SATs reasoning papers
Maths Papers 2 and 3: problems to solve, 35 marks in 40 minutes each, on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 May 2027. Practise either one here, new every time.
Practise a reasoning paper
Choose a paper, then sit it at your own pace or with the real 40-minute clock. Marked when you finish.
Have paper and a pencil ready for working out.
At a glance
- When
- Paper 2 on Wednesday 12 May 2027, the same day as arithmetic. Paper 3 on Thursday 13 May.
- How long
- 40 minutes each.
- Marks
- 35 each: 70 of the 110 for maths.
- What to bring
- A ruler, an angle measurer or protractor, and a mirror. No calculator.
These timings come from the 2026 guidance. The 2027 guidance is due on GOV.UK in April 2027.
What’s on them
Problems to solve, in words, worth 1, 2 or 3 marks: money, measures, time, shape and angles, position, tables and charts, algebra, ratio, fractions and percentages.
The practice papers here are set the same way, easiest first, with every number and name new each time. Either real paper can ask about any of the maths curriculum, but ours lean different ways: Paper 2 on money, measures and calculating, and Paper 3 on shape, position and algebra. Where a real question has two answer boxes, such as a point’s coordinates, each box is a question of its own.
How they’re marked
On the real papers, a 2- or 3-mark problem can earn a mark for the right working even when the answer slips. The practice papers here can only see the answer, so it’s all the marks or none, and the answers are there to compare with the working once you finish.
The two papers’ 70 marks join the arithmetic paper’s 40 to make the maths score, which becomes a scaled score. Here each paper gives a scaled score estimate, as if all three went the same way.
How to get ready
Read the question twice
Find what it asks for, and the units it wants the answer in.
Show the working
On the real papers it can earn a mark even when the answer slips.
Estimate first
A quick rough answer shows when a calculation has gone wrong.
Know the measures
Grams in a kilogram, millilitres in a litre, minutes in an hour: conversions turn up in all sorts of problems.
Practise both papers
Either real paper can ask about anything, and ours lean different ways, so sit each of them.
More on the SATs
Questions about this paper
What can children use in the reasoning papers?
A ruler, an angle measurer or protractor, and a mirror. Calculators aren’t allowed in any of the maths papers.
What’s the difference between reasoning Papers 2 and 3?
Both are 35 marks in 40 minutes, sat on different days: Paper 2 on Wednesday 12 May 2027, the same day as the arithmetic paper, and Paper 3 on Thursday 13 May.
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