Running a SATs mock test at home

One or two timed mocks in the run-up to May are genuinely useful — they make the real thing feel familiar. Done badly, though, a mock at home teaches a child that tests are frightening.

What a mock is actually for

Not to predict a score. It is to rehearse the conditions: sitting still for 40 minutes, managing time across a paper, handling a question you cannot do without unravelling.

That last one matters most. Every child meets a question they cannot answer. Children who have practised moving on calmly lose one mark; children who have not can lose the rest of the paper.

Setting it up

Use a real past paper and the official timing. Clear the table, phone away, one go at it.

Tell your child what it is for beforehand — a practice run, not a judgement. Say plainly that you expect them not to finish everything and that this is fine.

Do not hover. Sit in another room if you can.

Afterwards

Leave a gap before marking together — an hour, or the next day. Marking immediately while a child is still tense turns a rehearsal into a verdict.

Go through the wrong answers, not the score. Ask what the question was asking. Where the issue was time rather than knowledge, that is a separate and very fixable problem.

Two mocks per subject in the final month is plenty. More than that stops teaching anything new.

When not to do one

If your child is already anxious about May, a home mock can make it worse. Familiarity with question types, built up gradually in short sessions, gets you most of the benefit without the pressure.

You know your child. A mock should leave them feeling more prepared, not less.