Every May, Year 6 children in England sit the KS2 SATs — the national tests at the end of primary school. In maths there are three papers: one arithmetic paper and two reasoning papers, all without a calculator. The tests measure the school as much as the child, but the topics they cover — fractions, decimals and percentages, place value, measurement, geometry and statistics — are exactly the foundation your child will need in Year 7. This guide sums up what is tested, a practical four-week plan, and the avoidable mistakes that cost the most marks — without you needing to be a maths expert to help.
The KS2 SATs (officially the Key Stage 2 national curriculum tests) are sat by every Year 6 child in state schools in England during a single week in May. In maths there are three papers: Paper 1 is arithmetic, Papers 2 and 3 are reasoning. None of them allows a calculator. The results are reported as a scaled score, with 100 as the expected standard, and they are used mainly to measure the school. But the end of Year 6 is still a natural point to stop and revise the core of primary maths — fractions, decimals and percentages, place value, measurement, geometry, statistics and word problems — both to do well in May and to walk into Year 7 with a solid base. This guide, built around the structure of the real papers, sums up the core topics, a practical preparation plan and the common mistakes you can head off in advance — without you needing to know maths at a high level to help.
What are the SATs, and what do they measure?
SATs stands for Standard Assessment Tests. They are set by the Standards and Testing Agency, a part of the Department for Education, and every state primary school in England sits them in the same week. The purpose, then and now, is not to rank an individual child: it is to measure how well the school and the education system as a whole are doing, and to give secondary schools a baseline for each pupil. Your child's score does not appear on a certificate and does not decide which secondary school they go to.
What does that mean for a Year 6 child today? That there is a real, timed, national test in May — but that it covers nothing beyond the Year 6 programme of study. There is nothing to 'get in early on' except the maths they are already learning in class. A tidy revision of the core topics in the months before helps a child sit the papers calmly, and — more importantly — enter Year 7 with the foundations secure. That is why the practice on this site is useful even for children who are not anxious about the tests at all.
The structure of the three papers — what to expect
Paper 1 (arithmetic) lasts 30 minutes and has around 36 questions, each a bare calculation: long multiplication, long division, fractions of amounts, adding fractions with different denominators, decimals and percentages. There is no context — just the sum, worth one or two marks each. Papers 2 and 3 (reasoning) last 40 minutes each and have around 20-24 questions that mix short answers with multi-step problems set in context: shopping, timetables, shapes, charts. Some questions ask the child to show their method, and a correct method with an arithmetic slip can still earn a mark.
The questions are ordered roughly from easiest to hardest, so most of the early marks are for straightforward calculation and recognition, the middle for applying what has been learnt, and a small number at the end for reasoning and explaining — the same spread you will see in past papers. Practise with a pencil and no calculator, because that is how the real papers work. An average child has about a minute per arithmetic question and roughly two minutes per reasoning question, which means the most important skill to teach is not to get stuck on a single question.
The five core topics that appear most
Looking across the past papers since the current curriculum began, five areas come up in almost every year and together account for well over 80% of the marks.
- **Fractions, decimals and percentages** — adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators, comparing and ordering fractions, converting between fractions, decimals and percentages, multiplying a fraction by a whole number and finding a percentage of an amount. This is the area where the most children lose marks, mostly because the basic idea of a fraction as a part of a whole was never fully secure.
- **Perimeter, area and volume** — perimeter and area of rectangles, compound shapes and triangles; volume of cuboids. The formulae are simple, but the real difficulty is the units (cm versus cm² versus cm³) and converting between units of measure such as metres and centimetres, or grams and kilograms.
- **Word problems** — simple percentages (10%, 25%, 50%), ratio and sharing, time and distance, and 'real life' problems about shopping and change in pounds and pence. Here the child has to read, work out what is being asked, turn it into a calculation, and only then calculate.
- **Statistics** — reading bar charts, line graphs and pie charts, pulling information out of tables and timetables, and calculating the mean of up to five or six numbers. Children tend to enjoy this area because it is visual.
- **Geometry** — naming types of triangle (equilateral, isosceles, right-angled), recognising and calculating angles (acute, right, obtuse, angles on a straight line and around a point), and knowing the properties of quadrilaterals including the parallelogram and trapezium. To cover this efficiently, it helps to know the order in which topics are taught in Year 5 and Year 6.
A three-to-four-week preparation plan
The ideal time to start focused preparation is about a month before the tests. Less than that and there is not enough time to work on weaknesses; more than that and the child gets tired and loses interest.
Week 1 — diagnosis. Do a calm review of all the topics. Do not practise on purpose yet — just find out where the child feels comfortable and where they start to get confused. One short mock (about 20 questions, or a single arithmetic paper) is enough to see where the errors cluster. Spend 15-20 minutes a day, five days a week.
Week 2 — focused practice on the weak areas. If fractions are weak, practise mostly fractions. If word problems are the issue, put the emphasis there. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week. A little every day beats an hour on Sunday.
Week 3 — consolidate and widen. Keep going with the weak areas, but add practice on the topics that are already secure so they stay that way. Add two short timed papers during the week. If a specific topic is still sticking, the general guide to revising for a maths test gives a few more principles that help.
Week 4 — full papers against the clock. About 25 minutes a day, with at least two complete timed papers during the week. The child needs to feel the time pressure before the real thing. Do no practice at all in the last two days before the tests — let them rest.
Common mistakes in the papers (and how to prevent them)
Most children do not lose marks because they do not know the maths — they lose them to repeated, avoidable slips. These are the five most common:
- **Not reading the whole question.** The child sees numbers and starts calculating. The fix: teach them to circle the key words before they begin.
- **Forgetting units.** Writing an answer in cm when the question wants cm², or the other way round. Practice: every time you do an area question, ask 'which unit?'.
- **A correct calculation but an answer that makes no sense.** A child works out that three children ate 750 apples. The fix: teach the child to stop for a second and ask 'is that reasonable?'.
- **Wasting time on a hard question.** The child gets stuck on one question for ten minutes and never finishes the paper. The rule: if there is no idea after two minutes, skip it and come back at the end.
- **Not checking at the end.** Anyone who finishes early should go back over their answers, especially the ones they marked to return to.
What a parent can do — without the pressure
The most important thing you can do is keep the atmosphere at home calm. A child who senses that their parents are anxious becomes twice as anxious themselves. Try to treat the SATs as one more school test, not a life-defining event — because that is what they are.
Practise together through play. Instead of 'sit down and do 30 questions now', try 'let's see who solves this first' or 'if you do five questions, we'll go for an ice cream'. A child's brain learns far better when it is enjoying itself.
The week before the tests: keep bedtimes regular — at least nine hours of sleep a night. A tired child does not think well. On the morning of each paper: a proper breakfast (wholemeal toast, an egg, some fruit), not something sugary that leads to an energy crash an hour later. Check that a sharpened pencil, a rubber and a ruler are in the school bag — the school will provide what is needed in the test, but it helps the child feel ready.
And do not open the revision books the day before. It only confuses things and creates a feeling of 'I don't know anything'. Go for a short walk or watch a film instead. Leave the head clear.
What NOT to do
There are a few things parents do with the best of intentions that hurt the child more than they help:
- **'These tests will decide your whole future'** — a falsehood the child can feel, and it creates paralysing anxiety.
- **'Your older brother found it easy, what about you?'** — comparing siblings is poison. Every child is different.
- **Revising late into the night before a paper** — a tired brain forgets what it learnt.
- **Blaming the teacher if the child struggles** — the child hears it, loses trust in the teacher, and stops listening in class.
- **Punishing a low score** — it will not make the next score higher, it will only make the child afraid of tests.
Frequently asked questions
When are the KS2 SATs, and what maths papers are there?
The KS2 SATs are sat in a single week in May of Year 6. Maths has three papers: Paper 1 (arithmetic, 30 minutes) and Papers 2 and 3 (reasoning, 40 minutes each). No calculator is allowed on any of them. Check the exact dates with your school — the DfE publishes the test week each year.
Do the SATs affect my child's school report or grades?
Not directly. SATs results are reported as a scaled score (100 is the expected standard) and passed on to the secondary school, but they are not a grade on a certificate and do not count towards anything later on. Your child's school report is based on classwork, teacher assessment and effort across the year, as decided by the school.
Do SATs results decide which secondary school my child goes to?
No. Admission to state secondary schools in England is based on the local authority's admissions criteria — usually catchment area, siblings and distance — not on SATs scores. Some secondary schools use SATs data to set initial maths groups in Year 7, but those groups are reviewed once the school knows the pupil. Selective grammar schools use their own 11+ tests, which are separate from the SATs.
What is the difference between this practice and a normal class test?
A normal class test is written by the teacher and covers what that class studied in a specific period. SATs-style practice is built around the structure of the national papers — it covers the whole primary curriculum, including reasoning and 'explain your answer' questions, not just mechanical use of methods.
Can my child use a calculator for this practice?
It is better to practise without one, exactly as in the real papers — every calculation done by hand, in pencil, with working on the page. That is how the child builds fluent written methods rather than relying on a calculator. For checking answers at home only, the perimeter and area calculator or the mean calculator on the site can help.
How long should we practise each day?
Fifteen to twenty-five minutes a day, five days a week. More than that and the child gets tired, loses interest and the practice stops being useful. Less than that and there is not enough repetition. Many short sessions beat a few long ones — a short, focused daily session is worth far more than two hours on a Saturday.
How can I tell which topics my child is weak in?
The best way is a full mock paper. The free SATs-style practice on MathsUK is matched to the Year 6 curriculum — at the end of each set you see a breakdown of mistakes by topic, and you can repeat it to measure improvement. You can also simply look through recent homework and class tests and see where most of the red pen is.
What if my child refuses to practise?
First, understand the resistance — is it tiredness, fear of failing, or just boredom with the material? Try cutting practice to ten minutes at first, and turn it into a game or a challenge with a small reward at the end. If the child still refuses, do not force it — that only strengthens the resistance. Talk about what frightens them, remind them that this is just one test out of many, and that you will love them exactly the same whatever the score.
SATs-style maths practice for Year 6 — arithmetic and reasoning, with a breakdown of mistakes by topic
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