How To Prepare Your Child For NAPLAN?

NAPLAN is a high-stakes test for Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. The test covers essential literacy and numeracy skills for the students, well from the beginning. And NAPLAN is used to measure student progress and identify areas for improvement. Teachers and parents can use these areas of improvement to focus on that subject/topic for the child’s overall improvement.  

NAPLAN tests may be new to many parents wondering how to start their child’s practice with the NAPLAN test series. Fear not, because we have a complete guide and tips for you. This can help you create a good beginning for your child’s NAPLAN journey. 

How to prepare your Child for NAPLAN? 

For NAPLAN test preparations, the first step is to understand the test formats and the different sections covered. In order to understand this, parents need to check out the NAPLAN practice tests sample papers for previous years. One doesn’t need to spend any money to get NAPLAN practice tests papers. An abundance of resources is available online for your child’s NAPLAN practice. Moreover, the ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority) has a bank of previous year papers with answers for preparation purposes.  

NAPLAN Practice Tests Year 3: 

Check out NAPLAN practice tests year 3 sample papers for the year 2014, 2015 and 2016 here. The source is self-explanatory and contains sample papers for each section – Reading, Writing, Language Convention, and Numeracy skills.  

The intention here is to get the students to develop essential writing and reading skills. The numeracy skill test also doesn’t involve many complex questions; it can be solved without using a calculator. The numeracy test for year 3 contains 36 questions (non-calculator).  

NAPLAN Practice Tests Year 5: 

The question’s complexity in year 5 increases a bit but also depends on the child’s previous comfortable level in answering the questions. Year 5 students will have 42 numeracy questions to be solved without calculator usage. Until 2017, numeracy test questions for year 5 were only 40.  

A complete set of previous year’s NAPLAN Practice Tests Year 5 for 2014, 2015 and 2016 is here by ACARA. 

NAPLAN Practice Tests Year 7 and NAPLAN Practice Tests Year 9: 

The test format and sections are similar for year 7 and year 9, just the difference in question complexity. The number of numeracy test questions for years 7 and 9 has been lowered from 64 to 48. Among these, students can attend eight questions without a calculator; students may use calculators for the final 40 questions.  

You can discover ACARA’s original NAPLAN Practice Tests Year 7 and NAPLAN Practice Tests Year 9 previous papers and formats from here for 2014, 2015, and 2016. 

As per ACARA, none of the other practice papers or any paid NAPLAN preparation textbooks are officially approved. So, you don’t need to pay for any sources online. Only the ACARA official NAPLAN practice test paper is better for your child. 

Introduce your Child to a Public Demonstration Site: 

Along with answering correctly for the questions, how well your child manages the time during the test is also very important. For this, your child must understand the time allotted to each section/per question and should understand the complete UI of the NAPLAN test.  

For this preparation, ACARA has introduced the PDS – Public Demonstration Site, which is like a simulation of NAPLAN tests. Children can practice directly on the Public Demonstration Site to get familiarized with the format, NAPLAN test screen features, navigation, different tools usage, timer, progress bar, and so. In order to help the students, a progress bar tool is installed. Students can mark questions for review later and return to specific questions later. A timer, which alerts the students to the total time consumed and time left, is also featured on the screen. Along with this, relevant geometric tools and a calculator are inbuilt into the screen for the Numeracy skill test. 

The only way to learn how to use those during exams is to practice as much on Public Demonstration Site. This is how they can learn to manage time during exams and get used to the NAPLAN test environment. 

How to prepare your Child mentally for NAPLAN? 

Preparing your child for NAPLAN doesn’t have to be stressful. Here are some suggestions to help your child do their best on the test mentally: 

• Make sure your child is well-rested on test day. A good night’s sleep will help them focus and do their best. 
• On exam day, make sure your kid eats a nutritious breakfast. A nutritious meal will help them concentrate and have the energy they need to do their best. 
• Remind them that it is just a test and that they have prepared for it. 
• Help your child to relax and stay positive. NAPLAN is just one measure of their abilities – it’s not the be-all and end-all. Remind them that you’re proud of them no matter what their results are. 
• On NAPLAN test day, make sure they have all the materials they need, including a sharpened pencil and an eraser. 

In conclusion note: 

Don’t make your child practice too much for NAPLAN. As per ACARA excessive drilling will only end up making your child anxious and stressed. Instead, make a proper plan and teach in a simple manner (topic-wise) every day – from day one at home.  

Most parents make the mistake of only allowing their kids to practice old year NAPLAN practice tests papers. Of course, that is also important, but that should not be the only way to prepare your child. Along with practice papers, teach basics of numeracy and literacy skills at home. Give them some simple tasks of reading, writing, and grammar-enhancing tasks. Understand their strengths and weaknesses and prepare your next study plan accordingly.