New Zealand Money Assessment Levels 1–3 | Pre-Test, Post-Test & Tracking Sheets

 

Find the gaps in your students’ money knowledge before they become bigger problems

You have taught New Zealand money—but can your students identify, count, compare, round and use money independently?

A child may recognise every coin but still struggle to combine different values. Another may complete calculations correctly yet confuse $5.20 with $5.02 or become stuck when money appears in a real-life problem.

This New Zealand Money Assessment for Levels 1–3 helps you quickly see what each learner understands, where support is needed and what to teach next.

Use it as a pre-test before beginning a money unit, repeat it as a post-test to show progress, or use individual sections to check specific skills.

Stop guessing what your students need

Whole-class money activities do not always reveal where an individual child is getting stuck.

This assessment separates money knowledge into clear skills, helping you identify whether a learner needs support with:

• recognising New Zealand coins and notes
• counting coins of the same value
• combining different money values
• comparing amounts
• rounding and estimating
• reading and writing dollar amounts
• adding and subtracting money
• applying money knowledge to practical problems

Instead of reteaching an entire unit, you can focus your lessons on the exact skills that are not yet secure.

What is included?

• Level 1 New Zealand money assessment
• Level 2 New Zealand money assessment
• Level 3 New Zealand money assessment
• Completed answer pages
• Teacher marking guidance
• Level 1 student knowledge record
• Level 2 student knowledge record
• Level 3 student knowledge record

Level 1: Building essential money foundations

The Level 1 assessment uses photographs of New Zealand coins and notes to assess whether children can:

• identify 10c, 20c, 50c, $1 and $2 coins
• identify $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes
• count groups of coins with the same value
• count combinations of different values
• compare two amounts
• skip-count money in 2s, 5s and 10s
• understand how many 10c, 20c and 50c coins make $1

Level 2: Moving beyond coin recognition

The Level 2 assessment checks whether learners can apply their money knowledge more flexibly.

Skills include:

• making the same amount using different combinations
• recognising combinations that total $100
• rounding to the nearest dollar
• rounding to the nearest 50 cents
• matching written money amounts with numerals
• writing money amounts in words
• estimating whether a total is above or below a benchmark

Level 3: Applying money to calculations and problems

The Level 3 assessment moves into more abstract and practical work, including:

• adding amounts containing dollars and cents
• subtracting amounts containing dollars and cents
• using multiplication in a purchasing context
• solving a multi-step problem involving cash and EFTPOS

This level is intentionally shorter because learners at this stage are expected to apply their money knowledge across broader number work.

Use the same resource before and after teaching

Give the appropriate assessment before your money unit to establish a starting point. Record each child’s results on the included class tracking sheet, then repeat the assessment after teaching.

This gives you clear evidence of:

• individual progress
• skills that are now secure
• concepts that still need consolidation
• learners who are ready for more advanced work

It is also a useful source of evidence for parent conferences, learning reports, individual plans and intervention decisions.

Perfect for

• New Zealand primary classrooms
• Montessori elementary classrooms
• homeschool programmes
• beginning-of-unit assessment
• end-of-unit assessment
• flexible maths grouping
• individual learning plans
• intervention and remediation
• reporting and portfolio evidence

Assess now so you can spend your teaching time on the skills children genuinely need—not work they have already mastered or concepts they are not yet ready for.

Created for real classrooms

Created by Lisa, a Montessori-trained teacher, New Zealand registered teacher, school principal and former homeschooler. MontessoriKiwi resources are designed to be practical, purposeful and manageable in mixed-age and diverse classrooms.