NAPLAN Numeracy common mistakes
NAPLAN Numeracy · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When a numeracy question gives a word problem with several numbers, the student grabs the first two numbers they see and adds or multiplies them without first deciding what quantity the question is asking for.
Under time pressure, students pattern-match to a familiar operation instead of building a model of the situation, so numbers get combined in the order they appear rather than the order the story requires.
What to do instead
Before computing, write one line naming the unknown (for example 'need cost per person') and circle the quantity asked for. Then choose the operation that produces that quantity, and check the answer against the story's units and rough size.
On multi-step numeracy items the student stops after the first calculation and submits the intermediate value as the final answer.
Working memory is loaded by the arithmetic, so the remaining step is forgotten; the first number produced feels like an answer and the student moves on.
What to do instead
Underline every question mark in the item and number the sub-steps before starting. After computing, re-read the final sentence and confirm the submitted value answers the last question asked, not a middle one.
The student reads a scale, table, or number line and reports the value of the nearest labelled mark rather than estimating between marks, or misreads an axis that does not start at zero.
Students assume axes start at zero and that only labelled ticks carry values, so they ignore subdivisions and the offset origin, producing answers that are off by a constant or a factor.
What to do instead
Before reading any value, state the origin, the step between labelled marks, and how many subdivisions lie between them. Practise reading points on axes with non-zero starts and on scales marked in twos, fives, and twenty-fives.
When converting units or working with fractions, decimals, and percentages, the student applies a rule in the wrong direction, for example multiplying when converting from a smaller to a larger unit, or treating a percentage increase as a simple subtraction.
Conversion rules are memorised as strings ('multiply by 100') without the underlying relationship, so direction is a coin flip and percentage change is confused with percentage of.
What to do instead
Anchor each conversion to a benchmark pair (1 m = 100 cm; 25% = one quarter) and reason from the benchmark each time. For percentage change, always compute the change first, then divide by the original amount.
The student answers a reading comprehension question from general knowledge or personal opinion instead of from evidence in the passage, and cannot point to the sentence that supports the chosen option.
Familiar topics trigger prior knowledge, and students treat comprehension as recall rather than as evidence matching, so plausible-sounding options beat textually supported ones.
What to do instead
Require a line reference for every answer: highlight or note the sentence that proves the option before selecting it. For inference items, distinguish 'stated' from 'suggested' and reject options with no textual anchor.
The student confuses the literal meaning of a text with its implied meaning, choosing an answer that is true in the passage but does not address what the question actually asks (for example, selecting a stated detail when asked about the character's motive).
Students skim the question stem and answer the topic rather than the specific cognitive demand, and they default to the safest true statement rather than the one that fits the question type.
What to do instead
Classify each question stem first (detail, inference, main idea, author's purpose, vocabulary in context) and apply the matching strategy. Cross out options that are true but irrelevant to the stem.
In the conventions of language section the student edits only the marked word or phrase in a sentence and ignores whether the surrounding clause needs agreement, tense consistency, or a different punctuation mark.
Editing items present a highlighted segment, which narrows attention to that segment; students treat the task as word substitution rather than sentence repair.
What to do instead
Read the whole sentence aloud silently before and after the proposed change, checking subject-verb agreement, tense sequence, pronoun reference, and comma use across the full clause, not just at the highlighted point.
The student applies punctuation rules mechanically, inserting a comma at every pause or joining two independent clauses with only a comma, and misuses apostrophes for plurals versus possession.
Punctuation is taught as breath-based rather than structure-based, so students punctuate by rhythm; apostrophe rules are memorised as 'add s' without the plural/possessive distinction.
What to do instead
Test sentence boundaries by identifying the subject and finite verb of each clause; use a full stop, semicolon, or conjunction between independent clauses. For apostrophes, decide first whether the noun is singular or plural and whether it owns something.
In the writing task the student produces a narrative or persuasive piece with no clear structure, burying the main point or climax and omitting paragraphing, so the marker cannot follow the argument or sequence of events.
Students draft by free association under timed conditions, spending planning time on wording rather than on shape, and they do not reserve time to check that each paragraph advances one idea.
What to do instead
Spend two to three minutes on a skeleton plan (orientation, complication, resolution, or claim, three reasons, counterpoint, conclusion) and one paragraph per point. Reserve the final three minutes to check paragraph breaks, topic sentences, and the ending.
In the spelling section the student writes a plausible phonetic spelling or a homophone that fits the sound but not the meaning (their/there, practice/practise, weather/whether), and does not proofread the writing task for the same errors.
Spelling is retrieved by sound rather than by meaning and morphology, and homophones require a grammatical decision the student is not making; proofreading is skipped because the draft feels finished.
What to do instead
Build a personal homophone list and, for each pair, attach a sentence that distinguishes the meanings. In the writing task, proofread once specifically for homophones and once for spelling of high-frequency irregular words, reading backwards to break the sound-to-letter pull.