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Paper E is sat by Year 7 students — the first ICAS maths paper after the move to high school. Same format as Paper D: 35 multiple-choice questions followed by five that ask for a number typed in, over the same 60 minutes.
Last updated: 5 October 2026
Algebra becomes real. Pronumerals stop being boxes to fill in and start being things to substitute into and manipulate. Index notation arrives. Negative numbers get all four operations rather than just appearing on a number line.
Geometry shifts from naming shapes to reasoning about them: angles on parallel lines, angle sums, and the first questions that can only be answered by justifying a step rather than measuring. Area moves to composite shapes — break the figure up, work out the parts, recombine. Statistics adds mean, median and range, and starts asking which of them a situation calls for.
Year 7 maths at school spends a lot of the year consolidating primary content before moving on. ICAS does not wait. Paper E assumes the high school material and stretches past it, so a student who is doing perfectly well in class can still meet a paper that feels a year ahead.
That is not a sign of a problem. It is what the paper is for.
ICAS marks run lower than school tests by design. The paper keeps stretching students well past year level, so a result that looks disappointing on a school scale can be a strong ICAS result — read it against the distribution rather than as a percentage.
Practise translating words into an expression before practising solving. Setting the equation up is the hard part at this level. Once it is written correctly, solving it is usually routine.
And sit whole papers against the clock. The integer questions at the end are worth the most attention and get the least time.
Which year level sits ICAS Paper E?
Year 7. ICAS names its papers by letter rather than by year — Paper A is Year 3 and Paper F is Year 8 — so a Year 7 student sits Paper E.
How long is Maths Paper E?
40 questions in 60 minutes.
What should Year 7 students practise first?
Turning the words into an expression or an equation. It is a separate skill from solving, and it is worth practising on its own.
Year 7 also sits: English Paper E · Spelling Paper E · Science Paper E
Try each one first, then open the answer and worked solution under it.
1. The canteen needs 180 sausages for the school barbecue and will buy them all in one size of pack. The table shows what each size holds and costs. If the canteen buys whichever size works out cheapest PER SAUSAGE, what will the 180 sausages cost altogether?
| Pack | Sausages | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 12 | $4.80 |
| Medium | 20 | $7.50 |
| Large | 36 | $12.60 |
Correct answer: B
Strategy: compare the three packs on the same footing first — price per sausage — and only then work out the bill.
Small: $4.80 ÷ 12 = 40c each. Medium: $7.50 ÷ 20 = 37.5c each. Large: $12.60 ÷ 36 = 35c each. The large pack is cheapest per sausage.
180 ÷ 36 = 5 large packs, and 5 × $12.60 = $63.00.
Buying large packs, the 180 sausages cost $63.00.
2. A closed wooden storage box measures 3 m long, 2 m wide and 0.5 m high. All six of its faces are to be painted. One tin of paint covers 5 m². How many tins are needed?
Correct answer: 4
The box has three pairs of matching faces: 3 × 2 = 6 m², 3 × 0.5 = 1.5 m² and 2 × 0.5 = 1 m².
One of each comes to 8.5 m², and doubling for the matching pairs gives a total surface area of 17 m².
At 5 m² per tin, 17 ÷ 5 = 3.4 tins, and paint is only sold in whole tins, so 4 are needed.
Four tins of paint are needed.
3. −24 ÷ 6 = ?
Correct answer: B
Set the sign first: negative ÷ positive = negative.
Then the size: 24 ÷ 6 = 4.
Together: −4.
−24 ÷ 6 = −4.
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More ICAS maths papers: Paper D (Year 6) · Paper F (Year 8)
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