We mapped every one of the 939 KS2 English SATs questions set between 2016 and 2026 — grammar, punctuation, spelling and reading. Two reading skills alone make up nearly three-quarters of every reading paper.
Every official KS2 English mark scheme from 2016 to 2026 was broken down question by question — 939 questions across GPS Paper 1 (grammar), Paper 2 (spelling) and Paper 3 (reading), spanning 9 test years (2020 and 2021 are excluded, since SATs were cancelled those years).
Reading questions are grouped using the exact content-domain categories the Standards and Testing Agency itself defines — inference, retrieval, vocabulary in context and so on — which is an unambiguous, official framework straight from the mark schemes. For GPS and spelling, each question was mapped to a specific AceLearner topic; a small number of National Curriculum codes are broad enough to genuinely span more than one topic, so those are included in the domain-level breakdown below but left out of the specific-topic ranking, to avoid presenting a precise-looking number that isn't actually precise.
Based on all 359 reading questions from 2016 to 2026. Inference and retrieval alone account for nearly three-quarters of every reading paper.
Based on all 580 GPS and spelling questions from 2016 to 2026.
Ranked by how many of the 479 unambiguously-mapped GPS and spelling questions each specific topic accounted for.
| # | Topic | Times seen |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parenthesis — brackets, commas & dashes Using brackets, commas or dashes to add extra information to a sentence. | 20 |
| 2 | Coordinating conjunctions and / but / or / so — joining clauses and choosing the one that fits the logic. | 17 |
| 3 | Active & passive voice Identifying and converting between active and passive sentences. | 15 |
| 4 | Doubling before vowel suffixes Spelling rule for multisyllable words before adding a vowel suffix. | 13 |
| 5 | -tion/-ssion/-cian endings Spelling the /ʃ/ sound at the end of words. | 12 |
| 6 | Commas after fronted adverbials Punctuating a fronted adverbial correctly and consistently. | 10 |
| 6 | Commas to clarify meaning Using a comma to remove ambiguity from a sentence. | 10 |
| 6 | Silent letters Words like 'knight' and 'doubt' with a letter that isn't pronounced. | 10 |
| 6 | Spelling rule -ous Adding -ous to a regular root word. | 10 |
| 6 | Spelling rule -ally/-ly Choosing the correct adverb-forming suffix. | 10 |
| 11 | Colons Using a colon correctly, including to introduce a list. | 9 |
| 11 | Subordinating conjunctions because / although / if — joining a main and subordinate clause. | 9 |
| 11 | Simple present tense Identifying and using the simple present tense consistently. | 9 |
| 11 | Relative clauses Adding extra information about a noun using who / which / that. | 9 |
| 11 | Words ending -ough Spelling the varied sounds of the -ough pattern. | 9 |
| 16 | Subject & object Identifying the subject and object of a sentence, including in complex ones. | 8 |
| 16 | Determiners this / that / some / every — and telling them apart from similar pronouns. | 8 |
| 16 | Speech punctuation Inverted commas and reporting clauses in different sentence positions. | 8 |
| 16 | Personal pronouns Identifying and using personal pronouns consistently across a passage. | 8 |
| 16 | Hyphens Using hyphens correctly, including in compound words. | 8 |
For reading, inference is worth disproportionate attention: it's the single largest category, and it's also the skill children find hardest, since the answer isn't written on the page. Practising "how do you know?" after every answer — including correct ones — builds the habit of justifying an answer with evidence, which is exactly how inference questions are marked.
For GPS, grammar edges out spelling and punctuation as the largest single area, but all three are close enough that none can be safely skipped. See the KS2 Reading SATs overview or the KS2 GPS SATs overview for how each paper is structured, or practise these exact question types with real past-paper questions and step-by-step explanations.
AceLearner maps every question to these topics, so parents can see which ones cost their child marks. Opening November 2026.
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