At the end of Year 6, children in England sit a short set of paper tests in reading, grammar and maths. They are usually called the SATs, and they are a snapshot of where your child is at the end of primary school: nothing more, nothing less. This guide sets out what the papers are, how long each one takes, what is judged by teachers instead of by a test, what help is available for children who need it, and what comes back to you in the summer.
What the SATs are
The Key Stage 2 national curriculum tests are statutory in England, which means they are a fixed part of Year 6 rather than something a family chooses to enter. They happen in May of Year 6 and cover three subjects:
- English reading
- English grammar, punctuation and spelling
- Mathematics
Each test is a paper test taken in school, and there is nothing to prepare at home the night before. If you want to know what the papers look like, ask the class teacher how the school is preparing the class for them.
The papers and how long they take
There are six papers in all, spread across the three subjects. Here is each one, with its timing, so you know roughly what a test day looks like.
English reading
- One paper, 60 minutes. Your child reads a set of texts and answers questions about them.
English grammar, punctuation and spelling
- Paper 1, 45 minutes. Questions on grammar and punctuation.
- Paper 2, the spelling test, about 15 minutes. A 20-word spelling test: the words are read out and your child writes each one down.
Mathematics
- Paper 1, arithmetic, 30 minutes. Calculations on their own, without a story around them.
- Paper 2, reasoning, 40 minutes.
- Paper 3, reasoning, 40 minutes.
“Reasoning” simply means the maths is wrapped in a problem: a question set in words, a table or a picture, where the first job is to work out which calculation is needed.
Added together, the six papers come to a little under four hours of test time in all, so no single paper is long.
What teachers assess instead
Not everything is tested with a paper. Writing and science are assessed by teachers, not by a test. Your child’s teacher judges these subjects, so a child who finds timed tests harder than classroom work is not judged on writing or science by a single morning’s performance.
This is worth telling your child, too: the tests are one part of the picture, and their teacher already knows a great deal about how they are doing.
Help for children who need it
Schools can apply access arrangements for children who need them. These are adjustments to how the test is taken, not to what is tested. Examples include:
- extra time
- a reader for the maths papers (an adult who reads the questions aloud)
- rest breaks
The school arranges these, not the parent, but if you think your child may benefit from one, it is sensible to speak to the class teacher well before May so there is time to put it in place.
Results and what the numbers mean
The number of marks your child gets on a paper is called the raw mark. Each subject’s raw mark is converted into a scaled score from 80 to 120.
- 100 or more means your child has met the expected standard in that subject.
- 110 or more is reported as a high score.
The Standards and Testing Agency publishes the conversion tables each summer after the tests. Because each year’s papers are a little different, the raw mark needed to reach 100 changes from year to year. So a raw mark from one year cannot be compared directly with one from another, and there is no fixed raw mark to aim for. Our guide Scaled scores explained goes into this in more detail.
Schools receive the results in early July and share them with parents before the end of the summer term, as a scaled score for each tested subject.
Before Year 6: the Year 4 multiplication tables check
The SATs are not the only national check in Key Stage 2. In June of Year 4, children take the multiplication tables check (often shortened to MTC). It is done on screen: after some practice questions, there are 25 questions on the 2 to 12 times tables, with 6 seconds to answer each one. There is no pass mark. The school receives each child’s score and can tell you what it was. Our guide on the multiplication tables check covers it in full.
What helps at home
Most of what helps is calm, short and regular, and it starts long before May.
- Little and often. Ten minutes of maths or grammar a few times a week does more good than a long session at the weekend, and it is easier to keep up.
- Keep reading together. Reading aloud to each other and talking about what a character wants, or why the writer chose a word, is practice for the reading paper without feeling like it.
- Times tables in spare moments. In the car, while cooking, on the walk to school.
- Try a practice paper when it feels right. In the Courselo course, the Papers tab has practice papers with a gentle timer that a grown-up can switch to relaxed time. The scores are approximate, because the papers are objective-only, so treat them as a guide to where your child is rather than a prediction.
- Use “Needs a hand”. The grown-ups area shows your child’s progress per topic and a short tip for each topic under “Needs a hand”, so you know what to work on this week.
- Keep it low-key. Treat test week as a normal week with a good night’s sleep and a proper breakfast. Children take their cue from the adults around them.
The SATs give you a useful snapshot. But your child’s teacher, their reading habit and their everyday confidence with numbers tell you far more than one week in May.
Last checked: October 2026.