How to help your child with SATs at home, without the stress

Keep it short and regular

• Ten to fifteen minutes on most days works better than a long session at the weekend.
• Mix it up: a few arithmetic questions one day, some grammar the next.
• Stop while your child still feels positive.

Arithmetic: the quickest win

• Secure times tables up to 12 × 12 make every paper easier.
• Practise the written methods your child's school teaches, such as long multiplication and long division.
• Encourage checking with the inverse: a division can be checked by multiplying.

Reading

• Read together and talk about the story: why did a character do that? How do you know?
• Ask your child to find the exact words in the text that prove an answer.
• Talk about interesting word choices and what they make the reader think.

Grammar, punctuation and spelling

• Learn the names of word classes: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, pronoun and determiner.
• Practise a few words from the Year 5 and 6 spelling list each week.
• Spot fronted adverbials, apostrophes and inverted commas in books you read together.

Practice papers

In the last few weeks, a timed practice paper helps your child get used to the clock. Look at the questions that went wrong together, then practise those topics again. Keep the focus on effort and learning rather than the score.