Girls scored higher than boys in both year four and year six with about 10% more girls meeting the expected proficiency level in both year four and year six. At the year four level, 71% of girls performed at or above the expected level compared to 62% of boys. At the year six level, 84% of girls performed at or above the expected level compared to 74% of boys.

Not only did a larger proportion of girls meet the minimum expected proficiency levels, but girls also scored higher than boys on average in both year four and year six in the overall numeracy domain and across the strands. The largest difference in average scores was in the ‘Data’ strand.

Year four and year six students in urban schools performed better than those in non-urban schools; in year six the difference was minimal.

The coding data for numeracy show that the year four and year six students were persistent in attempting the questions, with a small proportion of students leaving questions blank. The coding data also show that, in both year four and year six, students struggled with questions involving fractions, place values, comparing numbers, finding time differences, and conversion of units of measurement. Their biggest struggle was with solving complex problems, where students need to interpret and conceptualise the given information.