maths problem solving year 6 pdf

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Year 6 Maths Worksheets UK Hub Page

Welcome to our Year 6 Maths Worksheets area.

Here you will find a wide range of free printable Year 6 Maths Worksheets for your child to enjoy.

Come and take a look at our rounding decimal pages, or maybe some of our adding and subtracting fractions worksheets. Perhaps you are looking for some worksheets about finding angles in a triangle, or need some ratio problem worksheets to help your child learn about ratio?

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• This page contains links to other Math webpages where you will find a range of activities and resources.
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Year 6 Maths Learning

Here are some of the key learning objectives for the end of Year 6:

• know and use Place value up to 10 million
• Counting on and back in steps of powers of 10 from any number up to 10 million
• Round numbers to any given degree of accuracy.
• Count forwards and backwards through zero with positive and negative numbers.
• Read Roman numerals to 1000 and recognise years written in Roman numerals
• solve multi-step problems using addition and subtraction in a range of contexts
• identify multiples and factors including common factors
• multiply and divide up to 4-digit numbers by up to 2 digits
• Use their knowledge of the order of operations to carry out calculations involving the four operations.
• Identify common factors, common multiples and prime numbers.
• solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
• simplify fractions
• compare and order fractions including mixed numbers
• add and subtract fractions with different denominators including mixed numbers
• multiply simple fractions together and simplify the answer
• divide proper fractions by whole numbers
• recall and use equivalence between simple fractions, decimals and percentages.
• Multiply and divide whole numbers and decimals up to 3dp by 10, 100 or 1000
• read, write, order and compare numbers up to 3dp
• round decimals with up to 3dp to the nearest whole
• solve problems with numbers up to 3dp
• work out percentages of different amounts
• solve problems using percentages
• use simple formulae
• express missing number problems using algebra
• find pairs of numbers that satisfy equations with two variables
• solve problems involving simple ratios
• solve problems involving similar shapes where the scale factor is known
• use, read, write and convert between standard units of measure
• measure, compare and calculate using different measures
• know that shapes with the same area can have different perimeters
• find the area of parallelograms and right triangles
• find the volume of cubes and cuboids
• convert between miles and km
• name and understand the parts of circles - radius, diameter and circumference
• draw 2D shapes accurately using dimensions and angles
• compate and classify 2D shapes by a range of properties
• find missing angles in triangles, quadrilaterals and regular shapes
• use coordinates in all 4 quadrants
• draw and translate simple shapes in all 4 quadrants
• interpret and construct pie charts and line graphs
• calculate the mean as an average

Please note:

Our site is mainly based around the US Elementary school math standards.

Though the links on this page are all designed primarily for students in the US, but they are also at the correct level and standard for UK students.

The main issue is that some of the spelling is different and this site uses US spelling.

Year 6 is generally equivalent to 5th Grade in the US.

On this page you will find link to our range of math worksheets for Year 6.

Quicklinks to Year 6 ...

• Place Value Zone
• Mental Math Zone

Word Problems Zone

Fractions percents ratio zone.

• Percentages Zone
• Measurement Zone

Geometry Zone

Data analysis zone.

• Fun Zone: games and puzzles

Coronavirus Stay At Home Support

For those parents who have found themselves unexpectedly at home with the kids and need some emergency activities for them to do, we have started to develop some Maths Grab Packs for kids in the UK.

Each pack consists of at least 10 mixed math worksheets on a variety of topics to help you keep you child occupied and learning.

The idea behind them is that they can be used out-of-the-box for some quick maths activities for your child.

They are completely FREE - take a look!

• Free Maths Grabs Packs

Place Value & Number Sense Zone

Year 6 number worksheets.

Here you will find a range of Free Printable Year 6 Number Worksheets.

Using these Year 6 maths worksheets will help your child to:

• use place value with numbers up to 10 million;
• use place value with up to 3 decimal places;
• understand how to use exponents (powers) of a number;
• understand and use parentheses (brackets);
• understand and use multiples and factors;
• extend their knowledge of prime and composite (non-prime) numbers up to 100;
• know and be able to use the PEMDAS (or PEDMAS) rule.
• Place Value Worksheets to 10 million
• Place Value to 3dp
• Ordering Decimals Worksheets
• PEMDAS Rule Support Page
• PEMDAS Problems Worksheets
• Balancing Math Equations
• Roman Numerals worksheets

Ordering Large Numbers and Decimals to 3dp

The sheets in this section involve ordering lists of decimals to 3 decimal places and also large numbers up to 100 million.

There are sheets with decimals up to 10, and also sheets with numbers from -10 to 10.

• Ordering Large Numbers up to 100 million
• Ordering Decimals to 3dp

Rounding Decimals

• Rounding to the nearest tenth
• Rounding Decimal Places Sheets to 2dp
• Rounding Decimals Worksheet Challenges

Year 6 Decimal Counting Worksheets

Using these sheets will support you child to:

• count on and back by multiples of 0.1;
• fill in the missing numbers in sequences;
• count on and back into negative numbers.
• Counting By Decimals

Year 6 Mental Maths Zone

Each worksheet tests the children on a range of math topics from number facts and mental arithmetic to geometry, fraction and measures questions.

A great way to revise topics, or use as a weekly math quiz!

• Year 6 Mental Maths Tests

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Year 6 Addition Worksheets

• add decimals including tenths and hundredths mentally;
• add a columns of multi-digit numbers, including decimals.
• Decimal Addition Fact Worksheets
• 5th Grade Addition Worksheets BIG Numbers
• Decimal Column Addition Worksheets
• Money Worksheets (randomly generated)

Year 6 Subtraction Worksheets

Using these sheets will help your child to:

• subtract decimals including tenths and hundredths mentally;
• subtract multi-digit numbers, including decimals using column subtraction.
• Subtracting Decimals Worksheets (mental)
• Subtraction Worksheets up to Billions (columns)
• Column Subtraction with Decimals

Year 6 Multiplication Worksheets

• extend their knowlege of multiplication to decimals;
• use their multiplication tables to answer related facts, including decimals;
• multiply a range of decimals with up to 2 decimal places (2dp) by a whole number;
• multiply different money amounts by a whole number.
• Multiplying Decimals by 10 and 100
• Multiplication Fact Sheet Decimals
• Decimal Multiplication Worksheets to 1dp
• Decimal Multiplication Worksheets to 2dp
• Free Multiplication Worksheets (randomly generated)
• Multiply and Divide by 10 100 (decimals)
• Multiplication & Division Worksheets (randomly generated)
• Multiplication Word Problems

Division Worksheets 5th Grade

Using these Year 6 maths worksheets will help your child learn to:

• divide any whole number up to 10000 by a two digit number;
• express any division with a remainder in the form of a mixed number (a number with a fraction part).
• Long Division Worksheets (whole numbers)
• Long Division of Decimal Numbers
• Decimal Division Facts
• Division Facts Worksheets (randomly generated)

Year 6 Maths Problems

• apply their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills;
• apply their knowledge of rounding and place value;
• solve a range of problems including "real life" problems and ratio problems.

These sheets involve solving one or two more challenging longer problems.

• Year 6 Math Problems (5th Grade)

These sheets involve solving many 'real-life' problems involving data.

• Year 6 Math Word Problems (5th Grade)

These sheets involve solving a range of ratio problems.

Year 6 Fraction Worksheets

Year 6 percentage worksheets, year 6 ratio worksheets.

• compare and order fractions;
• add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers;
• understand how to multiply fractions by a whole number;
• understand how to multiply two fractions together, including mixed fractions;
• understand the relationship between fractions and division;
• know how to divide fractions and mixed fractions;
• convert decimals to fractions.
• Comparing Fractions Worksheet page
• Adding Fractions Worksheets
• Adding Improper Fractions
• Subtracting Fractions Worksheets
• Adding Subtracting Fractions Worksheets
• Improper Fraction Worksheets
• Converting Decimals to Fractions Worksheets
• Fractions Decimals Percents Worksheets
• Multiplying Fractions Worksheets
• Dividing Fractions by Whole numbers
• Divide Whole numbers by Fractions
• Simplifying Fractions Worksheets
• Free Printable Fraction Riddles (harder)

Take a look at our percentage worksheets for finding the percentage of a number or money amount.

We have a range of percentage sheets from quite a basic level to much harder.

• Percentage of Numbers Worksheets
• Money Percentage Worksheets
• Percentage Word Problems

These Year 6 Ratio worksheets are a great way to introduce this concept.

We have a range of part to part ratio worksheets and slightly harder problem solving worksheets.

• Ratio Part to Part Worksheets
• Ratio and Proportion Worksheets

Year 6 Geometry Worksheets

• know how to find missing angles in a range of situations;
• learn the number of degrees in a right angle, straight line, around a point and in a triangle;
• know how to calculate the area of a triangle;
• know how to calculate the area of a range of quadrilaterals.
• learn the formulas to calculate the area of triangles and some quadrilaterals;
• write and plot coordinates in all 4 quadrants.
• (5th Grade) Geometry - Angles
• Area of Quadrilaterals
• 5th Grade Volume Worksheets
• Coordinate Worksheets (1st Quadrant)
• Coordinate Plane Worksheets (All 4 Quadrants)
• Parts of a Circle Worksheets

Measurement Zone, including Time & Money

Year 6 measurement worksheets.

Using these sheets will help your child understand how to:

• learn how to read a standard scale going up in different fractions: halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths;
• learn how to read a metric scale going up in 0.1s, 5s, 10s, 25s, 50s & 100s;
• learn how to estimate a measurement of length, weight or liquid;
• convert temperatures in Celsius and Fahrenheit.
• (5th Grade) Measurement Worksheets

Time Puzzles - harder

Here you will find our selection of harder time puzzles.

• Time Word Problems Worksheets - Riddles (harder)

Using these sheets will help you to:

• find the mean of up to 5 numbers;
• find a missing data point when the mean is given.
• Mean Worksheets

Fun Zone: Puzzles, Games and Riddles

Year 6 maths games.

• Year 6 Math Games (5th Grade)

Year 6 Maths Puzzles

The puzzles will help your child practice and apply their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts as well as developing their thinking and reasoning skills in a fun and engaging way.

• Printable Math Puzzles

Math Salamanders Year 6 Maths Games Ebook

Our Year 6 Maths Games Ebook contains all of our fun maths games, complete with instructions and resources.

This ebooklet is available in our store - use the link below to find out more!

• Year 6 Maths Games Ebook

Other UK Maths Worksheet pages

See below for our other maths worksheets hub pages designed for children in the UK.

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Year 6 Maths Problems

Subject: Mathematics

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

22 February 2018

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A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

Year 6 Maths Scheme of Work (based on White Rose Maths)

A scheme of learning with planning and worksheets included for Year 6 Maths. Included are 90 lessons that cover: Place Value Rounding Negative Numbers Roman Numerals Indices Inverse operations Written addition and subtraction Mental addition and subtraction Written multiplication and division Order of operations Finding fractions of amounts Comparing fractions Converting between improper and mixed number fractions Add and subtract fractions Multiply fractions together Multiply fractions by whole numbers Divide fractions by whole numbers Percentages Fraction, decimal and percentages Ratio Algebra including missing information, expressing problems, satisfying equations, satisfying two variables and sequences Multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000 Multiplying decimal numbers Finding percentages of amounts x 2 Fraction, decimal and percentage equivalents Converting measurements Miles and kms Time Shape with same area but different perimeter and vice versa Volume Area Area of triangles Addition and subtraction (Same as 1st planning scheme as it is revision) Multiplication (Same as 1st planning scheme as it is revision) Division (Same as 1st planning scheme as it is revision) Worksheets are differentiated three ways with a mastery aim running throughout. Having used a similar format in my own lessons, these sheets often provide enough challenge for two days lessons, with children taking on the easier work then moving on to harder challenges within the other sheets. These have all been made with mastery in mind and so follow this pattern. Worksheet One - Works on practise and fluency (LA) Worksheet Two - Practise, fluency and reasoning (MA) Worksheet Three - Practise, fluency, reasoning and problem solving (HA) Worksheet Four - Same as worksheet three as a spare for anybody who finishes problem solving Answers are included for each sheet.

Maths resources

A range of Maths resources including fully planned and resourced lessons that can all be used in Years 5 and 6.

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Eccentricity.

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Brilliant resource, great for a morning starting in the lead up to SATs.

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Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

Year 6 - White Rose Maths

Year 6 - maths - archimedes / hawking / newton, year 6 - maths - pascal / venn, year 6 - venn - mrs flavell.

Year 6 Maths SATs Past Papers and Solutions

On this page you will find all the past papers and solutions for the maths SATs papers that students in the UK sit in Year 6 (age 10 and 11). I hope they are useful to anyone revising for or teaching this exam. 

Even if you are not a primary school teacher/student, these are incredibly useful for those in secondary education. They give a great insight into the level of work students have covered at primary school, and are a great source for extra questions

2003 keyboard_arrow_up Back to Top

2004 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2005 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2006 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2007 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2008 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2009 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2010 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2011 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2012 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2013 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2014 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2015 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2016 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2017 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2018 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2019 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2022 keyboard_arrow_up back to top, 2023 keyboard_arrow_up back to top.

SATs Tutoring Programme

"Seeing our 2023 maths results has highlighted what I already knew about the impact - it's brilliant!"

Hundreds of FREE maths SATs resources!

SATs practice papers, SATs revision packs, SATs intervention lessons and more!

35 SATs Maths Questions And Answers With Worked Examples: Essential Maths Reasoning Practice For Year 6 [FREE]

Anantha Anilkumar

For Year 6, the toughest of their SATs maths questions are the reasoning questions. 

No matter how good pupils’ subject knowledge is or how effective your SATs revision lessons are, the examiners always manage to come up with maths questions that can baffle and flummox even the hardiest year 6 pupil.

To mitigate against this for SATs 2024 your pupils need plenty of exam practice and more specifically exam question practice to be familiar with both the types of SATs reasoning questions that can come up and the skills needed to answer them.

So to make life easy for you we’ve put together here a comprehensive collection of 35 SATs maths questions, organised by the sorts of question that pupils can expect to encounter.

All these practice SATs questions have been based on a mix of questions from past SATs papers , our own free year 6 maths SATs papers , and our collections of year 6 reasoning questions from the Rapid Reasoning resource collection. The answers are all taken from the answer sheets we provide for each test paper.

Other useful SATs revision resources

Before we get into the year 6 maths questions you might find it helpful to know that we have hundreds of other free KS2 SATs revision resources, including free SATs papers , and SATs intervention packs for those wanting to use the Year 6 SATs revision lessons we use in one to one tutoring in their own boosters.

You should also make sure you’re up to date with the latest analysis on the 20 most ‘valuable’ topics to study for SATs this year and also this analysis of the KS2 SATs Maths Papers Question Breakdown in 2023 .

You may also wish to read this guide to SATs first to give you some background information about the tests.

Why the focus on maths reasoning questions for SATs? 

Ever since the new national curriculum Key Stage 2 SATs in 2016, the emphasis in the all SATs papers has been very much on SATs reasoning questions. While there is one arithmetic paper, there are two reasoning papers; and the variety, breadth and level of challenge in the reasoning paper continues to impress us.

Most Year 6 pupils find the reasoning SATs maths questions the hardest part of these maths papers. Unsurprisingly! We teach thousands of pupils every week in the run up to SATs, and teaching them maths reasoning skills at KS2 is a big part of what we do.

We even recently took the decision to restructure our SATs lessons to introduce maths reasoning questions earlier in the learning journey as the level of challenge just at the end of the lesson was too high. So we feel the Year 6 teacher’s pain!

Whatever level pupils go on to perform at in maths, maths reasoning questions and numerical reasoning tests (such as those used by grammar and private schools) are likely to be a part of the practice they require.

If you find you have children in your class with much further to catch-up than the others then we we would be happy to support them with some personalised online one to one maths tuition .

35 SATs maths questions for KS2 year 6 SATs

For the KS2 SATs tests, there are 7 types of maths reasoning question that are likely to come up:

• Single step worded problems
• Multiple step worded problems
• Problems involving measures
• Problems involving drawing
• Explanation questions
• Sequence questions
• Ordering questions

For each of these types we’ll examine an example SATs maths question from a previous SATs paper, looking at the question, the correct answer, and how to go about answering this question.

We’ll also look at further examples of each type of maths reasoning questions and answers from Third Space’s Rapid Reasoning resource, again with worked examples and an explanation of how to answer each.

Finally, at the end of this article we provide links to further Year 6 maths questions, assessments and other SATs papers that you may find useful including plenty of arithmetic practice too.

Our aim is to provide you as part of your SATs practice with a sample of the types of KS2 SATs questions pupils can expect in the reasoning papers and how to teach the reasoning and problem solving  skills they’ll need to answer them.

For more word problems like this, check out our collection of 2-step and multi-step word problems for you as well as tips on how to use the bar model to answer Year 6 word problems . For advice on how to teach children to solve problems like this, check out these maths problem solving strategies.

SATs Maths Question Type 1: Single step worded problems

The simplest type of reasoning question pupils are likely to encounter in the reasoning papers, single step problems are exactly that: pupils are asked to interpret a written question and carry out a single mathematical step to solve it.

Have a look at the question below:

Reasoning Question 1

Answer: 65p

A relatively easy question to interpret and solve – the first step is to recognise £2 and £1.35 as equivalent to 200 and 135. From here the simple mathematical step is subtraction i.e. 200-135=65.

The most crucial skill for primary school pupils in this question is a solid understanding of money as relating to place value. If this understanding is present, the mathematical step itself is quite easy.

Below are several more examples, taken from Third Space Learning’s Rapid Reasoning resources:

Reasoning Question 2

Answer : 7 hours 24 minutes

Pupils need to understand that one hour is equal to 60 minutes. From here the single mathematical step is short division: 444/60, with a remainder.

Reasoning Question 3

Answer : 48 cm 3

Pupils must calculate length by breadth by height, using the figures provided by the question.

Reasoning Question 4

Answer : 124 cm

A simple enough calculation (doubling) if pupils are aware that the diameter is twice the radius.

Reasoning Question 5

Answer : 7,590

A single, relatively simple rounding problem – pupils should recognise that ’94’ is the operative part of this figure.

SATs Maths Question Type 2: Multiple step worded problems

A more complex version of the single step worded problem, multi-step problems require pupils to interpret a written problem, but solving it then requires the use of two or three maths skills,

For example, consider this question from the 2019 KS2 maths SATs:

Reasoning Question 6

Answer: £1.85

This question encompasses three different maths skills: multiplying (and dividing) mixed numbers, addition and subtraction. Pupils can choose to work out the multiplication or division first, but must complete both before moving on.

Once these values have been worked out the next steps are relatively simple – adding the two values together, and subtracting the total from £5.

Multi-step problems are particularly valuable to include in practice tests because they require children to apply their knowledge of maths language and their reasoning skills several times across the course of a single question, usually in slightly different contexts.

More examples:

Reasoning Question 7

Answer : £5,520

There are two steps to this problem, but both are multiplications. The first is to work out how much money is made per day – 92 x £15. This sum is then multiplied by 4 – the number of days – to get to the solution.

Reasoning Question 8

Answer : 2,160 km

Another two step problem. The first step is to work out 10% of 5400 km. Then multiply this by 4 to solve 40%.

Reasoning Question 9

Answer : £43.50

There are three steps involved in solving this problem: multiplication (doubling £51 and £36 to find the cost of two adult and two child tickets), addition (putting the two costs together) and division (dividing the total by four to obtain the mean cost).

Given the number of steps involved it can be easy for pupils to make arithmetic mistakes, and the mark scheme accounts for this by allowing for one mistake – but no more.

Read more: Mean median mode

Reasoning question 10.

Answer : 11.45 kg

A two-step problem again: multiplying 3.45 kg by 4, then subtracting 2.35 kg from the total. As with the previous problem, the mark scheme again allows for at most one arithmetic error, assuming the method is correct.

Year 6 Rapid Reasoning (Weeks 1-6)

Download 6 weeks of Rapid Reasoning slides for your Year 6 pupils and help them get a head start on preparing for the SATs reasoning papers.

SATs Maths Question Type 3: Problems involving measures

As their name suggests, these questions ask pupils to solve a problem that includes one or more units of measurement.

Take a look at this question from 2018’s Reasoning Paper 3:

Reasoning Question 1 1

Answer: 40 washes

This is a two step problem; pupils must first be able to read and convert kilograms to grams (and therefore know the relationship between the two units), then divide 2600 by 65 to work out the number of washes possible.

Questions involving measures tend to be few in number in the KS2 exam papers, but they often provide an excellent way to couch key maths skills such as the four operations.

Further examples:

Reasoning Question 12

Answer : 50g

A relatively simple division problem, relying on pupils having knowledge that 200g is one fifth of a kilogram.

Reasoning Question 13

Answer : 1.1kg

Another three step problem – multiplying 500 by 4 to get the total mass of the four melons, multiplying 300 by 3 to get the total mass of the remaining three melons, and then subtracting 2000 from 900 to obtain the mass of the fourth melon.

It’s worth noting that the mark scheme allows either 1.1kg or 1,100g as acceptable answers – the units of measurement are not as important as obtaining the current figure.

Reasoning Question 14

Answer : 216cm

Interesting to note that in this problem (unlike the previous example), the units for the answer are specified – an answer given in metres will be marked as wrong, since cm is specified in the answer box. This is why we encourage pupils to keep an eye on whether units are provided in the answer box.

Reasoning Question 15

Answer : 170g

As with the melon question there are three steps involved to solve this problem: working out the mass of the four cars (4 x 80), working out the mass of the remaining three cars (3 x 50) and subtracting 150 from 320 to get the mass of the fourth car.

SATs Maths Question Type 4: Problems involving drawing

Problems involving drawing require pupils to construct an  accurate  drawing by following a set of instructions, or through reflection, translation, or scaling.   

This type of question is quite rare, but there are some notable exceptions, such as the infamous Question 21 in Paper 2 of the 2019 Reasoning SATs:

Reasoning Question 1 6

Answer: Any pair of lines that make a square of 4 units, a rectangle of 6 units, and a square of 25 units.

This question is considerably more complex than it appears, and incorporates aspects of multiplication as well as spatial awareness. One potential solution is to work out the area of the card (35), then work out the possible square numbers that will fit in (understanding that square numbers produce a square when drawn out as on a grid), and which then leave a single rectangle behind.

A lot of work for a single mark!

Some further examples:

Reasoning Question 17

Answer : Any quadrilateral made by joining the dots that has 3 acute angles e.g. an arrowhead shape.

Reasoning Question 18

Answer : An accurately drawn angle.

The mark scheme here allows some room for error – “between 34 and 36 degrees” is acceptable .

Reasoning Question 19

As with the question above, a small amount of room for error is given – “between 139 and 141 degrees”.

Reasoning Question 20

Answer : a new triangle drawn with points at (2,1), (5,1) and (2,4).

Translation can be tricky for pupils. Encourage them to look at the triangle as three points, and to translate each point separately rather than trying to move ‘the whole triangle’.

SATs Maths Question Type 5: Explanation questions

An early form of the ‘Prove X’ questions that come up in GCSEs, these problems ask children to explain a mathematical statement or error.

As an example:

Reasoning Question 21

Answer: If the distance from P to R is 800m and the distance from P to Q is (Q -> R x 4), it must be 4/5 of 800 = 640m. Therefore Olivia is wrong.

More than most problems, this type requires pupils to actively demonstrate their  reasoning skills  as well as their mathematical ones. Here pupils must articulate either in words or (where possible) numerically that they understand that Q to R is 1/5 of the total, that therefore P to Q is 4/5 of the total distance, and then calculate what this is via division and multiplication.

Further examples from TSL’s Rapid Reasoning resources:

Reasoning Question 22

Answer : No; 20/100 is the same as 20 divided by 100, which equals 0.2.

Reasoning Question 23

Answer : No; multiplication and division have the same priority, so in a problem like 40 x 6 ÷2, you would carry out the multiplication first as it occurs first.

The mark scheme notes that vague answers or any answers with a mathematical error are unacceptable.

Reasoning Question 24

Answer : No

Any explanation that provides a counter-example is acceptable e.g. “Not if the number is 1”, “Not for 0” etc.

Reasoning Question 25

Answer : Any answer that refers to the fact that there is a 5 in the hundreds place, AND a 9 in the thousands place, so that the number has to be rounded up as far as the ten-thousands place.

SATs Maths Question Type 6: Sequence questions

Another relatively simple kind of reasoning question, sequence problems involve pupils completing mathematical sequences.

Consider this example:

Reasoning Question 26

Answer:   35 , 42, 49,  56 , 63,  70

Number sequence questions, particularly those that involve linear sequences or (as in this case) times tables, come up relatively frequently in the SATs maths tests. The question’s instructions point clearly to the solution: work out what the increase between numbers is, then apply this via addition or subtraction to find the missing numbers.

Higher attaining pupils might quickly pick up that this is in fact the 7 times table and rely on their knowledge of multiplication facts to obtain the answer – this should be encouraged so long as they then check their answer in the normal method to ensure they haven’t made a mistake.

Reasoning Question 2 7

Answer(s) : 5/8 and 2 1/8 (OR 17/8)

Both answers must be correct to receive the mark. Pupils must recognise that 3/4 is the same as 6/8, so the following number must be three eighths higher.

Reasoning Question 28

Answer(s) : -19 and 9

Reasoning Question 29

Answer(s) : 128, 135 and 156.

Reasoning Question 30

Answer(s) : -10 and 22

This question can be a little tricky; pupils need to work out that the marks on the line represent increments of 4, and count backwards and forwards in 4s to obtain the missing numbers.

SATs Maths Question Type 7: Ordering questions

A slightly more complex variation of the sequence question, ordering problems require pupils to put a set of numbers, fractions or measures in the correct order.

A good example is this question from Paper 2 of the 2018 SATs:

Reasoning Question 31

Answer: 3/5, 3/4, 6/5

This question throws a stick in the wheels by including an improper fraction, but this is hardly unusual. These sorts of questions are just the place to find other ‘curveballs’ such as equivalent fractions, mixed numbers and decimals and fractions combined.

A good knowledge of the fundamentals of fractions is essential here: pupils must understand what a larger denominator means, and the significance of a fraction with a numerator greater than its denominator.

Reasoning Question 32

Answer : D,C,A,B

Encourage pupils to convert all the fractions to one denominator value to make ordering easier.

Reasoning Question 33

Answer : (descending down the ‘Place’ column) 3rd, 5th, 2nd, 4th

As with the example above, pupils should be encouraged to convert the fractions to make it easier to order them.

Reasoning Question 34

Answer : C, B, D, A

Reasoning Question 35

Answer : D, A, C, B

7 top tips for answering SATs questions

Now that we’ve covered how to answer some specific types of reasoning questions, here are some more generic tips for success in the reasoning papers. They may not all be applicable to every single question type, but will apply to at least two, usually more.

• Get pupils in the habit for any practice paper of identifying what information they’re given in a question, and what they need to know to solve the problem. This helps them start to form the steps needed to find the solution.
• Ask pupils to ‘spot the maths’ in a question – which calculations or skills do they actually need to use to solve the problem? This is useful even for arithmetic questions – it’s no surprise how often children can misread a question.
• Check the units! Especially in questions involving multiple measures, it can be easy to give the answer in the wrong one. The answer box might give a specific unit of measurement, so pupils should work to give their answer in that unit.
• In a similar vein, remind pupils to convert different units of measurement in a question into the same unit to make calculations easier e.g. kg to g.
• Encourage numerical answers where possible. Even in explanation questions demonstrating the mathematical calculation is a better explanation than trying to write it out.
• The bar model can be a useful way of visualising many different types of questions, and might make it easier to spot the ‘steps’ needed for the solution.
• Check your working out! Even if the working is ultimately irrelevant to the question, you can lose marks if it is wrong.

More free SATs questions (all with answers)

• 75 KS2 SATs maths questions Reasoning and Arithmetic practice questions by topic – includes fractions, decimals, percentages; place value; addition and subtraction.
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FREE KS2 Maths SATs Practice Papers (Set of 6)

Get ready for KS2 SATs tests with this set of 6 maths SATs practice papers.

Includes 2 Arithmetic and 4 Reasoning Papers, with mark schemes and answer booklets, that follow the National Curriculum Assessments.

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