NAPLAN Past Papers & Practice Tests 2027 — Parent Guide

NAPLAN, the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy, is Australia's annual standardised assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Unlike a selective school placement test, it is not a competitive entry examination. It measures every child's literacy and numeracy progress against national benchmarks, and about 1.3 million students sat it in the 2026 cycle.

If you came here for NAPLAN past papers, here is the short answer. ACARA releases full official NAPLAN test papers and answers for 2012 to 2016 and for 2008 to 2011, covering all four year levels, and it does not release any test after 2016 because those papers are reused in the program. Those released papers are from the paper-based era, so pair them with ACARA's public demonstration site, which shows the current online interface, and with Braintree Coaching Australia's free NAPLAN sample paper, written for the current format. The rest of this page covers the verified 2027 dates, what each domain tests, and how to prepare by year level.

What is NAPLAN?

NAPLAN is conducted by ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) and administered in every Australian state and territory. It tests four domains across four year levels, and the tests are taken in this order:

Domain	What it tests	Format
Writing	A response to a prompt, either narrative or persuasive, assessed on structure, ideas, grammar and spelling	On paper in Year 3; online in Years 5, 7 and 9
Reading	Comprehension of literary and informational texts: inference, main ideas, vocabulary in context	Online, including drag-and-drop and hot-text questions
Conventions of Language (language conventions)	A spelling section, then a grammar and punctuation section	Online, multiple-choice, text entry and drag-and-drop
Numeracy	Number and algebra, measurement and geometry, statistics and probability	Online; Years 7 and 9 have a short non-calculator section before an online calculator is provided

The online tests are tailored, or adaptive. Every child at a year level starts with a similar set of questions, and the next set becomes easier or harder depending on how they answered. The test branches across three stages with two decision points, and a message between sections tells your child whether they may go back and change earlier answers. That is different from a paper exam, where a student can range freely over the whole paper, so it is worth rehearsing the habit of finishing a section deliberately rather than saving questions for later.

Key facts about NAPLAN:

• Sat by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across Australia, about 1.3 million of them in the 2026 cycle
• Delivered online as a tailored test, except the Year 3 writing test, which is done on paper
• Four domains, taken in order: Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language, Numeracy
• Results reported in four proficiency levels: Exceeding, Strong, Developing, or Needs additional support

When is NAPLAN 2027?

NAPLAN 2027 runs from 10 to 22 March 2027. ACARA publishes the national test window each year on the NAPLAN key dates page, and schools schedule their own sessions inside it.

Event	Timing
2027 test window	10–22 March 2027
Individual school sessions	Within the March 2027 window (confirm with your school)
Results released to parents	No national date. Your state or territory test administration authority issues individual student reports through your school, and ACARA states the timing varies by jurisdiction
2028 test window	15–27 March 2028, published by ACARA; Term 4 2027 is the sensible familiarisation window

Your child's school will confirm the specific days for their cohort. Nothing needs to be registered or booked by you: participation is handled entirely by the school.

Which NAPLAN guide should I use for my child's year level?

Use the guide for the year your child is actually sitting: Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 or Year 9. Each year level has different expectations, so start with the dedicated preparation guide, then work through the matching practice tests and past papers:

Year level	Preparation guide	Practice tests	Past papers
Year 3	NAPLAN Year 3 preparation	Year 3 practice tests	Year 3 past papers
Year 5	NAPLAN Year 5 preparation	Year 5 practice tests	Year 5 past papers
Year 7	NAPLAN Year 7 preparation	Year 7 practice tests	Year 7 past papers
Year 9	NAPLAN Year 9 preparation	Year 9 practice tests	Year 9 past papers

What does NAPLAN look like at each year level?

NAPLAN tests the same four domains at every year level, but the demand steps up sharply from Year 3 to Year 9. A Year 3 child meets shorter passages and simpler arithmetic; a Year 9 student faces multi-step reasoning and denser texts. Preparation should be targeted at the year your child is actually sitting, so start with the guide above rather than a generic NAPLAN workbook.

Year 3 NAPLAN

Year 3 is the first NAPLAN sitting. It is also the only year level where the writing test is completed on paper rather than online, so handwriting stamina matters here in a way it does not later. Reading, conventions of language and numeracy are taken online, and numeracy covers the four operations and basic measurement. See the NAPLAN Year 3 preparation guide for the full domain breakdown.

Year 5 NAPLAN

By Year 5, reading passages are longer and include informational texts that require inference. Numeracy introduces fractions, decimals and basic geometry, and the writing test moves online. See the NAPLAN Year 5 preparation guide.

Year 7 NAPLAN

Year 7 is the first year of high school for most children, and families often use these results to benchmark the transition. Reading includes more complex argument structures, and numeracy extends to algebra, data interpretation and probability. Years 7 and 9 numeracy also opens with a short non-calculator section before the online calculator becomes available. See the NAPLAN Year 7 preparation guide.

Year 9 NAPLAN

Year 9 is the final NAPLAN year. Numeracy questions involve multi-step problems, index notation and statistical reasoning, and reading passages are dense informational and persuasive texts. See the NAPLAN Year 9 preparation guide.

How do I prepare my child for NAPLAN 2027?

Preparing for NAPLAN 2027 takes six steps, and a few weeks of light, regular practice does more than a term of cramming.

1. Download the free Braintree NAPLAN sample paper with worked solutions, written for the current online format
2. Work through the official ACARA 2012–2016 papers for your child's year level to see real question wording
3. Open ACARA's public demonstration site so the online interface is familiar before test day
4. Open the year-level preparation guide for your child's sitting year and sit one domain at a time under gentle time limits at home
5. Confirm your school's session dates inside the 10–22 March 2027 window
6. Read the individual student report together when it arrives, focusing on growth rather than ranking

What should we practise in each domain?

Each domain rewards a different kind of practice: writing needs timed drafting, reading needs varied texts, conventions of language needs targeted drills, and numeracy needs mental computation fluency. Because the online tests are tailored, useful preparation does two things at once: it builds genuine literacy and numeracy skill, and it removes surprise about the format so your child is not learning the interface on test day.

Writing: Structured practice with both persuasive and narrative prompts helps your child plan and write inside a timed session. Focus on paragraph structure, clear topic sentences, evidence and correct punctuation rather than length. Year 3 families should practise on paper, because that is how the test is administered.

Reading: Regular reading of varied text types, including novels, news, opinion pieces and informational reports, builds the comprehension and vocabulary the reading domain tests. Practising main idea, author's purpose and inference in short texts beats memorising formulas.

Conventions of language: Spelling, grammar and punctuation drills map directly onto this domain, which is split into a spelling section followed by a grammar and punctuation section. Children who read widely usually do well here because they have met correct usage in context. Our language conventions guide covers the domain in detail.

Numeracy: Work through NAPLAN-style questions to build familiarity with the question formats. In Years 7 and 9, practise the non-calculator section separately, because mental computation fluency is exactly what that section measures.

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Braintree Coaching Australia publishes a free NAPLAN sample paper with worked solutions, written in-house across all four domains for parent-led practice, as part of our past-paper library. We have not published a NAPLAN-specific mistake bank, so nothing on this page is presented as our own cohort observation. {/* NEEDS DATA */}

Are there official NAPLAN past papers and practice tests?

Yes, up to 2016. This is the question parents search most often on this page, and the honest answer has two halves.

ACARA publishes full NAPLAN test papers and answers for 2012 to 2016, plus a set for 2008 to 2011, covering Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across all four domains. ACARA states it does not provide access to NAPLAN tests after 2016, because those tests are used for other projects related to the continued improvement of the National Assessment Program. So there is no such thing as an official 2026 or 2027 NAPLAN past paper in the public domain, and any site offering one is not offering an ACARA paper.

The second half is format. The released papers pre-date the current online tailored tests, so the question content is still useful while the delivery is not. For delivery, use ACARA's public demonstration site, then a current-format practice set. Braintree Coaching Australia's downloadable sample paper covers Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy in the current style, and our year-level guides go deeper:

Year level	Practice tests guide	Past papers guide
Year 3	Year 3 NAPLAN practice tests	Year 3 NAPLAN past papers
Year 5	Year 5 NAPLAN practice tests	Year 5 NAPLAN past papers
Year 7	Year 7 NAPLAN practice tests	Year 7 NAPLAN past papers
Year 9	Year 9 NAPLAN practice tests	Year 9 NAPLAN past papers

For the language conventions domain specifically, covering spelling, grammar and punctuation, see our dedicated guide. Calendar detail for the completed 2026 cycle is kept in our NAPLAN 2026 parent guide, which is a historical record of a finished sitting rather than a guide to an upcoming one.

Does NAPLAN affect selective school entry?

In most states it does not. NAPLAN and selective school entry tests are separate assessments with different purposes. NAPLAN measures curriculum-based literacy and numeracy for every Australian student. Selective placement tests, such as the NSW Selective High School Placement Test, the Victorian SEHS entry exam, or the ASET in Western Australia, assess reasoning and problem-solving for competitive entry.

Queensland is the clearest exception. Brisbane State High School requires Year 7 academic selective entry applicants to submit their Year 5 NAPLAN report alongside school reports and competition results, and the Queensland Academies selection process weighs academic records, including NAPLAN, alongside the entrance test. Neither publishes a weighting for those inputs, so treat NAPLAN there as one documented input rather than a score with a known value. In NSW, selective entry is decided by a separate placement test and NAPLAN is not part of it. Check the published requirements for the specific program your child is applying to. For NSW-focused answers, see does NAPLAN affect selective school entry and how NAPLAN and selective tests differ.

If your child is preparing for both NAPLAN and a selective test, the skills overlap in reading comprehension and mathematical reasoning. Selective preparation adds verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning and the particular format of each program, which NAPLAN does not test. Braintree Coaching Australia's selective school preparation hub covers those programs in detail.

Related exam preparation hubs

NAPLAN preparation supports broader academic development. If your child is also aiming for a selective school or gifted program, these hubs cover the relevant pathways:

• NSW Selective School preparation: the Selective High School Placement Test and OC test
• Opportunity Class preparation: the Year 4 OC placement test for NSW primary students
• BSHS selective exam preparation: Brisbane State High School's Year 8 selective program
• IGNITE program preparation: South Australia's gifted-education selective stream
• ASET and GATE exam preparation: Western Australia's selective school entry test
• HAST exam preparation: the HAST test used by independent selective schools
• EduTest selective school and scholarship exam: EduTest assessments for SA, WA and VIC independent schools

Last updated: 2026-08-24. Reviewed by Braintree Coaching Australia. The 2027 window (10–22 March) and 2028 window (15–27 March), the four domains and their test order, the tailored online format, the paper-based Year 3 writing test, the four proficiency levels, the 1.3 million participation figure and the 2008–2016 past-paper availability were all verified against NAP and ACARA on 2026-08-16.