Skills to prepare for KS2 SATs
Find the maths, reading, grammar, punctuation and spelling skills to prepare for the Year 6 KS2 SATs in England. The tests cover learning across key stage 2.
KS2 SATs maths skills
54 skill groups across 8 topic areasNumber and place value
Whole numbers, rounding and negative values
Number and place value
Whole numbers, rounding and negative values
Read and compare whole numbers
Read, write and order numbers up to ten million, using the value of each digit.
Read Roman numerals
Read Roman numerals up to 1,000 and recognise years written with them.
Round whole numbers
Round a whole number to a specified degree of accuracy and use rounding in practical problems.
Calculate across zero
Order positive and negative numbers, use them in context and find intervals that cross zero.
Calculations
Arithmetic, efficient methods and problem solving
Calculations
Arithmetic, efficient methods and problem solving
Add and subtract larger numbers
Calculate mentally and use written column methods with numbers of more than four digits.
Estimate and check answers
Use estimation, rounding and inverse operations to judge whether an answer and its accuracy make sense.
Use factors, multiples and primes
Find common factors and multiples, recognise prime and composite numbers, and use square and cube numbers.
Use number facts and mental methods
Recall multiplication and division facts through 12 times 12 and use known relationships to calculate efficiently.
Multiply larger whole numbers
Multiply numbers with up to four digits by a two-digit whole number using a suitable written method.
Divide and interpret remainders
Divide numbers with up to four digits by a two-digit whole number. Interpret a remainder as a whole number, fraction or rounded amount according to the problem.
Follow the order of operations
Calculate expressions involving the four operations, including brackets, in the correct order.
Solve problems with several steps
Choose the operations and methods needed for a problem involving addition, subtraction, multiplication or division.
Fractions, decimals and percentages
Equivalent forms, calculations and fractional quantities
Fractions, decimals and percentages
Equivalent forms, calculations and fractional quantities
Simplify and compare fractions
Use common factors and multiples to simplify fractions, find common denominators and order fractions, including values greater than one.
Change between mixed numbers and improper fractions
Represent a quantity greater than one as a mixed number or an improper fraction and convert between the two forms.
Add and subtract fractions
Calculate with different denominators and mixed numbers by using equivalent fractions.
Multiply fractions
Multiply proper fractions and multiply proper fractions or mixed numbers by whole numbers. Give simplified answers.
Divide a fraction by a whole number
Divide a proper fraction by a whole number and express the result as a simplified fraction.
Find fractions of quantities
Use unit and non-unit fractions to calculate shares and solve quantity, measure and money problems.
Convert fractions and decimals
Use division to find a decimal equivalent for a simple fraction and write decimals as fractions.
Use decimal place value
Identify the value of digits through thousandths and multiply or divide by 10, 100 and 1,000.
Compare and round decimals
Order numbers with up to three decimal places and round to a requested whole number or decimal place.
Multiply and divide decimals
Multiply one-digit numbers with up to two decimal places by whole numbers, and use written division when the answer has up to two decimal places.
Connect percentages, fractions and decimals
Recognise percentages as parts per hundred and use familiar fraction, decimal and percentage equivalents in problems.
Round a calculated answer appropriately
Give answers to a specified degree of accuracy, taking account of the context of the problem.
Ratio and proportion
Relative quantities, scaling and unequal shares
Ratio and proportion
Relative quantities, scaling and unequal shares
Compare related quantities
Use multiplication and division to find a missing quantity when two quantities have a known relationship.
Calculate and compare percentages
Find a percentage of a quantity and use percentages to compare quantities.
Use scale factors
Solve problems involving similar shapes when the scale factor is given or can be found.
Share quantities unequally
Use fractions and multiples to solve problems involving unequal shares or groups.
Algebra
Unknowns, formulae, sequences and combinations
Algebra
Unknowns, formulae, sequences and combinations
Represent missing numbers with letters
Translate a missing-number problem into an algebraic expression or equation.
Use simple formulae
Use a rule or formula to calculate a value from given quantities.
Describe number sequences
Generate a linear number sequence and describe its rule.
Find pairs that satisfy an equation
Find pairs of numbers that make an equation with two unknowns true.
List possible combinations systematically
Work through the possible combinations of two variables without missing or repeating a possibility.
Measurement
Units, money, time, perimeter, area and volume
Measurement
Units, money, time, perimeter, area and volume
Read and compare measurements
Use scales and appropriate units to measure and compare lengths, masses and capacities.
Convert metric units
Change between larger and smaller metric units, including measurements written with up to three decimal places.
Use metric and imperial equivalents
Convert miles and kilometres, and use approximate equivalents for familiar units such as inches, pounds and pints.
Read clocks and calculate time intervals
Read analogue and digital clocks in 12-hour and 24-hour formats. Convert time units and solve elapsed-time problems.
Solve money problems
Calculate with pounds and pence, including change, several steps and scaling amounts.
Find perimeters and compare shapes
Calculate the perimeter of composite rectilinear shapes and understand that equal areas need not have equal perimeters.
Calculate areas
Find areas of rectangles, triangles and parallelograms, use suitable formulae and estimate the area of an irregular shape.
Calculate volumes
Estimate and calculate the volume of cubes and cuboids using cubic units and suitable formulae.
Solve problems involving units
Choose operations and convert units when solving practical measurement problems with decimal quantities.
Geometry
Shapes, angles, circles, coordinates and transformations
Geometry
Shapes, angles, circles, coordinates and transformations
Classify shapes by their properties
Use sides, angles and other properties to compare polygons and describe simple three-dimensional shapes.
Recognise and complete line symmetry
Find lines of symmetry in different orientations and complete a figure using a stated line of symmetry.
Draw shapes and recognise nets
Draw a flat shape from given dimensions and angles, and recognise or build solids from their nets.
Measure and draw angles
Estimate, compare, measure and draw angles in degrees, including acute, obtuse and reflex angles.
Find missing angles
Use angle relationships in triangles, quadrilaterals and regular polygons, at a point, on a straight line and at intersecting lines.
Identify parts of circles
Identify the radius, diameter and circumference and use the fact that the diameter is twice the radius.
Use all four coordinate quadrants
Read and plot coordinates on the full coordinate grid and use points to describe or draw shapes.
Translate and reflect shapes
Move a shape on a coordinate grid by a stated translation or reflect it in either axis.
Statistics
Tables, charts, graphs and averages
Statistics
Tables, charts, graphs and averages
Read tables and charts
Retrieve and compare information in tables, timetables, pictograms and bar charts.
Interpret and construct graphs
Read and draw line graphs and pie charts, using the scales and key information correctly.
Solve problems using data
Use information in charts, tables or graphs to answer comparison, total and difference questions.
Calculate and interpret the mean
Find the mean of a set of values and explain what it tells you about the data.
KS2 SATs reading skills
8 skill groups across 1 topic areasReading comprehension
Understanding fiction, non-fiction and poetry
Reading comprehension
Understanding fiction, non-fiction and poetry
Explain vocabulary in context
Work out and explain what a word or phrase means in the passage.
Find information and key details
Retrieve and record relevant information from fiction or non-fiction.
Summarise across paragraphs
Bring together the main ideas from more than one paragraph in a concise summary.
Make inferences and support them
Explain what the text suggests about a character, event or situation, using relevant evidence from the passage.
Predict from clues in the text
Use stated and implied details to explain what is likely to happen next.
Explain how parts contribute to the whole
Explain how information or events connect and contribute to the overall meaning of a text.
Explain the effect of language choices
Identify how particular words and phrases strengthen meaning or create an effect.
Compare within a text
Make relevant comparisons between characters, events, ideas or other parts of the same text.
KS2 SATs grammar, punctuation and spelling skills
45 skill groups across 4 topic areasGrammar and sentences
Word classes, clauses, verb forms and Standard English
Grammar and sentences
Word classes, clauses, verb forms and Standard English
Identify nouns, verbs and adjectives
Recognise how a word functions in a sentence as a noun, verb or adjective.
Choose clear pronouns
Identify pronouns, including possessive and relative forms, and use them to avoid unnecessary repetition.
Use adverbs and adverbials
Identify words and phrases that express time, place, manner, cause or possibility.
Recognise conjunctions
Identify words that connect ideas and express time, place or cause.
Use prepositions and determiners
Recognise prepositions that connect ideas and determiners that introduce nouns, including the correct choice of a or an.
Identify subject and object
Identify who or what carries out an action and who or what receives it in a sentence.
Recognise sentence functions
Distinguish statements, questions, commands and exclamations by their grammatical patterns.
Identify main and relative clauses
Locate main clauses and recognise relative clauses, including those with an omitted relative pronoun.
Expand noun phrases
Use adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases to make a noun phrase more precise.
Join clauses correctly
Distinguish coordination and subordination and choose conjunctions that express the intended relationship.
Use tense and aspect
Recognise and use simple present and past, perfect forms, and present and past progressive forms.
Express possibility with modal verbs
Choose a modal verb to indicate a degree of possibility or certainty.
Keep tense consistent
Choose and maintain present or past tense appropriately within a piece of text.
Distinguish active and passive
Recognise active and passive constructions and how they change the presentation of information.
Recognise subjunctive forms
Identify subjunctive constructions, including forms used in formal requests or hypothetical statements.
Choose Standard English forms
Use standard verb, pronoun and adverb forms and identify non-standard alternatives.
Match language to formality
Recognise vocabulary and grammatical structures suited to formal or informal contexts.
Punctuation
Sentence boundaries, speech, possession and clarity
Punctuation
Sentence boundaries, speech, possession and clarity
Mark sentence boundaries
Use capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks correctly.
Use commas clearly
Use commas in lists, after fronted adverbials and where they prevent ambiguity.
Punctuate direct speech
Use inverted commas and the other punctuation needed around direct speech.
Use apostrophes
Distinguish contractions, singular possession and plural possession from ordinary plurals.
Mark parenthesis
Use brackets, commas or paired dashes to separate extra information.
Use colons
Use a colon to introduce a list or mark a suitable relationship between independent clauses.
Use semicolons and dashes
Separate independent clauses appropriately and use semicolons within complex lists.
Use hyphens and bullet punctuation
Use hyphens to avoid ambiguity and punctuate bullet-point lists consistently.
Vocabulary
Word meanings, word families and word building
Vocabulary
Word meanings, word families and word building
Recognise synonyms and antonyms
Identify words with similar or opposite meanings and choose the right word in context.
Use prefixes and suffixes
Explain how a prefix or suffix changes a word's meaning or word class.
Connect word families
Recognise words that share a root and explain their relationship in form and meaning.
Choose formal or informal vocabulary
Choose an expression appropriate to the level of formality required.
Spelling
British English spellings and the assessed spelling patterns
Spelling
British English spellings and the assessed spelling patterns
Spell common exception words
Spell words that cannot be worked out from the most common sound-to-letter patterns alone.
Add vowel-starting suffixes
Apply spelling changes when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel to a word of more than one syllable.
Recognise less usual vowel spellings
Spell words where y represents the short i sound away from the end, or ou represents the short u sound.
Spell prefixed words
Apply the spelling patterns for words formed with prefixes.
Add -ation and -ly
Spell words formed with -ation or -ly, making the necessary changes to the base word.
Distinguish -sure, -ture and related endings
Use the correct spelling in words with the endings heard in measure, picture and division.
Spell -ous endings
Apply spelling patterns when a word ends in -ous.
Choose -tion, -sion, -ssion or -cian
Use the appropriate spelling for the common shun ending.
Recognise ch, -gue, -que and sc spellings
Spell words with the less usual consonant spellings found in chorus, chef, league, antique and science.
Choose ei, eigh or ey spellings
Recognise the vowel spellings found in words such as vein, weigh and they, and the ei pattern after c.
Choose -cious, -tious, -cial and -tial
Use the appropriate spelling for these similar-sounding endings.
Choose -ant and -ent families
Distinguish -ant, -ance and -ancy from -ent, -ence and -ency endings.
Choose -able, -ible, -ably and -ibly
Apply the appropriate spelling when forming or using these endings.
Add suffixes to words ending in -fer
Use stress to decide whether the final r doubles before a vowel-starting suffix.
Spell ough words and silent letters
Recognise different pronunciations of ough and spell words containing letters that are not sounded.
Distinguish commonly confused words
Choose the correct spelling for homophones, near-homophones and other words that are often confused.