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A simple guide to NAPLAN writing

Prepare your students for the NAPLAN writing task by nurturing great writers!

Read on to:

• uncover insights into the NAPLAN writing task and ACARA’s expectations
• learn what to focus on in the lead-up to NAPLAN to make the biggest difference to your students’ writing
• find out how to reflect on the NAPLAN writing task as a class to further students’ learning.

Table of contents

1. Understanding ACARA’s expectations 1.1 What’s NAPLAN all about? 1.2 The NAPLAN writing task 1.3 What’s NAPLAN looking for? 1.4 NAPLAN Narrative Writing 1.5 NAPLAN Persuasive Writing

2. Upskilling your students 2.1 NAPLAN and the Seven Steps 2.2 Focus on the structural Steps 2.3 Practise writing full texts 2.4 Simulate the test conditions

3. Reflecting after NAPLAN

Don’t teach to the test. Teach great writing.

Tailor-made for Seven Steps teachers

This award-winning series of resources and guides shows you how to use the core structural Steps (Steps 1, 2, 3 and 7) to help students approach the NAPLAN writing test with confidence!

Resource Packs and Video Guides

Everything you need to maximise your time and impact in the lead-up to NAPLAN.

1. Understanding ACARA’s expectations

1.1 what’s naplan all about.

There’s plenty of fear and controversy surrounding NAPLAN, but it’s essentially an attempt to determine whether Australian students are gaining the basic numeracy and literacy skills they require to function in today’s society.

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are required to sit NAPLAN tests in four areas:

• Language Conventions

Did you know? In 2023, the NAPLAN tests will be conducted in March rather than May, as outlined in the NAPLAN key dates table . A description of each test, including scheduling requirements, can be found on the NAPLAN website .

The results are then used to benefit students, schools and Australian education systems by:

• ensuring that resource allocation and intervention programs meet the needs of students
• identifying strengths and weaknesses to drive school improvements
• informing future policy and curriculum development
• helping the government monitor the success of policy and curriculum developments.

Back to top

1.2 The NAPLAN writing task

In the NAPLAN writing task, students are provided with a writing stimulus or prompt and asked to write a response in a particular genre (narrative or persuasive writing). The responses are then assessed using a set of 10 marking criteria:

• Text structure
• Character and setting (for narrative texts); Persuasive devices (for persuasive texts)
• Paragraphing
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation

It’s worth noting that eight of these criteria focus on ‘authorial’ techniques, such as coming up with great ideas, engaging the reader, and creating a well-structured, cohesive text.

1.3 What’s NAPLAN looking for?

The weighting of the criteria is a clear indication that NAPLAN values the authorial side of writing far more than the secretarial side . With spelling and punctuation allocated just 23% of the marks available, it’s time to stop focusing so heavily on the mechanics of writing and devote more time to the critical and creative thinking skills that make writing great.

NAPLAN values creativity and the good news is that, like any skill, creative thinking can be learnt – and it can vastly improve with nurturing and practice. What’s more, enhancing students’ ability to think and write creatively not only improves their NAPLAN results but also sets them up for life as great communicators.

1.4 NAPLAN narrative writing

According to the Narrative Marking Guide :

A narrative is a time-ordered text that is used to narrate events and to create, entertain and emotionally move an audience. Other social purposes of narrative writing may be to inform, to persuade and to socialise. The main structural components of a narrative are the orientation, the complication and the resolution. (ACARA, 2010)

This definition has shaped the development of the criteria and skills focus being assessed in the writing task:

1.5 NAPLAN persuasive writing

According to the Persuasive Marking Guide :

The purpose of persuasive writing is to persuade a reader to a point of view on an issue. Persuasive writing may express an opinion, discuss, analyse and evaluate an issue. It may also entertain and inform.

The style of persuasive writing may be formal or informal, but it requires the writer to adopt a sense of authority on the subject matter and to develop the subject in an ordered, rational way. A writer of a persuasive text may draw on their own personal knowledge and experience or may draw on detailed knowledge of a particular subject or issue. The main structural components of the persuasive text are the introduction, development of argument (body) and conclusion. (ACARA, 2013)

Click to enlarge >

2. Upskilling your students

2.1 naplan and the seven steps.

The Seven Steps techniques help students to be creative, engaging and powerful, rather than just neat and grammatically correct. This means that the Seven Steps are not only great for NAPLAN prep but for improving writing in general.

Related: What are the Seven Steps?

Ideally, you would spend 10 to 16 weeks teaching students all seven Steps before they sit the NAPLAN writing test. If you’ve attended Workshop One: Seven Steps to Transform Writing , you may have done this already.

Workshop One is a great way to learn Seven Steps theory and see the techniques in action before implementing them in your classroom.

For now, let’s just focus on how you can make the biggest impact on your students’ writing. We recommend the low-hanging fruit approach, whereby you focus on the areas that will gain students the most marks .

The table below shows the weighting for each of the NAPLAN criteria (explored in sections 1.4 and 1.5 ) and the Steps to focus on to improve students’ results.

Click to enlarge 

Want to find out more? Check out the following resources in Teacher Hub to find out which resources to use when focusing on particular aspects of NAPLAN:

NAPLAN and the Seven Steps Narrative |  Persuasive

2.2 Focus on the structural Steps

The structural Steps will have the greatest impact on improving students’ writing. The structural Steps are:

• Step 1: Plan for Success
• Step 2: Sizzling Starts
• Step 3: Tightening Tension
• Step 7: Exciting Endings/Endings with Impact.

These Steps help students understand the structural components of writing. In other words, they teach students how to:

• come up with original and unexpected ideas
• start their story with a bang
• build tension through a complication or complications
• craft a great ending.

As you can see from the table above, these skills will make the biggest difference to students’ writing and gain the best results in NAPLAN.

Check out these top tips and activities to get your NAPLAN preparation started.

NAPLAN Writing Success Resource Packs and Video Guides

Practical, effective and fun resources that are ready to go in your classroom!

Tailor-made for Seven Steps teachers This series of resources and guides shows you how to use the core structural Steps (Steps 1, 2, 3 and 7) to help students approach the NAPLAN writing test with confidence!

WINNER  – Teaching or Reference Resource (Secondary) – Educational Publishing Awards Australia 2023

SHORTLISTED  – Teaching or Reference Resource (Primary) – Educational Publishing Awards Australia 2023

Learn more →

2.3 practise writing full texts.

When teaching the Seven Steps, students don’t write an entire text by themselves until they’ve mastered all the Steps (or at least the structural Steps: 1, 2, 3 and 7). Asking them to do this for the first time in a test situation – in just 40 minutes! – is setting them up to fail.

Make sure that you allow time before NAPLAN to practise writing complete texts in groups and then individually, so your students will be ready by test day.

Are your students doing NAPLAN Online? Check out these tips and tricks for NAPLAN Online .

Putting It All Together modules Exclusive to Teacher Hub

Work your way through this module to help students use all the Seven Steps techniques to create texts that captivate an audience.

• Narrative Putting It All Together module >
• Persuasive Putting It All Together module >

Putting It All Together for NAPLAN Exclusive to Teacher Hub Essentials

Help students pull everything they have learnt together to create an entire text. Feel free to speed up or slow down this test practice process with your students based on their ability level.

2.4 Simulate the test conditions

When preparing for NAPLAN, it’s a great idea to simulate the test conditions to ensure that students are comfortable.

Think about:

• the environment – such as the room, chairs, clock, posters on the wall and even the time of day
• the resources – such as the time available, paper, writing prompt and instructions
• the interactions – including what you can and can’t say or help students with.

Track Your Success Exclusive to Teacher Hub

Our Track Your Success resources on Teacher Hub will help you practise for the test and identify any areas of weakness that need to be addressed in the lead-up to the big day. View resources >

Check out the official NAPLAN documentation via the following links:

• NAP national protocol booklets
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• South Australia
• Western Australia
• Australian Capital Territory

Looking beyond NAPLAN? If you’ve been trained in the Seven Steps and want to take your class or school to the next level, come along to Workshop Two: Putting It All Together . You’ll learn how to apply the Seven Steps at every stage of the writing process – from brainstorming and planning, to feedback and revision.

Yay, you did it! NAPLAN is over for another year. Before you move on, spend a bit of time reflecting with your students on how they went.

Taking the time to reflect on the NAPLAN writing task as a class while it’s still fresh in students’ minds will further their learning well before the marks are released. It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate what everyone has achieved!

Use these discussion prompts to help students reflect on their own experiences.

Ideas Discuss the topic that your students wrote about.

• What did you find hard about the topic?
• What ideas did you come up with?
• How did you select the best idea for your text?

Concept development Ask students how they developed their initial idea into a complete text.

• Did you have enough time for planning?
• Did anyone visualise or sketch the story graph to help structure their ideas?

Engaging the audience Ask a few volunteers to explain how they started their text.

• What Sizzling Starts technique did you use to engage the audience immediately?
• Did anyone use more than one technique for added impact?

Building tension Revisit how to build tension in a narrative text (pebble, rock, boulder) and a persuasive text (strong, medium, strongest argument).

• Did anyone manage to apply these principles when writing their text?
• What other techniques did you use to build tension?

Wrapping up Ask a few volunteers to explain how they ended their text.

• Did you plan your ending before you started writing?
• What Exciting Endings/Endings with Impact techniques did you use to conclude the text and satisfy the reader?

Adding richness Revisit how to add richness to a text using Dynamic Dialogue and Show, Don’t Tell.

• Did anyone manage to include dialogue or a ‘show’ scene in their text?
• How did these techniques enhance the text?

Editing Discuss the time allowed for editing.

• Did anyone have time to do a structural or an expression edit?
• What structural changes did you make and why?
• What did you change to improve the expression (sound of the text)?
• Is there anything else you would have done if you’d had more time?

NAPLAN Insights Exclusive to Teacher Hub

Take a look at Seven Steps creator and CEO, Jen McVeity’s videos and find out what she’s learnt from sitting the NAPLAN writing task each year. Topics covered:

• Introduction: Jen sits NAPLAN
• The one thing to really work on for NAPLAN
• So, how did I plan?
• A great way to engage the audience
• The next best way to improve marks
• How to practise for NAPLAN

View NAPLAN Insights >

Explore more NAPLAN resources

UNDERSTANDING NAPLAN WRITING

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, also known as NAPLAN, is a test taken by all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 each year. NAPLAN assesses core skills in the Australian curriculum including reading, writing and mathematics, and the assessment usually happens around the second week of May each year.

The writing component of the NAPLAN test allows students 40 minutes to produce a piece of writing based on a given prompt. Students will be asked to produce a narrative text or a persuasive text.

Year 3 and Year 5 students will share the same prompt, while Year 7 and Year 9 students will have a different prompt. Students will not know which type of text they will be asked to write during the assessment, which is why it is important to familiarise yourself with writing both narrative and persuasive texts.

But how does persuasive and narrative writing differ?

Let’s take a brief look at what persuasive writing is all about.

What is persuasive writing?

Persuasive texts are written with the intent to persuade readers to agree with a point of view or idea being presented to them. Persuasive essays are written with logic and reason, to show how one idea is better than another using facts and information to back it up.

Persuasive texts need to be convincing and engaging – by the end of your response, you want the readers to agree with the opinion you have presented in your text.

Some examples of persuasive text formats include open letters, articles, debates, reviews, and advertisements.

What should a well-written persuasive response include?

NAPLAN’s persuasive writing marking guide looks at ten criteria:

• Audience – how well you have engaged with and persuade the readers (your voice in the text)
• Text structure – are all the components (introduction, body, conclusion) well developed and arranged into an effective structure?
• Ideas – type of ideas selected, how they relate to the topic and how well have you elaborated them to further your argument?
• Persuasive devices – have you used appropriate persuasive devices consistently throughout your test?
• Cohesion – flow of your writing; how well do your ideas connect in the text?
• Paragraphing – good paragraph structure that controls the pace of the text and readers attention (ex. using single sentence for emphasis at the end).
• Sentence structure – well written sentences with good structure and grammar
• Punctuation

Persuasive Writing Process

When writing a persuasive text, you should have a clear stand on the idea you want to present to the readers. This idea is typically presented to the readers in the introduction of your response. Facts, statistics, examples, or quotes should be used to support your ideas in the body paragraphs. The concluding paragraph should summarise key ideas discussed and include a call to action.

Year 3 and Year 5 students will share the same prompt, while Year 7 and Year 9 students will have a different prompt. Students will not know which type of text they will be asked to write during the assessment, which is why it is important for students to be familiar with writing both narrative and persuasive texts.

Reading persuasive texts and completing practice questions are good ways to build confidence in writing. Practice questions can help students get used to the test structure and completing a response within a given time limit.

NAPLAN – Narrative Writing

Let’s take a brief look at what narrative writing is all about.

What is narrative writing?

Essentially, narrative writing is story telling. Narrative writing is a genre that uses language techniques to construct a story that revolves around characters in scenarios that can be based on real-world experiences or fictional situations entirely made up.

Narrative texts will typically contain a character in conflict, and end with a resolution. A good piece of narrative should be descriptive and include figurative language and dialogue between characters.

What should a well-written narrative response include?

NAPLAN’s narrative writing marking guide looks at these ten criteria:

• Audience – language choice and narrative devices used to influence readers
• Text structure – writing a complete narrative while effectively using plot devices (ex. flashback)
• Ideas – well selected ideas that explore the plot/theme of the story
• Character and setting – using details/dialogues to construct a distinct character; setting is well constructed throughout the story with enough details to create atmosphere
• Vocabulary – language choice matches well to the genre of the story (ex. colloquial language, personification)
• Cohesion – flow of the story; does it show continuity of ideas throughout the story?
• Paragraphing – paragraphs are well structured to control the story’s pace and reader’s attention
• Sentence structure – well developed sentences that varies in lengths and rhythms

Narrative Writing Process

Important elements of a good narrative piece include characters, conflict, setting, plot, climax, and a resolution. A combination of these elements will ensure a story that is well-developed.

Students can also choose to write a story that follows a first person, second person or third person narrative voice.

Reading novels or short stories and completing practice questions are good ways to build confidence in writing. Practice questions can help students get used to the test structure and completing a response within a given time limit.

How to Get a Band 8 in Year 9 NAPLAN Writing

Worried about how you or your child will perform in Year 9 NAPLAN Writing?

NAPLAN (standing for National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) consists of THREE exams:

1. Reading and Writing 2. Language Conventions 3. Numeracy

This article is the second in a series of three articles breaking down each of the three literacy-based sections of Year 9 NAPLAN – Reading, Writing and Language Conventions.

But, first – check out our article on Year 9 NAPLAN Reading and Year 9 NAPLAN Language Conventions !

Year 9 NAPLAN Writing: What to Expect

The Reading and Writing exam is the FIRST test you will sit. It consists of two sections: Reading and Writing (surprise, surprise).

In the Writing section, you will be given a stimulus and a question. Based on the stimulus, you will then be asked to write either an informative , narrative or persuasive piece of writing.

So far, NAPLAN has only ever assessed narrative and persuasive writing however this doesn’t mean you can rule out informative writing just yet – there’s no reason why they can’t assess it in the future.

What will I be asked to write?

You will be asked to write either an informative, narrative or persuasive piece of writing.

Personalised NAPLAN tutoring helps to build your child’s confidence in all three writing styles!

Year 9 NAPLAN Writing: What are the markers looking for?

NAP have published marking criteria for both Narrative and Persuasive writing. I’d suggest having a read through them as they tell you exactly what the markers want to see in a top band response.

However, I’ll make your job slightly easier and break a few of the key criteria down for you.

Both Narrative and Persuasive writing list audience as their first criterion.

You will be marked on your ability to orient , engage and affect the reader.

You should know your audience well; it may be much more specific for Persuasive writing than Narrative. Use this knowledge to guide your written response – consider the point of view you might take and the type of language you will use in order to best connect with and engage your reader.

In Narrative writing, you can engage the reader through an exciting and vivid opening, giving a clear sense of setting, initial characterisation and the direction of the plot. You may also wish to use descriptive and evocative language devices such as imagery, metaphors, similes, personification and onomatopoeia to engage the reader’s senses – try to bring your words to life!

Access our awesome glossary of language devices !

Text Structure

The second criterion for both Narrative and Persuasive writing is text structure .

Here, you will be assessed on how well you follow a correct and effective structure for your piece of writing.

Narrative structure

In a narrative, you must include an orientation, complication and resolution .

However, these don’t necessarily need to appear in chronological order. In fact, mixing up the structure of your story can help your response to stand out to the markers, which is never a bad thing!

If you are going to use a non-chronological plot however, it’s important to know what you’re doing. You don’t want your story to seem confusing or disjointed!

How can I structure my story?

• Linear structure – Chronological telling of the story. This is a typical orientation-complication-resolution story structure.
• Circular or elliptical – Starts and ends in the same place but the ending suggests that there is an epiphany or realisation. The start and ending deliberately parallel each other.
• Flashback – Moves between the present and the past.
• Parallel – Two story threads running at the same time but from different perspectives. The stories usually merge at the end to create unity.
• ‘In media res’ – Beginning the story from the complication as a brief glimpse of the future. The rest of the story is then told as a flashback, retelling events leading up to the complication. When you reach the complication, you then repeat your opening paragraph – then continue on to the resolution and conclude the story.

Any other tips?

Foreshadowing is always a great way to hint at what is to come! Try and include some if you can but remember the key word of hint . Don’t spoil it for your reader!

You could end with an important message or a twist HOWEVER please don’t make it cheesy or mushy.

Stay far, far away from endings such as “ I woke up and it was all a dream…” or “To be continued…” . Seriously. Don’t go there.

Persuasive structure

Persuasive writing more or less follows the same structure as an essay.

You will need three main sections – Introduction, Body and Conclusion .

What goes into each of these sections?

Developing Key Ideas

To meet this criterion at the Year 9 NAPLAN Writing Band 8 level (or above), you will need to be judicious in developing the key ideas of your written response.

Ideas in a narrative

In a narrative response, you will primarily be judged on the maturity of your ideas. A theme or overarching message is always a good way to go about this, and you can develop it through extended metaphors or motifs.

You will also be judged on how authentic your response is – in other words, how well you can keep it real! It’s always a good idea to write what you know – think about your own life experiences, interests and passions in shaping your story.

This next point should go without saying but I’ll mention it anyway – PLEASE do not write about anything inappropriate or offensive . Topics such as alcohol, drugs, anything violent or anything sexual are not going to sit well with the markers. As a rule of thumb, keep it G-rated.

The narrative should be underpinned by strong characterisation and an establishment of setting. As you only have a short amount of time, it is easier to focus on one character rather than a whole gaggle of them.

Again, write from what you know! Think about yourself or people you have met – use them as inspiration! Perhaps give them pseudonyms though to avoid any awkwardness.

Think carefully about how you’re going to use characterisation . You might develop a character’s identity quite explicitly through stream of consciousness, as a way of directly revealing their inner thoughts. Alternatively, you may choose to characterise by following the age-old advice of English teachers everywhere, to “show, don’t tell”. Reveal character implicitly, through symbolic actions or incidents, or pathetic fallacy.

Within your narrative, you should try to establish a vivid setting – that is, one that comes to life on the page. You want the reader to easily be able to imagine themselves in the world you have created.

How to do this? Figurative language devices can be your best friend here. Think imagery, personification, metaphor … And try to engage more senses than simply the visual! Might there be a particular sound or even smell you wish to describe? Think outside the box.

Try to maintain a balance in the amount of description included in your story. While description can be crucial, at the end of the day you do have a plot to follow. Try to embed description into your narration of the plot, rather than dedicating whole paragraphs to describing the appearance of the character’s front garden, for example.

Ideas in persuasive writing

When writing persuasively, you will be judged on your ability to select and elaborate upon relevant ideas in order to build a persuasive argument.

To argue an irrelevant point, both to the question and to your perspective, is a waste of time for everyone.

How can I make sure my ideas stay relevant?

Make sure you fully understand the wording of the question and what it is asking you to do . Read it over and over again. Underline key words. Rephrase the question into your own words if need be.

As you write, have the question beside you on some spare paper. Regularly remind yourself of the question as you continue writing your response. If you have time, you may even wish to draw up a quick dot-point plan for your persuasive writing piece.

How many ideas should I include?

You can maximise your marks by including a range of perspectives covering different sides of the stated issue.

However, being able to identify multiple perspectives within the same issue is no easy feat! Build your skills by regularly keeping up to date with current affairs and debates in the news.

Similarly, practice writing responses to a range of different questions. Once you have written a response covering one point of view, rewrite the same response but this time, forcing yourself to take the side you initially disagreed with.

Have you checked out our ultimate guide to acing studying for English in Year 9 yet? 

How should I be using language?

In both Narrative and Persuasive writing, you will be assessed on your ability to select effective, contextually appropriate words with precision.

In a Narrative task, markers will also be looking for a range of language devices, particularly those that are figurative (non-literal). You will also be judged on how well you can match your word choice with your chosen genre.

Access our list of language devices !

In a Persuasive task, you may wish to enhance your writing through modal verbs and adjectives, persuasive devices or technical words where appropriate.

Access our glossary of persuasive devices !

How can I build my vocabulary?

READ! One of the best and most enjoyable ways to build your vocabulary is simply by increasing the amount that you read each day. Try and aim for at least 10 minutes of silent reading time per day.

As you read, keep a list of your favourite words and descriptions that you encounter.

You can also create a glossary of adjectives to describe different moods and feelings.

If you’re truly stuck, the Thesaurus is a favourite of many for finding synonyms.

It’s super important to ensure your ideas and sections are linked together. Try to maintain continuity between each part of your writing, showing the marker that you are able to control multiple threads and relationships across the whole piece.

Everything needs to fit together!

Paragraphing

While cohesion is important, it’s also important to be able to separate your ideas into paragraphs, ironically enough.

In a narrative, start a new paragraph when:

• The setting changes
• The time sequence changes
• You introduce a new idea
• You introduce a new character
• You introduce a new event
• A new person speaks
• You want dramatic effect

In persuasive writing, start a new paragraph when you move into a new section (Introduction paragraph, each separate body paragraph and a conclusion paragraph).

Spelling and grammar

It goes without saying that to achieve a Band 8 or above in writing, you need to ensure your spelling and grammar are spotless (or close to being so).

All sentences should be correctly structured, with a variety of sentences being used – e.g. simple, compound and truncated.

Punctuation should also be used accurately.

How do I punctuate properly?

• Capital letters at the start of a sentence
• Full stops at the end of sentences
• Question marks at the end of a question
• Exclamation marks at the end of exclamations
• Commas when listing or introducing a new clause in the sentence
• Colon to precede a list

And finally, we reach spelling. Markers will be paying close attention to the accuracy of spelling and the difficulty of spelling the words you have used.

Spelling is an area students often struggle with. To improve your spelling in time for NAPLAN, try and add at least one of the following to your normal routine:

• Explicitly studying spelling rules and patterns (for example, I before E except after C ).
• Developing a list of words you know you struggle with, and revising it regularly.
• Regularly testing your spelling at home – a great way to do this is through flashcards – if you can’t be bothered to make real ones, Quizlet is a great resource.
• Revisiting primary school with the good old Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check routine.

From here, jump online and access some practice Year 9 NAPLAN Writing papers !

Try to complete these papers under the recommended time limits. If possible, get feedback from a teacher or tutor. Then, complete more papers until you are able to improve your initial score.

So there you have it! After reading this article, you should be feeling more confident than ever about hitting a Band 8 for Year 9 NAPLAN writing! You can do it!

Are you looking for some extra help with Year 9 NAPLAN Writing?

We pride ourselves on our inspirational naplan coaches and mentors.

We offer tutoring and mentoring for Years 3-9 for NAPLAN, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at our state of the art campus in Hornsby!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor  get in touch today!

Looking for the most affordable, yet academically sound schools in the Brisbane area? Check out our School ranking !

Give us a ring on 1300 267 888, email us at  [email protected] or check us out on TikTok !

• Topics: 🏫 NAPLAN

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NAPLAN - Grade 7 - Persuasive Writing

Writing prompts for NAPLAN Grade 7 for practice. This area contains prompts under the persuasive writing genre.

QUESTION 001 - The Best Life Skill A skill is something you acquir…

QUESTION 002 - School Subjects A subject is an area of learnin…

QUESTION 003 – Volunteering There are many ways in which so…

QUESTION 004 – Harmful Habits There are many things that peop…

QUESTION 005 - Technology There have been many advances i…

QUESTION 006 - Stereotypes Stereotypes are assumptions tha…

QUESTION 007 - Animal Cruelty (Grade 7) Animals have been used by human…

QUESTION 008 - Leadership (Grade 7) Leadership is shown to be a ver…

QUESTION 009 - STEM (Grade 7) As of late, there has been a bi…

QUESTION 010 - Underpaid Jobs (Grade 7) Nowadays, there seems to be an …

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Part 10: How to write persuasive essays

Guide Chapters

• 1. How to make notes
• 2. Textual Analysis
• 3. How to analyse prose fiction
• 4. How to analyse poetry
• 5. How to analyse Shakespeare
• 6. How to analyse film
• 7. How to analyse images & visual texts
• 8. How to analyse prose non-fiction
• 9. Composing English responses in Year 9
• 10. How to write persuasive essays
• 11. How to write creative responses
• 12. How to write speeches & presentations
• 13. Year 9 Exam Skills

Are your essays letting you down? Are you unsure of how to write persuasive essays? Don’t worry! This article will show you everything you need to know to write persuasive essays that will help you ace Year 9.

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What is in this article?

• What is persuasive writing? 

What are markers looking for?

• How to plan responses
• How to write a persuasive essay

What is persuasive writing?

What’s a persuasive response.

A persuasive essay is a piece of non-fiction writing that convince readers about a specific argument

It presents a logical and cohesive thesis and uses relevant and strong examples to further support the argument it makes.

How does a persuasive response differ to an imaginative one?

Just from above, we can already see distinct differences between a persuasive essay and an imaginative response.

• Persuasive essays are non-fiction . This means that they are based on facts, statistics and reality. In comparison, imaginative responses are fictional, so it is “made-up”.
• Persuasive essays should convince the audience of something by employing  logic, reasoning, facts and rhetorical techniques . Imaginative responses don’t seek to persuade, they seek to enthral.
• Introduction (thesis)
• Argument one
• Argument two
• Argument three
• Conclusion.
• In contrast, the structure of an imaginative response is usually: orientation, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution.

It is important that you know the distinct features of each text type to help you formulate your responses.

Why write persuasive essays?

Overall, the goal of persuasive essays is to convince the audience to agree with your argument. This can range from large matters like climate change to smaller issues like why red is a better colour than purple.

However, this is not the only reason why we write persuasive essays. There are so many skills that you can gain and improve when you write persuasive essays.

• Research skills :

When you write persuasive essays, you need to be able to find reliable, relevant and accurate sources to support your arguments.

This means that you need to find a variety of facts, evidence, examples and statistics from a wide variety of sources like websites, magazines, journals, articles etc.

Then, you need to check your evidence to see if it is updated, from a reliable source, and double check if it is consistent with other reliable sources. Developing your research skills will help you present strong arguments in your persuasive essay.

• Critical thinking skills :

When you have a wide selection of evidence and sources to choose from, it might be hard to know which one to use. This is where your critical thinking skills come in.

You need to know which evidence is most convincing for your argument and use it. This means that your evidence has to be relevant to your argument and comes from a reliable source.

You also need to make sure that there aren’t any major holes in your arguments.

• Writing persuasively :

To write good persuasive essays, you need to use persuasive rhetoric like logos or techniques like high modality words and repetition to make your essays sound more convincing.

Being able to utilise persuasive rhetoric effectively is important because you are able to express your ideas in a convincing way.

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The key to getting good marks is knowing what markers are looking for and incorporating it into your persuasive essays.

Don’t write for yourself, write for your audience.

You want to do the work for your audience by providing a clear, concise, and well-structured response so they can be wowed by ideas and not struggle through your sentences or muddled paragraphs.

Why care what markers think?

You can produce an amazing piece of writing, but if you don’t properly answer the question and forget to address a dot point in your marking criteria… you won’t achieve that high mark you want.

This is why it is important that we  care about what the markers think.

To get the best possible marks, we need to satisfy all the requirements that are set out for us.

How do we know what they want?

So, where exactly do you need to look to find the requirements?

Don’t worry! This isn’t discussed at some kind of secret meeting or tucked away from student’s prying eyes in a file marked: TOP SECRET. It’s already provided to you!

Look at your syllabus, notification, marking criteria and your QUESTION!

Everything you need for understanding what markers want is right here!

• Syllabus : Your syllabus is basically an outline of the skills and knowledge you will be taught. Teachers cannot assess you on anything that isn’t in the syllabus! So, take a good read of this, know it well and be prepared to learn.
• Notification : A notification is the instructions to do your assessment! It tells you how you will be assessed, the due date, the outcomes that you will be assessed on and it also includes the marking criteria.
• Marking criteria : The marking criteria is a list of “things” that markers award marks for. It is very important that you examine this carefully to know exactly what to focus on and do in your assessment to achieve the best possible marks. We will further explain this in the NEXT SECTION .
• Question : This is the question you have to answer! Too often, students end up writing a persuasive essay to the question they wished they had, instead of the question they were given. This is a grave mistake, because markers want to see how well you can apply your knowledge to the question, not how well you can write about an irrelevant issue.

You must read each of these documents carefully. Break each section down. And, make sure you fulfil the requirements!

Understanding the marking criteria

As we’ve discussed, the marking criteria are a list of the things you need to do to get marks.

They usually look this:

As you can see, there are two-three dot points in each row.

If you read all of them, you can see that the first dot point of each row is basically asking for the same thing:  explore how the ‘personal discovery involves facing the unknown and considering what is known’ is represented in the prescribed text and a related text. 

Make sure that you address this point in your persuasive essays.

However, notice how each row determines the student’s level of satisfying the requirements:

• “ explores SKILFULLY “
• “ explores EFFECTIVELY “
• “ explores how “
• “ demonstrates a LIMITED understanding “…

It is important that we recognise the differences between an A ( Band 6 on the image above ) or a B ( Band 5 ), so we know what we need to do to achieve a higher mark. To help with this, highlight or circle the different words.

This way, you can consciously aim higher.

It is important that you always write in a clear manner! This will make it easier for the markers to read and award you marks.

Here are some tips to improve clarity in your writing:

• Signpost the question : Signposting is when you use the keywords of the question throughout your response to explicitly show the markers that you are answering the question. Sometimes, your writing might stray from the question or you’re just beating around the bush… So, to ensure that you clearly answer the question, always use the keywords from the question itself!
• Write concisely and clearly : Long and sophisticated sentences make persuasive essays harder to read and more confusing. Make sure you deliberately choose your words and pay attention to your sentence lengths. If you need to take a breath when you are reading your sentence out loud… it is too long! Cut it down.
• Don’t substitute clarity for ‘fancy’ words . It is better if you use simple words and convey complex ideas, rather than using sophisticated words in the wrong way.
• Don’t include irrelevant information : It might be tempting to write everything you know about your topic. However, this is not a good idea! You should only include information that answers your question and fits YOUR thesis. This includes examples, ideas, knowledge, and even arguments.

How to write persuasive essays – planning responses

Students usually skip this step because they think that it is a “waste of time”. However, it actually saves you more time when you are writing your persuasive essays.

Planning means you don’t waste time with false starts and rambling arguments!

Planning is an integral part of any writing process. Let’s see why it is important that you always plan:

• You’ll figure out your strongest arguments : When you plan, you have time to flesh out your different arguments and ideas. Take this time to figure out which arguments you should use and how you can strengthen it. This will help you produce a more convincing persuasive essay.
• Forces you to find the most effective evidence : If you don’t plan your persuasive essays, you will end up using the first set of evidence you find, even if they are unreliable, inaccurate or doesn’t fully support your ideas. Planning gives you an opportunity to research deeply and find effective evidence and examples to strengthen your argument.
• You won’t waffle and beat around the bush : Sometimes, you might find yourself waffling and beating around the bush because you are unsure of exactly what you’re trying to say. Planning will prevent you from doing this because you will have a clear outline of what you want to write.
• Ultimately saves time : You don’t have to stop writing every 10 minutes because you need to find sources or figure out what you want to say. You have all the information you need in your plan. All you need to do now is to put all of it into words.

Remember, sometimes you might stray from your original plan… but that shouldn’t discourage you! Having a plan just means that you don’t have to trial and error when you write.

Planning techniques and approaches

Now that you know the benefits of planning… it’s time to see how to plan a persuasive essay.

Remember, there are various ways to plan a persuasive essay. You can use:

• Mindmaps : Good for visual learners. Easy to see connections between ideas.
• Bullet points : Simple and easy to do. Also, easy to categorise information.
• Tables : Clear and categorised information. Also, good for comparisons.
• Flowchart : Good to see the flow of arguments.
• And lots more!

Each one has its own benefits. You need to decide what is suitable for you and your studies!

The Matrix Method

Matrix students are taught to write essays using these simple steps to produce excellent results:

Steps 1 – 3 : Is all about developing a strong understanding of the text/topic. This is an important step that you must do to ensure that your persuasive essays are well written and strong.

As you can see from the image above, Steps 4 – 7 involves the writing process. Let’s look at that in detail:

Now, let’s take a look at what you need to do to plan a persuasive essay.

Plan and scaffold:

• Read the question .
• Write everything you know about the topic : Don’t research yet! Just write down any ideas, arguments, facts and personal opinions about the topic. This step is to get you to identify what you know and don’t know about the topic and get you thinking about possible arguments.
• Research about the topic : In this step, you should find more information and expand your knowledge about the topic. Also, see if you can support your previous knowledge with solid evidence. Remember, you should always be taking notes of the evidence you find and where you found it.
• Take a stance : Now that you have a solid understanding of the topic, you have to decide whether you agree or disagree with the topic.
• Write a thesis : Your thesis is the brief answer to the question! It shows which stance you have taken, and why.
• Figure out your arguments : Now that you have your thesis, you need to decide on arguments which support your thesis. If you are struggling, take a look at what you researched. Write them down.
• Find evidence to support your arguments : You should have already collated some evidence in your research. Go through them and see which ones support your argument.
• Plan out the structure : Structure you arguments in order of strength. The strongest argument should appear first and the weakest last. Also, plot down the evidence you want to use under each argument.

How to write persuasive essays

Planning a persuasive essay is the first step. Now, let’s see how we can start writing great persuasive essays.

Different approaches to persuasive writing

In Year 9 English, you might come across a variety of persuasive essays.

Sometimes, you may be asked to write a persuasive essay in response to moral or political question . For example, “ Should same-sex marriage be allowed? ” or “ Should primary school students wear a uniform ?”

When you approach these types of questions, you need to research facts, statistics and opinions and statements from authorities or experts.

Other times you might be asked to write a persuasive essay based on your prescribed text . For example, “ How effectively does Golding explore themes of savagery in his novel,  Lord of the Flies . ”

The way you approach these types of questions is very similar to moral or political questions.

The only difference is that you need to look for techniques and evidence in the text, as opposed to research. Also, instead of just explaining the evidence, you have to analyse it as well.

Click here to read about TEXTUAL ANALYSIS .

What is the structure of a persuasive essay?

There is one common structure for persuasive essays.

• Introduction : State the thesis (a statement that answers the question, and subsequently, links all the arguments together). Briefly introduce the text (if relevant) and the arguments that will be explored.
• Argument one : Introduce the first key idea that supports your thesis. Use examples and evidence to strengthen it. Link to your thesis.
• Argument two : Introduce the second key idea that supports your thesis. Use examples and evidence to strengthen it. Link to your thesis.
• Argument three : Introduce the third key idea that supports your thesis. Use examples and evidence to strengthen it. Link to your thesis.
• Conclusion : Restate the thesis. Summarise the arguments.

Now, let’s take a deeper look at how you can write a paragraph. At Matrix, students are taught to write paragraphs using the T.E.E.L Structure.

T.E.E.L stands for:

• Topic sentence : This introduces the key idea/argument for the paragraph.
• Example/evidence : These examples or evidence support and strengthen your claim in the topic sentence.
• Effect : Your explanation of the evidence. Take this opportunity to explain everything in depth.
• Linking sentence : This ties your argument back to the thesis.

Remember, you should include multiple examples or evidence in a paragraph. So, in reality, your paragraph will look similar to this:

• Topic sentence
• Linking sentence

Writing a sustained argument

Most students find it difficult to write a sustained argument.

What happens is that they forget about their thesis or question when they’re writing their body paragraphs… And suddenly, they remember about it again and briefly insert it into the topic and linking sentences.

But it’s too late at this point. This is  not a sustained argument.

A sustained argument is a unifying your  whole essay with one main idea (your thesis), not just mentioning it in your introduction, topic sentences and linking sentences.

So how do we make sure that we don’t make that mistake? Well, here are a few tips that will help you write a sustained argument:

• Make sure that you are answering the question : If you are properly answering the question and not writing an essay based on what you prepared, then sustaining an argument will be a lot easier. Even when you forget about to address your thesis or question, your content will still be relevant.
• Signposting : As mentioned before, this is when you directly use keywords from the question throughout your persuasive essay. This will show markers that your thesis (which should answer the question) is woven throughout your whole essay.

Part 11: How to Write Creative Responses in Year 9 | The Basics of Narrative

© Matrix Education and www.matrix.edu.au, 2023. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Matrix Education and www.matrix.edu.au with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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More essential guides

The Beginner's Guide to Year 9 Maths

Beginner's Guide to the HSC High School Rankings

The Essential Guide To English Techniques

• NAPLAN test window
• Catch-ups and rescheduling sessions
• What's in the tests
• Public demonstration site
• Technical requirements
• Tailored tests
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Research and development
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• Disability adjustments scenarios
• Connection to the Australian Curriculum
• National protocols for test administration
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• Ramadan and NAPLAN
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• NAPLAN national results
• Proficiency level descriptions
• NAPLAN - general
• NAPLAN - participation
• NAPLAN - results reports performance
• NAPLAN - writing test
• What's in the tests

National minimum standards

Between 2008 and 2022, students’ NAPLAN results were reported against 10 achievement bands including 5 national minimum standards, which are set out below. Band 1 was the lowest band and band 10 was the highest band. The national minimum standards encompassed one band at each year level and therefore represented a wide range of the typical skills demonstrated by students at this level.

From 2023, NAPLAN results are reported against proficiency standards with 4 proficiency levels for each assessment area at each year level. The NAPLAN measurement scales and time series have also been reset.

Read about the updated NAPLAN reporting .

See NAPLAN student reports 2008–2022  for advice on interpreting older NAPLAN student reports.

National minimum standards 2008–2022

The NAPLAN assessment scale is divided into 10 bands to record student results in the tests. Band 1 is the lowest band and band 10 is the highest band. The national minimum standards encompass one band at each year level and therefore represent a wide range of the typical skills demonstrated by students at this level. For more information, see  NAPLAN results 2008–2022 .

Students who are below the national minimum standard have not achieved the learning outcomes expected for their year level. They are at risk of being unable to progress satisfactorily at school without targeted intervention.

Year 3  | Year 5   | Year 7  | Year 9  |

The skills demonstrated in reading at a particular year level are dependent on the complexity and accessibility of the text. Texts typically increase in difficulty from Year 3 to Year 9.

In Year 3, reading texts tend to have predictable text and sentence structures. Words that may be unfamiliar are explained in the writing or through the accompanying illustrations. Typically, these texts use familiar, everyday language.

At the national minimum standard, Year 3 students generally make some meaning from short texts, such as stories and simple reports, which have some visual support. They make connections between directly stated information and between text and pictures.

When reading simple imaginative texts, students can:

find directly stated information

connect ideas across sentences and paragraphs

interpret ideas, including some expressed in complex sentences

identify a sequence of events

infer the writer’s feelings.

When reading simple information texts, students can:

connect an illustration with ideas in the text

locate a detail in the text

identify the meaning of a word in context

connect ideas within a sentence and across the text

identify the purpose of the text

identify conventions such as lists and those conventions used in a letter.

In Year 5, reading texts may include a range of genres including biographies, autobiographies and persuasive texts such as advertisements. Sentence structure may be varied. Some unfamiliar vocabulary is included, particularly subject-specific words, but its use will be supported by text and illustrations.

At the national minimum standard, Year 5 students generally interpret ideas in simple texts and make connections between ideas that are not stated. They identify the purpose of a text as well as parts of a text such as diagrams and illustrations.

When reading a short narrative, students can:

locate directly stated information

connect and interpret ideas

recognise the relationship between text and illustrations

interpret the nature, behaviour and motivation of characters

identify cause and effect.

When reading an information text, students can:

connect ideas to identify cause and effect

identify the main purpose for the inclusion of specific information, diagrams and illustrations

identify the meaning of a phrase in context

infer the main idea of a paragraph.

When reading a biography or autobiography, students can:

connect ideas

identify the main purpose of the text

make inferences about the impact of an event on the narrator

interpret an idiomatic phrase or the meaning of a simple figurative expression.

When reading a persuasive text such as an advertisement, students can:

identify the main idea of a paragraph or the main message of the text.

In Year 7, reading texts may include a wide range of genres such as arguments and poems. These texts may use technical vocabulary, complex phrases and varied sentence structures. Use of complex punctuation is evident. Texts include simple examples of figurative language.

At the national minimum standard, Year 7 students generally infer the main idea in a text and connect ideas within and between sentences. At this level, students will not only interpret the meaning of words but also the intention of a narrator and the motivation of a character in a narrative, and the writer’s point of view in an argument.

When reading a narrative, students can:

infer the motivation or intention of the narrator or a character

draw together ideas to identify a character's attitude

interpret dialogue to describe a character

connect ideas to infer a character's intention or misconception, or the significance of the character’s actions

interpret the significance of an event for the main character.

When reading a poem, students can:

identify the intention of the narrator.

identify the main idea of a paragraph and the main purpose of the text

link and interpret information across the text

recognise the most likely opinion of a person

use text conventions to locate a detail.

When reading a persuasive text such as an argument, students can:

locate and interpret directly stated information, including the meaning of specific words and expressions

identify the main message of the text

identify the purpose of parts of the text

interpret the main idea of a paragraph

infer the writer's point of view

identify points of agreement in arguments that present different views

identify and interpret conventions used in the text, such as lists, order of online posts and the use of punctuation for effect

identify the common theme in a variety of writers’ opinions.

In Year 9, reading texts include those that describe, explain, instruct, argue and narrate, often in combination. Texts will use less familiar vocabulary, including subject-specific words, and complex sentences that contain detailed information. More extensive use of figurative language is evident.

At the national minimum standard, Year 9 students generally infer the main idea in more complex texts and connect ideas across the text. For example, students at this level identify the tone of an argument and infer the feelings of a character by interpreting descriptive text, figurative language and dialogue in a narrative.

When reading a complex narrative, students can:

locate a directly stated detail

connect ideas across a paragraph or across the text to interpret a description or the motivation of characters

infer the main idea

interpret and evaluate a character’s behaviour and attitude

interpret the reasons for a character's response

connect ideas to interpret figurative language

interpret the effect of a short sentence.

identify the main idea of the poem.

When reading a complex biographical text, students can:

locate a directly stated idea in the text.

When reading a complex information text, students can:

connect ideas in the introduction of the text or in the body of the text and illustrations

identify the main purpose of a text or an element of the text

identify the main idea of a paragraph

identify the purpose of a labelled diagram

identify the intended audience of the text

identify conventions used in a text, such as abbreviations or italics for a foreign word.

connect ideas across the text or in 2 arguments

identify the tone of an argument.

Year 3  | Year 5  | Year 7  | Year 9  |

The NAPLAN writing task requires students to write in response to a stimulus or prompt. The text of the prompt is read to all students.

A narrative piece of writing is assessed against 10 criteria: audience, text structure, ideas, character and setting, vocabulary, cohesion, paragraphing, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling. Each criterion has a different number of broad categories based on identifiable developmental stages.

A persuasive piece of writing is also assessed against 10 criteria, many of which are very similar to those assessed in students’ narrative writing. The 10 criteria against which persuasive writing is assessed are: audience, text structure, ideas, persuasive devices, vocabulary, cohesion, paragraphing, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling.

The text type will be revealed on the day of assessment. Students will be asked to write a narrative or persuasive response to the writing prompt.

Comparability of skills demonstrated in the writing and conventions of language assessments

Although there is some overlap in the skills assessed in the writing and conventions of language assessments (for example, both assess spelling and aspects of grammar and punctuation), a student’s placement on the band scales for the 2 tests may not match, due to the difference in the nature of the assessments.

Spelling results, in particular, may not be comparable across the 2 assessment tasks. For the writing task, spelling is scored in the context of writing and depends on the words the students choose to include in their responses to the stimulus words and the level of correctness then demonstrated. In contrast, the conventions of language assessment requires students to spell words that have been chosen to demonstrate specific spelling skills.

In the writing tests, the spelling criterion consists of 6 broad categories to measure the range of performance demonstrated from Year 3 through to Year 9.

Using the broad categories for assessing spelling in the writing tests, students at the national minimum standard may demonstrate similar skills in Years 5, 7 and 9.

This does not mean that students that achieve results at the national minimum standard for the writing tests fail to make progress from Years 5 to 9. Rather, it reflects a continuing tendency among students at the national minimum standard to spell difficult or challenging words (as defined in the writing test criteria) incorrectly. The same applies to punctuation and grammar. The use of a particular punctuation mark or sentence structure may not be applicable to the writing task and so will not necessarily be used by the student in his or her own writing; however, when given a specific item in a different context, such as determining the correct use of apostrophes, quotation marks and dependent clauses in the conventions of language test, students may demonstrate competency.

At the national minimum standard, Year 3 students responding to a narrative task generally write a text consisting of a few simple ideas that show audience awareness by using common story elements; for example, using a simple title, or beginning with Once upon a time. Students name the characters and setting, and the ideas and vocabulary used are generally very simple. Students typically choose mostly simple verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns. They may include a few examples of precise words and produce some correctly formed sentences. Students use some capital letters and full stops correctly and correctly spell most of the simple words they choose to use in their writing.

When responding to the persuasive task, students at the national minimum standard for Year 3 generally write a text consisting of a few simple ideas that show audience awareness by providing some simple information about the topic. Simple persuasive devices such as opinions and reasons are used in an attempt to convince a reader. Students typically choose mostly simple verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns. They may include a few examples of precise, topic specific words and produce some correctly formed sentences. Students use some capital letters and full stops correctly and correctly spell most of the simple words they choose to use in their writing.

At the national minimum standard, Year 5 students generally write a story with a few related ideas which are not well elaborated, and attempt to create a clear context by providing brief descriptions of the characters and/or setting. The vocabulary used is usually simple.

When responding to the persuasive task, these students at the national minimum standard for Year 5 generally write a text that attempts to create a position on a topic by providing a context and some points of argument with some simple elaboration. They attempt a small range of simple persuasive devices and use some topic specific vocabulary.

When writing to either task, students typically correctly structure most simple and compound sentences and generally use some correct links between sentences. Most referring words are accurate. Students typically correctly punctuate some sentences with both capital letters and full stops. They may demonstrate correct use of capitals for names and some other punctuation.

Students correctly spell most simple and common words.

At the national minimum standard, Year 7 students generally structure a story to include a beginning and a complication, although the conclusion may be weak or simple, or a persuasive essay that has an indefinable introduction, body and conclusion, although the introduction and/or the conclusion may be weak or simple.

Students typically include sufficient information for the story or essay to be easily understood by the reader and there is usually development and elaboration of ideas which all relate coherently to a central storyline or the position taken on a topic. They use a small range of simple persuasive devices with some success and use some topic specific vocabulary.

Some precision is evident in the vocabulary use although words are not all used successfully. Students correctly structure most simple and compound sentences and some complex sentences and correctly punctuate some sentences with both capital letters and full stops. They may demonstrate correct use of some other punctuation, for example quotation marks for direct speech or commas for phrasing.

At the national minimum standard, Year 9 students generally write stories with a beginning, complication and ending and can organise a story into paragraphs that focus on one idea or a group of related ideas. Students attempt to develop context by providing some elaboration, detail and description of characters and settings.

At the national minimum standard, Year 9 students generally write persuasive essays that contain an introduction, a body and a conclusion in which paragraphs are used to organise related ideas. Students attempt to develop their position on a topic with some elaboration and detail about the topic and use a range of persuasive devices with some success.

Students typically use accurate words or groups of words when describing events and ideas although there are typically errors evident in sentence construction. The writing often uses a small range of connectives and conjunctions to link text sections and sentences correctly.

Students punctuate most sentences correctly with capitals, full stops, exclamation marks and question marks. Students correctly use more complex punctuation marks some of the time.

Conventions of language – spelling

Year 3  | Year 5  | Year 7  | Year 9  

In spelling, Year 3 students at the national minimum standard generally identify and correct errors in frequently used one-syllable words and some frequently used 2-syllable words with double letters.

Students can spell and correct identified errors in:

frequently used one-syllable words

frequently used 2-syllable words with regular spelling patterns.

In spelling, Year 5 students at the national minimum standard generally identify and correct errors in most one- and 2-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and some less frequently used words with double letters.

Students can spell and identify and correct errors in:

high frequency compound words

less frequently used multi-syllable words with double letters.

Students can identify and correct errors in:

frequently used one-syllable long vowel words

frequently used one-syllable words with irregular spelling patterns

common one-syllable verbs with tense markers

high frequency 2-syllable words.

In spelling, Year 7 students at the national minimum standard generally identify and correct errors in most frequently used multi-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and some words with silent letters.

one-syllable ‘soft c’ words

one-syllable words ending with silent letters

one-syllable words with irregular spelling patterns

frequently used compound words with irregular spelling patterns.

Students can correct identified errors in:

less frequently used one-syllable words

less frequently used compound words with regular spelling patterns

two-syllable words with irregular spelling patterns

less frequently used multi-syllable adverbs.

In spelling, Year 9 students at the national minimum standard generally identify and correct errors in most multi-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and some less frequently used words with irregular spelling patterns.

multi-syllable soft 'c' words

multi-syllable words with regular spelling patterns.

less frequently used one-syllable words with double or r-controlled vowels

less frequently used 2-syllable words

multi-syllable words with the suffix ‘ance’.

Conventions of language – grammar and punctuation

In grammar and punctuation, Year 3 students at the national minimum standard generally identify features of a simple sentence. They identify some common grammatical conventions such as the correct use of past and present tense and the use of pronouns to replace nouns in sentences. They typically recognise the correct use of punctuation in written English, such as capitalisation for sentence beginnings and proper nouns.

In grammar students can:

identify the correct preposition required to complete a sentence

identify the correct pronoun required to complete a sentence

identify the correct adverb of time required to complete a sentence

identify the correct form of a participle required to complete a sentence.

In punctuation students can:

identify the correct location of a full stop

identify proper nouns that require capitalisation.

In grammar and punctuation, Year 5 students at the national  minimum standard  generally identify common grammatical conventions such as the correct use of conjunctions and verb forms. They typically recognise the correct use of punctuation in written English, such as the use of question marks and speech marks for direct speech.

identify the correct conjunction required to join a pair  of simple sentences

identify the correct form of the verb required to complete  a sentence

identify which adverb in a sentence describes how an  action took place

identify the correct plural pronoun required to complete a sentence.

• identify direct speech that uses capital letters, question marks and speech marks.

In grammar and punctuation, Year 7 students at the national  minimum standard  generally identify common grammatical conventions such as the correct use of relative pronouns and clauses. They typically recognise the correct use of punctuation in written English, such as the use of apostrophes for possession and of commas to separate nouns in lists.

identify the correct form of the verb required to complete  a complex sentence

identify the correct personal pronoun required to complete  a sentence 

identify correct subject–verb agreement in a sentence

identify the phrase required to complete a sentence.

• locate a comma to separate items in a list.

In grammar and punctuation, Year 9 students at the national  minimum standard  generally identify in which tense a short passage is written and correctly use comparative adjectives. They typically recognise the correct use of punctuation in written English, such as the correct form of contractions, and can identify the purpose of italics and dashes in sentences.

identify the tense of a short passage

identify the correct form of a comparative adjective in a sentence

identify the word that functions as a verb in a sentence.

identify the purpose of italics in a sentence

locate commas in a sentence to emphasise a clause

recognise that colons can be used to introduce lists.

Year 3  |  Year 5  |  Year 7  |  Year 9  |

Year 3: Number

In number, students at the national minimum standard at Year 3 generally recognise, compare and order whole numbers with up to 3 digits, recognising standard representations and different ways of partitioning one- and 2-digit numbers.

Students meeting the national minimum standard have typically developed computational fluency with addition and subtraction of small whole numbers. They generally add and subtract 2-digit numbers, add the value of coins and use partitioning and grouping to solve simple problems.

Whole numbers

Students read, recognise and count with whole numbers up to 3 digits. For example, students can generally:

recognise 3-digit numbers in words and symbols

recognise odd and even numbers

make given numbers larger or smaller by 1, by 10 or by 100

count forwards and backwards by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s

skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s.

Students compare and order whole 2-digit numbers. They use place value knowledge up to the hundreds to interpret different representations of whole numbers. For example, students can generally:

compare and order 2-digit numbers

partition one- and 2-digit numbers in different ways

recognise different standard representations of numbers in hundreds, tens and ones.

Fractions and decimals

Students halve small amounts and recognise a half and a quarter in familiar contexts. They start to interpret decimals in a money context. For example, students can generally:

recognise a half and find half of discrete quantities or amounts

find half of a symmetrical object

interpret key decimals in money contexts as dollars and cents.

Calculating

Students recall basic number facts with small numbers and use them to complete addition and subtraction calculations. They recognise situations involving making equal groups. For example, students can generally:

recall and use addition and subtraction facts to 20

use partitioning to assist addition and subtraction of one- and 2-digit numbers

interpret repeated addition as multiplication

form equal groups of objects, given a visual support

count and record the total value of coins in dollars and cents (up to $5).

Applying number

Students generally identify situations and problems that require addition or subtraction with small numbers. For example, students can generally:

use addition or subtraction to solve routine problems

start to link the correct mathematical terms to the relevant operations (e.g. sum, difference, equal groups or equal sharing)

recognise situations involving a single operation.

Year 3: Space

In space, students at the national minimum standard generally recognise basic 2D shapes and their properties such as length of sides, and size of angles or areas. They typically recognise and visualise familiar 2D shapes such as triangles, squares and circles, and common 3D objects such as cubes, prisms, cylinders and cones. They also recognise standard 2D representations of common 3D objects, line of symmetry and single turns. They generally follow simple directions to find locations on grids and informal maps.

Classification and properties of shapes

Students typically recognise and describe familiar 2D shapes and common 3D objects. They identify them within sketches, diagrams or photographs. For example, students can generally:

identify familiar 2D shapes such as squares, rectangles, triangles and circles

identify families of common 3D objects such as prisms, cones, cylinders

recognise models and 2D diagrams of common 3D objects

differentiate between 2D shapes and 3D objects

recognise angles in shapes, objects and in turns 

visualise simple objects made of cubes.

Transformations

Students recognise line of symmetry in simple 2D shapes. They recognise simple transformations of familiar shapes. For example, students can generally:

use folding or other techniques to identify a line of symmetry

recognise the effect of a single flip, slide or turn

use symmetry or transformations to continue patterns.

Location and movement

Students identify pathways and specific locations on simple informal maps, grids and plans. For example, students can generally:

identify the key features of simple informal maps, grids and plans

use alpha-numeric coordinates to locate position on simple grids

interpret informal maps or grids of familiar environments

follow directions for moving from one point to another using the language of turns.

Year 3: Algebra, function and pattern

In algebra, function and pattern, students at the national minimum standard have pre-algebraic skills and concepts that relate mostly to number sense. They relate known facts to simple number sentences and number patterns. 

Students at the national minimum standard can typically complete addition or subtraction number sentences involving small numbers correctly. They can model familiar situations with addition or subtraction number sentences. Students can identify relationships between consecutive terms in number patterns with constant addition or subtraction of small numbers.

Equivalence

Students at the national minimum standard level recognise equivalences in a variety of ways. For example, students can generally:

recognise a familiar correspondence between 2 sets of objects

order objects according to a common criterion 

follow a short sequence of instructions

recognise an equivalent form of a number or a simple expression

identify the same attribute in measurement or spatial contexts.

Students identify and continue patterns and sequences that show increase, decrease and repetition. For example, students can generally:

recognise and continue a number pattern with a constant addition or subtraction of a small whole number

identify the change between consecutive terms in a simple pattern.

Year 3: Measurement, chance and data

In measurement, chance and data, students at the national minimum standard at Year 3 are generally able to visually compare by length ordered objects and to choose the instrument that measures length. Students can also calculate areas or volumes by counting whole units. They are able to read and tell key times on digital and analog clocks.

Students meeting the national minimum standard record data using one-to-one correspondence and read data presented in simple tables, 2-way tables and pictographs with one-to-one or one-to-two correspondence.

Students identify and distinguish the attributes of shapes and objects with respect to length, area, volume and mass. They start to use informal units to compare, measure and order a set of objects according to a specified attribute. For example, students can generally:

understand the language used to describe length in familiar contexts

measure length using informal units

compare and order objects according to a specific attribute – length, capacity or area.

Students choose and use standard metric units such as metre, centimetre, litre and kilogram. They estimate and compare measurements, and choose appropriate instruments to measure to the nearest unit. For example, students can generally:

decide whether containers hold less, about the same or more than a litre 

use informal units to estimate length, volume and mass of familiar objects 

use some relationships between standard units, e.g. 1h = 60 min, 1m = 100 cm

read whole-number scales with all calibrations shown.

Students read times and dates using clocks and calendars. For example, students can generally:

read half and quarter hour times on analog clocks 

read time on digital clocks in hours and minutes

recognise the time half an hour before or after a given time.

Students read data present in tallies and simple tables. They make statements about familiar events that are likely or unlikely to happen. For example, students can generally:

read and interpret data presented in lists, tallies, tables, pictographs (1:1 or 1:2 correspondence) or simple column graphs and 2-way tables

make qualitative judgements about data in frequency tables

identify variation of data in tables and graphs.

Year 3: Working mathematically

In working mathematically, the emphasis is on the processes rather than strand-specific content. In working mathematically, students at the national minimum standard at Year 3 can generally recognise and respond to routine questions addressing known facts in familiar contexts.

Students recall basic facts, terms, procedures or properties of numbers and recognise simple shapes in familiar contexts. For example, students can generally:

recall names of familiar shapes, symbols and notations

recognise images of familiar 2D shapes and 3D objects, and equivalent forms of whole numbers and simple number sentences

calculate with small numbers and coins

retrieve information from simple tables, graphs and pictographs

group shapes, objects or numbers according to a common attribute or property

compare shapes and objects by lengths, areas and masses.

Students’ ability to apply known problem-solving strategies and procedures to solve routine problems is essential for their progress and for their cognitive development. For example, students can generally:

select the correct operation or a number sentence for a given situation

compare information presented in familiar forms

interpret simple diagrams and tables

construct number sentences by using known facts

follow simple instructions

solve routine problems involving one or 2 steps.

Year 5: Number

In number, students at the national minimum standard at Year 5 typically understand and recognise relationships between numbers and perform simple calculations with the 4 operations.

Students meeting the national minimum standard have developed number sense of whole numbers with up to 3 digits, and use the understanding of the 4 operations to solve routine problems in familiar contexts. They generally interpret the symbols for common fractions and decimals, and they add and subtract decimals with the same number of decimal places.

Students recognise, read, compare, and order whole numbers up to 4 digits.  For example, students can generally:

recognise different representations of a whole number  

use place value to compare, order or locate numbers on a number line  

multiply or divide by 10 or 100 in place-value contexts.

Students recognise equivalent forms of common fractions and link unit fractions to familiar situations. For example, students can generally:

identify and use equal partitions, and name the parts 

recognise different representations of simple fractions

compare decimals with the same number of decimal places

use common unit fractions to solve routine problems.

Students recall addition and subtraction facts with one- and 2-digit numbers and link to routine multiplication and related division facts. They add and subtract whole numbers to hundreds and decimal fractions with the same number of decimal places, and multiply one-digit numbers. For example, students can generally:

recall addition and subtraction facts of small numbers 

identify and use known number facts to assist calculations  

multiply small whole numbers

complete operations with coins and record amounts of money in decimals

add or subtract common fractions with the same denominators.

Students recognise situations that require the use of addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. For example, students can generally:

recognise the use of a single operation in familiar contexts 

use addition or subtraction to solve routine problems 

solve routine problems involving a single operation   

add or subtract decimals in money/measurement contexts

estimate the value of simple computations 

link the 4 operations to routine situations.

Year 5: Space

In space, students at the national minimum standard at Year 5 identify familiar 2D shapes and recognise simple representations of common 3D objects that illustrate the essential features.

They generally identify symmetrical and non-symmetrical shapes and recognise spatial patterns and tessellations. They interpret conventions used in simple maps, grids and plans.

Students identify common properties of 2D shapes or 3D objects and use the correct mathematical terms to describe them. For example, students can generally:

identify features of common shapes and objects 

summarise features of groups of common shapes or objects 

interpret the spatial language used in describing common shapes and objects.

Students recognise common shapes and objects presented in drawings and diagrams. For example, students can generally:

interpret drawings of shapes or objects that reflect the size and significant features  

recognise different orientations of a shape or different perspectives of an object

identify shapes or objects with given features 

visualise simple objects made of unit cubes.

Students identify shapes and designs that are symmetrical or asymmetrical. They recognise a single transformation used in patterns or arrangements including tessellations. For example, students can generally:

identify symmetrical shapes and designs 

identify the result of a single transformation of a simple shape

identify common shapes that tessellate.

Students interpret key symbols and conventions used in maps, grids and plans. For example, students can generally:

interpret the symbols for the key compass directions 

link the 4 major compass points to a quarter, half, three-quarters and a full turn

interpret and follow directions.

Year 5: Algebra, function and pattern

In algebra, function and pattern, students at the national minimum standard at Year 5 complete number sentences with whole numbers involving addition or subtraction.

They generally recognise number patterns involving one operation and they select the correct rule used in a given pattern.

Relationships

Students recognise number relationships in familiar contexts. For example, students can generally:

identify a familiar criterion used in arranging and sorting shapes or objects

recognise and describe simple relationships  

use simple tables or graphs to predict change.

Students make links between arithmetic operations based on familiar properties. For example, students can generally:

make links between routine multiplication and division facts 

use known facts to work out related calculations 

make changes to computations that maintain equivalence.

Students solve simple number sentences arising from familiar situations. For example, students can generally:

recognise the number sentence that matches a familiar situation

recognise equivalence in familiar contexts (e.g. balance scales)

solve one-step number sentences involving simple calculations.

Students recognise and describe numerical and spatial patterns. For example, students can generally:

recognise different representations of the same pattern 

recognise a single relationship between consecutive terms 

continue number patterns requiring one-step calculations.

Year 5: Measurement, chance and data

In measurement, chance and data, students at the national minimum standard at Year 5 use standard units such as centimetres and metres to measure lengths, grams and kilograms to measure mass, and litres to measure capacity.

Students meeting the national minimum standard identify the possible outcomes for familiar events and make predictions. They read data in tables and simple graphs, and check simple statements.

Students compare, measure, and order lengths, areas, volumes, angles and masses selecting and using suitable standard units and appropriate measuring instruments and scales. For example, students can generally:

choose the appropriate attribute to compare objects

measure and compare areas of shapes on grids counting whole and half units 

measure and compare volumes counting informal units 

arrange measurements in order of magnitude 

make reasonable estimates of a quantity using known measures. 

Students recognise different recordings of metric measures. They understand relationships between perimeters of familiar shapes and the lengths of their sides.  For example, students can generally:

read measures from simple whole-unit scales. 

Students read times on digital clocks and key times on analogue clocks, and they calculate durations of specific events. Students use calendars and simple timetables and timelines to sequence events. For example, students can generally:

recognise key times on analogue clocks and read times on digital clocks 

identify equivalent forms of saying and recording a key time  

use calendars and timetables to seek specific information.

Students identify the possible outcomes for familiar events and predict their comparative likelihood. For example, students can generally:

make predictions based on data.

Students read data presented in tables, bar graphs and simple 2-way tables and make simple interpretations. For example, students can generally:

read tabular and graphical displays involving simple whole-number scales 

check statements or predictions against data

identify variation within a set of data.

Year 5: Working mathematically

In working mathematically, the emphasis is on the processes rather than strand-specific content. In working mathematically, students at the national minimum standard at Year 5 can generally recognise and respond to routine questions involving known facts in familiar contexts.

Students at the national minimum standard recall number facts, terms, properties of common shapes and recognise common objects in simple diagrams. For example, students can generally:

recall properties of numbers, common fractions, measures, familiar shapes and objects  

recognise diagrams of common shapes and objects, equivalent forms of whole numbers, common fractions, decimals and simple expressions  

calculate with whole numbers, common fractions with the same denominators and decimals  

read and interpret information from whole-number scales, tables, simple graphs and pictographs (one-to-one or one-to-two correspondence)  

measure length, area, mass and capacity using standard units  

group shapes, objects or numbers according to a familiar attribute.

Students at the national minimum standard apply simple strategies to solve routine problems. For example, students can generally:

select the correct operation or the missing number in a number sentence

construct and complete number sentence involving one operation  

interpret a situation presented in diagrams, tables or simple graphs  

follow simple instructions and procedures  

analyse patterns to identify the rule  

solve routine problems in familiar contexts.

Year 7: Number

In number, students at the national minimum standard at Year 7 identify, represent, compare and order integers and common fractions using a variety of methods. They perform calculations using all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), both with and without the access to a calculator.

Students meeting the national minimum standard can solve routine problems involving simple rates and proportions, and they can use strategies to form reasonable estimations.

Rational numbers

Students represent, describe and order integers, common fractions and decimals. For example, students can generally:

order and locate integers, mixed numbers or common fractions on a suitably scaled number line

recall decimal equivalence of common fractions

recognise different representations of a common fraction.

Students use mental and written methods with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They use a calculator to assist with more complex calculations.

For example, students can generally:

solve simple problems in familiar contexts involving addition or subtraction of integers

use knowledge of place value to multiply and divide decimals by 10 and 100

perform calculations involving key percentages or addition and subtraction of decimal numbers with the same number of decimal places.

Students form estimates and make approximations. They interpret and solve practical problems using appropriate operations. For example, students can generally:

round 7-digit numbers to the nearest thousand

solve simple rate problems involving time and distance

select an appropriate approximation to a calculation involving money

interpret and solve practical problems involving division, with access to a calculator.

Year 7: Space

In space students at the national minimum standard at Year 7 identify, describe and classify common 2D shapes and 3D objects. They recognise lines of symmetry of irregular shapes.

Students, meeting the national minimum standard, can read and interpret maps and plans and they use compass points to follow directions and find locations.

Students identify, describe and classify 2D shapes and 3D objects. For example, students can generally:

identify common 2D shapes that have specific properties.

Students recognise symmetry and congruence in 2D shapes. They visualise simple translations of objects in space. For example, students can generally:

identify an increase or a decrease of a shape or object

identify lines of symmetry in regular and irregular shapes

visualise possible results of joining objects made from cubes.

Students interpret maps and plans using compass points and directions. For example, students can generally:

locate and describe positions on maps or plans using the major compass points

interpret whole-number scales to estimate real distance between objects

follow directions on informal and formal maps using compass points (including NE NW SE SW). 

Year 7: Algebra, function and pattern

In algebra, function and pattern, students at the national minimum standard at Year 7 begin to recognise and interpret simple algebraic relationships. They can model familiar situations with informal linear equations and number sentences.

Students, meeting the national minimum standard, can use visual images to identify attributes of equivalence, and continue and describe linear and simple non-linear number patterns.

Students recognise simple relationships presented visually as models or numerically in tables . For example, students can generally:

recognise and extend a linear relationship in a practical context

construct and interpret tables and graphs of simple functions

use the links between the 4 operations in familiar contexts.

Students solve simple-worded problems and number sentences. They can recognise and complete equivalences modelled visually. Students begin to identify inequalities involving the use of minimum (at least) or maximum (at most). For example, students can generally:

find the smallest number which satisfies a simple-worded problem in a familiar context

create and solve number sentences with access to a calculator.

Students recognise and continue linear and simple non-linear patterns presented as models or in tables. For example, students can generally:

find the next term in a simple non-linear pattern presented visually or in a table or as a sequence

recognise and extend simple number patterns to make predictions or to find subsequent terms.

Year 7: Measurement, chance and data

In measurement, chance and data, students at the national minimum standard at Year 7 use both formal and informal methods to measure and compare lengths, areas, volumes or angles. They identify and use relationships between standard units and read and record measurements from simple scales. Students can read and compare 12-hour and 24-hour time displays, and they calculate elapsed time.

Students, meeting the national minimum standard, can identify more/less/equally likely events and calculate simple numerical probabilities. They read and interpret data presented in graphs and tables.

Students measure and compare lengths, areas, volumes and angles. They read calibrated scales, and make conversions between metric units. For example, students can generally:

read time on analogue and digital clocks using 12- and 24-hour time.

Chance and data

Students identify more/less/equally likely events and calculate probabilities in simple familiar contexts. They use and interpret a range of graphs and tables. For example, students can generally:

link different representations of the same data 

read and interpret data in a 2-way table.

Year 7: Working mathematically

In working mathematically, the emphasis is on the processes rather than strand-specific content. In working mathematically students at the national minimum standard at Year 7 can generally recall known number facts, procedures and properties of whole rational numbers. They can solve routine questions in familiar contexts using known problem-solving strategies.

Students recall known number facts, concepts and procedures. For example, students can generally:

recall properties of whole numbers, fractions, decimals and common 2D shapes

recognise equivalent forms of common fractions and number sentences

calculate with whole numbers, decimals and key percentages using written methods

read and interpret information from tables, lists, pictographs and a range of graphs

group shapes, objects or numbers according to a common property.

Students' ability to apply known problem-solving strategies and procedures to solve routine problems is essential for the students' progress. For example, students can generally:

select the correct set of operations or relationships for a given situation

represent situations using tables, graphs, informal number sentences, etc.

construct number sentences involving at least 2 operations for a situation

follow a sequence of mathematics operations, instructions and procedures

recognise and extend number patterns

solve routine problems involving the 4 operations, with or without access to a calculator.

Year 9: Number

In number, students at the national minimum standard at Year 9 identify, compare and order integers, decimals, key percentages and common fractions. They can identify equivalent representations of common fractions, key percentages and decimals.

Students, meeting the national minimum standard, can apply common strategies to calculate simple proportions, percentages and simple rates used in familiar practical situations. They can use common methods to form estimates and approximations of rational and irrational numbers and simple expressions.

Rational and irrational numbers

Students identify and represent rational and some irrational numbers and compare and order them in respect to their properties . For example, students can generally:

identify a rational expression with the same value as a given fraction

identify range within which the square root of a 3-digit number lies

identify the rational number that is a solution to a routine word problem, with access to a calculator

compare and order rational and irrational numbers, with access to a calculator.

Students calculate with 4 operations using integers, key percentages, decimals and common fractions. For example, students can generally:

solve a problem involving addition and subtraction of decimal numbers with different number of decimal places

use simple ratios in familiar practical situations

identify solutions of multi-step word problems involving common fractions or key percentages.

Students calculate proportions, key percentages and simple rates involving money, time and measurements. For example, students can generally:

solve a word problem involving fractions

solve routine problems involving simple ratios. 

Students can form estimates and approximations. For example, students can generally:

form estimates and approximations of rational and irrational numbers and simple expressions

interpret and justify the reasons for making estimates and approximations.

Year 9: Space

In space, students at the national minimum standard at Year 9 can identify, describe and classify common 2D shapes and 3D objects. Students can recognise symmetry and congruence and relate them to transformations and patterns.

Students meeting the national minimum standard can interpret and use maps to specify locations and movements.

Students can classify 2D shapes and 3D objects according to common properties including angles, sides, perimeters, areas and surface. For example, students can generally:

visualise nets of prisms or pyramids

identify the net of a cube using criteria about opposite faces

interpret 2D representations of 3D objects made from cubes and calculate their surface area.

Students can recognise symmetry and congruence and relate these to transformations and patterns. For example, students can generally:

identify points and lines of symmetry in complex 2D shapes and specify these in terms of reflection, centre of rotation and angle of rotation

identify lines and planes of symmetry of common 2D shapes and 3D objects

use and modify congruent shapes to produce tessellations.

Students can interpret and use maps and plans to specify locations and follow directions to move from one location to another. For example, students can generally:

use alpha-numeric coordinates to specify locations on maps 

identify and use whole-number scales

follow instructions for moving from one location to another, with reference to distances, directions and angles.

Year 9: Algebra, function and pattern

In algebra, function and pattern, students at the national minimum standard at Year 9 can recognise relationships and evaluate simple algebraic expressions to establish equivalences. They can construct tables of values for functions following or using simple rules and graph the corresponding set of ordered pairs.

Students, meeting the national minimum standard, can identify and continue patterns and predict future representations in patterns.

Students can construct tables of values of functions given by simple rules . For example, students can generally:

identify the linear rule that generates a specific pattern 

identify the graph of a simple non-linear function given a table of values

read and interpret a range of graphs.

Students can evaluate simple algebraic expressions. For example, students can generally:

evaluate simple algebraic expressions with one variable

identify solution of simple formal and informal linear equations, unknown on one side only.

Students can establish equivalence between algebraic expressions. For example, students can generally:

identify equivalent forms of simple algebraic expressions.

Students can identify and continue patterns, and make predictions of future representations in patterns. For example, students can generally:

identify and continue a number pattern from a given diagram or a table of values 

identify future term in visual representation of linear pattern.

Year 9: Measurement, chance and data

In measurement, chance and data, students at the national minimum standard at Year 9 can use SI units to measure and compare, and they can apply simple measurement formulae in familiar practical situations.

Students meeting the national minimum standard can interpret empirical estimates of probabilities and compare theoretical probabilities with sample data. They can summarise sample data from a population and make informal inferences in response to questions and hypotheses.

Students can use SI units to measure and compare lengths, areas, surfaces areas, volumes, angles, masses, times and temperatures. They can apply measurement formulae and use them in familiar practical situations . For example, students can generally:

find value of missing angle in a triangle, with access to a calculator.

Students can make and interpret empirical estimates of probabilities in familiar situations and compare theoretical probabilities to data obtained from trials . For example, students can generally:

identify probability (expressed as fraction) of familiar random event. 

Students can represent and summarise sample data from a given population and can use data to make inferences. For example, students can generally:

calculate the average (mean) of a set of data 

interpret data presented in a simple bivariate graph 

interpret variation between sets of data and the effects of variation.

Year 9: Working mathematically

In working mathematically, the emphasis is on the processes rather than strand-specific content. In working mathematically students at the national minimum standard at Year 9 can generally recall known facts, procedures and properties of rational numbers and solve routine questions in familiar contexts.

Students recall known facts, procedures or properties of rational numbers and interpret and use diagrams incorporating features of 2D shapes and 3D objects. For example, students can generally:

recall key concepts, properties of numbers and figures and symbolic or specific notations (e.g.  a  ×  b  =  ab ,  a  +  a  +  a  = 3 a )

interpret diagrams showing features of 2D shapes and 3D objects

calculate with whole numbers, fractions, decimals and integers using the 4 operations and approximate numbers to estimate computations

carry out routine algebraic procedures

read and interpret graphs, tables or other sources, read and use simple whole-number scales

measure lengths, areas, volumes, masses, time, surface areas of basic shapes and objects

group or order numbers or objects by a given attribute or property.

Students’ ability to apply known problem-solving strategies and procedures to solve routine problems is essential for their progress and for their cognitive development. For example, students can generally:

choose appropriate set of operations or a strategy for solving routine problems 

represent and interpret data in familiar tabular and graphical forms

model a familiar situation with a diagram or an equation

draw or identify common figures and shapes, given specifications

solve routine problems.

• Understanding online assessment
• Accessibility
• For schools
• Results and reports

NAP sample assessments

• Science literacy
• ICT literacy
• Civics and citizenship
• Assessment frameworks
• Test development

• Figural Reasoning
• Verbal Test
• Nonverbal Test
• Verbal Reasoning
• Verbal Comprehension
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Pictorial Reasoning
• Kindergarten
• Quantitative
• 3rd to 4th Grade
• Pattern Completion
• Reasoning by Analogy
• Serial Reasoning
• Spatial Visualization
• Elementary Test
• Intermediate Test
• Advanced Test

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NAPLAN Year 7 Online Preparation, Tips & Free Practice Questions – 2024

What Is the NAPLAN Year 7 Exam?

Children in Australia take several standardized tests throughout school. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (ACARA) manages the National Assessment Program (NAP), which provides national and international testing for schoolchildren. As part of this program, students in years 3, 5, 7, and 9 take the ACARA NAPLAN test, which assesses their literacy and numeracy skills.

By year 7, students have taken the ACARA NAPLAN test twice, so they should be familiar with it. The format will be similar to previous years, but the content will be more difficult. Therefore, it is essential to use online practice materials such as NAPLAN practice tests to prepare for the year 7 NAPLAN exam.

NAPLAN Year 7 Test Sections:

The first ACARA NAPLAN test section is the writing test. Students will receive a prompt and have 42 minutes to craft a response. The student’s writing will be graded more harshly on this exam than in previous years because students should be able to create a more coherent story or persuasive argument than their younger counterparts. However, the prompt will still include examples of things to remember and think about while writing.

Check out NAPLAN practice tests to see how this prompt will differ from previous years.

Sample Question :

Imagine that you want to go to a theme park while your friend wants to go to the beach. Write a persuasive essay to convince your friend to go to the theme park instead of the beach.

While writing your essay, think about:

• The benefits of going to the theme park.
• The cons of going to the beach.
• How you and your friend can both benefit from the theme park trip.

While writing, remember to:

• Include convincing arguments.
• Re-read your essay.
• Edit your essay for correct spelling, sentence structure, and grammar.

The second NAPLAN test will be the reading exam. Students will have 65 minutes to read several passages and answer questions about the text. The exam has a booklet containing multiple stories and a separate packet containing the test questions.

The questions are in sections corresponding to a single story, so students will read one passage and then answer questions about that specific passage. The questions may be about particular facts mentioned in the text, or the student may have to draw inferences about what they read. Online ACARA NAPLAN preparation materials, such as NAPLAN practice tests, can provide sample passages and questions to help prepare for the exam.

While technology has improved and quickened the process, it has its limitations. (paragraph 2).

Which of the following words best replaces limitations in the selected sentence?

• Shortcomings

Language Conventions

The third ACARA NAPLAN section is language conventions. Students will have 45 minutes to answer questions about spelling, grammar, word choice, and punctuation. This section consists of both multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions where students must correct spelling mistakes, identify grammatically correct sentences, and select the right word to complete a sentence. NAPLAN practice tests can provide samples of each question type for students to prepare better.

Which sentence contains an apostrophe of contraction?

• Last night I went to my friend Sam’s house.
• My dog’s toy is broken.
• I could not get my favorite flavor of ice cream today.
• Lucy’s mom is friends with my mom.

The last section of the ACARA NAPLAN exam is the numeracy test. Students will have 65 minutes to answer questions about numeracy, basic operations, algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics.

This exam has two sessions, one where the student can use a calculator and another where calculators are not permitted. Students must feel comfortable with word problems, calculations, and interpreting different types of charts and graphs. Some questions will be multiple-choice, while others will be fill-in-the-blank.

ACARA NAPLAN practice tests are a great online practice resource to prepare for the numeracy portion of the exam.

Sydney paid $17.40 for coffee for her and her three best friends. How much was each coffee?

Answer: $4.35

How to Prepare for the NAPLAN Year 7 Test?

Students in year 7 will take the NAPLAN test in the Spring of their academic year. Beforehand, using any NAPLAN preparation tools and online practice tests is essential to help the student prepare for the exam and ensure a good score.

Online resources such as NAPLAN practice tests, previous exams and answer keys, and study guides are a great way to prepare for the test. NAPLAN practice tests are instrumental because they allow students to work through full-length exams where they can practice their timing and answer the questions correctly. Students will go into the exam more confident after using these NAPLAN practice tools because they will better understand what to expect and know they can complete the test within the allotted time limit.

In addition to traditional online practice methods, it is also essential for students to keep up with their work throughout the year. The material on the NAPLAN test will consist of the student’s curriculum, so if the student is doing well throughout the year, they will likely do well on the NAPLAN test. However, if there are any areas in which the student is struggling, it is crucial to identify that early on so they can get help ahead of the exam date.

Students who prepare for the NAPLAN test do better on the test than their unprepared counterparts. Therefore, ensuring the student has access to NAPLAN practice tests and other online ACARA NAPLAN preparation materials is essential.

NAPLAN Test Practice

• NAPLAN Year 3
• NAPLAN Year 5
• NAPLAN Year 7
• NAPLAN Year 9