When to use past KS2 SATs papers in year 6
Sophie Bartlett’s practical guide to using past KS2 SATs papers in year 6: when to assess, which papers to use, and how to avoid testing untaught content.
Using past KS2 SATs papers in year 6 is common practice to measure progress and identify learning gaps, but knowing which papers to use, when and how often year 6s should complete them is far less clear. In this guide, I'll explain how I have used SATs papers across the year, avoided testing untaught content, and reduced unnecessary workload and stress.
If you’re looking for a complete overview of KS2 SATs (including key dates, preparation, marking and results) check out our Ultimate Guide to SATs.
Key takeaways
SATs papers contain around 40-50% year 6 curriculum content. When using past SATs papers in class, writing the questions children might struggle with on the board is helpful to tackle the issue of untaught content and avoid them getting too demoralised!
Limit formal, full-paper assessments with SATs papers to 2-3 key points in the year (e.g. the end of Autumn 2 and Spring 2) to gauge progress without overwhelming the children. Use additional papers for low-stakes, fun revision activities in the final run-up.
Choose papers either chronologically (using the most recent paper last) or by perceived difficulty, using published scaled score pass marks as a guide. For example, the 2024 maths and 2023 reading papers have the lowest overall scaled scores and are thus considered among the most challenging.
To avoid testing children on content they haven’t learnt (and the labour-intensive marking, QLA and gap-plugging associated with using past SATs papers for revision) Learning by Questions’ SATs Springboard can do this for you! Powerful curriculum-aligned diagnostics ensure the children are tested on content they’ve actually been taught, boosting confidence, exposure and resilience.
Contents
When should year 6 teachers use past SATs papers?
Should you use past SATs papers by year or mix them?
Which are the hardest and easiest SATs papers?
How many past SATs papers should year 6s do?
Are SATs papers useful for revision?
When should year 6 teachers use past SATs papers?
Historically, when planning when to use sets of SATs papers across the year, I’d plan for 3-4 formal assessments across the year (I could give or take the start-of-year one, but some schools like to use it as a baseline), whilst saving additional sets of papers for ‘fun revision’ in the weeks running up to SATs:
September (start of the year) - baseline assessment, measure future progress from this point
Mid-December (end of Autumn Term 2) - measure progress after a term of teaching, inform planning from January onwards, identify intervention groups
Mid-February (end of Spring Term 1) - measure progress, inform planning for Spring term 2, identify intervention groups
Late March (end of Spring Term 2) - measure progress, inform planning for run-up to SATs
April/May (run-up to SATs) - there are usually about four weeks after the Easter hols until SATs week, and it can be useful to do a bit more focused test prep here breaking the papers into chunks or individual questions; completing them in pairs; getting the children to mark papers you’ve completed with intentional mistakes; turning them into games/competitions, etc.
Even this amount could be seen as unnecessary (and I bet some schools might feel inclined to put another test in there at the end of Autumn 1). There’s an argument for only asking the children to ‘formally’ sit two sets of papers across the year: end of Autumn 2 (to gauge where children are and to inform planning for Spring Term) and end of Spring 2 (to plan for possible interventions and last-minute revision after the Easter holidays). I mean, let’s face it, there’s an argument for not asking the children to formally sit any sets of papers at all prior to the ‘real thing’! However, I think exposure to at least one set, in test conditions, can’t hurt, if only to mentally prepare the children for the logistics of SATs week itself. It’s worth noting here that you won’t have taught all of the year 6 curriculum until May (and maybe not even by then: who actually manages to teach the entirety of the year 6 curriculum, AND plug all the necessary gaps from years 3-5, by May?!), so you’re testing children on unfamiliar, untaught content. In the maths SATs papers, for example, 40 - 50% of the content is taken from the year 6 curriculum. To avoid the children becoming too demoralised, writing up numbers on the board of those questions that they wouldn’t be able to answer yet can be helpful!
For more tips on how to teach, plan and intervene strategically for the SATs tests, the KS2 SATs 2026: areas to prioritise and revise blog is worth checking out!
Should you use SATs papers by year or mix them?
Finish with the most recent set, and the rest is up for debate. If you’re using SATs papers from the same year for revision, (e.g. children sit all 2018 papers at once), I’d finish with the 2025 papers in March 2026 as the last ‘formal’ set of papers before SATs, then work backwards. This does, however, depend on how many times you’d like to assess them throughout the year (so if you’d only test them twice prior to March, use the 2024 and 2023 sets of papers). Any extra ones you don’t use can be used for last-minute revision in the weeks prior to SATs.
Which are the hardest and easiest SATs papers?
“Hardest” SATs papers
Maths: The 2024 papers had a pass mark of 49%.
Reading: The 2023 paper had a pass mark of 48%.
GPS: The 2022, 2024, 2025 papers each had the same pass mark of 50%.
“Easiest” SATs papers
Maths: The 2018 papers had a pass mark of 55%.
Reading: The 2022 paper has a pass mark of 58%.
GPS: The 2018 papers had a pass mark of 54%.
Teachers often ask me which KS2 SATs papers are the hardest. While difficulty is subjective, pass marks and national outcomes can be useful indicators. If we were to consider that a lower pass mark might mean a harder paper (especially as the pass marks (scaled scores) are decided after the tests are marked), and vice versa, this is what the papers ordered in difficulty might look like (from most difficult to least difficult). Obviously take this with a pinch of salt, it’s not the most robust metric to use.
← Lowest pass mark | Highest pass mark → | ||||||
Maths | 2024 | 2023 | 2017 | 2019= | 2022= | 2025= | 2018 |
Reading | 2023 | 2017 | 2024 | 2018= | 2019= | 2025= | 2022 |
GPS | 2022= | 2024= | 2025= | 2017= | 2019= | 2023= | 2018 |
(Worth noting that I haven’t taken any of the 2016 papers into consideration here. As the first set of papers under the new curriculum, any data they produced provided too many anomalies across the board, which proved to be unhelpful when analysing data trends. Ofqual also found the 2016 reading paper to be ‘unduly hard’. We already have seven past papers to work with (2017-2025, omitting Covid years, which is plenty without the 2016 ones!)
By taking into account pass marks and the national proportion of children achieving EXS, we can get a better (though still not entirely reliable!) sense of which papers are the ‘most’ and ‘least’ difficult.
For an in-depth analysis of pass marks, nationwide results and their implications, take a look at the 2025 KS2 SATs results blog!
Most and least difficult maths SATs papers
Overall, teachers may want to avoid using the 2024 maths paper early in the year (particularly as a baseline) due to its difficulty and lower national outcomes. Starting off with the 2018 or 2019 papers could be beneficial to build the children’s confidence with the maths SATs papers!
The 2024 maths papers are generally considered the most difficult, with the lowest pass mark (49%). It’s also on the lower end of the number of students achieving EXS (expected standard) nationally, at 73% (range has been 71-79%)
The 2018 and 2019 papers are generally considered the least difficult, with the highest pass marks (55% and 53% respectively), and both being on the high end of national EXS (at 76% and 79% respectively).
Most and least difficult reading SATs papers
Ultimately, it’s best to keep the more difficult 2023 reading paper to the back end of the year, when children are more secure. To begin with, the 2022 reading paper could be a good place to start with your year 6s.
The 2023 reading paper is generally considered the most difficult, with the lowest pass mark (48%), the highest word count across extracts and questions (~3200 words), and being on the lower end of % of national EXS at 73% (range has been 72-75%). Schools Week wrote that an ‘Ofqual report found the 2023 reading test was harder than those set in recent years.’
The 2022 reading paper is generally considered the least difficult, with the highest pass mark (58%), the lowest word count (~2500), and the highest % of national EXS at 75%.
Most and least difficult GPS SATs papers
When it comes to the GPS papers, the 2018 papers are a great starting point to get the children used to the tests. The 2022 and 2024 papers are best left until later in the year!
The 2022 and 2024 GPS papers are generally considered the most difficult, with the lowest pass marks (50% - although 2024’s GDS boundary was 2 marks lower than 2022’s) and the lowest % of national EXS at 72%.
The 2018 paper is generally considered least difficult, with the highest pass mark (54%) and the highest % of national EXS at 78%.
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Frequently asked questions
How many past SATs papers should year 6s do?
Often, schools use between 2 - 4 formal SATs assessments using past papers across year 6. However, I’d argue that 2 well-timed assessments (end of Autumn 2 to check where the children are, and Spring 2, to arrange last-minute intervention and revision) are sufficient.
Are SATs papers useful for revision?
While past SATs papers can provide valuable insights into pupil progress and curriculum coverage, their traditional use often leads to unnecessary pressure on students and teachers alike, testing children on untaught content and generating a heavy marking and analysis workload. There is also an ongoing debate about how often these papers should be used throughout the year. Some schools choose to assess at multiple points, while others find value in limiting formal testing to just once or twice before the real thing, focusing instead on building familiarity with test conditions and boosting pupil confidence through low-stakes exposure.
By rethinking how and when we use SATs papers and integrating more targeted progressive assessments, we can preserve the benefits of summative and formative testing without the associated downsides. To avoid testing children on content they haven’t learnt (and the labour-intensive marking, QLA and gap-plugging associated with using past SATs papers for revision), SATs Springboard from Learning by Questions does this for you.
Find out more about SATs Springboard