Alberta · Grade 9 · Provincial Achievement Test, mathematics

Alberta Grade 9 math PAT: what it tests, and practice

Every Grade 9 student in Alberta meets the Mathematics Provincial Achievement Test, usually in June, sometimes in January. It comes in two parts: a short, no-calculator Part A that checks number fluency, and a longer Part B of problems in real-life settings. Alberta Education says plainly that it “discourages test rehearsal and coaching”, and we agree with the spirit of that: the way to do well is to know Grade 9 math. So this page explains the test from Alberta’s own bulletin, then gives practice that builds the math itself, written by us.

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In short

The Alberta Grade 9 math PAT has two parts: Part A, 20 questions on mental math, estimation, square roots, exponent laws and rational numbers with no calculator (30 minutes), and Part B, 40 questions across all four strands with a calculator (80 minutes). In 2027 it runs in January and June. Modern Age Coders teaches Grade 9 math live online, one to one or in a batch, through our Algebra Foundations course.

Learn it with a teacher

Three courses for a Grade 9 student

The first rebuilds the algebra and number work Grade 9 rests on. The second covers the wider middle school program. The third is for students who want harder problems.

Algebra Foundations course thumbnail

ALG / 01

Algebra Foundations

Grades 7 to 9. Rational numbers, exponent laws, linear equations and polynomials, built step by step.

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Middle School Mathematics Mastery course thumbnail

ALG / 02

Middle school mathematics

Number, geometry, data and probability, the full spread of the junior high strands.

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ALG / 03

Waterloo math contests

Grades 7 to 12. For Grade 9 students who find school math easy and want the Pascal contest.

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The test, part by part

What the Grade 9 math PAT contains in 2026 to 2027

Alberta’s subject bulletin for 2026 to 2027 describes the test in detail. The two parts are written on separate days and they are deliberately different: one checks fluency, the other checks reasoning.

Grade 9 Mathematics PAT, 2026 to 2027, from Alberta’s Mathematics 9 Subject Bulletin (read 22 October 2026)
Part APart B
Questions20, numerical response, one mark each40: 32 multiple choice and 8 numerical response
Share of the test20%80%
What it checks“foundational skills and fluency in mental math, estimation, algebra, square roots, exponent laws, and arithmetic operations on rational numbers”“ability to recall concepts and principles and to apply reasoning skills to solve problems”
CalculatorNot permittedPermitted, but not a graphing calculator
TimeDesigned for 30 minutes, up to 60Designed for 80 minutes, up to 160
Number strand70% to 80% of questions25% to 35%
Patterns and Relations20% to 30%35% to 45%
Shape and SpaceNone20% to 30%
Statistics and ProbabilityNone5% to 10%
ComplexityLow 80% to 90%, moderate 10% to 20%Low 30% to 40%, moderate 45% to 55%, high 10% to 20%

Part A is about fluency

Part A is short and has no calculator, and most of its questions are low complexity: Alberta describes low-complexity items as asking students to “rely heavily on recalling and recognizing previously learned concepts and principles.” Speed and accuracy with numbers decide it.

Manipulatives such as a ruler or graph paper are allowed, and a 10 by 10 multiplication table may be used as a regular accommodation for students who use one in class, with its use recorded on the platform. It is not meant for everyone, and the bulletin says so.

Part B is about reasoning

Part B allows a scientific calculator, but its blueprint puts low-complexity questions at only 30% to 40%; the rest are moderate or high. The bulletin’s examples of moderate items include “Solve a word problem requiring multiple steps.”; high-complexity items may ask a student to “Solve a problem in more than one way.”

It also warns that “many of the questions on the mathematics test are placed in real-life contexts.” So reading matters as much as arithmetic: a student has to turn a paragraph into a calculation. A protractor is not permitted, and for π students may use the calculator button or 3.14.

What Alberta expects at each standard in Grade 9 math, quoted from the subject bulletin (selected statements)
Acceptable standard: students are typically able toStandard of excellence: students are typically able to
“use familiar problem-solving strategies to solve routine problems”“use a variety of problem-solving strategies to solve novel problems”
“recognize and describe numerical and non-numerical patterns”“demonstrate fluency in working with patterns represented concretely, pictorially, or symbolically”
“use semantic knowledge to construct correct mental representations of word problems”“use semantic knowledge to construct and reframe correct mental representations of word problems”
“test generalizations from patterns to reach conclusions”“make generalizations from patterns to reach conclusions”

Source: Alberta Education and Childcare, 2026-2027 Mathematics 9 Subject Bulletin, read 22 October 2026. The bulletin also reminds teachers that “one test cannot measure all the components within the learning outcomes in the mathematics curriculum.” Modern Age Coders has no connection with Alberta Education and Childcare.

When, and who writes it

Grade 9 math PAT dates for 2027, and this year’s exemption

Alberta says PATs “are administered annually to all Alberta students in grades 6 and 9”, and that Grade 9 tests are written in January and in June. The 2026 to 2027 General Information Bulletin sets the mathematics sittings below.

Grade 9 Mathematics PAT schedule, 2026 to 2027, from Alberta’s General Information Bulletin (read 22 October 2026)
SittingPart APart B
January 2027Friday 22 January 2027, 9 AM to 9:30 AMMonday 25 January 2027, 9 AM to 10:20 AM
June 2027Tuesday 15 June 2027, 9 AM to 9:30 AMThursday 17 June 2027, 9 AM to 10:20 AM

The pilot exemption for 2026 to 2027

Alberta is renewing its Grade 7 to 9 math curriculum, and schools may pilot the draft this year. The subject bulletin is direct about what that means for the PAT: “For the 2026/27 school year, classes in schools choosing to pilot the new curriculum for Mathematics 9 will not be required to write the Grade 9 Mathematics Provincial Achievement Test.”

Classes that are not piloting “will be required to write the provincial achievement test in June 2027.” So the first question for a Grade 9 family this year is a simple one for the school: is my child’s math class piloting the new curriculum?

What happened in January 2026

Alberta’s diploma page records that the government “cancelled the January 2026 diploma examinations and Grade 9 Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs).” The 2026 to 2027 schedule above includes a January sitting again.

The tests are now digital. Alberta’s PAT page says students write provincial assessments “in a digital environment rather than pencil and paper”, and its practice tests, with text-to-speech and a zoom feature, sit on the same digital assessment platform.

After the test: how results reach families (Alberta’s subject bulletin, parent guide and significant dates, 2026 to 2027)
StepWhat Alberta says
Raw scoresTeachers report Part A and Part B scores separately; they “are not to be combined into a total test score”
Preliminary resultsTeachers are expected to report preliminary results to parents in June
Individual Student ProfileReleased in late September 2027, through the school and on myPass
School comparisonsAlberta “does not support comparisons of schools or school authorities based on provincial achievement test scores”

Sources: Alberta Education and Childcare, General Information Bulletin 2026-2027 for Provincial Achievement Testing (schedules, significant dates); 2026-2027 Mathematics 9 Subject Bulletin; 2026-2027 Grade 9 Parent Guide; Provincial Achievement Tests and Diploma exams overview pages. Read 22 October 2026.

Practice without rehearsal

Alberta discourages coaching. Here is what we do instead

The Grade 9 Parent Guide says: “Alberta Education and Childcare discourages test rehearsal and coaching. Provincial achievement tests are like any other test students would normally write.” A page offering PAT practice should take that seriously.

What we will not do

We do not drill secured test items, imitate released questions or teach tricks for multiple choice. None of the practice on this page is taken from an Alberta test; it is written by us to the same strands.

We also do not promise a result. The PAT gives a picture of one day’s work, and Alberta itself says PATs “don’t replace daily teacher assessments but provide insights to complement ongoing classroom observations and evaluations.”

What we do

We teach Grade 9 math: the number fluency Part A checks and the problem solving Part B rewards. A student who can multiply fractions in their head and turn a paragraph into an equation needs no rehearsal.

For familiarity with the screen, Alberta publishes its own practice tests on the digital assessment platform, and we point families to them. Ten minutes on the official format before test week is sensible; weeks of it are not.

Worked problems, ours

One Part A problem and one Part B problem, worked

Both problems are our own, written for this page; they are not Alberta Education questions. The first is the kind of fluency Part A asks for, done without a calculator. The second is a multi-step problem in a real-life setting, like much of Part B.

Problem 1, no calculator. Evaluate (−3/4) + (5/6) × (−2/5).

  1. Order of operations first. Multiplication comes before addition, so work out (5/6) × (−2/5) before touching the −3/4.
  2. Simplify before multiplying. The 5 on top cancels with the 5 underneath, and the 2 cancels into the 6, leaving (1/3) × (−1) = −1/3. Cancelling first keeps the numbers small, which matters when there is no calculator.
  3. Find a common denominator. −3/4 + (−1/3) needs twelfths: −9/12 + (−4/12).
  4. Add, and check the sign. −9/12 − 4/12 = −13/12. Both parts were negative, so a negative answer is expected; a positive answer would signal a sign slip.
  5. Estimate to confirm. −0.75 plus about −0.33 is about −1.08, and −13/12 is about −1.08. The answer stands.

Problem 2, calculator allowed. A candle 24 cm tall burns down 1.5 cm every hour. Write an equation for its height h after t hours, then find when it will be shorter than 9 cm.

  1. Name the starting value and the rate. It starts at 24 cm and loses 1.5 cm per hour, so h = 24 − 1.5t. A table of the first few hours (24, 22.5, 21, 19.5) confirms the pattern.
  2. Translate “shorter than 9 cm” into symbols. 24 − 1.5t < 9. Reading the question as an inequality, not an equation, is the step students most often skip.
  3. Solve. Subtract 24: −1.5t < −15. Divide by −1.5 and reverse the inequality sign, because dividing by a negative flips it: t > 10.
  4. Check with a value. After 11 hours, h = 24 − 16.5 = 7.5 cm, which is shorter than 9. After exactly 10 hours it is exactly 9 cm, not shorter.
  5. Answer in context. The candle is shorter than 9 cm at any time after 10 hours of burning.

Notice the habits in both: simplify early, check the sign, estimate, and finish with a sentence that answers the question asked. Those habits are what Alberta’s standard of excellence describes when it mentions students who “check and verify solutions to novel problems”.

Part A style practice, ours

Ten no-calculator questions in the style of Part A

Our own questions, not Alberta Education questions, on the skills the bulletin lists for Part A. Set a timer for 15 minutes, put the calculator away, and write each answer as a number.

  1. Simplify 23 × 24 ÷ 25 and give the value.
  2. Evaluate (−3)2 − 32.
  3. Evaluate (23)2.
  4. Evaluate √0.49.
  5. √50 lies between which two consecutive whole numbers?
  6. Evaluate −2/3 + 5/6.
  7. Evaluate (−1.2) × (−0.5).
  8. Evaluate (−3/4) ÷ (3/8).
  9. Estimate 4.9 × 21 to the nearest ten, without working it out exactly.
  10. Solve 3x − 7 = 11.
  1. 4. Add exponents when multiplying and subtract when dividing: 3 + 4 − 5 = 2, and 22 = 4.
  2. 0. (−3)2 = 9 because the brackets square the negative; −32 would be −9, but here it is 32 = 9 subtracted, so 9 − 9 = 0.
  3. 64. A power of a power multiplies the exponents: 26 = 64.
  4. 0.7. 0.7 × 0.7 = 0.49.
  5. 7 and 8. 72 = 49 and 82 = 64, and 50 is just above 49.
  6. 1/6. −4/6 + 5/6 = 1/6.
  7. 0.6. A negative times a negative is positive, and 1.2 × 0.5 = 0.6.
  8. −2. Multiply by the reciprocal: (−3/4) × (8/3) = −2.
  9. About 100. 5 × 20 = 100. (The exact product is 102.9, so the estimate is close.)
  10. x = 6. Add 7 to both sides to get 3x = 18, then divide by 3.

Part B style practice, ours

Eight Part B style questions, calculator allowed

Also ours, and not Alberta Education questions. These mix patterns and relations, polynomials, measurement and probability, the strands Part B draws on. Allow about 25 minutes.

  1. The pattern 5, 9, 13, 17, ... continues. Write an expression for the nth term and find the 20th term.
  2. Solve 2(x − 3) = 5x + 9.
  3. Solve −3x + 4 ≤ 19 and describe the solution on a number line.
  4. Simplify (3x2 − 2x + 5) − (x2 + 4x − 1).
  5. Expand 2x(3x − 4).
  6. Simplify (12x2 − 8x) ÷ 4x.
  7. A person 1.8 m tall casts a shadow 2.4 m long. At the same moment a tree casts a shadow 16 m long. How tall is the tree?
  8. A fair die is rolled and a coin is flipped. What is the probability of an even number and heads?
  1. 4n + 1; 81. The pattern goes up by 4 each time, and the first term is 4(1) + 1 = 5. The 20th term is 4(20) + 1 = 81.
  2. x = −5. Expand: 2x − 6 = 5x + 9. Then −3x = 15, so x = −5. Check: 2(−8) = −16 and 5(−5) + 9 = −16.
  3. x ≥ −5. −3x ≤ 15, then divide by −3 and reverse the sign. On a number line: a closed dot at −5 with the arrow to the right.
  4. 2x2 − 6x + 6. Distribute the subtraction to every term in the second bracket, then collect like terms.
  5. 6x2 − 8x. Multiply 2x by each term.
  6. 3x − 2. Divide each term by 4x: 12x2/4x = 3x and 8x/4x = 2.
  7. 12 m. The triangles are similar, so height and shadow are in the same ratio: 1.8/2.4 = h/16, so h = 1.8 × 16 / 2.4 = 12.
  8. 1/4, or 0.25. The events are independent: P(even) = 1/2 and P(heads) = 1/2, so multiply them.

If questions 4 to 6 felt slow, polynomials are worth a focused week. If question 7 stalled, the problem was probably the reading, not the ratio: practise drawing a quick sketch before any calculation.

Six weeks of review, ours

A six-week Grade 9 math review before June 2027

Our plan for the weeks before the June sitting (Part A on Tuesday 15 June 2027). It is review of Grade 9 math, not test rehearsal, and about two short sessions a week on top of school is enough.

Six-week review before the June 2027 Grade 9 math PAT (ours)
Week startingFocusA good sign
Monday 3 May 2027Rational numbers: fractions and decimals with signs, no calculatorTen mixed operations correct in ten minutes
Monday 10 May 2027Exponent laws, square roots and estimationCan explain why (−3)2 and −32 differ
Monday 17 May 2027Linear relations, patterns and graphsWrites an equation from a table without guessing
Monday 24 May 2027Linear equations and inequalities, polynomialsRemembers to flip the sign when dividing by a negative
Monday 31 May 2027Measurement, similar shapes and probability in word problemsSketches a diagram before calculating
Monday 7 June 2027Light mixed review; one look at Alberta’s practice test on the platformCalm, rested, and nothing new learned

Habits that carry into Grade 10

Whatever the PAT shows, the number fluency in Part A is what Math 10C assumes from day one. A student who leaves Grade 9 comfortable with fractions, signs and exponent laws starts high school with a real advantage.

That is why we teach Part A skills without a calculator even in classes that are not about the PAT. The calculator is for checking, not for thinking.

For students in a pilot class

If your class is piloting Alberta’s draft Grade 7 to 9 curriculum, you will not write this PAT in 2026 to 2027, and your course may include topics the current program does not, such as functions and simple quadratic equations named in Alberta’s draft snapshot for Grade 9.

The review above still helps: number fluency and linear relations sit underneath both versions. We plan from the class’s own unit list either way.

Where your child is now

Four stages of Grade 9 number sense

Our own stages, from teaching Grade 9 students across Canada.

Grade 9 number sense (ours)
StageTypical signs
1. Calculator-ledReaches for the calculator for 6 × 7 or half of a fraction
2. Accurate but slowGets fraction and integer questions right, given time
3. FluentSimplifies before multiplying, estimates first, and spots a sign slip
4. FlexibleSolves a word problem two ways and explains which is quicker

For parents

Ask your child to work out a fraction question aloud at the dinner table. Hesitation over signs or common denominators is the best clue to what to practise.

Keep the PAT in proportion. Alberta treats it as one picture among many, and so should a Grade 9 student.

For students

Estimate before you calculate. If your answer is far from the estimate, one of them is wrong.

On word problems, underline what the question actually asks for before you start. Then answer that, in a sentence.

The catalogue

Nine more courses for junior high students

All live online with one regular teacher, in a group or individually.

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Grades 8 to 10

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Mental math

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II

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III

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Patterns and data, put to work.

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How classes run

Live Grade 9 math classes

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays.

Weekdays

After school in Alberta, with the time set by the batch.

Weekends

Weekend mornings on Alberta time.

1-on-1

Booked around unit tests and the June sitting.

No calculator first

Number sense before buttons.

School units

Taught in the class’s own order.

Word problems

Read, sketch, then calculate.

Original practice

Never copied from a test.

Short sessions

Steady weekly work, no cramming.

Group or solo

Fifteen to twenty, or one child.

Student work

Built by our students

Older students turn the same number sense into programs and data projects. More are on the student labs page.

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Questions from Alberta parents

Grade 9 math PAT: common questions

What is the Grade 9 math PAT in Alberta?

It is the Provincial Achievement Test in mathematics written by Alberta Grade 9 students. It has two parts: Part A, 20 questions on number fluency without a calculator, and Part B, 40 questions on problem solving with a calculator.

When is the Grade 9 math PAT in 2027?

In January, Part A is on Friday 22 January 2027 and Part B on Monday 25 January 2027. In June, Part A is on Tuesday 15 June 2027 and Part B on Thursday 17 June 2027. Each starts at 9 AM.

What is on Part A of the Grade 9 math PAT?

Alberta says Part A assesses foundational skills and fluency in mental math, estimation, algebra, square roots, exponent laws and arithmetic operations on rational numbers, without a calculator. It has 20 numerical-response questions, designed for 30 minutes.

Can my child use a calculator on the Grade 9 PAT?

Not on Part A. On Part B a calculator is allowed, but not a graphing calculator, and a protractor is not permitted on the test. For pi, students may use the calculator button or 3.14.

Does every Grade 9 student write the math PAT this year?

Not quite. For 2026 to 2027, classes in schools piloting the new Grade 9 math curriculum are not required to write it. Classes not piloting will write it in June 2027. Ask the school which applies.

How should my child prepare for the Grade 9 PAT?

By learning Grade 9 math well. Alberta discourages test rehearsal and coaching and says the tests are like any other test. Steady practice with fractions, integers, exponent laws, linear relations and word problems helps far more than drilling test items.

Is the Grade 9 PAT on a computer?

Yes. Alberta now delivers provincial assessments on a digital platform, and its own practice tests are on the same platform.

When do we get the results?

Teachers are expected to share preliminary results with parents in June, reporting Part A and Part B raw scores separately. The Individual Student Profile follows in late September 2027.

Do you give Grade 9 math classes in Alberta?

Yes, live online for students anywhere in Alberta. Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays.

What do Grade 9 classes cost?

There is no charge for the first class. After it, a single monthly fee covers eight live classes and can be stopped between months. See the Fees panel on this page for the current amounts.

Elsewhere on this site

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For Alberta families with a Grade 9 student.

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One-to-one help through the Grade 9 year.

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What Alberta and the others teach.

How we teach

Our approach to a live lesson.

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Book a free Grade 9 math class

Share the unit your child is on and one recent test. We will find the gaps in the first class and suggest a plan for the term.

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