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For parentsKS2 SATs, explained
The key stage 2 tests are sat over four days in May of Year 6. They are not an exam a child passes or fails, and they are not used to decide which secondary school your child goes to. What they are is a measure of the school as much as the child — which is worth knowing before anyone in the house starts worrying about them.
When they happen
The statutory key stage 2 tests are timetabled from Monday 10 May to Thursday 13 May 2027. Every school in England sits them on the same days, in the same order.
| Monday 10 May 2027 | English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 1: questions, and Paper 2: spelling |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 11 May 2027 | English reading |
| Wednesday 12 May 2027 | Mathematics Paper 1: arithmetic, and Paper 2: reasoning |
| Thursday 13 May 2027 | Mathematics Paper 3: reasoning |
What is in each subject
| English grammar, punctuation and spelling | Paper 1: questions. Paper 2: spelling. 70 marks |
|---|---|
| English reading | One reading booklet and one answer booklet. 50 marks |
| Mathematics | Paper 1: arithmetic. Papers 2 and 3: reasoning. 110 marks |
Each paper carries its own time limit on the front cover. If you are sitting a past paper at home, use the cover rather than a figure from somewhere else — the timings have not always been the same.
Scaled scores, and why 100 is the number
Your child's raw mark — the number of marks they actually scored — is converted to a scaled score between 80 and 120. A pupil scoring at least 100 has met the expected standard on that test. A pupil awarded 99 or less has not.
The conversion changes every year, and that is the point of it. The questions have to be different each year, so the difficulty varies slightly; an easier test needs a higher raw mark to reach 100 and a harder one needs fewer. Sometimes two or more raw scores convert to the same scaled score, because attainment at that level was very similar.
This is why a raw mark from a past paper tells you very little on its own. To make it mean something you need that year's conversion table, which the Standards and Testing Agency publishes alongside each year's materials.
When you get the results
Schools can view the 2027 results online from Tuesday 6 July 2027, and parents should receive them before the end of the summer term.
The past papers, and what we can legally host
We host 45 KS2 papers here, each with its mark scheme, free and with no sign-up. But not all of them, and the reason is worth understanding rather than wondering about.
The Standards and Testing Agency publishes a copyright ownership report for every year's tests. It says the same thing each time: there is no third-party material in the KS2 mathematics and English grammar, punctuation and spelling tests, so those may be re-used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The English reading booklets are different. They contain extracts from books still in copyright, along with agency photography, and the Department for Education is expressly not permitted to license that material on to anyone else. Schools may reuse the booklets in full under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. We are not a school.
So: maths and grammar papers are hosted here, and English reading links straight to GOV.UK, where it is free to download. A site that hosts the reading booklets is either a school or is taking a risk with somebody else's copyright.
Every year from 2016
That is every year the tests were sat since 2016. There are no 2020 or 2021 papers because the tests were cancelled. GOV.UK itself only keeps the last three years; the older papers here were collected from the UK Government Web Archive, and every year's copyright ownership report was read before any of it was published.
What actually helps at home
- Sit one paper properly, timed, at the kitchen table. One real attempt tells you more than a term of worksheets.
- Mark it with the mark scheme, which we host alongside every paper. The mark schemes are unusually readable and show exactly what earns a mark.
- Look at what went wrong rather than the score. A raw mark without that year's conversion table is not a grade.
- Keep the stakes where they belong. These tests are a measure of the school's teaching as much as of your child, and they do not determine secondary school admission.
Where this came from
Every date and figure above was read from these pages on 22 September 2026. Assessment arrangements are re-published every year, so check them against GOV.UK before you rely on them.
- GOV.UK — 2027 key stage 2 national curriculum tests: information for parents
- GOV.UK — Scaled scores at key stage 2
- GOV.UK — National curriculum assessments: past test materials
- Standards and Testing Agency — copyright ownership: key stage 2 national curriculum tests
Contains material developed by the Standards and Testing Agency for national curriculum assessments and licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0.