Reading
The reading test will be a single paper with questions based on three passages of text. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test.
There will be a selection of question types, including:
- Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story.
- Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title of the story.’
- Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story.’
- Short constructed response, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’
- Open-ended response, e.g. ‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’
Writing
This is based on teacher assessment that is ongoing throughout the year. It is an assessment of the children’s everyday standard in class.
It covers all genres of writing.
It will be judged against the Interim Assessment Framework
Handwriting
There is no handwriting test.
Teachers assess handwriting in the normal class work.
Pupils MUST consistently join their letters and write in an even script to achieve the national standard.
Maths
Children will sit three papers in maths:
- Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes
- Papers 2 and 3: reasoning, 40 minutes per paper
Paper 1 will consist of fixed response questions, where children have to give the correct answer to calculations, including long multiplication and division.
Papers 2 and 3 will involve a number of question types, including:
- Multiple choice
- True or false
- Constrained questions, e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart
- Less constrained questions, where children will have to explain their approach for solving a problem
Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
The grammar, punctuation and spelling test will consist of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and an aural spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 15 minutes.
- The grammar and punctuation test will include two sub-types of questions:
- Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’
- Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’
It has increased in difficulty and complexity and now includes:
- Word classes (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions)
- Subordinating and coordinating conjunctions
- Verb tenses (past, present and perfect)
- Determiners and quantifiers
- Active and passive voice
- Subject/verb agreement
- Relative clauses and relative pronouns
