KS2 SATs 2025 — English GPS Paper 1: Questions

The idea

Paper 1 mixes everything: word classes, punctuation, verb forms, sentence types and vocabulary, in any order. Your best strategy is to treat each question as a tiny test of one rule. Name the rule silently — 'apostrophes for possession', 'subject-verb agreement' — before you look at the options.

For tick-box questions, test every option against the rule, one at a time, and cross out failures. Never tick the first option that looks right; the paper plants options that are half right.

For 'explain' questions, the mark scheme wants the grammatical reason, not a rewrite. Say what the punctuation or word does: 'The comma separates the items in a list' earns the mark; repeating the sentence does not. Finally, leave no question blank: an educated tick or a best-effort explanation costs nothing extra and can still earn the mark.

Worked example

Which sentence is punctuated and worded correctly? A: Its raining, so we stayed inside. B: It's raining, so we stayed inside. C: Its' raining so, we stayed inside.

1. Test the apostrophe rule: the sentence needs 'it is' shortened, which is 'it's' with an apostrophe for the missing letter. That rules out A ('its' means belonging to it) and C ('its'' is never a correct form).
2. Test option B fully: 'It's' is the correct contraction, and the comma before 'so' joining the two clauses is correctly placed.
3. B passes every check; the other options are only half right.

Answer: B: It's raining, so we stayed inside.

Watch out

• Ticking the first option that looks right instead of testing every option against the rule.
• Answering an 'explain' question by rewriting the sentence instead of stating what the punctuation or word class does.