1.
Two blank of lightning lit up the sky.
Press play and listen for the missing word.
The recording plays when your child practises.
Free Year 3 NAPLAN Conventions of Language practice
Fifty-two questions in 45 minutes: 25 spelling and 27 grammar and punctuation.
Last updated: 5 October 2026
The one paper whose shape never changes
Conventions is the same specification at Year 3, 5, 7 and 9: 52 questions, 45 minutes, the same split. Only the difficulty moves.
That is worth knowing, because the habits built now carry all the way through. A Year 3 student who learns how the spelling section works is meeting the same section at Year 9.
How the spelling section works
Not like a school spelling test. Most of it is dictated: your child hears a word in a sentence through headphones and types it. The rest is proofreading. A sentence is shown with a misspelt word in it, and the task is to find it and correct it.
Proofreading is the part almost never practised. It is the smaller share of the spelling questions, but spotting that a word is wrong is a different skill from spelling a word you have studied. A child who aces the weekly list can still lose most of the proofreading questions.
What the grammar and punctuation section asks
More grammar than punctuation, at roughly two to three grammar questions for every punctuation one. At Year 3 that means sentence types, subject and verb agreement, common word classes, capital letters, full stops, question marks and the first apostrophes.
The questions are almost always in a sentence rather than about a rule. That is harder, because the child has to notice what is wrong before applying anything.
Where Year 3 students lose marks
- Proofreading, as above
- Apostrophes, which arrive at this level and are wrong more often than right for the next several years
- Questions with two defensible answers, where the paper wants the best one rather than an acceptable one
Sample questions
Try each one first, then open the answer and worked solution under it.
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: flashes
The word is 'flashes'.
The base word ends in sh, which is one of the hissing endings.
Endings sh, ch, s, x and z take -es, because the extra syllable has to be said.
'flashes' is the correct spelling.
2. Choose the word that completes the sentence:
" it rain tomorrow?"
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: Will
'Tomorrow' points to the future.
Future questions start with 'Will': Will it rain tomorrow?
'Did' and 'was' reach into the past — the wrong direction for tomorrow.
Will it rain tomorrow?
3. Choose the word that completes the sentence:
"The box of apples very heavy."
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: B
Ask what is heavy: the box, not the apples.
Box is one thing, so we say the box is heavy.
is is correct.
How our practice differs from the real test
Our papers start with the 25 spelling questions, 16 of them dictated with a recording to play, so have headphones ready. The spelling questions lock once your child moves on to grammar and punctuation.
Some questions use on-screen question types, such as clicking a word or choosing from a drop-down list. The real test is adaptive, and our papers cover the same content in a single pass.
Common questions
How long is the Year 3 NAPLAN Conventions of Language test?
Fifty-two questions in 45 minutes.
Does my child need headphones?
Yes. Most of the spelling questions are dictated, in the real test and in our papers.
Practise free, no account needed. Every paper is marked the moment your child finishes, with a worked solution on every question.
Free practice draws from a limited set of questions, so some will repeat. Subscribers get the full question bank and fewer repeats.
Meritly is an independent Australian service and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the organisations that write or run the tests we cover.