Year 5 is where primary maths starts to look like high school maths. Decimals stretch out to thousandths, fractions get added together, and percentages appear for the first time. It's also a NAPLAN year, in March.
Territory schools teach Year 5 maths from the Australian Curriculum, Version 9.[2] It has 24 content descriptions across six strands.[1] They're all listed below, in our words rather than the official ones.
All 24 Year 5 maths topics
ACARA publishes the official wording.[1] A code like AC9M5N05 reads as 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 isn't larger. Plenty of children think 0.35 is bigger than 0.4 because 35 is bigger than 4. Write both as 0.35 and 0.40, or think of them as 35c and 40c.
- Fractions need the same-sized pieces. One third plus one sixth can't be added until the third becomes two sixths. A drawn bar does more than any rule.
- What the remainder means. If 30 kids go to camp in cars that seat 4, you need 8 cars, not 7 r 2. Year 5 asks children to think about the answer, not just find it.
- Area and perimeter. Perimeter is the fence around the yard. Area is the grass inside it. They're easily swapped.
Practising at home, Territory style
- Rainfall in the Wet. Bureau of Meteorology daily totals come in millimetres with decimals. Comparing them, or adding up a week, is decimal practice with a point.
- Flight and bus times. Boarding passes and timetables use 24-hour time, which is in the Year 5 measurement strand.
- Fuel and road trips. "It's 320 km to Katherine and we've done three quarters" is fractions of an amount, and a good car game.
- Fact families. Every times-table fact hides two division facts. 6 × 9 = 54, so 54 ÷ 9 = 6 and 54 ÷ 6 = 9.
Looking ahead
In Year 6, adding fractions extends to any denominators, percentages become percentages of amounts, and area moves to formulas.[1] Then Year 7 brings middle school. Children who arrive with fractions and decimals secure have a much easier start.
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).
- NT Government, NT school curriculum: introduction. https://nt.gov.au/learning/primary-and-secondary-students/nt-school-curriculum/introduction (accessed 23 October 2026).
Curriculum documents, enrolment rules and scholarship rounds change. Always check the official source before making a decision. Study Compass isn't affiliated with or endorsed by ACARA, ACER, Edutest, any school named here, or the Northern Territory Department of Education.