There were little nerves and plenty of excitement for Kiama Public School students on the first day of NAPLAN tests for 2019.
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Writing skills were the first to be tested on Tuesday, with 136 year 3 and 5 Kiama students taking part.
For the second year running Kiama students in year 5 completed the test online. All year three students across the state still complete the writing skills test on paper.
Year 5 students Chloe Johnston, Tess Mansell, Harrison Mee and Christian Smith all agreed the test was a bit challenging but fun nonetheless.
Only Chloe admitted to being a touch nervous.
"I was a bit nervous when I was doing my test but overall I think it was good for everyone to get in and have a go."
Tess added it was "good to challenge yourself and think creatively".
Christian said the hardest part was getting started.
"But once the ideas started rolling in, it was fine," he said.
Harrison said he enjoyed the test but was most looking forward to doing the maths assessment on Thursday.
Kiama Public School assistant principal Kieren Corbyn said by all accounts it seemed the students had done an excellent job.
"At our school we treat [NAPLAN] like any other day at school, with the view to best meet our kids' needs," he said.
Mr Corbyn said the National Assessment Program was one of many great tools schools used to understand the best ways to meet students' learning needs.
"The national assessment tests the kids on a wide variety of skills that come through the curriculum and it just gives us a general understanding of how the kids are progressing and how we can best support them," he said.
"There is a lot of tools that come with the national assessment program which schools can use to have a look individually and also as a whole school and try to determine areas that we can focus on and things we can help individuals and groups to help advance their learning as best as possible."
NAPLAN tests will run on paper from May 14 to 16 and online from May 14 to 24.