Free Maths Assessments for Children in Years 1-6

We know parents often want to find out for themselves how their child is doing at school and what progress they are making. Feedback from schools can be a bit of a mixed bag and sometimes parents feel put off asking for more information.

You can find a series of Free Maths Assessments for Children which you can download and use at the bottom of the page or by clicking on this link.

We do recommend reading through our advice however to assist in your 11 plus maths preparation.

Is your child in year five or moving into year five?

If your child is in year five or is in year four and moving into year five then we suggest using our Year 5- 11 Plus Core Maths Skills Assesment. Our Core Skills Maths Assessment has been designed specifically for children at the beginning of year five and will help parents understand where there is a times tables or four operations weakness.

Choosing which Maths Assessment Test to give to your child

These maths assessments are split by year and term, answers are provided as is a guide on what level your child’s score equates to. It is essential that for a proper score children are not given the wrong assessment at the wrong time.

Each school year (not calendar year) is split into three terms so there will be an assessment for the First term of the year (September to December) , Second Term (Jan-April) and Third Term (May-July). You should choose the assessment which reflects the stage your child has just COMPLETED ( do not be tempted to give the test early as results will be meaningless).

You can also find free 11 Plus Maths Exam Papers here to further your child’s 11 Plus preparation.

Marking and Assessment of the Maths Tests

Each assessment test has answers and a mark scheme which is easy to follow, when your child has completed the assessment just download the answers and mark the test.

Each test also comes with an assessment which will show what level your child is at compared to the national cohort. These levels are shown as Level 1 A, Level 1 B, Level 1 C etc. The levels will go up to Level 6 as children progress through the years. Level marking such as this has recently been discontinued in primary schools but we feel it is a tried and tested method that will give parents a clear understanding of what level their child is performing at.

What do National Curriculum Maths Assessment Levels Mean?

National Curriculum levels

At Key Stages 1, 2, and 3, the National Curriculum is accompanied by a series of eight levels. These are used to measure your child’s progress compared to pupils of the same age across the country.

There are eight National Curriculum levels, covering ages 5-14 years. The lowest is Level 1, which describes the achievements of children at around the age of five. The highest is Level 8, which is attained by the most able pupils at the age of 14. There is also a description of ‘exceptional performance’ above Level 8, which only a very few pupils are expected to reach.

What does this mean for your child?

It is expected that the majority of 11 year old children will achieve Level 4 by the end of Year 6 (currently around 75% achieve Level 4 or above).

This is the level the government consider the minimum required for children to be able to access the high school curriculum.

Each level is divided into three sub levels, for example 3A, 3B and 3C.

• C means that the child has started to work at the level

• B means that the child is working well within the level

• A means that the child has reached the top of the level and is working towards the next level.

Children are expected to work their way through one level every two years so progressing 1.5 sub levels every year. For example a child working at level 2B in Year 2 would be expected to reach 3B in Year 4. However, children aren’t robots and their rate of progress will vary from year to year. For some children, achieving Level 3 by the end of Year 6 is a real success. That particular individual may have started school below the national average level but has still achieved good progress throughout their primary school years. A child achieving Level 5 at 11 years of age is working at a high level, and only one percent of children nationally achieve Level 6 at primary school. High school students who pass GCSE at grade C have achieved Level 7.

How the Maths assessment levels relate to 11 Plus Exams – What level of performance will be required.

The vast majority of children who are successful in their 11 Plus Exams (taken in the September of Year Six for Grammar Schools and January for Independent Schools) will go on to score Level 5 when they do their SATS exams in the May of Year 6. Many children in the more competitive entries (where there might be ten or twenty times the number of applicants as there are places) may well go on to score level 6 in their SATS exams.

To secure a Level 5a Children would be in the top 10% nationally, Level 5b top 15% nationally and Level 5c top 25 % nationally. Children scoring a Level 6 would be in the top 1% (exceptional).

How to relate assessment scores to earlier years

To be ‘on track’ for a sound 11 Plus Performance then children should be at the following levels in earlier years:

Year 2- Level 3a – top 10%, 3b – top 15%, 3c – top 25%. Level 4 (exceptional)

Year 3- Level 3a – top 25%, 4c – top 15%, 4b – top 10%. Level 4a and above would be exceptional.

Year 4- Level 4a – top 10%, 4b – top 15%, 4c – top 25%. Level 5 would be exceptional.

Year 5- Level 4a – top 25%, 5c – top 15%, 5b – top 10%. Level 5a and above would be exceptional.

Remember that selective school places vary by region and so will the performance required. In areas such as Buckinghamshire or Kent the top 20%-25% of children are taken into grammar schools, but in other areas grammar school places are much more restricted and so a better performance may be needed.

What happens if the assessment shows under-performance?

The important thing to remember is that we have put these assessments online to help the process of understanding what level your child is performing at vs what might be required. They are however not a fine science. Some schools might cover the syllabus at a different pace to others and children also mature at different ages (there’s no age adjustment in these tests).

If you feel your child is a little behind or could do better then don’t panic. There should be plenty of time to fix things and help your child perform to their full ability. Please do not use these assessments as a guide to whether your child might pass an 11 Plus Exam in a few years’ time. Children change a very great deal in a short space of time and with a little help and encouragement huge change is possible. Primary schools talk of progress of 1.5 sub levels each year, but we have seen very many cases where children (with the right support at home) make much quicker progress.

If you want to do some work with your child at home then please use our preparation guides to help you. We’ll show you what to do and when and which books to use.