OLNA numeracy section — realistic for adult returners with an 18-year gap?
I'm 34 and going back to finish year 12 equivalency in Western Australia. I left school at 16 and haven't done formal maths since then. My literacy is fine — I read constantly and I'm not worried about that component at all. The numeracy section is what's keeping me up at night.
From what I've read the OLNA numeracy covers number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability. It's not university-level maths but for someone who hasn't touched algebra in 18 years it might as well be. I've been doing Khan Academy exercises for about 4 weeks now. Progress is happening but slowly.
I'm sitting the assessment in about 10 weeks. My practice scores on the sample questions are around 55-60%, and the benchmark is 73 correct out of 101 questions on the actual assessment. I need to close that gap and I'm not sure if I'm doing the right things. Anyone who's done OLNA as an adult have a sense of how long it realistically took to feel comfortable with the numeracy content?
The measurement and geometry section was my weakest area. Perimeter, area, and volume calculations are fair game and if you haven't done them in a long time they'll take longer than you expect to get fast at. Give that section a dedicated week before exam day.
I passed on my second sitting. First time I didn't take the time constraint seriously and ran out of time on the back third of the paper. Practice with a hard 45-minute limit and you'll be in much better shape.
Going from 57% to 73% in 10 weeks is realistic if you're putting in an hour a day consistently. The statistics section is actually the most manageable for adults — reading graphs and interpreting data is something people do intuitively. Don't let it scare you.
I did OLNA at 29 after being out of school for 11 years. Khan Academy is the right call — I'd also add the SCSA sample assessments to your rotation. The real exam questions are close in style and doing them timed is more useful than open practice at this stage.
I'm 35 and was in almost exactly your situation two years ago. Hadn't touched maths since year 10, thought I'd forgotten everything, genuinely considered just not bothering with the numeracy at all and seeing if I could get around it somehow. I didn't end up passing the first time either, which was rough, but it wasn't the disaster I expected. The questions aren't tricky in a clever way -- they're pretty straightforward once you recognize what they're actually asking.
Honestly the thing that helped me most was just doing loads of practice on the basic stuff: fractions, percentages, reading graphs. It's not advanced maths. If your brain hasn't done it in 18 years it feels alien at first but it comes back faster than you'd think. Give yourself more attempts than you think you'll need and don't treat the first sitting like it's your only shot. You'll be fine.
I failed my first attempt and I won't sugarcoat it — I walked in thinking my general life skills would carry me through. They didn't. The questions aren't hard conceptually but the way they're worded threw me completely. Second time around I spent about three weeks just doing timed practice under exam conditions, not studying maths theory, actually sitting down with a timer and working through past-style questions until reading them stopped making my brain freeze. That shift made a huge difference.
One thing nobody told me: the numeracy section tests whether you can figure out what's being asked as much as whether you can do the maths. Once I started focusing on pulling out the actual question before touching numbers, my accuracy jumped. You've got 18 years of real-world problem solving behind you, and that counts for more than you think. Just make sure the format isn't new to you on the day.
Honestly, I was in almost exactly your situation — 37, hadn't touched maths since I was 15, and I genuinely considered just not bothering with the numeracy section at all. The first practice test I did was humiliating. But here's the thing: the numeracy section isn't testing advanced stuff, it's testing whether you can think through everyday problems, and that's actually something adult returners can be decent at once the panic settles. I kept at it and passed on my first attempt.
What helped me most was just doing a lot of sample questions until the format stopped feeling foreign. If your literacy is solid, look at the free olna reading resources too because understanding how they structure questions across both sections gave me better instincts for the numeracy wording. Don't bail. You've got more going for you than a 16-year-old does.