How to improve NAPLAN results before the next test

You have more time than you think

NAPLAN is sat in March. Results land in July. That means the families who improve the most are the ones who start when the report arrives, not the ones who start cramming in February.

You have roughly three school terms. That is more than enough to close most gaps, and it is a comfortable pace rather than a panic.

Why some students underperform relative to their ability

Before the plan, it helps to know what NAPLAN is actually testing, because a lot of capable students lose marks for reasons that have nothing to do with knowing the maths.

It mixes topics. School worksheets come sorted: a page headed Fractions tells your child the answer involves fractions. NAPLAN gives no such hint, so the first job is working out what kind of problem it is. That step is rarely practised anywhere.

It leans on worded problems. Many questions are a short scenario rather than a bare calculation. Students who compute perfectly can still lose marks translating words into a sum.

It is timed. Careful and slow is a good habit until the clock runs out.

If your child knows the content but underperformed, it is usually one of those three, and all three are trainable.

A term-by-term plan

Term 3 (now): diagnose. Do not start drilling yet. Find out precisely where they are. Sit one practice test on each of the areas the report flagged, mark them together, and write down the two to four genuine method gaps. Ask their teacher which skills they would prioritise. You are aiming to finish the term with a short, specific list, not a vague sense of worry.

Term 4: close the gaps. Work the list, one gap at a time. Twenty minutes twice a week is plenty. Keep it topic-focused here, this is the teaching phase. Re-test each gap a week or two after you cover it, because that spacing is what makes it stick.

Summer: keep it light. Two or three short sessions across the whole break is enough to stop the usual slide. Do not run a holiday program, it rarely survives contact with January.

Term 1: switch to test conditions. This is the change most families never make. Stop doing topic-by-topic worksheets and start doing mixed practice tests, timed, with worded problems. Your child needs practice at deciding which method applies, not just executing a method they have been handed. Two or three of these across February is worth more than another month of topic drills.

What to avoid

• Drilling the topics they already know. It feels productive and changes nothing. Target the gaps.
• Practice papers with no marking. The marking is where the learning happens. An unmarked practice test is close to worthless.
• Turning it into a high-stakes event. Anxious students underperform. Frame it as a check on progress, keep sessions short, and do not react to a low practice score.
• Starting in February. Everything above works because it is spread out.

The one habit that matters most

If you do nothing else: after every practice test, sort each wrong answer into silly mistake, method gap, or ran out of time, and only re-teach the method gaps. Families who do this consistently outperform families who simply do more questions.

Build the first diagnostic test

Free, printable, aligned to the Victorian Curriculum, with full worked solutions so the marking step is easy:

• Primary maths practice tests, Years 3 to 6
• Maths practice tests, Years 7 to 10

Related reading: your child's NAPLAN results were lower than expected, what now and NAPLAN maths practice: what actually helps.