About this worksheet

This free Year 5 chance experiments worksheet is written for the Western Australian curriculum and mapped to SCSA content description WA5MPSP2. It focuses on one skill and is full of hands-on activities where children shade, draw, label and complete diagrams. By the end, students can say “I can run a chance experiment, record the results as fractions and explain why results vary.”

What’s inside

• Key idea box – a short explanation with a worked, visual example to read before starting.
• A · Warm up (16 questions) – quick draw, shade and write practice to build confidence.
• B · Practise (9 questions) – worded problems in everyday Australian contexts, most with a diagram to work on.
• C · Think it through (5 questions) – explain your thinking: spot the mistake, true or false, always–sometimes–never, odd one out.
• D · Challenge (3 questions) – harder multi-step and problem-solving questions for students ready to stretch.
• Separate marking key – every answer with working, the correct shading and drawings shown in colour, and marking criteria for reasoning questions.

Skills covered

• Running a chance experiment and recording results
• Writing results as fractions
• Explaining why results vary between trials

How to use this worksheet

Print the worksheet in black and white – all shading shows clearly in grey. Read the Key idea box together, then complete Section A. Most students should attempt Sections B and C; Section D suits students aiming high or preparing for extension and selective-entry maths. The worksheet is marked out of 58, and the score box on the last page shows which section needs more practice.

The diagrams follow the styles used in NAPLAN numeracy, so this sheet doubles as NAPLAN practice.

Common mistakes to watch for

• Expecting each colour to come up exactly the same number of times
• Deciding a coin is unfair after only 6 tosses
• Writing a result out of the wrong total
• Thinking two people doing the same experiment will get the same results

Where this fits in the WA Year 5 sequence

Chance Experiments sits in the Probability sub-strand of Probability and statistics. It is one of a set of short, single-skill EduLift worksheets that split each Year 5 content description into sub-skills. Use the previous and next links to work through the sequence in order.

Common errors we see in tutoring

• Expecting each colour to come up exactly the same number of times
• Deciding a coin is unfair after only 6 tosses
• Writing a result out of the wrong total
• Thinking two people doing the same experiment will get the same results