The students will have their reading, writing, numeracy, spelling, grammar and punctuation skills tested, to provide teachers with valuable data on where each student sits compared to their peers across the country.

East Maitland Public School principal Steve Morgan said the results are a very useful tool for the school.

"They do have a few exams to get through, however they are spaced out nicely and it's not really an assessment of anything other than what their knowledge is against the syllabus and all the things that they're learning in their classrooms," he said.

"It's a really good assessment that gives us a bit of point in time data around all of our students so that we can get some effective planning for our future directions in the school."

Mr Morgan said the results help make a clear picture of where the students are at, alongside other data.

"We take into consideration it's a point in time assessment, and that is only one aspect of our assessment schedule," he said.

"What we tend to do is we'll look to take the data from NAPLAN and triangulate that data with some of our internal and external data measures, which will give us a really strong picture of what all our students in year 3 and 5 need at this point in time, so we can plan some really strong and effective learning for all of our students."

Aside from the year 3 writing paper, all of the tests are completed online.

NAPLAN has no pass or fail mark, and excessive preparation is unnecessary. About 40,000 Hunter students will take part.

Mr Morgan said parents can prepare their children by ensuring they are well rested.

"Realistically, it's more making sure the kids have a good night's sleep before the NAPLAN so they're nice and well rested and ready to go, and talking positively to their child about the test and reassuring them that NAPLAN is just one part of the school program, and just to go in there and do the best they can," he said.

For the first time schools will receive results just four weeks after the test period ends on March 25.