Grade 6 · Alberta
Grade 6: the first provincial test
Grade 6 ends the elementary years with Alberta's achievement tests in English, math and science. Numbers go below zero, equations get solved, and science asks for explanations. This page is for the grown-up — what Alberta asks for, what the tests look like, and what to do at home.
The four learning areas
Each one starts with what Alberta asks for and what the June test covers, defines the words teachers use, and then gives you things to try at home.
English language arts and literature
Reading and writing
Reasons that hold up in a discussion, reading between the lines, revising for voice, accurate proofreading, and how texts persuade.
Open reading and writing
Mathematics
Below zero and beyond
Negative numbers, powers and primes, multiplying and dividing decimals, fractions with different denominators, rates and ratios, equations, the four quadrants, area and volume, functions and relative frequency.
Open below zero and beyond
Science
How things work
Heating and cooling, forces inside and outside objects, choosing energy resources, climate and climate change, ecosystems and photosynthesis, the solar system, loops and conditions in code, and the hypothesis.
Open how things work
Physical education and wellness
Moving and feeling good
Training principles, movement patterns, resolving conflict, respecting different views, thinking through risks, how access shapes what people eat, growing up, and the real cost of borrowing money.
Open moving and feeling good
For the child
30 printable sheets
Printables
Reasoning, inference and proofreading, negative numbers, powers, decimals, fractions, equations, functions and relative frequency, a Part A warm-up, forces, energy choices, ecosystems, the solar system to scale, and the cost of borrowing.
Print a sheet
3 games
Games
Below Zero, Balance It, Food Web — negative numbers, equations and food webs.
Play a game
The achievement tests in June
Grade 6 is the first year Alberta students write provincial achievement tests (PATs). In June 2027 there are three: English language arts and literature, mathematics, and science. They are written on a computer, every student may take up to double the designed time if they need it, and no calculator is allowed on either math part or on science. There is no social studies test this year, because its curriculum is new.
| Test | When (2027), and how long | What is on it |
|---|---|---|
| English language arts and literature, Part A: Writing | Wednesday, June 2 2 hours | Two pieces of writing, one non-fiction and one fiction. The first 10 minutes may be spent talking the prompts over with classmates. |
| English language arts and literature, Part B: Reading | Friday, June 4 1 hour | 50 questions on fiction, non-fiction, poetry and visual media. |
| Science | Friday, June 11 1 hour | 50 questions, often in groups around one real-life situation. No calculator. |
| Mathematics, Part A | Monday, June 14 30 minutes | 15 number questions: integers, decimals and powers; fractions, rates and ratios. No calculator. |
| Mathematics, Part B | Wednesday, June 16 75 minutes | 40 questions from the whole course. No calculator here either. |
Schools share preliminary results with parents by the end of the school year, and a fuller report, the Individual Student Profile, follows in the fall. The tests check a year's learning, so the best preparation is the year itself — but knowing the format, and practising without a calculator, takes the surprise out of June.
Dates are from Alberta Education and Childcare's 2026–27 General Information Bulletin for the achievement tests; formats and blueprints are from the Grade 6 subject bulletins. Both are at alberta.ca/provincial-achievement-tests.
What changes from Grade 5
- Numbers go below zero, and get powers. Negative numbers, exponents, prime factors — and all four operations with decimals, on paper.
- Letters become unknowns. Grade 5 evaluated 3 × n + 2 for a given n. Grade 6 solves 3 × n + 2 = 17 to find it.
- Reading becomes analysis. What a text implies, how it is organized, and how it tries to shape what the reader thinks.
- Money gets a cost. Wellness asks what borrowing really costs — the first time interest appears.
Alberta teaches seven required subjects in Grade 6. This site covers four of them: English language arts and literature, mathematics, science, and physical education and wellness.
How to use this
- Start with a learning area. Each one gives the expectations, what that part of the June test looks like, and the words — inference, exponent, unit rate, hypothesis — that teachers use.
- Print a sheet when you want something on paper. The Part A warm-up is shaped like the real first math test: 15 questions, 30 minutes, no calculator.
- Hand over a game when you need ten quiet minutes. No account, no advertising, nothing that asks for money.
The expectations above are paraphrased from Alberta Education's Grade 6 programs of study, published on new LearnAlberta.