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KS2 SATS Maths (arithmetic paper)

10 replies

s4rah19 · 29/09/2017 08:52

Hi,
I've just started researching past papers for my Neice who will be sitting SATS this coming May. I printed off the arithmetic paper for her to try and she ran out of steam around question 26, I was secretly timing her and she would have had about 7-9 mins left. She'd been at school all day so it could be due to tiredness, I was wondering are they expected to be able to answer all the questions in the time allocated? She'd had enough so we just stopped but it got me thinking is it designed to be finished or are there only a small percentage of pupils who can actually complete it?

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GuestWW · 29/09/2017 10:37

STOP
She is unlikely to have covered the curriculum to do the entire paper. She has probably never had to sit a paper like that before. She was at the end of a school day.

There is much debate about the value of SATs but I think one thing everyone will agree on that it is far TOO early to start on this. You risk making it a very stressful experience.

If you are keen to coach / tutor / support her try something much more fun with maths - cooking but for a different quantity than the recipe says, shopping where she needs to work out the best value items...

Abitofaproblem · 29/09/2017 10:50

IME better not use SATs past papers at home as sometimes the school will use them for mock tests.

wonkylegs · 29/09/2017 10:59

My DS did the maths papers at school the other week (they want to assess what he can do to adjust his work) and completed them all in time and really enjoyed them but he loves maths and is happy to

I would look at practicing the skills in the papers through supporting worksheets / games/ projects rather than doing papers at home so that she develops her skills and doesn't get 'exam' fatigue. The school will do practice papers but closer to the exams. If she has stronger general maths skills in the topics she will be more confident and quicker with the papers when they do come round. So if I was you I'd download the papers but use them to work out what to practice with her rather than actually giving her the papers, I suspect that would pay greater dividends.

brilliotic · 29/09/2017 12:30

PP do not actually address the OP's question... OP didn't ask about how best to prepare the child for the SATS, is only trying to understand how the SATS papers work.

OP where did you download the past paper? (Was it the 2017 one?)

If it is anything like the KS1 SATS, you can find the marking scheme at the same place on the .gov.uk website. With the help of the marking scheme, you can work out how many marks each question can result in. Then google for 'KS2 SATS scaled scores conversion table 2017' to see which raw scores were needed to get 100 (expected standard met) or 110 (I think) (which is working at greater depth or exceeding or some such) or even 120 (which is the highest possible scaled score and should be relatively rare).

Accordingly you will be able to figure out how many marks children can drop and still meet expected/exceeding and (in conjunction with the marking scheme) that will answer your question as to if all questions are meant to be answered by all children, or if only the brightest are expected to complete the paper.

thecatfromjapan · 29/09/2017 12:49

Part of preparation for papers is, actually, building the stamina to keep going.

I say that even though I am in full agreement with brilliotic , in that not everyone is expected to be able to cover the whole paper. I'm just talking about the physical stamina and mental resilience to keep going. It's a skill even the very able need to learn. I would say it;s a skill my own dd finds a bit tricky, even at the age of 14!

You learn that by doing papers and timing them. If you are in the privileged position of working 1:1, you sit with children and talk about how they don't get stuck on questions they get flummoxed by (this eats time, energy and resilience) - you get them to asterisk the question (so they can find it and come back to it) and go on to the next.

Repetition gives them a bodily sense of timing. It's one thing to explain 'you have blah blah amount of time, so spend blah blah per question on average,' it's completely another for children to have internalised what that feels like.

Initially, you can focus on just getting through a paper. Going slowly, taking breaks and having a bit of banana. Then you can try introducing the timed element: 'OK, here's a clock. Keep an eye on it and see how much you can do in the time allowed."

Then you bring the two elements together.

Make the actual maths skills a separate element. If you are teaching time/completion skills, concentrate on that. Look at the actual maths skills - elements of maths the child is finding tricky/hasn't covered - in a separate session if need be. And take your time over that, in a really low-stress way.

The two skills (maths skills and the actual skill of sitting a timed paper) are, I think, separate elements.

It's one of the transferrable skills from 11+ coaching.

For what it's worth, I think that, precisely because it's a skill, and some children will have more practice at it than others, it's one of the things that makes SATs somewhat unreliable as indicators of children's (and school's) attainment. But that's a whole other thread.

brilliotic · 29/09/2017 13:06

For what it's worth, I think that, precisely because it's a skill, and some children will have more practice at it than others, it's one of the things that makes SATs somewhat unreliable as indicators of children's (and school's) attainment. But that's a whole other thread.

Well, they measure children's (and schools') attainment in exam preparation, which includes both - the maths skills and the exam skills such as timing. Rather than 'purely' their maths skills. Which would only be possible to measure by using a non-exam based measure such as perhaps teacher assessment. This would be less standardised, but might be a 'purer' measure of maths skills.

s4rah19 · 29/09/2017 16:46

Thanks for the comments, her older brother is doing his GCSE's and she happened to see some of the stuff I was doing with him and asked if she could have a go. I initially printed off the exemplar to see what she might struggle on and then work on that. I definitely think I'll change to worksheets. Are there any sites that list the contents of what the maths curriculum covers (long division, fractions etc)? Thanks

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WombatStewForTea · 30/09/2017 10:08

You've had some good advice but to answer your original question yes I would expect the majority of childen to answer most questions (although expect mistakes). A lot of the stuff on the test like x ÷ fractions won't have been taught yet. If you want to look at what she should be able to do then have a look at the Y5 curriculum as a lot of it is on the arithmetic tests.

user789653241 · 30/09/2017 10:16

This site have a list of what they cover in maths for each year group.

uk.ixl.com/math/year-5

uk.ixl.com/math/year-6

TeenTimesTwo · 30/09/2017 21:19

My DD got 97 ( I think).
There is no way she would have answered all the questions.
(In fact I taught her not to even aim to.)

Getting all the way to q26 now is really good (assuming she got most right). They will probably do loads of practice at school in the new year.

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