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.

UK SATS EXAMS

Well these will kick off again in May 2008 for all UK schools.

I always recommend practicing the past papers to get the best results. This means going through them, and spending time looking at the questions you find most difficult.

The Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 are statutory tests before you get to GCSE. These are taken in Year 6 and Year 9 (although more and more schools are taking these in year 8, to give a longer GCSE course - and more change of higher GCSE grades!).

At KS2, pupils sit English, Maths and Science - three papers in English, two papers in Science, and two written papers and one oral paper in Mathematics.

At KS3, pupils sit the level 4-7 papers in English, and then sit either the 3-5, 4-6, 5-7, or 6-8 papers in Mathematics - they are put in for the appropriate level by their school according to their academic ability. There are only two different levels in Science - the 3-6 and the 5-7 levels. Once again the school will judge which paper each pupil is aligned to, and they will sit the exam accordingly. The more difficult papers are the higher tiered papers, with 6-8 being the most difficult in Mathematics and 5-7 in Science.

http://www.actual-sats.co.uk/ is the publisher for the Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 papers, and they provide three packs. The KS2 pack comes with all the papers and all the levels, and the mark schemes and on-line mental maths are also available. They do two packs at KS3, a higher tier, which contains the 5-7 & 6-8 maths papers, 5-7 science papers and 4-7 english papers. The lower tier contains the 3-5 & 4-6 maths papers, 3-6 science papers and 4-7 english papers.

These packs can also be obtained from http://www.sats-past-papers.co.uk/ where you can also get past papers from 2004, 2005, and 2006, as well as the latest 2007 papers.

After KS3, pupils are usually streamed according to ability in mathematics and science - those that attain good KS3 levels will be in the higher sets in maths and science. At GCSE, there is a combined science course, as well as the traditional physcis, biology, and chemistry split sciences. The split science are usually only offered to the more academic students, and so KS3 results in science becomes hugely important for what comes later for children at GCSE, and ultimately their overall GCSE results.