En

English tests
KEY STAGE

2
LEVELS

3–5 Grammar, punctuation

and spelling mark schemes
Short answer questions
and spelling paper
2015

National curriculum tests

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

2 2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes

Introduction
The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is responsible for the development and delivery
of statutory tests and assessments. The STA is an executive agency of the Department
for Education (DfE).

This booklet contains the mark schemes for the assessment of levels 3–5 English grammar,
punctuation and spelling. Level threshold tables will be available at www.education.gov.uk/ks2
from Tuesday 7 July, 2015.

The levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test is made up of two papers.
A total of 70 marks is available.

Paper 1: short answer paper (50 marks)

Paper 2: spelling task (20 marks)

As in previous years, external markers will mark the key stage 2 national curriculum tests.
The mark schemes are also made available to inform teachers.

The mark schemes were written and developed alongside the questions. Pupils’ responses
from trialling have been added as examples to the mark schemes to ensure they reflect
how pupils respond to the questions. The mark schemes indicate the criteria on which
judgements should be made. In applying these principles, markers use professional
judgement based on the training they have received.

The English grammar, punctuation and spelling test assesses elements of the key stage 2
national curriculum for English. Details about what is assessed in this test are presented on
pages 5, 6, and 8 of this mark scheme booklet. Further information about what is assessed
in this test can be found in the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework at
www.gov.uk/sta

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes 3

Contents
Introduction 2

The English grammar, punctuation and spelling test mark schemes 4

Structure of the short answer questions mark scheme 4
Application of the short answer questions mark scheme 4
Mark allocation in the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test 4
Paper 1: short answer questions 5
Question classification 5
Marking specific types of short answer question 6
Summary of additional guidance 6
Short answer questions: further marking guidance 7
Paper 2: spelling task 8

Marking spelling questions 9

Summary of additional guidance 9

Short answer questions mark schemes 10

Spelling task mark scheme 20

Guidance for marking the spelling task 20
Quick reference mark scheme for the spelling task 20
Pupil’s version of the spelling task 21

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

4 2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes

The English grammar,

punctuation and spelling test
mark schemes
Structure of the short answer questions mark scheme
The marking information for each question is set out in tables, which start on page 10 of this booklet.
The ‘Question’ column on the left-hand side of each table provides a reference to the question number.
This column also gives a reference linking the question to the key stage 2 programme of study for English.
The ‘Requirements’ column may include two types of information:
■■ A statement of the requirements for the award of each mark, shown by a square.
• Examples of some different types of correct response, shown by a bullet and italic formatting.
The ‘Mark’ column indicates the total number of marks available for each question.
The ‘Additional guidance’ column provides information about any alternative acceptable responses, as well as
an explanation of responses that are not acceptable.
General guidance on marking the spelling task is given on page 20.

Application of the short answer questions mark scheme

In order to ensure consistency of marking, the most frequent procedural queries are listed on pages 6 – 8 along
with guidance about what the markers should do. Unless otherwise specified in the mark scheme, markers will
apply the guidance in all cases.

Mark allocation in the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test

The following table summarises the number of marks in the 2015 levels 3 – 5 test assessing each area:

Assessment area Number of marks

Grammar 29

Punctuation 15

Vocabulary 6

Spelling 20

Total marks 70

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes 5

Paper 1: short answer questions

Question classification
The table below summarises the areas of the key stage 2 English programme of study that are assessed in paper
1 of the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test. The reference codes in the right-hand column below are
given in the ‘Question’ column of the short answer questions mark scheme.

Key stage 2 programme of study references Grammar, punctuation and spelling

reference codes

En3.7a–c Language structure

Pupils should be taught:

a: word classes and the grammatical functions of sg/ga1 Grammatical terms / word classes
words, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, sg/ga1.1 Nouns
pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and articles sg/ga1.2 Verbs
sg/ga1.3 Adjectives
sg/ga1.4 Connectives
sg/ga1.5 Pronouns
sg/ga1.6 Adverbs
sg/ga1.7 Prepositions
sg/ga1.8 Articles
b: the features of different types of sentence, sg/ga2 Features of sentences
including statements, questions and commands, sg/ga2.1 Statements
and how to use them (for example, imperatives in sg/ga2.2 Questions
commands) sg/ga2.3 Commands
c: the grammar of complex sentences, including sg/ga3 Complex sentences
clauses, phrases and connectives. sg/ga3.1 Clauses
sg/ga3.2 Phrases
sg/ga3.3 Subordinating connectives

En3.6a–b Standard English

Pupils should be taught:

a: how written standard English varies in degrees sg/ga4 Standard English
of formality sg/ga4.1 Tense agreement
sg/ga4.2 Subject–verb agreement
sg/ga4.3 Double negatives
sg/ga4.4 Use of ‘I’ and ‘me’
b: some of the differences between standard and sg/ga5 Formal / informal
non-standard English usage, including subject–verb sg/ga5.4 Contractions
agreement and use of prepositions.

En3.1 and En3.2 Vocabulary / language strategies

Pupils should be taught:

En3.1b: to broaden their vocabulary and use it in ga7 Vocabulary
inventive ways sg/ga7.1 Word meaning
sg/ga7.2 Vocabulary in context
En3.2d: to proofread – check the draft for spelling
sg/ga7.3 Concision / precision in vocabulary
and punctuation errors, omissions and repetitions.
sg/ga7.4 Synonyms
sg/ga7.5 Antonyms
sg/ga7.6 Word groups / families
sg/ga7.7 Prefixes
sg/ga7.8 Suffixes
sg/ga7.9 Singular and plural

Sourced
KEY: from SATs-Papers.co.uk
sg: sentence grammar p: punctuation ga: grammatical accuracy https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
6 2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes

Key stage 2 programme of study references Grammar, punctuation and spelling

reference codes

En3.3 Punctuation

Pupils should be taught: p/ga6 Punctuation

En3.3: to use punctuation marks correctly in p/ga6.1 Capital letters
their writing, including full stops, question and p/ga6.2 Full stops
exclamation marks, commas, inverted commas, p/ga6.3 Question marks
and apostrophes to mark possession and omission. p/ga6.4 Exclamation marks
p/ga6.5 Commas in lists
p/ga6.6 Commas to mark phrases or clauses
p/ga6.7 Inverted commas
p/ga6.8 Apostrophes
p/ga6.9 Brackets
p/ga6.10 Ellipses
p/ga6.11 Colons
KEY: sg: sentence grammar p: punctuation ga: grammatical accuracy

Marking specific types of short answer question

Summary of additional guidance
The following guidance applies to all questions in the short answer component. Please read this carefully before
applying the individual mark scheme entries.

Question type Accept Do not accept

Tick boxes Any unambiguous indication of the Responses in which more than
correct answer, eg: the required number of boxes
has been indicated.
■■ the box is crossed rather
than ticked
■■ the correct answer is
circled rather than ticked.

Underlining clauses / Underlining of the full required Responses in which only part of the
phrases / other text text, with or without surrounding required text, or less than half of a
punctuation. required word, is underlined.
Responses in which any additional
words are underlined.

Circling of the answer Any unambiguous indication of the Responses in which more than the
correct answer, eg: required number of words has been
indicated.
■■ the answer is underlined
Responses in which the correct
■■ the answer is enclosed
answer is encircled, together with
within a box.
more than half of any surrounding
words.

Drawing lines to Lines that do not touch the boxes, Multiple lines drawn to / from the
‘match’ boxes provided the intention is clear. same box (unless this is a question
requirement).

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes 7

Question type Accept Do not accept

Labelling of parts of Clear labels, whether they use the full Ambiguity in labelling, eg: the use of
speech vocabulary required by the question ‘noun’ or ‘CN’ where a distinction is
or an unambiguous abbreviation, eg: required between ‘collective noun’
‘V’ for ‘verb’. and ‘common noun’.

Writing sentences A sentence that has a capital letter Ambiguity in the comparative sizes
and an appropriate punctuation mark of letters.
delineating the end of the sentence.
Responses in which capital letters
Capital letters must be clear and are omitted or placed inappropriately
unambiguous for the award of the in a sentence, or when an entire
mark. Where letters do not have word is capitalised (even if the child
unique capital letter forms, the height is using the capitalised word for
of the capital letter will be similar to, emphasis).
or greater than, that of letters with
The incorrect use of capital letters
ascenders, and clearly greater than
will negate an otherwise correct
the height of letters that do not have
response.
ascenders. For example, in the word
‘What’, the height of the capital letter
‘W’ should be similar to, or taller
than, the ‘h’.

Punctuation For the award of the mark, Punctuation marks that could be
punctuation must be appropriate for more than one thing, such as a
the context, clear and unambiguous. misplaced or low apostrophe / high
This means that the punctuation comma.
mark should be visible to the marker,
its formation should be recognisable
as the intended punctuation mark,
and its position in relation to text or
other punctuation must be correct
and clear.

Short answer questions: further marking guidance

What if... Accept

...the answer is Where no specific mark scheme guidance is given, incorrect spellings of the
correct but spelling is correct response are creditworthy, provided the intention is clear to the marker.
inaccurate? The single exception to this is when marking contractions, which must have
correct spelling and placement of apostrophes.
In any other questions in which correct spelling is required in order to assess
children’s understanding of the curriculum focus, mark scheme guidance will
state the need for correct spelling, and will list any acceptable alternatives.
If specific grammatical terminology is required in the answer, a misspelling
must, in order to be creditworthy, be a phonetic approximation of the required
word, with the major syllables of the correct word represented in the answer.

…the child’s response Illustrative examples of children’s responses to questions are sometimes given;
does not match closely however, markers will use the marking principles to make a judgement about
any of the examples the award of marks. If uncertain, markers will escalate the issue to a more
given? senior colleague.

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

8 2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes

What if... Accept

…no answer is given in If a child leaves an answer box empty, but then writes their response
the expected place, but elsewhere, it is still creditworthy, providing:
the correct answer is
■■ it meets any relevant criteria in this guidance and in the question-
given elsewhere?
specific mark scheme and
■■ it is not contradicted by any other attempt at the answer written
elsewhere (see ‘…more than one answer is given’).
This includes where children ‘fill in the blank’ within a question when they are
expected to write or tick their answer below it.

…the correct answer Any legible crossed-out work that has not been replaced will be marked
has been crossed out according to the mark scheme.
and not replaced?
If the answer has been replaced by a further attempt, the crossed-out work will
not be considered.

…more than one If all answers given are correct according to the mark scheme, the mark will be
answer is given? awarded.
If both correct and incorrect responses are given, no mark will be awarded.

Paper 2: spelling task

The table below summarises the areas of the key stage 2 English programme of study that are assessed in
paper 2 of the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test.

Key stage 2 programme of study references

En3.2 Language strategies

Pupils should be taught to:

En3.2d: proofread – check the draft for spelling and punctuation errors, omissions and repetitions.

En3.4a–j Spelling

Pupils should be taught:

En3.4 Spelling strategies
a: to sound out phonemes
b: to analyse words into syllables and other known words
c: to apply knowledge of spelling conventions
d: to use knowledge of common letter strings, visual patterns and analogies
e: to check their spelling
f: to revise and build on their knowledge of words and spelling patterns.
En3.4 Morphology
g: the meaning, use and spelling of common prefixes and suffixes
h: the spelling of words with inflectional endings
i: the relevance of word families, roots and origins of words
j: the use of appropriate terminology, including vowel, consonant, homophone and syllable.

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes 9

Marking spelling questions

Summary of additional guidance

What if... Accept

…no answer is given in If a child leaves an answer box empty, but then writes their response
the expected place, but elsewhere, it is still creditworthy, providing:
the correct answer is
■■ it meets any relevant criteria in this guidance and in the question-
given elsewhere?
specific mark scheme;
■■ it is not contradicted by any other attempt at the answer written
elsewhere (see ‘…more than one answer is given’) and
■■ it is clear which question they are attempting to answer.

…the correct answer Any legible crossed-out work that has not been replaced will be marked
has been crossed out according to the mark scheme.
and not replaced?
If the answer has been replaced by a further attempt, the crossed-out work will
not be considered.

…more than one If all answers given are correct according to the mark scheme, the mark will
answer is given? be awarded.
If both correct and incorrect responses are given, no mark will be awarded.
If a child has attempted to spell a word in a number of different ways anywhere
else on the answer booklet and the correct spelling is in or near the answer
space, the attempts written elsewhere can be disregarded.

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
20 2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes

Spelling task mark scheme

Guidance for marking the spelling task
The following conventions should be followed when marking the spelling task:
■■ If more than one attempt is made, it must be clear which version the pupil wishes to be marked
■■ If multiple attempts are made and it is not clear which one is to be considered, the mark is not
awarded
■■ Spellings can be written in upper or lower case, or a mixture of the two
■■ If a word has been written with the correct sequence of letters but these have been separated
into clearly divided components, with or without a dash, the mark is not awarded
■■ If a word has been written with the correct sequence of letters but an apostrophe or hyphen has
been inserted, the mark is not awarded.

Quick reference mark scheme for the spelling task

1. afternoon 11. lorries

2. tapping 12. system

3. knee 13. international

4. double 14. difference

5. paused 15. fracture

6. unsure 16. luckily

7. postage 17. frequent

8. judge 18. assistant

9. happiest 19. occasion

10. tough 20. potential

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk
22 2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes

[BLANK PAGE]

This page is intentionally blank.

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

2015 key stage 2 levels 3–5 English grammar, punctuation and spelling mark schemes 23

[BLANK PAGE]

This page is intentionally blank.

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk

Sourced from SATs-Papers.co.uk https://www.SATs-Papers.co.uk