Each year in May, all eligible Year 6 pupils are assessed using the KS2 SATs papers. This includes the reading paper.
Here is an analysis of past papers and some top tips and resources for preparing your pupils.
What is involved in the KS2 Reading SATs paper?
The KS2 Reading SATs paper is an assessment with three texts of differing genres and questions linked to each text. There are a range of types of questions, including multiple choice, short written answers and long written answers, for 1-3 marks per question. There are 50 marks in total.
There is a one-hour time limit on the test.
Content
Below are the content domains that can be covered in the KS2 SATs reading paper.
The paper is designed so the texts increase in difficulty and generally the questions do too. The complexity of the question is judged on how accessible the information is to find, the complexity of the language and target information, the task-specific complexity (how long it takes to answer the question) and the response strategy (how easy it is to organise and present that answer).
The two content domains that are dominant are:
2b retrieve and record information/identify key details from fiction and non-fiction
2d make inferences from the text/explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text
Breakdown of the 2025 Paper
Below is a breakdown of the 2025 KS2 Reading SATs paper.
In 2025, children needed to get 28 marks to achieve National Age-Related Expectations (ARE). In previous years, this has been between 24 and 29 marks, so the 2025 pass mark was toward the upper end of the scale.
The most dominant content domains for this paper were 2b ‘retrieve and record information/identify key details from fiction’ and non-fiction and 2d ‘make inference from the text/explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text’. When combined, they accounted for 39 out of the 50 marks on the paper. 2d ‘make inferences from the text/explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text’ accounted for 24 out of the 50 marks, which is the highest it has been for the past three years.
With these two content domains being so dominant, the other content domains are usually covered a lot less. In the 2025 paper, there were 0 marks for 2e ‘predict what might happen from details stated and implied’ and 2f ‘identify/explain how information/narrative content is related and contributes to meaning as a whole’. 2c ‘summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph’ usually accounts for 1 of the marks, but in 2025 it made up 3 of the marks.
Read this blog post for a deep analysis of the 2025 KS2 Reading SATs paper.
Predictions for the 2026 Paper
EdShed Trainer Amelia Rimmer has made some predictions for the 2026 KS2 Reading SATs paper.
Disclaimer: Amelia does not have any type of inside knowledge about the papers. These are just predictions based on data from previous years!
- The paper will not include poetry.
Poetry has been absent since the 2018 paper and Amelia predicts that it will not make a return this year because it usually reduces the word count.
- An increase in the word count.
Amelia predicts that the word count may be towards the higher end of the scale this year, which hasn’t been seen since 2019. This is unless a poem does appear!
- More retrieval questions and fewer inference questions.
The 2025 paper had lots of inference questions, so Amelia predicts that the 2026 paper will contain more retrieval questions and fewer inference questions than last year. However, both content domains will still be dominant.
- A prediction question.
There has not been a prediction question on the KS2 reading SATs papers since 2022. Therefore, Amelia thinks one might be on the 2026 paper.
- There will not be any questions that focus on identifying and explaining how meaning is enhanced through choice words and phrases.
Content domain 2g ‘Identify/explain how meaning is enhanced through choice words and phrases’, does not come up every year. However, it was covered in the 2025 paper, so Amelia thinks it probably will not be covered in the 2026 paper.
Top Tips and Resources for Preparing for the KS2 SATs Reading Papers
1. Literacy Shed’s Practice Reading Booklets
Literacy Shed Plus has a whole KS2 Reading SATs paper folder full of resources to help prepare your pupils for the assessment. This includes practice reading booklets.
The front cover of the practice reading booklets emulates the KS2 Reading SATs papers. Inside, you will notice that there are different levels for you to choose from for tiered practice.
Each pack is star-rated:
One-star packs are levelled at ARE in Y5, so are a useful starting point at the beginning of Y6.
Two-star packs are levelled at Y6 ARE.
Three-star packs are aimed at those children who are working at, or nearly at, Y6 GD. These are similar to the more difficult SATs papers.
Inside the pack is a text with questions that look similar to a SATs paper. The image above shows a one-star pack, which can be a good place to start, particularly for helping children build confidence and reading stamina.
The image above shows a three-star pack.
They have been designed to be short, so there are approximately six questions for each text. They are ideal for SATs practice, as children can begin to get an idea of the types of questions in the assessment; they are easy to look through and are easy to discuss.
Although we recommend children having one or two practices of a past SATs paper, we do not recommend completing past paper after past paper. Short texts and questions with lots of rich discussion are a lot more suitable, engaging and effective.
2. The Learning League Resources
Literacy Shed has developed The Learning League with characters to represent each content domain, as shown below.
You may notice the content domains are slightly different to those in the SATs papers.
The image above shows the characters that represent each VIPERS or content domain. Each character has a brief backstory. Currently, this is only available for SATs, but it is being developed.
Vocabulary: Lexicon the Wise
Infer: The Insightful Seer
Predict: The Oracle of Foresight
Explain: Reginald the Lorekeeper
Retriever: Viatora the Seeker
Summarise: Lorcan the Bard
Literacy Shed Plus includes Learning League SATs papers. Each paper is linked to a character, which is linked to the content domain they represent. This means you can target the content domains your pupils need to practise most.
For example, the image above shows a paper with a focus on Lorcan the Bard. All the questions in this paper focus on summarising, so if your pupils need practice summarising, then you would choose papers with Lorcan the Bard on the front.
3. KS2 SATs Practice with Errors
These KS2 SATs papers have been filled out, but they have errors in them. Give these to children and see if they can work out which ones are wrong and why. This helps pupils to spot errors in their own work but also encourages the rich discussion of why something might be wrong and why it might have been answered in this way. It also helps address common errors.
These can be completed orally as a class or with a partner to help with discussion.
4. Ask children, ‘If this is the answer, what is the question?’
A great question to spark discussion in the classroom is, ‘If this is the answer, what is the question?’. Give children a past paper, a piece of text or one of Literacy Shed’s papers and give them an answer. Then ask them, ‘If this is the answer, what is the question?’ Children have to interrogate the text in more detail to think about what the question might be. It encourages retrieval and discussion around the text and gets children to think about how questions are formed.
5. The News Shed
News Shed is a great non-fiction resource for comprehension. It is a weekly newspaper, written by a journalist, which consists of six pages full of current news.
A new issue is released each Friday and includes texts and comprehension questions based on the latest news. This includes lots of different types of news, including music and sports news, that children might have already seen or heard, delivered in a child-friendly way. They can be used to read and discuss for pleasure or you can use the comprehension questions too. The comprehension questions focus on the VIPERS content domains, apart from prediction.
6. Classic Poetry
Although poetry has not been included in the SATs papers since 2018, classic texts and classic poetry are filled with amazing language. These texts can be used to quickly extend and develop children’s vocabulary. They are also useful for interrogating language and creating rich discussion around vocabulary.
The poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley is only four stanzas long but has some fantastic vocabulary, such as ‘bludgeonings’, ‘wrath’ and ‘unbowed’, to explore and interrogate with the children.
You can find a huge range of these with accompanying comprehension questions in Literacy Shed’s Classic Poetry folder within The Poetry Shed. After the comprehension questions have been completed orally or written, it is vital to discuss the answers so children get feedback and can identify their mistakes.
7. Ensure children still have time to read
It is vital that children are given time to read. Remember, we should be teaching children how to read, not how to pass SATs! This is obvious to most teachers but an important reminder. If you have a thirty-minute reading session, it is worth using 20 minutes of that session to read and 10 minutes for discussion or answering questions. This is another reason not to be completing past SATs paper after past SATs paper. We want children to enjoy reading and not just answer endless questions.
8. Discussion Guides
The Literacy Shed Plus has a huge range of book discussion guides. These have been produced to aid the discussion of different texts in small groups or as a whole class. Questions are provided, but answers are not, as they are designed to be used as prompts for discussion and to engage learners in their reading.
9. Film Units
Literacy Shed’s film units can also be used to generate rich discussion and to develop comprehension skills. Each film has a series of questions for children to answer. These can be particularly useful for children struggling with reading confidence or who are worried about getting answers incorrect, as a lot of the time the answers are open to interpretation, meaning there can be a range of answers to the questions or no right or wrong answers.
Sign up for a Literacy Shed Plus membership here.
Video Webinar Recording: Statutory Assessment Series: Predictions and Preparation for the KS2 Reading GPS Papers
Watch this free webinar recording for all of the above.