Key links: 

• Purchase Paper Tests
• Purchase Online Tests via NZCER Assist
• Paper tests order form
• Aratohu kaiako | Teacher guide
• Introduction to PAT Pāngarau: Webinar recording
• Understanding PATs (for parents, whānau and community)
• Guide to assessing twice a year
• Guide to item reporting
• Interim mapping to progress descriptors

PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics is a standardised maths assessment for Years 3-10, available for all schools to use through NZCER Assist and for purchase in paper format.

This assessment has been recently refreshed with an explicit equity focus, ensuring all ākonga are represented in the design and content. The refresh includes new tests suitable for ākonga from Year 3 to the end of Year 10, however tests may be appropriate for ākonga outside this range depending on their progress. PAT Pāngarau also has updates to measurement scales, scores, and national reference information from Year 4 onwards.

PAT Pāngarau remains available as one of schools' options for twice-yearly assessment in 2026. NZCER recommends using PATs in Term 1 like in previous years, as our norms are based on Term 1 data.

About PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics  

PAT Pāngarau helps teachers understand ākonga knowledge, skills and understanding of mathematics in the New Zealand curriculum and targets the big ideas ākonga need to understand in order to make progress.  

Assessments are designed for ākonga from Year 3 up to the end of Year 10 - but may be appropriate for ākonga outside this range depending on their progress.

PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics assesses:  

• Number  
• Algebra  
• Measurement  
• Geometry   
• Statistics  
• Probability  

This assessment has been designed with an explicit equity focus, ensuring that the languages, cultures and identities of ākonga are better represented in the assessment material, while maintaing our revidence-based assessment design and reporting.

Features of PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics 

• Item reporting available through NZCER Assist.
• Whānau reporting
• Improved accessibility with audio support
• Appopriate for Years 3-10
• Incorporates all Supplementary Assessments (2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 7A and 8A)
• Diagnostic reports allow for formative as well as summative reporting
• Scale scores enable ākonga achievement levels to be tracked from year to year
• Diagnostic reports are provided in the teacher manual
• The assessments can be used at any time between February and November each year
• Assessments can be used at two or more year levels
• The assessments can be administered online or as reusable booklets with separate answer sheets
• Regularly updated norms 

Benefits of PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics

• Refreshed content and design allows more diverse ākonga to see themselves reflected in the assessments.  
• Multiple assessments allow progress to be tracked over time. Teachers can choose the assessment that best suits ākonga needs.
• Ākonga results end up on the same scale no matter which assessment they sit. This allows for accurate school-wide and/or kāhui ako-wide reporting for strategic goal setting and planning.
• Kāhui ako/multi-school analysis reporting for trends, patterns and shifts using ethnicity, gender and year level filters for targeted improvement in teaching and learning.
• Incorporation of Supplementary Tests (more detail below) provides further options about how, who, when and why you assess.  

If you would like to know more about PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics, please contact our Assessment Services team.  

PAT: Mathematics Adaptive

PAT: Mathematics Adaptive assessment is available for PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics. It is the first truly computer adaptive assessment for schools in New Zealand.  

This continuously adapts the assessment to give ākonga questions that best fit their overall level of achievement. They are given an initial question and if they get it right they’re given a harder one, or if they get it wrong they’re given an easier one.  

It is not helpful from a learning point of view to always get everything right in a assessment. But getting everything wrong is equally unhelpful. Adaptive technology means everyone gets the assessment that is right for them.  

Our PAT: Mathematics Adaptive assessment also benefits from the refreshed content. The adaptive assessment includes our refreshed itemsfrom 2023 (Tests 1-8), existing online only items (interactive), and many items from our supplementary tests. 

You can read more about computer adaptive testing for PAT Pāngarau here.

We are also introducing item reporting for PAT Pāngarau - below is our introductory video to the system. 

How to access PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics

Online assessments

Schools must sign up and log in to our NZCER Assist platform to access online PAT assessments. If you have not used NZCER Assist before, you can begin by contacting our Assessment Services team and they will help you get set up. 

Schools subscribe on NZCER Assist then choose their subjects, then can purchase individual assessments for each ākonga.  

NZCER Assist also gives schools our comprehensive diagnostic reporting and ongoing support from our Assessment Services team. 

Paper assessments  

Assessments can only be purchased by schools or parents/caregivers of homeschooled children with a current exemption certificate.

If you can't shop for assessments online, you can download the order forms below and email to sales@nzcer.org.nz 

Please note that paper tests for PAT Pāngarau must still be marked through NZCER Assist, requiring an account. 

Support for PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics

Schools can get the most out of this assessment by registering for one of our workshops or contacting our Education Advisors for bespoke support on PAT implementation and reporting.  

For more support, contact our team at assessmentservices@nzcer.org.nz or check out our solutions and knowledge centre.

Locally designed, evidence-based assessment for schools.

Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs) are multi-choice standardised assessments for ākonga in Years 3-10. Tests can be used in a pen-and-paper format, or an online format through our NZCER Assist platform.

PATs are formative, low-stakes assessments designed to support teaching and learning. They target key concepts across the curriculum, for example:

• PAT: Pāngarau | Mathematics – solving problems using ideas from number, measurement, geometry, algebra, statistics, and probability
• PAT: Pānui | Reading Comprehension – using decoding skills to make meaning from written texts
• PAT: Tuhituhi | Writing – crafting an extended written response to a prompt
• PAT: Reading Vocabulary – understanding the meaning of words in written contexts
• PAT: Listening Comprehension – using aural skills to make meaning of texts
• PAT: Punctuation and Grammar - understanding of the standard English language conventions of grammar and punctuation

Together, these assessments provide dependable measures of achievement in areas that matter most for success in schooling and beyond. They help teachers interpret evidence of progress, identify patterns, and make informed professional judgments.

PATs highlight essential learning and sit alongside classroom observations, rich learning conversations, and teacher-designed assessments as part of a broad, balanced approach to understanding learners and learning. 

For further information, please see understanding PATs - for parents and the community, which explains what PATs assess and how they are marked. Or click here for our extensive PLD support for PATs!

Using PATs in 2026: What you need to know 

• PATs continue to be a trusted, evidence-based option for schools' assessment in 2026.
• We have published interim mapping of PAT scores to the curriculum progress descriptors here.
• We have introduced whānau reporting, providing a simple snapshot and explanation of PAT information for whānau (PAT Pāngarau and PAT Pānui only).
• We have introduced item reporting, enabling kaiako to delve into assessment data question by question.
• We have released PAT Tuhituhi | PAT Writing, a new standardised writing assessment with automated scoring, which continues to be updated in 2026.
• We have updated norms for PAT Pānui | PAT Reading Comprehension, which may change 2025 scores. Read more here.

How to purchase PATs

To use PATs online or to enter data from PAT papers, you will need an account on our NZCER Assist platform. Please contact our Assessment Services team to get started.  

To use paper PATs, you can place an order here, otherwise please call us on (04) 802-1450 or email sales@nzcer.org.nz 

Assessments can only be sold to schools or parents/caregivers of homeschooled children with a current exemption certificate.  

The prices of online PATs rose 10 cents per online assessment from the beginning of 2026. Every year, NZCER reviews the pricing of PATs, which is reinvested in the ongoing development and refresh of PATs. This year that has included whānau reporting, item reporting, the introduction of PAT Tuhituhi | PAT Writing, and the expansion of Te Urungi. Paper test costs remain the same, but paper tests for PAT Pānui and PAT Pāngarau will still require an NZCER Assist account for marking. 

The use of photocopied test material (including answer sheets) is a breach of copyright.

PATs: What is available? 

PAT Tuhituhi | PAT Writing

• A standardised writing assessment for Years 5-10
• Fully automated marking, saving kaiako significant amounts of time and minimising the potential for bias
• Content and design developed by NZCER with an equitable focus, ensuring all ākonga are reflected in the assessments
• 100% available online and easy to administer through our NZCER Assist platform  
• Reflects a range of writing genres across the New Zealand Curriculum
• Includes relevant editing tools for ākonga  
• Aligns to the English learning area of the new curriculum, and aspects of the NCEA co-requisite for literacy 

PAT Pāngarau | PAT Mathematics

• recently refreshed design and content with an equity focus  
• increased accessibility options, including audio support
• designed to assess students in Years 3–10
• assesses number knowledge, number strategies, algebra, geometry and measurement and statistics
• test scores allow for formative as well as summative reporting
• scale scores enable a student's level of achievement to be tracked from year to year
• diagnostic reports are provided in the teacher manual
• the tests come as reusable booklets with separate answer sheets
• Computer adaptive testing is available  

PAT Pānui | PAT Reading Comprehension

• designed to assess Years 4–10 students
• older PAT: Reading Comprehension tests remain available for 2024
• includes materials from contemporary New Zealand, Māori and Pacific authors  
• focuses on equity, social and cultural diversity, to better reflect communities and environments from across Aotearoa and the wider Pacific
• improved accessibility options for ākonga
• questions have been recategorised to test a broader range of reading comprehension attributes – including retrieval, local and complex inferencing, integrating and interpreting information, and critiquing and evluating texts.
• test scores allow for formative as well as summative reporting
• scale scores enable a student's level of achievement to be tracked from year to year
• diagnostic reports are provided in the teacher manual
• tests are standarised and easy to mark
• tests are multiple choice and maps student progress on a scale

PAT: Punctuation and Grammar

• designed to assess Years 4–10 students
• questions fall into three categories: punctuation, grammar use and grammar knowledge
• questions are aligned with the Literacy Learning Progressions
• multiple-choice for easy, accurate marking
• able to be reported using scale scores or stanines
• able to be hand-marked or marked in NZCER Assist  
• includes recommendations about using results for further teaching and learning.

PAT: Listening Comprehension

• designed to assess students in Years 3–10
• there are 8 tests; one for each year level
• multiple-choice for easy and accurate marking
• professional sound recordings of texts, questions and each multiple-choice answer on CD
• user-friendly layout of teacher and student booklets
• able to be marked in NZCER Assist
• progress over time can be tracked on a scale
• starter kits are available

For more support, contact our team at assessmentservices@nzcer.org.nz or check out our solutions and knowledge centre.

Ngā aromatawai, ngā whakamātautau, me ngā uiuinga

Assessments, tests, and surveys

NZCER develops and supports a comprehensive set of assessments and surveys to help schools support ākonga through their educational journey. Our tools are evidence-based, robustly designed and aligned to our goals of an equitable education sector that upholds its obligations to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  

Our assessments typically support ākonga from Year 3 to Year 10 (with some exceptions), and include the Progressive Achievement Tests – some of the most popular assessments in Aotearoa.  

Many of our assessments have been recently refreshed with an explicit equity focus, ensuring the language, culture and identity of all ākonga is reflected in assessment content and design. You can read more about that here.  

Our surveys can support from early primary through to tertiary settings, including tools to support wellbeing, teacher and principal practices, and perceptions of te reo Māori.

Schools and organisations can access our online assessments and surveys through our NZCER Assist platform – find out more about getting started with or using NZCER Assist here.  

For all NZCER paper tests, please head to Shop Paper Tests. 

We have a team of experienced, qualified researchers who work across projects spanning our Te Pae Tawhiti, Te Wāhanga and commissioned research work. 

Get to know the Me and My School survey

Student engagement with learning is critical for equitable learning opportunities. The Me and My School survey uses a research-based definition of the three aspects of student engagement: cognitive, behavioural, and emotional/affective. The data provides an insight into how students see themselves as learners, which helps understand learning from the learner's point of view.

This one-hour workshop explains how the Me and My School survey might help you understand levels of engagement in your school. 

The 'introduction' workshop is ideal for schools new to the tool. 

You will learn how to administer the survey and can ask questions about the use of the survey, the reporting, and become more confident about setting it up for your school.

The Me and My School survey tool provides a range of reports (including year level, class level, schoolwide, and gender and ethnicity). You will be introduced to each report using demo data.

Collated information from Kāhui Ako or clusters is available on request. Individual schools cannot be identified within this data.

This workshop is ideal for school leaders (principal, senior leaders, curriculum leaders and HODs), and Kāhui Ako leaders (across school and in-school leaders) who are new to the Me and My School survey. 

We also offer an 'analysis' workshop, suitable for leaders who want to understand the data from their school/s. 

Register for this workshop

The cost for a school or Kāhui Ako workshop is $220 + GST. The workshop is delivered online and lasts 1 hour. Please read the terms and conditions.

To register for an NZCER workshop please contact our Education Advisors, Julie Roberts and Melissa Denzler at education.adviser@nzcer.org.nz - or fill out the form below and we'll get back to you!

Use your school's data to improve teaching practice

How can school leaders develop a focused school-wide inquiry that is meaningful to staff and will lead to improved teaching practice?

This workshop is for leaders in primary and secondary schools, Kāhui Ako and clusters. Before the workshop, our advisers will complete a snapshot analysis of the assessment or survey you choose. From there you will learn new ways to use your own data to identify:

• the strengths your school brings to the inquiry
• the particular link between teaching practice and student outcomes that requires improvement

Find trends and patterns in your data

In this workshop you will be guided through your current and/or longitudinal data to investigate the trends and patterns within your assessment or survey data. 

The workshop will help you:

• use your data to validate your proposed inquiry or improvement strategy
• challenge your assumptions of the areas of strength and professional needs of your teachers
• track cohorts for learning progress between timepoints—ethnicities, gender, and year levels in individual schools or using Kāhui Ako-wide collated data

This workshop is ideal for school leaders (principal, senior leaders, curriculum leaders and HODs), and Kāhui Ako leaders (across school and in-school leaders).

Register for this workshop

The cost for a school or Kāhui Ako workshop is $220 + GST. The workshop is delivered online and lasts 1 hour. Please read the terms and conditions.

To register for an NZCER workshop, please contact our Education Advisors, Julie Roberts and Melissa Denzler: education.adviser@nzcer.org.nz - or fill out the form below and we'll get back to you! 

Use assessment data formatively

How can your assessment data can be used formatively to support teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools?

This 1-hour workshop will help teachers understand a specific NZCER assessment tool. You will be analysing your own student data to support teaching and learning programmes. 

Using your own data, this workshop will help you:

• understand the tool construct (i.e. concept progression, question types)
• understand stanines and scale scores and how your assessment results relate to The New Zealand Curriculum
• explore the range of reports and focus on specific information to support an inquiry process
• explore the Assessment Resource Banks (ARBs) to aid with students' next learning steps

This workshop is ideal for teachers who would like to inquire into their students' data using a formative approach.

Register for this workshop

The cost for a school or Kāhui Ako workshop is $195 + GST. The workshop is delivered online and lasts 1 hour, and is appropriate for a team or staff meeting. Please read the terms and conditions.

To register for an NZCER workshop, please contact either our Education Advisors or our Assessment Services team.

Julie Roberts and Melissa Denzler: education.adviser@nzcer.org.nz 

Leah Saunders: (04) 802 1435, assessmentservices@nzcer.org.nz 

Use data effectively within a subject area

As a staff or team, how can you get the best use from assessment tool data to inform teaching and learning within a learning area like mathematics, literacy or science?

This one-hour workshop support leaders and teachers to explore and analyse the reports of NZCER’s assessment tools. Each workshop focuses on a specific tool of your choice. 

This workshop will support planning within your team or school

The facilitated conversation will support participants to interpret the reports and discuss next teaching and learning steps. The workshop is designed as an interactive team, leadership, faculty, or staff meeting.

The workshop will help you:

• understand scale scores
• interpret reports (class, ākonga, and schoolwide)
• consider current teaching and learning practices
• understand how ākonga information can support teaching and learning

This workshop is ideal for teachers, leaders (principal, senior leaders, curriculum leaders and HODs), and Kāhui Ako leaders (across school and in-school leaders). 

Register for this workshop

The cost for a school or Kāhui Ako workshop is $220 + GST. The workshop is delivered online and lasts 1 hour. Please read the terms and conditions.

To register for an NZCER workshop, please contact our Education Advisors Julie Roberts and Melissa Denzler: education.adviser@nzcer.org.nz - or fill out the form below and we'll get back to you! 

Support your teaching and learning

Explore NZCER Assessments is a one-hour workshop that gives an overview of a one or two specific NZCER assessment tools (schools can choose which tools). This can include:

• Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs)
• STAR Reading Test

The full list of assessments we administer and support is available here. 

In this workshop, you’ll become familiar with the reports available in the tool and how to use the information to support teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools.

The workshop will help you:

• understand the tool construct (i.e. concept progression, question types)
• select an appropriate test (i.e. how to differentiate assessments)
• understand scale scores
• explore the range of reports and see how this information can support teaching and learning
• connect with the Assessment Resource Banks (ARBs)

This workshop is ideal for teachers, leaders (principal, senior leaders, curriculum leaders and HODs), and Kāhui Ako leaders (across school and in-school leaders). 

Register for this workshop

The cost for a school or Kāhui Ako workshop is $220 + GST. The workshop is delivered online and lasts 1 hour. Please read the terms and conditions. 

To register for an NZCER workshop, please contact our Education Advisors Julie Roberts and Melissa Denzler at education.adviser@nzcer.org.nz - or fill out the form below and we'll get back to you!