Wednesday 3 October 2007

Mental Mathematics Tests - KS2 & KS3

At Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, pupils will not only sit English, Science and Mathematics written papers, but also a Mental Mathematics test. The mental mathematics test accounts for 20% of the total marks for the mathematics score, with the other 80% coming equally from the two written papers.

The Mental Mathematics test is administered using an audio CD. Each pupil is given an "answer sheet" to write down their answers to the questions. The sheet contains boxes to write down answers, plus sometimes also information which may assist the pupil is answering the question. For example if the question is : "Calculate 15% of £260", the pupil may see the numbers 15% and/or £260 on the answer sheet, so they can be reminded of the question as they try to write down their answer.

The CD contains a number of questions, and when pupils are ready, the teacher will start the audio. Each question is heard twice, and pupils have between 5, 10, and 15 seconds to answer the question (depending upon difficulty), before the next questions is read, and so on until the end of the test. The easier questions are read out first, and pupils have 5 seconds to answer these, the next difficult follow, with 10 seconds to answer, and finally the most difficult come last, with 15 seconds to answer each of these.

It is important that pupils try to achieve good results in the mental mathematics test, because it contributes heavily to the overall mathematics score. For example, here are the Key Stage 2 Levels for the 2007 papers taken in May.

Mathematics Paper A is out of 40 marks, Mathematics Paper B is out of 40 marks and the Mental Mathematics test is out of 20 marks, making a maximum possible score of 100. With 20 marks assigned to the mental maths paper, it is essential that pupil revision is also focused to mental mathematics skills, which will prove useful for this test. The same is true for the Key Stage 3 tests.

KEY STAGE 2 MATHEMATICS LEVELS - 2007
Level Mark range
N 0-15
2 16-18
3 19-45
4 46-78
5 79-100

The Sats Past Papers team offer the Harris Mental maths test at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 which emulates the actual sats past paper tests. In these test, you download and print off the pupil answer sheet, and are directed to a secure area of our website, where you can click a button to administer the test. Questions are then heard as audio through the speakers of your PC. Pupils get 5, 10, and 15 seconds to answer the question before the next one is heard, very similar to the way in which the real tests are administered, and giving pupils a great mechanism to practice an audio mental maths test.