1. Set it up like the real test
A score only means something if the conditions match. Use the official timings, sit your child somewhere quiet, and don't help: in the real test, the adult can't say whether an answer is right or suggest looking again. Download the question paper and the mark scheme from our past papers page. For reading you need two files (the texts and the question booklet), and for spelling you need the read-aloud script.
| Paper | Time | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Maths — Paper 1: Arithmetic | 30 min | 40 |
| Maths — Paper 2: Reasoning | 40 min | 35 |
| Maths — Paper 3: Reasoning | 40 min | 35 |
| Reading — Paper 1 | 60 min | 50 |
| GPS — Paper 1: Grammar & Punctuation | 45 min | 50 |
| GPS — Paper 2: Spelling | ~15 min | 20 |
No calculator for any maths paper. For the two reasoning papers your child can use a ruler, a protractor and a mirror. The spelling test is not strictly timed. Around 15 minutes is typical.
2. How to read the mark scheme
Each question has a row with three parts. Requirement says what earns the mark, and whether working can earn one. Mark says how many marks are available ("Up to 2m" means 0, 1 or 2). Additional guidance lists other answers that are accepted and, just as important, ones that are not. Most disagreements at home are settled by that last column.
The scheme can't list every answer. If your child's answer is clearly correct but worded or laid out differently, markers accept it. Diagrams, symbols and words all count if the meaning is clear.
3. Maths: the rules parents most often get wrong
Two-mark questions can earn one mark for working
In the arithmetic paper, long multiplication and long division are worth 2 marks. If the answer is wrong, 1 mark is still awarded for the formal written method with no more than one arithmetic error. In the reasoning papers, many 2-mark questions give 1 mark for an appropriate method. So always ask your child to show their working.
Working must go under the question
For the long multiplication and long division questions, working done somewhere else on the page only counts as a formal method if the child first rewrites the original question.
A right answer with wrong working still gets full marks
Markers credit a correct final answer even if the working shown is wrong.
Two answers, one wrong, scores nothing
If a child gives both a correct and an incorrect answer, the mark is not awarded. Crossed-out or rubbed-out answers that are not replaced also score nothing.
Look in the working if the answer box is blank
If the correct answer is clearly given somewhere else on the page, for example labelled on a diagram, the mark is awarded.
Copying mistakes are only forgiven in narrow cases
If the right answer in the working was copied wrongly into the box, the mark is only given when two digits were swapped (243 written as 324) or one digit changed in a number of four or more digits. A moved decimal point, an extra or missing digit, or a dropped minus sign scores nothing.
Fractions: check the 'Additional guidance' column
Many questions accept equivalent fractions or the exact decimal, but not rounded decimals. A mixed number must use a proper fraction: 1 6/4 is not accepted.
Remainders must be written correctly
In long division, a remainder as big as the divisor or bigger means the method is incomplete. A remainder written as a decimal (6 r14 written as 6.14) is not accepted.
A comma is not a decimal point
3,5 is not accepted for 3.5. Commas are fine as thousands separators, as in 5,250.
One difference between the papers: in the arithmetic paper, an answer based on misreading a number in the question scores nothing. In the reasoning papers, a misread can sometimes still earn a method mark on a 2-mark question.
4. Grammar and punctuation (GPS Paper 1)
- Every Paper 1 question is worth 1 mark. There are no half marks.
- A cross or a circle instead of a tick is fine. Ticking more boxes than the question asks for scores 0.
- When circling or underlining, only the answer may be marked. Circling it together with the words around it scores 0.
- Punctuation must be clearly recognisable. If you can't tell whether a mark is a comma or a full stop, it scores 0.
- Spelling must be correct for most questions, especially contractions, verb forms, plurals, prefixes and suffixes.
- A capital letter must be clearly a capital. A whole word written in capitals scores 0.
5. The spelling test (GPS Paper 2)
You read this one aloud. For each of the 20 words: say the number, say "The word is…", read the sentence from the script, then say "The word is…" again. Leave at least 12 seconds before the next word, and say the words normally. Stressing the tricky letters gives the answer away. You can repeat a word if needed. Each correct spelling is worth 1 mark.
- Upper case, lower case or a mix are all accepted, except days of the week, which need a capital first letter and lower case after it.
- The right letters with an apostrophe or hyphen added ("dis-appointed") score 0.
- The right letters split into separate parts ("dis appointed") score 0.
- If the child tried more than once and it isn't clear which attempt counts, the mark is not awarded.
6. Reading
Reading is the hardest paper to mark at home, because most answers are written in the child's own words. These rules keep you consistent with the real markers:
- Questions are worth 1, 2 or 3 marks, shown in the margin of the answer booklet. No half marks.
- The mark scheme lists acceptable points. They are principles, not exact wording, so accept an answer that makes the same point in your child's own words.
- Mark what the answer says, not how well it is written. Markers judge the content, not the quality of the writing, expression or grammar.
- For 2- and 3-mark questions, check exactly how many points, or how much evidence from the text, the scheme asks for at each mark.
- For 'find and copy' questions, words outside the brackets are the answer and words inside show the most they may copy. Small copying slips are allowed.
7. From raw marks to a scaled score
Add up the marks across all of a subject's papers: maths is out of 110 (three papers), reading out of 50, and GPS out of 70 (Paper 1 plus spelling). Each year has its own conversion table, because the papers differ slightly in difficulty. A scaled score of 100 is the expected standard and 110 is the higher standard.
Each year on our past papers page has a score checker for that exact paper, or use the scaled score converter for any year. For what the number means, see what is a good SATs score.
8. Find where the marks went
A score tells you how much. It doesn't tell you what to practise. The mark scheme can, because each question has a content domain reference. In maths, the table near the front of the mark scheme gives a code such as 4C7: the number is the year group the skill comes from, and the letter is the topic area.
List the questions your child lost marks on, write down each one's letter, and count. If most lost marks are F or R, that's where to focus, not "more past papers". In GPS the codes are G1–G7 (grammar and punctuation areas) and S codes for each spelling rule. In reading they are 2a–2h. For example, 2b is retrieval and 2d is inference.
To see which areas come up most across all the papers, see the most-tested maths topics and most-tested English topics. For how the real papers are marked and access arrangements, see our SATs marking guide.
Common questions
Where do I find the mark scheme for a SATs past paper?
The Standards and Testing Agency publishes one mark scheme per subject each year, covering all of that subject's papers. Our past papers page links each year's maths, reading and GPS mark scheme next to the question papers.
Do children get marks for working out in SATs maths?
Yes, on many 2-mark questions. In the arithmetic paper, long multiplication and long division give 1 mark for a correct formal method with no more than one arithmetic error, even if the final answer is wrong. In the reasoning papers, many 2-mark questions give 1 mark for an appropriate method.
Are half marks given in KS2 SATs?
No. Each question gets a whole number of marks: 0 or 1 for most questions, and up to 2 or 3 where the mark scheme allows.
Does spelling count in the grammar paper?
For most questions, yes. The GPS mark scheme requires correct spelling for most of Paper 1, especially contractions, verb forms, plurals, prefixes and suffixes. In the reading paper, markers judge the content of an answer, not the quality of the writing.
How do I read out the SATs spelling test at home?
For each of the 20 words, say the number, say 'The word is…', read the sentence, then say 'The word is…' again. Leave at least 12 seconds between words and don't stress the spelling as you say them. The official read-aloud script has the exact sentences.
How do I turn raw marks into a scaled score?
Add up the marks for all of a subject's papers: maths is out of 110, reading out of 50 and GPS out of 70. Then use that year's conversion table. A scaled score of 100 is the expected standard; in 2026, that took 56 marks in maths.
Marking rules summarised from the Standards and Testing Agency's KS2 mark schemes and test administration guidance (Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Individual questions can have their own rules, so the mark scheme for the paper always takes priority.