1. Which sentence punctuates the dialogue correctly when the reporting clause comes FIRST?
Free Year 5 NAPLAN Conventions of Language practice
Fifty-two questions in 45 minutes: 25 spelling and 27 grammar and punctuation. That is exactly the same shape as Year 3, and exactly the same shape as Year 9.
Last updated: 5 October 2026
The paper that only changes in difficulty
Conventions is the one NAPLAN paper whose specification does not move with year level. Same question count, same time, same split, all four years.
For a Year 5 family that has two practical consequences. Habits built at Year 3 still apply. And the pace is unchanged: 52 questions in 45 minutes is a little under a minute each, at every level.
What Year 5 adds
Spelling moves to unstressed vowels, the words where the sound gives you no help, like separate or definite. Sounding words out stops working here, and children who rely on it meet the limit of the method.
Grammar moves to clause-level work: how parts of a sentence relate, when a comma changes meaning, and agreement in longer sentences. Apostrophes are still being tested and still going wrong.
Where Year 5 students lose marks
- Proofreading, the smaller part of the spelling section but the least practised skill in it. Noticing a word is wrong is not the same as being able to spell it.
- Unstressed vowels, as above
- Commas that change meaning, rather than commas in lists
- Its and it's, which is worth naming because it appears across year levels and is wrong more often than any other single item
Sample questions
Try each one first, then open the answer and worked solution under it.
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: D
When the reporting clause comes first, a comma separates it from the words spoken.
The speech then opens with a capital letter, because it starts a fresh piece of speech.
The full stop that ends the speech sits inside the closing speech mark.
The correct version is: Ngoc said, "We should leave before the tide turns."
2.
It was a blank when the rain finally stopped.
Press play and listen for the missing word.
The recording plays when your child practises.
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: relief
The word is 'relief'.
The letter before the vowel pair is an l, not a c, so the ordinary rule applies: i before e.
That gives re-lief.
'relief' is the correct spelling.
3. Choose the word that fits each gap:
"The team will the results before the report is printed."
Answer and worked solution
Correct answer: review, regular
After 'will', a verb has to be in its plain form.
The second gap sits in front of 'report', which is a naming word, so it needs a word that describes it.
One word family can supply all three choices in each gap, so the slot decides, not the meaning.
review / regular
How our practice differs from the real test
Our papers open 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 ask your child to choose from a drop-down list or put words in order. The real test is adaptive, and our papers cover the same content in a single pass.
Common questions
How long is the Year 5 NAPLAN Conventions of Language test?
Fifty-two questions in 45 minutes.
What does Year 5 add over Year 3?
Harder words and longer sentences, on a paper of the same shape. Spelling moves to unstressed vowels, and grammar moves to how the parts of a sentence relate.
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.
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