Kings 7+ 2026 Math Specimen Paper

[MomoL]

Hi everyone, my son will be taking the King’s and SPJS 7+ exams this year. I checked the King’s website and noticed that they seem to have updated their specimen paper for this year, and it looks completely different from previous years.
It says that the maths assessment will only include addition and subtraction, with no multiplication or division. I have to say I’m quite surprised, as almost all of the new sample questions seem relatively easy compared with the previous specimen paper.
Would you take the new specimen paper at face value and focus mainly on what they’ve listed, leaving out some of the other maths topics for King’s? Or would you still prepare for the broader range of topics just in case?

Hi Mimi,

I’d agree that the first part of the paper doesn’t look too threatening. I would say it even looks quite easy. I do note that it says that these are ‘some sample pages’, so there must be more. It also does explicitly say the first part tests addition, subtraction and place value here only, so in that regard we are safe. However, some children will find elements of it tricky such as discerning 3tens and 12 ones are = to 32 etc. There is a big emphasis on reasoning and being able to explain yourself concisely, using mathematical vocabulary. The last shapes reasoning question is harder than it looks and could be quite hard to explain in words. The guidance says that addition and subtraction and place value in the first part but you could expect any topic in the second part. Level wise 7+ covers all of Year 2 curriculum, so I’d keep revising everything, especially if you are getting through to the second round. In case you’re wondering, I’m a tutor and teacher. I tutored a boy to SPJs last year and he was strong at everything, but he did find reasoning and explaining himself well in words tricky. Good Luck!

Thank you!