Good compared with what?
A single number means little until you know what it is being compared with. There are three sensible yardsticks:
The benchmark
100 is the expected standard, set so that it means the same thing every year. Reaching it means your child is working at the level expected for their age.
The national picture
In 2026, 75% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, 75% in maths and 74% in grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Your child's own path
A 98 from a child who was well below expected in Year 3 can be a bigger achievement than a 104 from a child who was already ahead. Ask the school for the progress picture, not just the score.
How many marks does it take to reach 100 or 110?
About half of the available marks. In 2026, the expected standard took 56 of 110 marks in maths (51%), 25 of 50 in reading (50%) and 34 of 70 in grammar, punctuation and spelling (49%). The exact threshold moves a little each year because the papers differ in difficulty: over the last 9 test years, the maths mark for 100 has ranged from 54 to 61.
| Year | Maths (out of 110) | Reading (out of 50) | GPS (out of 70) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| for 100 | for 110 | for 100 | for 110 | for 100 | for 110 | |
| 2026 | 56 | 94 | 25 | 39 | 34 | 55 |
| 2025 | 58 | 95 | 28 | 40 | 35 | 54 |
| 2024 | 54 | 93 | 27 | 40 | 35 | 53 |
| 2023 | 56 | 94 | 24 | 38 | 36 | 55 |
| 2022 | 58 | 96 | 29 | 41 | 35 | 55 |
Source: official DfE raw-score to scaled-score conversion tables. Every year is in the scaled score converter.
What if the score is just under 100?
Scores of 95 to 99 are often only a few marks from the expected standard. In 2026 maths, a 99 was 52–55 marks; the mark for 100 was 56. One or two questions answered differently can move a child across the line, which is why the useful question is not “what was the score?” but “which topics lost the marks?”
That is the idea behind AceLearner: after a paper, every lost mark opens a step-by-step walkthrough, and parents see which topics cost the most marks. Want to see it work? Try sample maths questions →
Questions parents ask about scores
Is 99 a good SATs score?
A score of 99 is one point below the expected standard of 100, so it is described as working towards the standard. It is usually very close: in 2026 maths, 99 covered 52–55 marks, just 1 to 4 marks short of the 56 needed for 100.
Is 105 a good SATs score?
Yes. 105 is above the expected standard of 100 and in line with the national average, which in 2026 was 106 in reading and 105 in maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling.
What are SATs scores out of?
Scaled scores run from 80 to 120. Behind them, the raw marks available are 110 for maths (three papers), 50 for reading, and 70 for grammar, punctuation and spelling (50 for Paper 1 plus 20 for the spelling test).
What is the pass mark for SATs?
There is no pass mark: KS2 SATs are not pass or fail. 100 is the benchmark for the expected standard, and the number of raw marks it takes changes slightly every year because the papers differ in difficulty.
What if my child scores below 100?
Nothing formal happens. There are no resits and no consequences for secondary school admission. Schools use the results to see where a child may need extra support, and secondary schools use them for early setting in maths and English.
Do SATs scores matter for secondary school?
Not for getting a place, which is decided before results arrive. Secondary schools do receive the scaled scores and often use them for setting or early support. The results guide has the detail. Read the results guide.
National figures: DfE, Key stage 2 attainment: national headlines 2025/26 (published 16 July 2026). The 2027 results reach schools on Tuesday, 6 July 2027.