KS2 SATs 2023 — Mathematics Papers 2 & 3: Reasoning

The idea

Geometry questions reward knowing a few facts cold. Angles on a straight line add to 180°, angles around a point add to 360°, and a right angle is 90°. If you know one angle on a straight line, subtract it from 180° to find the other.

Coordinates are always written (x, y): the first number moves you along the horizontal axis, the second moves you up the vertical axis. A handy reminder is 'along the corridor, then up the stairs'. When a point is translated, add or subtract the movement from each coordinate separately.

Describe movements carefully: right and up increase the numbers, left and down decrease them. Work out the new x and new y one at a time so the two numbers never get swapped.

Worked example

Point A is at (2, 3). It is translated 4 units to the right and 2 units up. What are its new coordinates?

1. Moving right changes the x-coordinate: 2 + 4 = 6.
2. Moving up changes the y-coordinate: 3 + 2 = 5.
3. Write the new position as (x, y).

Answer: (6, 5)

Watch out

• Writing coordinates in the wrong order, with y first and x second.
• Adding the vertical movement to the x-coordinate.