What to expect in second stage assessments and how to prepare
The majority of second-stage assessments are set directly by your child’s target school. Like the first stage of the assessments these test Key Stage 2 English and maths. So the best way to prepare your child is to continue subject mastery and exploring topic areas that will stretch and challenge them.
The English part of the assessment is likely to assess comprehension and creative writing skills. A strong grasp of these areas is essential. The maths test is likely to include more challenging questions, such as multi-step word problems. This requires your child to apply skills of numerical reasoning and problem-solving.
Below are Atom’s Education Expert’s recommendations for preparing for second-stage assessments:
Continue to move forward in the English and maths courses
Your child should continue to use the English and maths courses within their learning plan to master the Key Stage 2 curriculum. When your child progresses, they will unlock the curriculum at the highest level of difficulty. Atom’s adaptive algorithm ensures that your child’s learning experience is tailored to them. It will stretch and challenge them in areas of confidence and recap areas of difficulty.
Atom’s multiple-choice questions are designed to develop your child’s problem-solving skills. They require students to use the process of elimination to identify the correct answer. This process will support your child in developing curriculum knowledge. Plus, skills that they can apply to written answer questions, which can appear in the second-stage examination.
Target your child’s areas of difficulty using extra practices
It is important to continue to target challenging areas after the first stage of assessments. The most effective and efficient way to do this is by using extra practices. Review your child’s Track page to identify skills marked as ‘Needs Practice’. Set extra practices in these specific topic areas to improve your child’s mastery.
You also can encourage your child to use the learning resources available for each question. The videos and teacher-written helpsheets will help your child work independently and build curriculum confidence. These are skills that they can apply to their next assessment.
Build confidence in comprehension
In the second stage, the majority of English exams will test comprehension skills. To prepare for this part of the test, you can set your child extra practices on Reading Comprehension.
Within the Lesson Library, search for ‘Comprehension’ to view the previous lesson recordings. During the lessons, Atom teachers will help build your child’s comprehension skills. Your child will also learn helpful exam techniques to support them with this part of the assessment.
Develop Creative Writing skills
Most second-stage English exams will include a creative writing task. It is important that your child is confident using a range of literary techniques and can show a wide vocabulary. Our Creative Writing lessons within the Lesson Library are the best way to build your child’s creative writing skills. In the lessons, Atom teachers work through exam-style questions and encourage children to write their own inspiring stories and powerful poems.
See our 11+ Creative Writing Guide for Kids. This provides more information on what to expect in the creative writing exam and tips to support your child's skills.
Practise exam technique with Atom’s Stage 2 Mock Tests
If you have an Exam Preparation or Exam Preparation Plus subscription, you will have access to mock tests to support your child’s preparation. To access the Stage 2 mock tests, head to the Independent Schools tab within the mock test section. The mock tests which will be most suitable for your child’s Stage 2 preparation are:
Once your child completes a mock test on Atom, you must review their mock test transcript in the Score Card from the Track page. This will identify any learning gaps. You can then set extra practices based on areas of difficulty.
Encourage your child to read
Reading is the easiest (and most enjoyable!) way to build your child’s vocabulary and comprehension skills. Ask your child to summarise passages or chapters and ask questions to develop their imagination and inference skills. If your child is unsure of a word’s meaning, encourage them to try to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words by looking at the context of the sentence. If they're still unsure, support them to use a dictionary. Your child needs to read a range of genres including fiction and non-fiction texts.
Click here for Atom’s Year 6 Recommended Reading List to help your child choose an appropriate book.