NAPLAN Online tests general information

Federal, state and territory education ministers have agreed that NAPLAN will move online over a two-to-three year period. In Queensland, the transition to NAPLAN Online will be achieved through a staged delivery.

Format of the online tests

For all eligible year levels (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9) there will be 4 tests: writing, reading, conventions of language, and numeracy.

For Years 7 and 9, the numeracy test will include a non-calculator section and a calculator-allowed section.

For the writing test, students will be given a stimulus and asked to write a response to the task. The genre will be the same for all NAPLAN writing tasks.

All other online tests will use a range of response formats such as:

• multiple choice (select a button or an image on the screen to indicate the answer)
• drag and drop (select an object or word and drag it to the correct place on the screen)
• constructed response (type the answer in a box on the screen).

Benefits of the online tests

Moving to an online testing environment offers many benefits, including:

• introducing ‘tailored testing’, which gives students questions better suited to their ability, resulting in more precise results
• improving student engagement through computer-based tests
• reducing the time it takes to provide feedback to schools, students and parents.

Preparation for the online tests

Both paper-based NAPLAN and NAPLAN Online will test the full range of skills in literacy and numeracy taught through curriculum content. Teachers should familiarise students with the test platform and online question formats but avoid over-rehearsing.

Sample online mini-tests for writing, reading, conventions of language and numeracy for each NAPLAN test year level are available on the NAPLAN Online public demonstration website. These mini-tests contain example questions that show the types of technology-enhanced features used in NAPLAN Online, such as interactive navigation and features such as drag and drop. The site will not record or store responses or generate assessment reports because the main purpose of the demonstration tests is to familiarise students, teachers and parents with NAPLAN Online item types and functionalities.

The QCAA also provides a range of online resources including practice questions and resources to support general literacy and numeracy skills development:

• writing
• reading
• language conventions
• numeracy.