2017 national curriculum tests

Key stage 2

English grammar,
punctuation and spelling
test mark schemes
Paper 1: questions
and Paper 2: spelling
2017 key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test mark schemes

Contents
1. Introduction 3

2. Structure of the key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test 3

3. Content domain coverage 3

4. Paper 1: questions 4
4.1 Content domain coverage for Paper 1: questions 4
4.2 General guidance on marking Paper 1: questions 6
4.3 Explanation of the mark schemes for Paper 1: questions 8
5. Mark schemes for Paper 1: questions 9

6. Paper 2: spelling 16
6.1 Content domain coverage for Paper 2: spelling 16
6.2 General guidance on marking Paper 2: spelling 16
6.3 Pupil version of Paper 2: spelling 16
7. Mark schemes for Paper 2: spelling 17

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

The 2017 test assesses the 2014 national curriculum. The test has been developed to meet the
specification set out in the test framework for English grammar, punctuation and spelling at
key stage 2. The test frameworks are on the GOV.UK website at www.gov.uk/government/
collections/national-curriculum-assessments-test-frameworks.

A new test and mark schemes will be produced each year.

The key stage 2 tests will be marked by external markers.

Scaled score conversion tables are not included in this document. Conversion tables will be
produced as part of the standard-setting process. Scaled score conversion tables for the
2017 tests will be published at www.gov.uk/guidance/scaled-scores-at-key-stage-2 in July
2017. The standards confirmation meeting will take place in June 2017.

The mark schemes are provided to show markers and teachers how the tests are marked.
The pupil examples are based on responses gathered from the test trialling process.

2. Structure of the key stage 2 English

grammar, punctuation and spelling test
The key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test materials comprise:
• Paper 1: questions (50 marks)
• Paper 2: spelling (20 marks).

3. Content domain coverage

The 2017 test meets the specification set out in the test framework. Tables 1 and 3 set out the
areas of the content domain that are assessed in Paper 1 and Paper 2.

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4. Paper 1: questions
4.1 Content domain coverage for Paper 1: questions
Table 1 sets out the content domain coverage for questions in Paper 1. Information relating to
the codes in Table 1 can be found in the key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling
test framework.

Table 1: Content domain coverage for questions in Paper 1

G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7
Grammatical Functions Combining Verb forms, Punctuation Vocabulary Standard
Qu. terms / word of words, tenses and English
classes sentences phrases consistency and
and clauses formality

1 1

2 1

3 1

4 1

5 1

6 1

7 1

8 1

9 1

10 1

11 1

12 1

13 1

14 1

15 1

16 1

17 1

18 1

19 1

20 1

21 1

22 1

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G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7
Grammatical Functions Combining Verb forms, Punctuation Vocabulary Standard
Qu. terms / word of words, tenses and English
classes sentences phrases consistency and
and clauses formality

23 1

24 1

25 1

26 1

27 1

28 1

29 1

30 1

31 1

32 1

33 1

34 1

35 1

36 1

37 1

38 1

39 1

40 1

41 1

42 1

43 1

44 1

45 1

46 1

47 1

48 1

49 1

50 1

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4.2 General guidance on marking Paper 1: questions

The following guidance applies to all questions in Paper 1.

Table 2: General guidance on marking Paper 1

Accept... Do not accept...

Tick boxes any unambiguous indication of answers in which more than the
and tables the correct answer, e.g. required number of boxes have
been ticked.
• the box is crossed rather
than ticked
• the correct answer is
circled rather than ticked.

Circling or any unambiguous indication answers in which more than the

underlining of of the correct answer, such required number of words have
the answer as the answer being enclosed been encircled / underlined.
within a box.
answers in which the correct
answer is encircled / underlined,
together with any surrounding
words.

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

Labelling clear labels, whether they use ambiguity in labelling, e.g.

the full vocabulary required by the use of ‘AD’ or ‘A’ where a
the question or an unambiguous distinction is required between
abbreviation, e.g.‘V’ for ‘verb’. ‘adjective’ and ‘adverb’.

Punctuation correctly formed punctuation punctuation that is ambiguous,

that is clear, unambiguous and e.g. if it is unclear whether the
recognisable as the required mark is a comma or full stop.
punctuation mark.
incorrectly formed punctuation
marks, e.g. an inverted question
mark.

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Accept... Do not accept...

Sentences and a sentence that has an initial answers in which capital

capital letters capital letter and an appropriate letters are omitted or placed
punctuation mark indicating the inappropriately in a sentence,
end of the sentence. or where an entire word is
capitalised.
capital letters that are clear
and unambiguous. Where
letters do not have unique
capital letter forms, the height
of the capital letter will be equal
to, or greater than, that of
letters with ascenders.

Spelling incorrect spellings of the correct incorrect spellings of answers

response if no specific mark for which the mark scheme
scheme guidance is given. requires correct spelling.

Correct spelling is required

for the award of the mark for
the majority of questions
in Paper 1, especially for
questions assessing contracted
forms, verb forms, plurals,
prefixes and suffixes.

Answers outside a correct answer given answers that are given outside
the expected somewhere other than the the expected space and
space answer space, provided it is not contradicted by another answer
contradicted by another answer written elsewhere.
written elsewhere.

correct answers that are written

in the ‘blank’ within a question,
rather than in the expected
space below it.

correct answers in which the

pupil has written out a word
or sentence that is already
provided.

More than one multiple answers that are all responses where both the
answer given correct according to the mark correct and incorrect answers
scheme. are given.

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Accept... Do not accept...

Handwriting answers that are clear, answers that are unclear or

unambiguous and recognisable, ambiguous.
including letters that have been
reversed, but which are still
clearly identifiable to the marker.

Crossed-out correct answers that have not crossed-out answers.

answers been crossed out.

correct answers that replace a

crossed-out attempt.

4.3 Explanation of the mark schemes for Paper 1: questions

Markers should familiarise themselves with the marking guidance in section 4.2 of this
document before applying the mark schemes below.

The mark schemes contain the following information for each question:
• a question number
• the question from the test paper
• what is required to answer each question – either a correct answer or examples of different
types of creditworthy response
• how many marks are available for this question
• any additional guidance that may be relevant
• the content domain reference.

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5. Mark schemes for Paper 1: questions

Qu. Requirement Mark

1 1m
G2.2

When are your cousins expected to ✓

arrive

2 Award 1 mark for a correctly placed semi-colon. 1m

G5.11
Come and see me tomorrow; I will not have time to see
you today.

3 1m
G5.1

We went to Manchester for Kajal and Jamal’s party. ✓

4 1m
G6.2
to read incorrectly ✓

5 1m
G4.1b
had collected ✓

6 Award 1 mark for the correct words encircled. 1m

G7.1
The last place I saw Jack and Gwen was / were in the playground.

At the museum, there was / were many interesting exhibits.

The bikes was / were lined up for the start of the race.

7 1m
G5.6b

In 1998, snowboarding became ✓

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Qu. Requirement Mark

8 1m
G5.5

Joe went upstairs, turned on his computer, ✓

took out his homework and started.

9 1m
G1.6
adverb ✓

10 Tom needed to think carefully about his homework it 1m

G5.10
✓
looked very difficult.

11 1m
G1.8

determiners ✓

12 The man grabbed his coat – it looked cold ✓ 1m

G5.12 and windy outside.

13 1m
G1.3

The castle had a round tower. ✓

14 The town is ten miles (16 kilometres) away. ✓ 1m

G5.9

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Qu. Requirement Mark

15 1m
G5.1

He is trying to swim the English Channel. ✓

16 Award 1 mark for the correct insertion of an appropriate subordinating 1m

G1.4 conjunction, e.g.
• Tracey decided to walk because it was a lovely day.
• Tracey decided to walk since it was a lovely day.
• Tracey decided to walk as it was a lovely day.

17 1m
G2.4

What a spectacular sunset that is ✓

18 We decided to book tickets for the football match. ✓ 1m

G1.2

19 Award 1 mark for a correctly placed pair of commas. 1m

G5.9
I enjoy sitting in my bedroom, even though it is quite small,
and listening to music.

20 Award 1 mark for the correct pronoun inserted in each box. 1m

G1.5
For his ninth birthday, James visited his grandparents
and his grandparents took James to the cinema.

they him

21 1m
G5.7

Abdul called out, “Will you come and help me?” ✓

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Qu. Requirement Mark

22 Your presence is requested at the wedding of our daughter. ✓ 1m

G7.3

23 1m
G3.4

We change places when the bell rings. ✓

24 Award 1 mark for both antonyms encircled. 1m

G6.1
What looked like a worthless collection of rusty metal turned out

to include ancient coins and valuable jewellery.

25 Award 1 mark for a correctly completed table. 1m

G5.8
Sentence Apostrophe for a Apostrophe for
contracted form possession

Where is Karen’s pen? ✓

Joshua’s hungry. ✓

Please get the dog’s dinner. ✓

The cat’s outside. ✓

26 The boy who I met at the park is in my class. ✓ 1m

G3.1a

27 You can copy the pattern from a book ✓ 1m

G2.1

28 Award 1 mark for capital letters and full stops correctly inserted. 1m
G5.2
Declan has always been fascinated by animals. He has read
many books about exotic creatures. Jellyfish interest him the
most and he would like to study them when he is older.

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Qu. Requirement Mark

29 Award 1 mark for a correctly placed pair of commas. 1m

G5.6a
Jenna, a very gifted singer, won the talent competition
that was held in her local theatre.

30 Award 1 mark for the correct choice of tense for both verbs. 1m
G4.2
The visitors left after they had finished / finished their coffee.

Jo usually wakes up early on Saturday morning and goes swimming before breakfast.

31 Award 1 mark for a grammatically correct and accurately punctuated command that 1m
G2.3 uses an imperative, e.g.

Take the bread out of the cupboard.

Make a sandwich!
First, butter the bread.

32 Award 1 mark for all three correct. 1m

G3.1
When the bell rang, we dashed into the playground and
S M

we started a game of football.

M

33 Award 1 mark for all three correct. 1m

G1.4
We like to eat popcorn when we go to the cinema.

Although my sister likes salted popcorn, I prefer sweet popcorn.

My brother doesn’t like popcorn at all, so he buys sweets instead.

34 Award 1 mark for two correct sentences ticked. 1m

G1.7

She ran around the games field. ✓

The old man walked past the door. ✓

35 1m
G1.9
Mary ✓

36 Award 1 mark for a comma and a dash correctly inserted. 1m

G5.6b
G5.12 Before we leave school, our class wants to start a
vegetable garden – the first in our school’s history.

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Qu. Requirement Mark

37 Award 1 mark for the correct word encircled. 1m

G1.5b
The mountain, which could be seen in the distance, had snow

on top of it.

38 Award 1 mark for all three correct. 1m

G4.1a
I played netball last weekend, but I only knew

to play to know

where the match was the day before.

to be

Do not accept misspellings of verb forms.

39 Award 1 mark for a correctly placed pair of brackets. 1m

G5.9
The highest mountain in Great Britain is Ben Nevis (1,344 metres)
in Scotland.

40 Award 1 mark for the correct prefix. 1m

G6.2
in
G6.1

41 Award 1 mark for both synonyms encircled. 1m

G6.1
The café serves delicious snacks and cakes until noon.

After midday, you can also order hot lunches, sandwiches

or soup.

42 Award 1 mark for the correct word encircled. 1m

G1.5a
The boy showed me around the school. He took me to
the music room and pointed out which classroom was his.

43 1m
G5.11

semi-colon ✓

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Qu. Requirement Mark

44 Award 1 mark for two correct words derived from the word thought, e.g. 1m
G6.3
Olisa was a very thoughtful / thoughtless girl.

The children looked thoughtfully / thoughtlessly at the poster on the wall.

Do not accept misspellings.

45 Award 1 mark for the correct noun inserted. 1m

G1.1
My friends offered me lots of encouragement to
meet my targets.

Do not accept misspellings of encouragement.

46 Award 1 mark for two correctly placed hyphens. 1m

G5.13
The children have been busy cooking some healthy
sugar-free snacks and learning some well-known traditional
songs for visitors to enjoy.

47 Award 1 mark for a correctly punctuated sentence using the active. 1m

G4.4
The detective discovered the vital clues.

48 Award 1 mark for both correct. 1m

G4.1d
Jim learns French at school. He plans to ski in the Alps in the spring.

is learning is planning

Do not accept misspellings of verb forms.

49 Award 1 mark for an appropriate noun phrase of three or more words inserted into the 1m
G3.2 sentence, e.g.

The famous athlete was preparing for an important athletics competition.

The well-known athlete was preparing for an important athletics competition.
The man on the field was preparing for an important athletics competition.
The school sports team was preparing for an important athletics competition.

50 Award 1 mark for the correct word encircled. 1m

G1.6
Of all the toys in his large collection, Karl’s little brother liked

the cuddly rabbit best.

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6. Paper 2: spelling
6.1 Content domain coverage for Paper 2: spelling
This information is provided in Table 3.

6.2 General guidance on marking Paper 2: spelling

The following guidance applies to all questions in Paper 2. Please read this carefully before applying the
individual mark schemes.
• If the pupil makes more than one attempt, it must be clear which answer the pupil wishes to be marked.
If the pupil makes two or more attempts and it is not clear which is to be considered, the mark is not
awarded.
• The pupil can answer in upper or lower case, or a mixture of the two. The exception to this is for days
of the week, which must be written in lower-case letters with an initial capital letter for the award of
the mark.
• If the pupil has answered with the correct sequence of letters but has incorrectly inserted an apostrophe
or a hyphen, the mark is not awarded.
• If the pupil has answered with the correct sequence of letters but these have been separated into clearly
divided components, with or without a hyphen, the mark is not awarded.

6.3 Pupil version of Paper 2: spelling

Spelling task

1. Sam is to play football at playtime. 11. I don’t mind if my apple has a on it.

2. Use a ruler to draw a line. 12. The children walked across the road.

3. Being dizzy is a strange . 13. The of the storm was surprising.

4. Lauren was before her first swimming lesson. 14. The dog its owner.

5. The bird found a of bread. 15. There was a search for the missing P.E. bag.

6. It is that it will rain tomorrow. 16. The longest reigning is Queen Elizabeth II.

7. An author visited our school. 17. Oliver was when his friend lost his trainers.

8. Sap is a sticky that comes from trees. 18. Angus was from Scotland.

9. John is having an on his foot. 19. The drum is part of the family.

10. Aamid faced his challenge on the zip wire. 20. The prickly jumper was made from a material.

END OF TEST

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7. Mark schemes for Paper 2: spelling

Information relating to the content domain reference codes in Table 3 can be found in the
key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework.

Table 3: Mark schemes and content domain references for Paper 2

Qu. Spelling Mark Content domain reference

1 likely 1 S43 the suffix –ly

2 straight 1 S60 words with ‘silent’ letters (i.e. letters whose presence
cannot be predicted from the pronunciation of the word)
3 sensation 1 S42 the suffix –ation
4 nervous 1 S46 the suffix –ous
5 crumb 1 S60 words with ‘silent’ letters (i.e. letters whose presence
cannot be predicted from the pronunciation of the word)
6 probable 1 S56 words ending in –able and –ible
words ending in –ably and –ibly
7 inspiring 1 S38 adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words
of more than one syllable
8 substance 1 S55 words ending in –ant, –ance, –ancy, –ent,
–ence, –ency
9 operation 1 S47 endings that sound like /ʃən/, spelt –tion, –sion,
–ssion, –cian
10 toughest 1 S59 words containing the letter string ough
11 bruise 1 S60 words with ‘silent’ letters (i.e. letters whose presence
cannot be predicted from the pronunciation of the word)
12 sensibly 1 S56 words ending in –able and –ible
words ending in –ably and –ibly
13 violence 1 S55 words ending in –ant, –ance, –ancy, –ent,
–ence, –ency
14 disobeyed 1 S38 adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words
of more than one syllable
15 thorough 1 S40 the /ʌ/ sound spelt ou
16 monarch 1 S48 words with the /k/ sound spelt ch
17 sympathetic 1 S39 the /i/ sound spelt y other than at the end of words
18 originally 1 S43 the suffix –ly
19 percussion 1 S47 endings that sound like /ʃən/, spelt –tion, –sion,
–ssion, –cian
20 coarse 1 S61 homophones and near homophones (Years 3 and 4)
homophones and other words that are often confused
(Years 5 and 6)
Total 20

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2017 key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test mark schemes
Paper 1: questions and Paper 2: spelling
Print PDF version product code: STA/17/7735/p ISBN: 978-1-78644-274-1
Electronic PDF version product code: STA/17/7735/e ISBN: 978-1-78644-294-9
For more copies
Additional printed copies of this booklet are not available. It can be downloaded from
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© Crown copyright and Crown information 2017

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