1. Ruby's art class starts at 1:50 pm and lasts 55 minutes. What time does the class finish? Write it like 4:10 pm.
Free Year 5 NAPLAN practice tests
Year 5 is the step where the numbers stop being friendly. The paper is longer than Year 3, the time limit moves to 50 minutes, and the questions start expecting two or three moves instead of one.
Last updated: 5 October 2026
The Year 5 papers
- Numeracy — 42 questions, 50 minutes, no calculator; an on-screen ruler throughout
- Reading — 39 questions, 50 minutes, six or seven texts
- Conventions of Language — 52 questions, 45 minutes: 25 spelling, 27 grammar and punctuation
Try any of them free, no account needed:
More on each paper: Numeracy · Reading · Conventions of Language
What changes from Year 3
Fractions stop being pictures of pizza and start being numbers you have to operate on — equivalence, comparison, and simple addition with related denominators. Decimals arrive, and with them place value past the point. Multiplication and division move to larger numbers and to problems where the child has to decide which operation to use. Measurement moves from reading a scale to converting between units and working with area and perimeter. Probability appears for the first time.
Where Year 5 children most often lose marks: multi-step word problems where step one is right and step two is rushed, unit conversion, and timetable questions.
What Year 5 Reading asks
The texts get longer and the questions get less literal. More of them ask for inference — what the text implies rather than what it says — and more ask about the writer's choices. Some pathways include a pair of texts on the same subject to compare.
After the paper
Instant marking and a worked solution on every question. With a subscription, every paper is kept to read back together. The difficulty also follows your child over time, harder when they're cruising and easier when they're struggling, and you can lock it to year level whenever you want.
The three questions Year 5 parents ask
Does the Year 5 result matter more than Year 3? For most families, yes. The test isn't weighted differently, but Year 5 is the last NAPLAN of primary school, and in NSW the last before the selective test in Year 6. It is the clearest read you get while there is still time to act on it.
My child was Strong in Year 3 and slipped. Common, and usually not a regression. The Year 5 paper adds fractions you operate on, decimals, unit conversion and multi-step problems all at once. A child who coasted on mental arithmetic in Year 3 meets the first test where method matters more than speed.
How far ahead should we work? Not far. At this level, depth beats acceleration — a student fluent with Year 5 fractions will outscore one who has been shown Year 7 algebra and is shaky on both.
What to do with a weak result
Year 5 marks are usually lost in one of three places. Multi-step problems where step one was right and step two was rushed: slow down and write the steps out. Fractions and decimals: go back to what the number means before doing anything to it. Unit conversion and timetables: these are reading problems as much as maths problems, and they reward practice more than talent.
In NSW, Year 6 is the year of the selective high school placement test — how it differs from the OC test.
Sample questions
Try each one first, then open the answer and worked solution under it.
NAPLAN Year 5 Numeracy
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: 2:45 pm
Jump to the next whole hour first: from 1:50 pm to 2:00 pm is 10 minutes.
That leaves 55 − 10 = 45 minutes still to add: 2:00 pm + 45 minutes = 2:45 pm.
The class finishes at 2:45 pm.
NAPLAN Year 5 Conventions of Language
2. Choose the word that completes the sentence:
"Our team played in the second half."
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: well
The word describes HOW the team played — describing a verb needs an adverb.
The adverb that matches 'good' is 'well': played well, sang well, slept well.
'Good' is an adjective (a good team); it describes things, not actions.
Our team played well in the second half.
NAPLAN Year 5 Numeracy
3. Icy poles cost $6 each. Ruby buys 4 icy poles and pays with a $50 note. How much change does she get?
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: C
Step 1 — total cost: 4 × $6 = $24.
Step 2 — change from the note: $50 − $24 = $26.
Ruby gets $26 change.
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.
NAPLAN runs over two weeks in March each year.