The national academic test: who sits it in 2026, and what the score is for

The national academic and learning survey (全国学力・学習状況調査, zenkoku gakuryoku gakushū jōkyō chōsa) is a census the Ministry of Education runs so that boards and schools can see how learning is going and improve teaching. The outline for the 2026 round (令和8年度) is dated 5 December 2025. The purpose printed there is to see how learning is going across the country and to improve teaching. The outline does not mention entrance exams, or a place at the next school.

In elementary school the children who sit it are in grade 6, including grade 6 of a compulsory-education school and of a special-needs school's elementary department. In junior high they are in grade 3. National, public and private schools take part, in principle every child in those grades. A family with a child in grades 1–3 has nothing to register. The school runs the day. Grade 6 is the year this paper describes.

What is tested, and when

Elementary subjects are Japanese and mathematics, on paper, 45 minutes each. Junior-high subjects are Japanese and mathematics, on paper, 50 minutes each, plus English on the child's tablet through the ministry's online system. The questions stay, in principle, inside what was taught up to the previous grade: knowledge and skill the next grade depends on, and the ability to use that knowledge on a real problem. Some questions ask for a written answer. English speaking is spoken. Some English questions are kept unpublished so they can be used again.

There is also a questionnaire, on the tablet, about motivation, how the child studies, and daily life. The school answers a separate questionnaire about its teaching.

	Elementary, grade 6	Junior high, grade 3
Japanese and maths	Thursday 23 April 2026, at school, 45 minutes each	Thursday 23 April 2026, at school, 50 minutes each
English, except speaking	—	A day the ministry assigns from Monday 20 April through Thursday 23 April 2026. Friday 24 April is the reserve. Listening is about 20 minutes; listening plus the questionnaire about 50; reading and writing about 50.
English speaking	—	About 20 minutes. About 500 schools sit it on Friday 24 April or Monday 27 April. The other schools sit it on a day from Tuesday 28 April through Friday 29 May 2026, and may do so outside school.
Questionnaire	A day the ministry assigns from Friday 24 April through Friday 8 May 2026, on the tablet	With the English block above, or in the later window below

If the school cannot run the day, or a child is absent, a later window exists. Japanese and maths: Friday 24 April through Thursday 30 April 2026. English except speaking: Monday 27 April through Friday 1 May 2026. The elementary questionnaire: from the day after the assigned day through Friday 8 May. The junior-high questionnaire: Monday 27 April through Friday 8 May. Japanese and maths stay at school. English and the questionnaire, in that later window, may be done outside school.

The evening of the test day, or of the reserve day, the ministry publishes the questions, sample answers and the point of each question, except the unpublished English items. Schools are told not to let those unpublished items spread.

Who may sit a shorter paper, or a different room

The school may allow more time, braille, large print, ruby (furigana) on the questions, someone to write the answers, a separate room, and, for English speaking, questions shown as a script. A child in a special-needs school or a special-needs class is, in principle, left out of a subject when they are being taught a lower grade's content instead, or the curriculum used for children with an intellectual disability. A junior-high pupil whose average hearing loss is 60 decibels or more in each ear is, in principle, left out of English listening and speaking when the school judges those parts too difficult.

A child who needs Japanese-language teaching may have more time and ruby. If they are taken out of Japanese, maths or English for that language teaching, the school may leave that subject out of the survey. Ask the teacher whether your child is in that group before 23 April of grade 6.

What the result means

The school gives each child a personal result sheet (個人票, kojinhyō). The ministry also sends schools and boards the class picture and the school picture, and it publishes national and prefectural figures. It tells boards and schools that the survey measures one part of learning, and one side of what a school does.

Publication has a hard limit. A board or a school may explain its own results to families and residents, together with an analysis and what it will change. It does not publish a list of average scores, and it does not publish a ranking (平均正答数や平均正答率等の数値について、一覧での公表やそれらの数値により順位を付した公表等は行わないこと). A single child's result is not published where the child could be identified. The outline also says the survey should not be handled in a way that lines schools up or pushes competition too far.

The school must explain the purpose, the content, and how results are handled, to the children and the guardians, before the day. The answer sheets the ministry uses do not take the child's or the parent's name. The outline does not set a fee for a family.

What to do now

• In grades 1–3, nothing is due. Know that grade 6 is the elementary year, and that the 2026 dates above are the ones in this outline.
• In grade 6, ask the teacher which day the questionnaire falls on, between 24 April and 8 May 2026, and whether your child needs more time, ruby, or a subject left out because of Japanese-language pull-out or a special class.
• If your child is absent on 23 April 2026, ask the school to use the later window. It runs only until 30 April for Japanese and maths.
• When the personal sheet comes home, read it with the teacher as a picture of one part of learning. The outline does not make it an entrance score.
• Ignore any ranking of schools built from this survey. Boards are told not to publish one.