2019 SATs Papers

Video Walkthroughs

Watch our video walkthroughs of the 2019 KS2 Maths SATs papers.

Paper 1 (Arithmetic)

Paper 2 (Reasoning)

Paper 3 (Reasoning)

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

What Was in the 2019 KS2 SATs?

2019 KS2 English Reading Paper

The 2019 Key Stage 2 English Reading assessment contains three texts covering different genres and formats. The Park is a narrative extract about two boys who discover their local park is being closed for development. Fact Sheet: About Bumblebees is an informational text from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust that explains the importance of bees and methods to help them. Music Box is an adventure story extract set in a different world, featuring characters named Micah and Piper during a meteor storm.

The reading answer booklet contains 39 questions that assess various comprehension skills across the three texts. Questions test students' abilities in retrieval of information, inference skills, vocabulary understanding, and interpretation of character relationships and text structure. The assessment covers both fiction and non-fiction reading comprehension, requiring students to demonstrate understanding of narrative elements, factual content, and different text formats within the same paper.

2019 KS2 Maths Papers

The 2019 Key Stage 2 Mathematics assessments consisted of three papers testing different mathematical skills. Paper 1 focused on arithmetic calculations without a calculator, covering addition and subtraction with whole numbers and decimals, multiplication and division including long methods, fractions and mixed numbers, percentages, and order of operations. The paper included operations with place value, powers and squares, and multi-step calculations requiring column methods.

Papers 2 and 3 assessed reasoning and problem-solving skills across various mathematical topics. These papers covered geometry and measurement including area, perimeter, angles, and volume of cuboids, coordinate geometry and transformations, fractions and decimals, ratio and proportion, sequences, prime numbers and factors, algebraic expressions, time calculations, Roman numerals, statistics and mean calculations, data handling through pictograms and line graphs, measurement conversions, and multi-step word problems involving money and quantities.

2019 KS2 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Papers

The 2019 KS2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling assessment consists of two papers that test different aspects of language skills. Paper 1 covers grammar terminology including word classes such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and determiners. The paper also assesses knowledge of punctuation marks including commas, apostrophes, colons, semi-colons, dashes, brackets and hyphens, alongside sentence types, clause structures, and verb tenses including passive voice.

Paper 2 focuses specifically on spelling assessment through 20 tasks where students write missing words in sentences read aloud by the test administrator. This paper tests students' ability to spell common vocabulary, homophones, and words with specific spelling patterns. The assessment also covers Standard English usage, formal and informal language, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms and antonyms, and subject-object identification across both papers.

About the 2019 KS2 SATs

Children in Year 6 (those aged 10-11 at the time) took their KS2 SATs tests in May 2019. The exams started on Monday 13th May 2019 and took place over four days.

The 2019 KS2 SATs were authored, produced and managed by the STA (Standards and Testing Agency) under the authorisation of the DfE (Department for Education).

KS2 SATs were taken in Maths, Reading and GaPS under formal exam conditions. These papers were marked externally whilst separate teacher assessments in Writing and Science were marked by their teachers.

Pupils with additional educational needs were offered support and/or extra exam time where available. Modified materials using braille and large print were available to eligible pupils and their teachers.

2019 was the fourth year of 'new-style' KS2 SATs tests under the new national curriculum.

To help prepare children for the 2019 KS2 SATs, children were able to download test papers from previous years free of charge. Whilst not working to the same curriculum, KS2 SATs Papers from 2015 (and before) were still useful to aid preparation.

Once marked, children's scores were converted to scaled scores:

• If a child's scaled score was below 100, they had not reached the expected standard.

• If a child's scaled score was between 100 and 109, they had reached the expected standard.

• If a child's score was 110 or over, they had exceeded the expected standard and were judged as working at greater depth.

2019 KS2 SATs Scaled Scores Expected Standard and Greater Depth

Here you will find the Key Stage 2 raw/scaled conversion tables. You may find it easier and faster to use our free scaled score converter.

2019 English Reading KS2 SATs

The raw score required to achieve the "expected standard" (a scaled score of 100) was 28. Thus, the "pass mark" for pupils taking the 2019 KS2 English Reading SATs was 28/50 or 56%. In order to achieve "greater depth" (scaled score of 110) a child would have to score at least 41/50 or 82%.

See below for the full raw marks to scaled scores conversion table:

2019 Maths KS2 SATs

The raw score required to achieve the "expected standard" (a scaled score of 100) was 58. Thus, the "pass mark" for children taking the 2019 KS2 Maths SATs was 58/110 or 52.7%. In order to achieve "greater depth" (scaled score of 110) a child would have to score at least 95/110 or 86.4%.

See below for the full raw marks to scaled scores conversion table:

2019 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling KS2 SATs

The mark required to achieve the "expected standard" (a scaled score of 100) was 36. Thus, the "pass mark" for children taking the 2019 KS2 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling SATs was 36/70 or 51.4%. In order to achieve "greater depth" (scaled score of 110) a child would have to score at least 55/70 or 78.6%.

See below for the full raw marks to scaled scores conversion table:

Each school's KS2 SATs results were made available to their headteachers in July 2019 via the NCA tools website. Individual KS2 SATs results were fed back to parents some time after this date, normally within a child's end of year report.

Every school's KS2 SATs performance was made publicly available in December 2019 as part of the 2019 primary school league tables.

2019 KS2 SATs Exam Timetable

The 2019 Key Stage 2 SATs started on Monday 13th May 2019. The full exam timetable is below:

Video Walkthroughs

Watch our video walkthroughs of the 2019 KS1 Maths SATs papers.

Paper 1 (Arithmetic)

Paper 2 (Reasoning)

What Was in the 2019 KS1 SATs?

2019 KS1 English Reading Papers

The 2019 KS1 English Reading assessments contained four texts across two booklets. Reading Booklet 1 featured "My Big Brother JJ", a fiction story about siblings painting a shed wall during half term, and "What Is A Cowboy?", a non-fiction text about cowboys in North America covering their clothing, jobs, and horses. Reading Booklet 2 included "Liam the Park Keeper", a non-fiction account of a park keeper's daily tasks and seasonal responsibilities, and "Dora the Storer", a fiction story about a woman who collects objects and donates them to a jumble sale.

The assessments tested reading comprehension skills through 18 questions that covered retrieval, inference, vocabulary understanding, and sequencing abilities. Questions were distributed across the texts, with the first nine focusing on the park keeper text and the remaining nine on the story about Dora. The papers assessed students' ability to understand both narrative and informational texts, requiring them to extract information, make connections, and demonstrate comprehension of different text types and structures.

2019 KS1 Maths Papers

The KS1 Mathematics Paper 1: Arithmetic assessments from 2019 focused on fundamental calculation skills. These papers tested addition and subtraction with numbers up to 100, multiplication and division facts, and missing number problems. Questions covered fraction calculations including finding halves, thirds, quarters, and three-quarters of amounts. The papers progressed from simple single-digit operations to two-digit calculations, assessing both mental arithmetic and written calculation methods appropriate for Year 2 students.

The KS1 Mathematics Paper 2: Reasoning assessments evaluated problem-solving skills across multiple mathematical topics. Questions covered place value, number sequences, and counting in steps of 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s. Students worked with 2D and 3D shapes, symmetry, and rotation, alongside measurement topics including time, money, mass, length, capacity, and temperature. The papers included data handling with tally charts and pictograms, plus multi-step word problems requiring students to demonstrate understanding through written calculations and contextual problem-solving.

2019 KS1 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Papers

The 2019 KS1 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling assessment consists of two papers that evaluate different aspects of language skills for Year 2 students. Paper 1 focuses on spelling through 21 sentence completion tasks delivered by dictation, testing various spelling patterns including plurals, homophones, contractions, and words with different phonetic structures. Paper 2 contains 19 questions that assess grammar and punctuation knowledge through identification and application exercises.

The assessment covers fundamental language concepts including word types such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Students demonstrate their understanding of punctuation marks including capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, apostrophes, and commas. Additional topics include forming compound words, adding prefixes and suffixes, using conjunctions, identifying different sentence types, and applying correct verb tenses. The papers test both recognition and practical application of these core English language skills.

About the 2019 KS1 SATs

Children in Year 2 (those aged 6-7 at the time) took their KS1 SATs tests throughout May 2019.

The 2019 KS1 SATs were authored, produced and managed by the STA (Standards and Testing Agency) under the authorisation of the DfE (Department for Education).

KS1 SATs were taken in Maths, Reading and GaPS (optionally) under informal exam conditions. These papers were marked by their teachers alongside the Writing and Science teacher assessments.

As with the KS2 SATs, pupils with additional educational needs were offered support and/or extra exam time where available. Modified materials using braille and large print were available to eligible pupils and their teachers.

2019 was the fourth year of 'new-style' KS1 SATs tests under the new national curriculum.

To help prepare children for the 2019 KS1 SATs, children were able to download test papers from previous years free of charge.

Once marked, children's scores were converted to scaled scores:

• If a child's scaled score was below 100, they had not reached the expected standard.

• If a child's scaled score was between 100 and 109, they had reached the expected standard.

• If a child's score was 110 or over, they had exceeded the expected standard and were judged as working at greater depth.

2019 KS1 SATs Scaled Scores Expected Standard and Greater Depth

Here you will find the Key Stage 1 raw/scaled conversion tables. You may find it easier and faster to use our free scaled score converter.

2019 English Reading KS1 SATs

The raw score required to achieve the "expected standard" (a scaled score of 100) was 25. Thus, the "pass mark" for pupils taking the 2019 KS1 English Reading SATs was 25/40, or 62.5%. In order to achieve "greater depth" (scaled score of 110) a child would have to score at least 36/40, or 90%.

See below for the full raw marks to scaled scores conversion table:

2019 Maths KS1 SATs

The raw score required to achieve the "expected standard" (a scaled score of 100) was 34. Thus, the "pass mark" for children taking the 2019 KS1 Maths SATs was 34/60, or 56.7%. In order to achieve "greater depth" (scaled score of 110) a child would have to score at least 53/60, or 88.3%.

See below for the full raw marks to scaled scores conversion table:

2019 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling KS1 SATs

The mark required to achieve the "expected standard" (a scaled score of 100) was 24. Thus, the "pass mark" for children taking the 2019 KS1 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling SATs was 24/40, or 60%. In order to achieve "greater depth" (scaled score of 110) a child would have to score at least 35/40, or 87.5%.

See below for pupils taking the full raw marks to scaled scores conversion table:

Each school's KS1 SATs results were made available to their headteachers in July 2019 via the NCA tools website. Individual KS1 SATs results were fed back to parents some time after this date, normally within a child's end of year report.

2019 KS1 SATs Exam Timetable

The 2019 KS1 SATs took place at some point throughout May 2019.

The precise days of the tests varied from school to school as they are given a greater degree of flexibility than KS2 SATs. Thus they would have been completed at some point between 1 May 2019 and 31 May 2019.