Tips and advice for the numeracy test

Numeracy assessment for ECE and Secondary teaching applicants
Numeracy assessment for Primary teaching applicants
Online Resources for both assessments

Watch the video below for a great introduction and explanation about what to expect and how to prepare for and pass the numeracy test.

About the test

The test is 20 questions long. Some are calculations, and some are word problems. You are not allowed to use a calculator to help you, but you may use pen and paper.

The questions are about decimals, fractions and percentages. There are several reasons for this: the Teaching Council requires that the test be set at the University Entrance level, and these topics are key to numeracy credits at this level.

They are the key part of Level 4 in our mathematics curriculum, which is the level set for Years 7 and 8, and they are internationally recognised as essential for functional numeracy for adults. There are no questions about geometry, measurement, statistics, probability or algebra involving letters.

About the test

A two-hour numeracy test is required from 2025 onwards for all students studying to teach in Primary or Intermediate school settings (i.e the Bachelor of Education (Teaching) or Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary).

The test is an adult numeracy test developed by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) for tertiary programmes that want to assess student numeracy levels. It is an online test. It is adaptive: if you get things right, the questions get harder. If you get things wrong, the questions get easier. In this way you answer a bespoke, rather than predetermined set of questions. The questions are short answer and multichoice.

At the end of the test, you receive a score which is not the number of questions you got correct. It is a score that compares the items you got correct with a scale of item difficulty.

To pass, you need to have a score 690 or more.

Learn more about the new Numeracy assessment here.

Explore the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool here.

The following resources provide you with explanations and the opportunity to practise. Each site has videos, explanations, examples, and materials to help you practice and revise.

Pathways Awarua

This is a wonderful resource developed in Aotearoa for adult learners. It is an interactive teaching and practice tool that you can sign up for. It has interactive material to teach you, lots of self-marking activities and word problems to try. Sign up here.

Follow the numeracy pathway.

For this test, you only need to look at the units on fractions, decimals and percentages. 

Khan Academy

This set of sites has animated video explanations and practice interactives. They are from the USA, so some things, like tax rates, are different, but the maths principles are the same.

Links to some of the resources:

• Percent, decimals and fraction conversions (series of short videos and practice)
• Place value with decimals (video and then practice and review task)
• Ordering fractions (video and practice)
• Multiplying and dividing decimals by 10 (video and practice)
• Strategies for subtracting basic decimals 
• The meaning of percent (video and practice)
• Comparing decimals (video and practice)
• Comparing fractions word problems (video and practice)
• Understanding fractions (video and practice)

Bitesize 

These sites are developed in the UK. As mentioned above, that means some things are different, but the principles still work.

Links to selected Bitesize resources:

• Finding a fraction of an amount 
• Finding original amount before a discount 
• How to work out a unit price 
• Converting fractions and decimals

This is an extra YouTube video on finding fractions of a quantity, in case you need extra practice:

• Finding fractions of a quantity