Worksheet Introduction
This worksheet picks up where the teaching guide left off. You have read about what NAPLAN and ICAS are each designed to do, and why reading them together requires care. Now the task is to apply that understanding to questions, scenarios, and a writing task.
Some questions have one correct answer. Others ask you to explain your thinking, and in those cases the reasoning matters as much as the conclusion. If you find yourself writing “because it is better” or “because it is worse,” stop and ask yourself why. That is the answer the question is looking for.
Your tutor will tell you which tier to start on. If you finish your tier early, try the one above it.
— WORKSHEET START —
Your tutor will direct you to the right starting point.
[Foundation] Start here if this is your first time working with NAPLAN and ICAS material. [Core] Start here if you already understand the basic purpose of each test. [Extension] Start here if you want to analyse and evaluate both assessments at a deeper level.
Tier 1: Foundation
These questions check that you have understood the key facts about both assessments. Read each question carefully before answering.
Q1. Choose the correct answer. NAPLAN is administered by:
- UNSW Global B. The NSW Department of Education C. ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) D. The student’s school
Answer: ______
Q2. For each statement below, write NAPLAN, ICAS, or Both.
All students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 are required to sit this test. ______
Results include a certificate level such as High Distinction or Merit. ______
The test is available in Years 2 to 10. ______
Covers Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language, and Numeracy. ______
Families pay an entry fee per subject. ______
The test is available in an online format. ______
Q3. Three of the sentences below contain an error. Find them and correct each one.
Sentence A: NAPLAN is designed to identify the most gifted students in Australia.
Sentence B: ICAS High Distinction is awarded to approximately the top ten per cent of students who sit the paper.
Sentence C: NAPLAN reports results as proficiency bands: Needs Additional Support, Developing, Strong, and Exceeding.
Sentence D: ICAS is mandatory for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9.
Corrected sentences:
A: ______
B: ______
D: ______
Q4. Underline the subjects that ICAS tests but NAPLAN does not.
Reading | Science | Numeracy | Digital Technologies | Conventions of Language | Spelling Bee | Writing
Q5. A student received a Participation certificate on ICAS English. Their parent says: “This means she failed.” Choose the best response.
- The parent is correct. Participation is the lowest level and means the student failed. B. The parent is incorrect. Participation means the student placed in the lower half of a voluntary above-curriculum competition. It does not mean she failed. C. The parent is partially correct. Participation is low but not quite failing. D. The parent is correct because ICAS is harder than school, so Participation is a bad result.
Answer: ______ Because: ______
Q6. Put the five ICAS certificate levels in order from highest to lowest.
Credit | Participation | High Distinction | Merit | Distinction
Highest: ______ , ______ , ______ , ______ , ______ :Lowest
Tier 2: Core
These questions ask you to apply your understanding, not just recall facts. Write in full sentences where indicated.
Q1. Explain in your own words the difference between what NAPLAN and ICAS are each designed to measure. Write two to three sentences for each assessment. Do not copy definitions from the guide.
NAPLAN: ______
ICAS: ______
Q2. A parent reads their child’s results and says: “She scored Exceeding on NAPLAN Numeracy, so she should get a High Distinction on ICAS Mathematics.” Write a response of three sentences explaining why this conclusion is not reliable.
Q3. The statement below contains a misinterpretation. Rewrite it so it accurately describes what the result means.
My son only got a Merit on ICAS. That means he performed below average.
Rewritten: ______
Q4. NAPLAN Online uses adaptive testing. ICAS does not. Explain what adaptive testing means and give one practical consequence for how students experience each test differently.
What adaptive testing means: ______
One practical consequence: ______
Q5. Read the following result combination and analyse what it suggests about this student.
A Year 6 student received a Strong band on NAPLAN Reading and a Credit on ICAS English.
Your analysis (three to four sentences): ______
Q6. A parent is preparing their child for ICAS and gives them this advice: “Just do your best. The questions will be similar to what you do at school.”
Rewrite this advice so it is accurate and actually prepares the student. Two to three sentences.
Q7. Explain why the comparison group for ICAS results is different from the comparison group for NAPLAN results. Then explain why this difference matters when a parent tries to compare the two results.
Why the groups differ: ______
Why this matters: ______
Q8. A family is considering entering their Year 4 child in ICAS. The child’s teacher has described them as “working at or slightly above grade level.” Write a genuine response to this family in three sentences. Set realistic expectations without discouraging them.
Tier 3: Extension
These questions ask you to evaluate, compose, compare, and justify. A one-sentence answer will not be enough for any of them. Take your time.
Q1. A student argues: “Because ICAS is harder than NAPLAN, a High Distinction on ICAS means more than an Exceeding on NAPLAN.” Evaluate this claim in three to four sentences. You may agree, disagree, or qualify it, but your response must engage with what “means more” actually depends on.
Q2. Write a short paragraph (four to five sentences) that a school could send to parents before results season to explain the difference between NAPLAN and ICAS. Write it for parents who have never heard of either test. Plain language only, no jargon.
Q3. NAPLAN uses proficiency bands tied to a curriculum standard. ICAS uses competitive certificate levels. A parent argues that the ICAS system is more motivating because students can see exactly where they rank nationally.
Evaluate this argument. Consider what “motivating” means for different students, and whether motivation is the right goal for an assessment reporting system.
Your response (four to five sentences): ______
Q4. Read the two positions below. Evaluate both, then state which you find more persuasive and why.
Position A: ICAS creates unnecessary pressure because it encourages families to compare their child to a national competitive field rather than focusing on their individual growth.
Position B: ICAS motivates high-achieving students to extend themselves beyond the curriculum, which is something NAPLAN cannot do.
Your evaluation (five to six sentences): ______
Q5. A parent wants to use assessment results to decide whether their Year 5 child needs tutoring support. They have both a NAPLAN report and an ICAS certificate in front of them.
Evaluate the usefulness of each result for this specific purpose. Which provides more actionable information? What else would they need to make a well-informed decision?
Q6. A student consistently receives High Distinction on ICAS but sits in the Strong band on NAPLAN, not Exceeding. Their parent is worried this is a contradiction worth investigating.
Justify whether this combination represents a genuine inconsistency or whether it is entirely explainable. Use specific features of both assessments in your answer.
Writing Task
Read the situation below carefully. Then write your response.
The situation:
A parent at your school has received both a NAPLAN report and an ICAS certificate for their Year 5 child. The NAPLAN result is in the Developing band. The ICAS result is a Participation certificate. The parent comes to you and says: “Both results are bad. My child is clearly struggling and I don’t know what to do.”
Your task:
Write a response of three to four paragraphs addressing this parent directly. Your response must explain what each result actually means, whether this combination of results is genuinely cause for concern, and at least one specific practical step the family could take.
Do not start your response with “I understand how you feel” or “It is completely normal to worry.” Begin with the information the parent actually needs.
Planning notes:
Full response:
Three Mistakes Worth Knowing
These are the errors that come up most often when students and parents work with NAPLAN and ICAS results. Read each one before you hand in your worksheet.
Treating ICAS Participation as equivalent to NAPLAN below NMS
They look similar from the outside, two results at the lower end of their respective scales. They are not the same thing. NAPLAN below the National Minimum Standard is a curriculum signal with a formal response attached. ICAS Participation is a competitive ranking in a voluntary above-curriculum assessment. The appropriate responses to these two results are completely different, and conflating them leads families either to over-react to the ICAS result or under-react to the NAPLAN one.
Assuming NAPLAN Exceeding predicts ICAS High Distinction
The reasoning feels logical: both are top results, so they should line up. They do not, because the benchmarks are different. NAPLAN Exceeding is measured against the national curriculum standard. ICAS High Distinction is measured against the top one per cent of a self-selected competitive cohort on harder-than-curriculum content. A student can exceed curriculum expectations comfortably and still receive a Credit or Merit on ICAS. This is not a problem. It is two different measurement tools doing two different jobs.
Reading ICAS results as if the comparison group is all Australian students
It is not. Students who sit ICAS were entered by families who believed they were ready for a competitive above-curriculum assessment. The comparison group skews academically. A student who ranks in the top fifty per cent of ICAS sitters is not ranking in the top fifty per cent of all Year 5 students in Australia. The distinction matters when interpreting any ICAS result, particularly at the Merit and Credit levels.
— PAGE BREAK SOLUTIONS —
Answer Key and Tutor Guidance
Do not distribute to students before the worksheet is completed.
Tier 1 Answers
Q1: C. ACARA administers NAPLAN. UNSW Global administers ICAS.
Q2: Required for Years 3, 5, 7, and 9: NAPLAN Certificate levels such as High Distinction or Merit: ICAS Available Years 2 to 10: ICAS Covers Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language, Numeracy: NAPLAN Entry fee per subject: ICAS Available in online format: Both
Q3: The three errors are in sentences A, B, and D.
Sentence A corrected: NAPLAN is designed to measure whether all Australian students are meeting minimum national literacy and numeracy standards, not to identify gifted students.
Sentence B corrected: ICAS High Distinction is awarded to approximately the top one per cent, not ten per cent, of students who sit the paper.
Sentence D corrected: ICAS is voluntary and opt-in. It is not mandatory. Families choose to enter and pay a fee per subject.
Sentence C is correct and should not be changed.
Q4: Underline Science, Digital Technologies, Spelling Bee.
Q5: B. Participation means the student placed in the lower half of a voluntary above-curriculum competition. There is no pass or fail on ICAS. A Participation result does not indicate a curriculum problem and should not be described as failure.
Q6: High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Merit, Participation.
Tier 2 Model Answers
Q1: NAPLAN measures whether students have met the minimum literacy and numeracy standards set by the national curriculum for their year level. It is a benchmark, not a competition. It identifies students who need support and tracks whether skills are growing between sittings.
ICAS measures how students perform relative to other students nationally on questions that go deliberately beyond the standard curriculum. It is a competition. The results show where a student ranks within a self-selected academically confident group, not whether they have met any particular standard.
Q2: The conclusion is not reliable because NAPLAN and ICAS are calibrated to different standards and use different comparison groups. NAPLAN Exceeding means a student is well above the national curriculum standard. ICAS High Distinction means a student placed in the top one per cent of a self-selected competitive cohort on harder-than-curriculum content. A student who exceeds curriculum expectations may still sit outside the top one per cent of a competitive national group on more difficult material. These are not the same bar.
Q3 sample rewrite: My son received a Merit certificate on ICAS, which means he placed in the top fifty per cent of students nationally on a test that is deliberately harder than his year-level curriculum. For a voluntary above-curriculum competition, this is a solid result.
Q4: Adaptive testing means the difficulty of each question adjusts based on whether the student answered the previous one correctly. A correct answer leads to a harder question. An incorrect answer leads to an easier one. One practical consequence: two students sitting NAPLAN on the same day may answer completely different questions but still receive comparable scores. In ICAS, every student at the same year level answers the same questions, so results can be compared directly against a fixed question set.
Q5: This student is comfortably above the minimum curriculum standard (Strong on NAPLAN) and performing in the top twenty-five per cent of a self-selected competitive cohort on above-curriculum content (Credit on ICAS). The two results are consistent and together suggest a student with solid foundations who is competitive in extension material. There is no cause for concern in either result, and the Credit on ICAS may indicate room for further extension work.
Q6 improved advice sample: ICAS questions are designed to be harder than what you cover in class, so expect some of them to feel genuinely difficult. This is normal and does not mean you are unprepared. The goal is not to get every question right but to show where you sit in a national competitive field, so attempt every question and do not leave any blank.
Q7: NAPLAN compares a student to all Australian students in that year level, regardless of academic background. ICAS compares a student to families who voluntarily entered their child in a competitive above-curriculum assessment, a group that skews toward academically confident students. This matters because a percentile ranking in the ICAS group is not the same as a percentile ranking among all Year 5 students in Australia. An ICAS Merit (top fifty per cent of sitters) is a better result than it might first appear, because the comparison group is already selected for academic confidence.
Q8 sample: ICAS is a reasonable choice for a student working at or slightly above grade level, and the experience of sitting a competitive external assessment is worthwhile in itself. The paper is designed to be harder than the curriculum, so a Merit or Credit result would represent genuinely strong performance for a student at this level. Enter with realistic expectations rather than a specific target certificate, and treat the result as information rather than a verdict.
Tier 3 Tutor Notes
Q1: The strongest responses will qualify the claim rather than simply agree or disagree. “Means more” depends entirely on what question you are trying to answer. For assessing competitive academic standing, a High Distinction on ICAS says something NAPLAN cannot. For assessing whether a student has met curriculum expectations, NAPLAN Exceeding is the more relevant measure. Accept any response that identifies this purpose-dependence and engages with it specifically.
Q2: Assess for plain language, accurate description of both purposes, and a practical tone. The best responses will avoid using the terms “benchmark” and “self-selected” unless the student can explain them without jargon. The core distinction, minimum standards versus competitive ranking, should be present in plain terms.
Q3: Strong responses will note that motivation is not the same as accuracy, and that a reporting system optimised for motivation may produce misinterpretation. The ICAS certificate system is motivating for students who receive Distinction or above. For students who receive Participation, the competitive framing may be less motivating than a curriculum-referenced system that shows growth rather than rank. Accept any response that engages with this variation across students.
Q4: Both positions have genuine merit. Do not steer students toward either. Assess for: clear identification of what each position is actually claiming, specific engagement with the evidence for each, and a conclusion that is reached through reasoning rather than preference. The weakest responses will simply restate the two positions and say “both have good points.”
Q5: NAPLAN provides more directly actionable information for a tutoring decision because it reports in specific areas (Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language, Numeracy) against a curriculum standard. A below-NMS result in a specific area identifies where to focus. ICAS provides competitive context but not diagnostic detail. Additional information needed: the teacher’s own assessment of the student’s specific skill gaps, any school-based diagnostic data, and if possible an itemised breakdown of the NAPLAN sub-scores available through the school portal.
Q6: This combination is entirely explainable and does not represent an inconsistency. The two assessments are calibrated to different purposes, different difficulty levels, and different comparison groups. A student can consistently reach the top one per cent of a competitive self-selected cohort on above-curriculum content (ICAS High Distinction) while sitting in the Strong rather than Exceeding band on a curriculum benchmark (NAPLAN), because the ceiling of ICAS is higher than the ceiling NAPLAN is designed to measure. The only scenario where investigation would be warranted is if classroom teachers expected Exceeding based on day-to-day performance and the Strong result was a genuine surprise.
