NAPLAN Writing Marking Criteria Explained
All 10 criteria your child is marked on — explained in plain English, with a parent-friendly tip for each one.
How NAPLAN Writing Is Marked
NAPLAN writing is assessed across 10 separate criteria. Each criterion is scored by a trained marker, and the scores are combined to produce a total raw mark out of 48. That raw mark is then converted to a band score between 2 and 10.
| Criterion | Max marks | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | 6 | Meaning & content |
| Text structure | 6 | Meaning & content |
| Ideas | 6 | Meaning & content |
| Character & setting | 6 | Meaning & content |
| Vocabulary | 4 | Language |
| Cohesion | 4 | Language |
| Paragraphing | 4 | Language |
| Sentence structure | 6 | Language conventions |
| Punctuation | 6 | Language conventions |
| Spelling | 6 | Language conventions |
| Total | 48 |
Note: The raw score out of 48 is converted to a proficiency level (Needs additional support, Developing, Strong, or Exceeding) using Rasch modelling. See our proficiency levels guide for what each level means.
The 10 Criteria in Detail
How well does the writing engage and orient the reader?
Audience assesses whether the student tailors their writing to the intended reader. High-scoring responses use appropriate tone, word choice, and content to persuade, entertain, or inform — depending on the task. A student who writes a persuasive letter as though talking to a friend, or tells a story with no sense of who is reading, will score lower here.
Parent tip: Remind your child to ask: "Who am I writing for, and what do they need to feel or think by the end?" Choosing words and examples that speak directly to the reader lifts the Audience score.
Does the writing have a clear and appropriate overall shape?
Text structure looks at the whole-of-text organisation. For persuasive writing this means a clear introduction, developed body paragraphs, and a conclusion. For narrative, it means an orientation, complication, and resolution. A response that jumps between ideas or ends abruptly will score lower here regardless of the quality of individual sentences.
Parent tip: Spend the first few minutes of writing time planning the structure. Even a rough dot-point outline — intro, three main points, conclusion — can dramatically improve this score.
Are the ideas relevant, developed, and interesting?
Ideas assesses the quality and depth of the content itself. Markers look for relevant, specific ideas that are developed beyond a surface level. Vague generalisations ("pollution is bad") score lower than specific, elaborated ideas. For narrative, this includes originality and the capacity to create a believable world.
Parent tip: Encourage your child to ask "Why?" or "How?" after every main point and write one more sentence that answers it. That elaboration is what moves a response from Band 5 to Band 7.
Are characters and setting vividly established? (narrative only)
Character & setting applies primarily to narrative responses. It rewards students who create believable characters with distinct voices and personalities, and who establish a sense of place through specific, well-chosen details. A character who is simply "a boy" or a setting that is just "a park" will not score well here.
Parent tip: Give characters one specific physical detail and one personality quirk. Replace "a park" with "a dusty oval baking in the afternoon heat". These small specifics show markers that the student can write with control.
Does the student use precise, varied, and effective word choices?
Vocabulary is not about using long or unusual words — it is about choosing words that are precise and effective. Markers reward students who select words that fit the context, vary their word choices to avoid repetition, and occasionally use language that is striking or well-crafted. Overusing simple words like "good", "bad", "said", or "walked" keeps a student in the lower bands.
Parent tip: Before writing, brainstorm three alternatives for the most common verbs and adjectives in the response. Swapping "walked slowly" for "trudged" or "good argument" for "compelling argument" makes a real difference.
Does the text flow logically from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph?
Cohesion is about how ideas connect across the whole text. It is achieved through connective words and phrases ("however", "as a result", "in contrast"), consistent use of tense, clear pronoun reference, and sentence-to-sentence flow. A response can have great ideas and still feel disjointed if the cohesion is weak.
Parent tip: After drafting, read the text aloud. If any sentence feels like it "came from nowhere", add a short linking phrase or reorder the sentences so the idea flows naturally from what came before.
Are ideas grouped logically into paragraphs with clear topic focus?
Paragraphing rewards students who group related ideas together and start a new paragraph when the focus shifts. Markers look for clear topic sentences, consistent paragraph focus, and appropriate paragraph length. A wall of text with no paragraph breaks, or single-sentence paragraphs that fragment the argument, will both lose marks here.
Parent tip: Teach the simple rule: one main idea per paragraph, opened with a topic sentence. If a paragraph covers two different ideas, split it in two.
Does the student use varied, accurate, and effective sentences?
Sentence structure assesses the range and accuracy of sentence construction. Markers reward students who vary sentence length (short for impact, longer for detail), use a range of sentence types (simple, compound, complex), and construct sentences that are grammatically correct. Monotonous short sentences, or long sentences that become tangled and unclear, will reduce the score.
Parent tip: Look for a run of three or more sentences of similar length and rewrite the middle one as either a short, punchy sentence or as a complex sentence with a subordinate clause.
Is punctuation used accurately and to enhance meaning?
Punctuation covers the accurate use of full stops, commas, apostrophes, speech marks, colons, semicolons, and other marks. At higher bands, markers look not just for accuracy but for the deliberate, purposeful use of punctuation to control pace and meaning — for example, a short sentence ending with a full stop for emphasis, or a dash to create a dramatic pause.
Parent tip: Apostrophes and commas are the two most common sources of punctuation errors in NAPLAN writing. Drill these specifically: apostrophes for possession and contractions, and commas after fronted adverbials ("When she arrived, ...").
Is the spelling of common and complex words accurate?
Spelling assesses accuracy across common, less common, and ambitious vocabulary. Students are not penalised for attempting complex words that they misspell — markers recognise the intent — but consistent errors on high-frequency words will lower the score. Students who limit themselves to only simple, safe words to avoid spelling errors may score lower on Vocabulary, so the two criteria reward genuine word-knowledge.
Parent tip: Build a personal list of ten words your child commonly misspells and practise them weekly. Also practise common NAPLAN topic words (environment, government, community, responsibility, technology) so they are automatic on exam day.
Practise by Year Level
Understanding the criteria is only the first step. Regular practice under timed conditions is what moves students up the bands. Choose your year level below to start a practice session.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 10 NAPLAN writing marking criteria?
The 10 criteria are: Audience, Text structure, Ideas, Character & setting, Vocabulary, Cohesion, Paragraphing, Sentence structure, Punctuation, and Spelling. Each is scored separately and the total maps to a band score from 2 to 10.
How is NAPLAN writing scored?
Each criterion is marked by a trained NAPLAN marker. The four Meaning & content criteria (Audience, Text structure, Ideas, Character & setting) are worth up to 6 marks each. The Language criteria (Vocabulary, Cohesion, Paragraphing) are worth up to 4 marks each. Language conventions (Sentence structure, Punctuation, Spelling) are worth up to 6 marks each. The maximum total is 48 marks.
What does the Audience criterion mean in NAPLAN writing?
Audience assesses how well the student orients their writing to the reader. A high-scoring response uses language, tone, and content choices that clearly engage the intended audience — persuading them, entertaining them, or informing them depending on the task type.
What is the difference between Cohesion and Paragraphing?
Cohesion is about how ideas flow across the whole text — using connectives, consistent tense, and clear pronoun references. Paragraphing is about how ideas are organised and separated into logical paragraphs. A student can have well-structured paragraphs but still lose cohesion marks if the transitions between them are abrupt.
How can my child improve their NAPLAN writing score?
Practise across all 10 criteria. Focus on planning before writing (improves Ideas and Text structure), vary sentence length (improves Sentence structure), choose precise words (improves Vocabulary), and always proofread for Spelling and Punctuation errors. See our proficiency levels guide to understand what each performance level looks like.
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