A lot happens in Year 5 maths. Fractions stop being pictures of pizza and start being added. Decimals stretch to two and three places. Percentages appear for the first time. None of it is hard on its own, but it stacks, and by Year 6 the stack is tall.
ACT schools teach the Australian Curriculum, Version 9, as written.[2] For Year 5 maths that's 24 content descriptions across six strands.[1] We've put every one below in plain English.
Why it's worth getting right
Most of Year 6 and a fair bit of Year 7 is built on this year. Percentages of amounts, the area formula, adding fractions with any denominator: each one assumes the Year 5 version is solid.
There's a second reason if a private-school scholarship is on your list. Scholarship tests for Year 7 entry are usually sat during Year 6, often early in the year, so the maths a child brings to the test is largely Year 5 maths.[3] Our guide to scholarship tests in Canberra explains how they work.
All 24 Year 5 maths topics
The official wording is ACARA's.[1] A code like AC9M5N05 means maths, Year 5, Number strand, number 5.
Number
| Code | What your child learns |
|---|---|
| AC9M5N01 | Read, compare and order decimals with more than two decimal places, including numbers bigger than one, and place them on a number line. |
| AC9M5N02 | Write whole numbers as products of their factors, find multiples, and test whether one number divides evenly into another. |
| AC9M5N03 | Compare and order fractions with the same or related denominators, including mixed numbers, and show them on a number line. |
| AC9M5N04 | Understand 100% as the whole, and connect common percentages to fractions and decimals (50% is a half is 0.5). |
| AC9M5N05 | Add and subtract fractions with the same or related denominators. |
| AC9M5N06 | Multiply large numbers by one- and two-digit numbers, choosing an efficient method. |
| AC9M5N07 | Divide, and decide what a remainder means in the problem: round up, round down, or write it as a fraction or decimal. |
| AC9M5N08 | Use estimation to check whether an answer, including a money answer, makes sense. |
| AC9M5N09 | Use maths to model and solve real problems, including money problems, and explain the answer. |
| AC9M5N10 | Follow and write step-by-step algorithms, with decisions, to explore factors, multiples and divisibility. |
Algebra
| Code | What your child learns |
|---|---|
| AC9M5A01 | Use the fact that multiplication and division undo each other to build fact families (6 × 7 = 42, so 42 ÷ 7 = 6). |
| AC9M5A02 | Find the missing number in multiplication and division equations, such as 8 × ? = 96. |
Measurement
| Code | What your child learns |
|---|---|
| AC9M5M01 | Choose sensible metric units for length, mass and capacity, using smaller units or mixed units for accuracy. |
| AC9M5M02 | Solve practical problems about the perimeter and area of regular and irregular shapes. |
| AC9M5M03 | Compare 12-hour and 24-hour time and convert between them. |
| AC9M5M04 | Estimate, draw and measure angles in degrees with a protractor, and name angles by their size. |
Space
| Code | What your child learns |
|---|---|
| AC9M5SP01 | Match 3D objects to their nets, and build objects from nets. |
| AC9M5SP02 | Use a grid with coordinates, plus direction words, to describe where things are and how they move. |
| AC9M5SP03 | Slide, flip and turn shapes, and say what changes and what stays the same. |
Statistics
| Code | What your child learns |
|---|---|
| AC9M5ST01 | Collect, check and display data using software such as spreadsheets, and describe it by its most common value (mode) and its shape. |
| AC9M5ST02 | Read line graphs that show change over time and draw conclusions from them. |
| AC9M5ST03 | Plan and run a small statistical investigation, choose a display and report what they found. |
Probability
| Code | What your child learns |
|---|---|
| AC9M5P01 | List all possible outcomes of a chance experiment and tell equally likely outcomes from ones that aren't. |
| AC9M5P02 | Repeat chance experiments, count how often each result comes up, and use that to compare how likely each one is. |
Where children get stuck
- Longer is not bigger. Plenty of children decide 0.45 beats 0.5 because it has more digits. Say them as money, 45 cents and 50 cents, and the confusion usually goes.
- Adding the bottoms. 1/2 + 1/4 comes out as 2/6 more often than you'd think. Draw it. Once a child sees the half split into two quarters, the rule makes sense.
- What to do with the leftover. 26 kids, 4 per car. The answer is 7 cars, not "6 remainder 2". Year 5 wants children to think about what the remainder means.
- Fence or lawn? Perimeter goes around. Area covers. It sounds obvious, yet the two get swapped well into high school.
Quick wins at home
- Turn facts around. If 6 × 9 = 54, then 54 ÷ 9 = 6. Practising both directions is AC9M5A01, and it speeds up everything else.
- Switch a phone to 24-hour time for a week and ask what 17:20 means in everyday words. That's AC9M5M03.
- Read the sale signs. "50% off" is half off and "25% off" is a quarter off. Linking the two is the heart of AC9M5N04.
- Measure something real. A garden bed, a rug, a balcony. How much edging? How much turf? Area and perimeter stop being abstract very quickly.
Looking ahead to Year 6
Next year, fractions with related denominators become fractions with any denominators, percentages become percentages of amounts, and counting squares turns into the area formula.[1] If those three feel shaky at the end of Year 5, that's where to spend the summer.
Year 5, mapped and planned
Study Compass checks where your child is in Year 5 maths, fills the gaps first, then moves on. Every lesson carries its Australian Curriculum code.
Start freeSources
- ACARA, Australian Curriculum: Mathematics F–6, Version 9.0 (Year 5 content descriptions). https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/content/dam/en/curriculum/ac-version-9/downloads/mathematics/mathematics-curriculum-content-f-6-v9.docx (accessed 23 October 2026).
- Association of Independent Schools of the ACT, Guide for developing an implementation plan for AC v9.0. https://ais.act.edu.au/resources/resource-for-member-schools_-guide-for-developing-an-implementation-plan-for-acv9-0 (accessed 23 October 2026).
- ACER, Scholarship tests. https://www.acer.org/scholarship (accessed 23 October 2026).
Curriculum documents get updated. Always check the official source before making a decision. Study Compass isn't affiliated with or endorsed by ACARA, ACER, Edutest or the ACT Education Directorate.