Format of the tests
There are three papers in the Mathematics test. The first focuses on arithmetic and is worth 40 marks. The other two papers focus on mathematical reasoning and are worth 35 marks each. In each paper the questions appear in order of difficulty.
In Paper 1: arithmetic, children answer context-free calculations to test their confidence across the range of mathematical operations. The majority of questions are worth 1 mark, but 2 marks will be available for long multiplication and long division. In the test booklet, space is provided for children to use for working out, but they should write their answers in the answer box. Children have 30 minutes to complete the test, so children with good mental arithmetic skills will have a better chance of answering all the questions.
In Paper 2 and Paper 3: reasoning, children answer questions to test their mathematical fluency and skills in problem solving and reasoning with number, measures, geometry and statistics. Children have 40 minutes to complete each paper. Some questions are set in a context and some prompt children to show their method to gain extra marks.
Children may use a ruler, angle measurer or protractor, and a mirror, but are not allowed to use calculators in any of the papers.
What kind of questions are there?
In Paper 1: arithmetic, all the questions will be context-free calculations, for example:
- 979 + 100 = [ ]
- 472 – 9 = [ ]
- 1.28 x 100 = [ ]
- 630 ÷ 9 = [ ]
- 42 = [ ]
- 20% of 1500 = [ ]
- 1/4 x 1/8 = [ ]
- 234,897 – 45,996 = [ ]
- 20% of 1500 = [ ]
In Paper 2 and Paper 3: reasoning, there will be a mixture of question types. In some, your child will need to choose an answer (selected responses). For others, they will need to write their own answer (constructed responses), sometimes from a problem-solving context.
Examples of selected response questions include multiple choice, matching and true/false questions.
Examples of constructed response questions include:
- Constrained question, e.g
- Look at this number: 23,451.96
- Write the digit that is in the hundreds place.
- Write the digit that is in the hundredths place.
- Less constrained question, e.g.
- On Saturday Lara read 2/5 of her book. On Sunday she read the other 90 pages to finish the book. How many pages are there in Lara’s book? Show your method.
