45 minutes each).  To make sure they got it all right, books also contain answers to all questions.

The Language Conventions- punctuation, spelling and grammar involve inserting correct punctuation in sentences and identifying incorrect punctuation, correcting spelling words as well as close style questions (fill in the blanks) and multiple-choice questions where the student is required to correct the grammar of completed sentences. Language Conventions The Year 5 NAPLAN book comes with several linguistic conventions tests, each of which should take 40 minutes to complete. All of the questions and answers are at the back of the book.

Every student receives identical stimuli for the NAPLAN writing assignment, however, the expectations for complexity and difficulty vary depending on the grade. The Writing Skills Bumper Book has 10 persuasive writing tests, 10 narrative writing tests, 6 description writing tests, 6 recount writing tests as well as 6 information report writing tests designed to practice your writing skills and nail down your writing score.

There is a numeracy paper for all students who sit NAPLAN (3, 5, 7, and 9). Additionally, in Years 7 and 9 there is also a non-calculator paper. Numeracy NAPLAN year 5 books contain thirty-five mini numeracy tests, six sample numeracy tests, answers and worked solutions for all tests and the best test preparation to get your child on the right track.

Changes

Parents and students should be aware of the major changes to NAPLAN that took place in 2023. This was the first time the test was administered fully online. Compared to other years, this has made it possible to reveal the results considerably early.

NAPLAN exams are normally given in May, and the results are announced at the end of the academic year. Nonetheless, the exam was given in March of 2023. Due to the early testing date and the effectiveness of the online administration, parents and schools could anticipate receiving individual reports by the middle to end of July.

This is a big change since it allows schools to support children in important areas based on their individual performance for nearly two full terms. Although a precise date for the results’ publication has not been set by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), the results may be released sooner due to the early testing date and online format.

Importance of Results

The significance of NAPLAN scores lies in the fact that they offer a nationwide evaluation of reading and numeracy skills for children in years 3, 5, 7, and 9. They support resource allocation and aid in identifying program strengths and areas for development. With these changes in 2023, NAPLAN is continuing to evolve to better suit the requirements of kids, parents, and schools.

Tips for Before and After Taking NAPLAN

It is crucial for your kids to have a decent night’s sleep before all of the exams. Throughout the week, make an effort to keep your home peaceful and give yourself plenty of downtime before bed.

Fuel for the day is provided by a hearty breakfast in the morning. Pack wholesome snacks for your child’s morning break if they aren’t hungry in the morning to keep them fuelled.

Follow your child’s lead and pay attention to how they are feeling on the drive home from school. This is the best they could have done, so ask them whether they gave it their all. After the test, discussing particular questions can frequently make people feel more anxious because there’s nothing, they can do about the question now.

Schedule an enjoyable activity, like getting your kid a treat, for after the exams. While this is undoubtedly a week without homework, perhaps an additional treat like more time at the park or a milkshake should be in order.