How to Prepare for the Year 6 SATs

For nearly all Year 6 children, SATs preparation takes centre stage in their lives. While schoolwork plays the most prominent role in preparation, parents still have an important contribution to make in the months leading up to the English and Maths SATs exams in May.

1. Practise Mental Maths

Mental maths can be improved with practise, so encourage your child to integrate it into everyday situations – scorekeeping in Scrabble, counting change while shopping, or double-checking receipts.

2. Do a Lot of Reading

A big chunk of the Year 6 SATs English exam tests comprehension skills. Since exam text isn't known in advance, the best preparation is for your child to read widely and discuss what they've read – characters, structure, vocabulary and more.

3. Be Your Child's Teacher: Teach Them Fractions

Year 6 children tend to face difficulties with multi-step maths questions, especially fractions. Go back to basics to ensure a solid foundation before introducing advanced questions, and solve as many SATs questions as possible at home.

4. Focus on Problem-Solving

At Year 6 SATs level, pupils sit one arithmetic paper and two reasoning papers. Focus revision on problem-solving tricks related to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, including fractions, decimals and percentages, and make sure your child knows how to show their workings.

5. Solve Inference and Deduction Worksheets and SATs Papers

Inference questions require students to 'read between the lines'; deduction questions require reading 'beyond the text'. Building a wide vocabulary through reading, alongside SATs workbooks and practice papers, helps build confidence in these skills.

6. Work Through as Many SATs Practice Papers as Possible

Practice papers help children get acquainted with the exam format, layout and question styles, and included answers support the learning process. Introduce them early, and run timed sessions at home to improve time management – students should aim to finish with ten minutes to spare.

Your Child Is Ready to Ace Their Year 6 SATs!

There is no necessity to use all of these techniques – just use the combination that you know will work for your child. The key is to improve confidence and reduce stress on the day of the SATs through good progress and practice.