If your child is preparing to sit NAPLAN soon, and you want them to feel confident and ready to achieve their highest possible score, you may be wondering about the best way for them to practice.
Until recently, NAPLAN worksheets and former past papers were the most direct way to experience the test. But there’s a new kid on the block: online NAPLAN practice tests.
What are online NAPLAN practice tests?
Online NAPLAN practice tests are web-based assessments that are designed to closely simulate the actual NAPLAN test experience. The practice tests offered on RiSE+ are one such example. They include NAPLAN-style questions and are hosted on the same online platform as NAPLAN itself, giving your child the closest possible experience to the real thing.
What are NAPLAN worksheets?
NAPLAN worksheets are paper or digital assessment documents that children can complete to prepare for NAPLAN. Depending on who creates them, they can either be based on genuine NAPLAN past papers, or are created using NAPLAN-style questions. Because they can only be completed once, and don’t provide immediate feedback on performance, they can feel a little limiting for children.
How do online NAPLAN practice tests compare to NAPLAN worksheets?
There are a few key differences between online NAPLAN practice tests and NAPLAN worksheets:
| Online NAPLAN practice tests | NAPLAN worksheets and past papers |
| As with NAPLAN itself, these practice tests are delivered online. And if you choose tests such as those offered by RiSE+, they are delivered on the same platform as NAPLAN, which means they look and behave in the same way. | As physical papers (or digital PDFs), the design and layout is vastly different to the NAPLAN online environment. |
| The questions in RiSE+’s NAPLAN practice tests are created by assessment writing experts with years of experience. They’re the same people behind ICAS. | Depending on the worksheets you decide to use, the questions may not be written by assessment experts. |
| Being online, your child can usually complete the practice tests as many times as they like. | Physical worksheets and past papers can only be completed once (unless you photocopy them). |
| Tests are often auto marked to give an instant score. | Tests need to be marked manually. |
| When using RiSE+ NAPLAN practice tests, your child can get used to the same interactive questions as the real test, such as the interactive rulers and protractors. | Worksheets don’t allow your child to experience NAPLAN’s interactive questions styles. |
| RiSE+ provide a Personalised Progress Report when you child completes every practice test, which tells them which skills they should focus on for improvement. | Worksheets don’t provide any report insights. |
Want to help your child to prepare for their NAPLAN assessments? Learn more about RiSE+ online NAPLAN practice tests.
