Best Year 6 SATs Practice Papers For 2024 [FREE DOWNLOADS]

March 12, 2024 | 4 min read

Ellie Williams

Here’s where you can get hold of all the Year 6 SATs practice papers for maths you’ll need this year to ensure your SATs revision runs smoothly and effectively.

Every year, we support over 1,000 schools and their pupils prepare for their KS2 SATs with our tried and tested SATs revision programme through online tutoring. As well as provide tens of thousands of Year 6 teachers and maths leaders with quality maths revision resources.

Both the one to one tutoring lessons for KS2 SATs and these SATs revision resources are closely focused on developing the skills and knowledge pupils need to achieve their best score in the SATs tests in May. Our maths experts have written thousands of SATs questions for children to practise answering and have created many Year 6 SATs practice papers.

However, we know we’re not the only organisation to have Year 6 SATs practice papers. So, as well as giving you free access to our own maths SATs papers, we’ve also included other places where you can download additional practice papers.

About these Year 6 SATs practice papers

Although the Key Stage 2 SATs for Year 6 are split between the KS2 Maths SATs (Arithmetic and Reasoning) and the KS2 English SATs (Reading test, SPaG test — spelling test and punctuation and grammar test), we’re only including maths papers for the Year 6 SATs. This is because we are a maths specialist online tutoring organisation and maths is where our expertise and support for teachers is focused.

A Third Space Learning SATs Year 6 SATs practice paper to help your pupils prepare for the upcoming maths SATs exams. — A Third Space Learning SATs practice Reasoning paper to help your
pupils build the required skills needed for the upcoming SATs exams.

KS2 Maths SATs Practice Papers

Get ready for SATs with this set of 6 maths SATs practice papers. Papers designed to help your Year 6 improve test skills and build confidence.

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What are Year 6 SATs practice papers?

Year 6 SATs practice papers are papers that are aligned with the SATs and can be used to prepare pupils for the upcoming exams. These can take several forms, but broadly they’re likely to be:

Lookalike practice SATs papers created to be as close a match as possible to the national tests.
Government standardised assessment test papers sat by pupils in Year 6 in previous years which you can now use as SATs practice papers.
Year 6 maths papers that include SATs-style questions, potentially set out following SATs format but with greater emphasis on question practice rather than paper practice.

What can you expect from any Year 6 SATs practice papers?

Ideally, any practice test papers you use should include:

Marks per question visible to pupils sitting the test.
Mark schemes for teachers to show where marks can be awarded.
Estimated time to complete the test (where relevant).
Space for working on the practice paper.
A question layout similar to the SATs arithmetic and reasoning paper layouts.
Answer booklets where required.

List of the best free Year 6 SATs practice papers

Third Space Learning’s Year 6 SATs practice papers

Let’s start with these as we know all about them and you can download 6 of them for free straight away.

In total, you can use 18 SATs maths papers that have been closely aligned with the KS2 SATs tests. They’re written by assessment experts and cover the same range of content domains and demand descriptors you would expect to see in the real national test papers.

Questions are identified by content domain reference codes from the DFE National Assessment Framework, with topic area coverage which gives you the ability to pinpoint your pupils’ strengths and weaknesses to ensure they have the best chance of succeeding.

Each pack of papers mimic the KS2 SATs and includes one SATs arithmetic paper and two SATs reasoning papers.

The first two packs of SATs practice papers are available for you to download for free from here:

The remaining packs are available to premium users of the Third Space Learning Maths Hub:

Find out more: How to become a premium member of the Third Space Learning Maths Hub.

Government’s Year 6 SATs practice papers – standardised tests from the DfE

Since the new national curriculum was introduced in 2015, there have been 6 active years of government tests (in 2020 and 2021 SATs were cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic).

Together with the sample test materials provided in 2016, that means you have an additional 21 past SATs papers to use for free. The advantage of these free SATs papers is that you also have the scaled scores available to see how your pupils are progressing against the thresholds from the year the papers were used.

Other types of Year 6 SATs practice papers

A large part of your SATs revision will always be practice questions and other types of practice papers.

Here’s a great source of free resources to get you started:

Even more maths resources such as arithmetic tests, reasoning tests, worksheets and worked examples are available to premium users in the Third Space Learning online maths hub.

Alternative premium sources for Year 6 SATs practice papers

If you’re still seeking additional SATs papers, here are the sources teachers most often use as backup to Third Space Learning SATs papers. But be aware, we were unable to find any free ones amongst them.

Testbase (Paid for only)
Twinkl (Paid for only)
MME Revise (Paid for only)
CGP Books (Paid for only)

Preparing your pupils for the upcoming SATs exams? With large class sizes, we know it’s hard for teachers and school leaders to cater to pupils’ needs at all times. The Third Space Learning SATs programme is designed by maths pedagogy experts with the aim of easing these pressures for you.

Our tutors deliver personalised, one to one support to your pupils. During each online session, tutors will work through SATs-style questions with your pupils to plug gaps and equip them with the required skills to succeed in the exams.

A Third Space Learning SATs revision lesson aligned with
the SATs tests, including support prompts to help your pupils.

Data and analysis from past SATs papers

For more in-depth and targeted SATs preparation read our analysis of the last six years of KS2 SATs papers, which includes what this means for the maths revision Year 6 topics and methods you teach.

How to use Year 6 SATs practice papers

Finally, here are a few tips to help you embed the use of these Year 6 SATs practice papers into your primary school SATs preparation:

1. Practise the papers under exam conditions

Practising the papers under exam conditions is imperative to SATs preparation. Exam conditions will ensure your pupils clearly understand exam expectations; in turn, your pupils will acquire the skills needed for when they do sit the official SATs exams.

2. Devote time to spend on specific questions

Focus on specific SATs questions as an alternative to an entire paper so you break down how to answer each question. This will ensure that you scaffold the process of answering questions for your pupils before they independently consolidate their knowledge.

3. Use the mark schemes

Understand the mark schemes to give you a clear understanding of exactly what examiners expect. You can also use mark schemes to check your pupils’ progress against scaled scores to recognise any common misconceptions in their knowledge.

4. Identify gaps

Use the data from practice papers to identify gaps so you can respond to and address these imminently. Make lessons that outline common gaps, so your pupils know exactly what they need to improve upon. This will help you recognise how much time to allocate on topics such as fractions, decimals, and percentages.

More Year 6 SATs practice:

What is the highest score in SATs year 6?

The highest score in SATs year 6 is 120.

How do you practise SATs?

The best way to practise for the SATs is to regularly sit past papers and SATs-style questions to familiarise yourself with the exam structure. Building exposure to SATs-style questions will boost confidence and build the required skills needed to succeed.

Where can I find KS1 practice SATs papers?

KS1 SATs are marked by teacher assessment but until 2023 were subject to national reporting standardisation through moderation. They are now optional but you can still get hold of the KS1 SATs papers from gov.uk.

DO YOU HAVE STUDENTS WHO NEED MORE SUPPORT IN MATHS?

Every week Third Space Learning’s specialist primary maths tutors support thousands of students across hundreds of schools with weekly online 1 to 1 maths lessons designed to plug gaps and boost progress.

Since 2013 these personalised one to one lessons have helped over 150,000 primary and secondary students become more confident, able mathematicians.

Learn about the SATs revision programme or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.