SATs punctuation mistakes: the errors Year 6 children repeat most

Most punctuation marks lost in SATs come from a small set of repeated errors, not from gaps in knowledge.

The five mistakes that recur most

• Apostrophe in plurals — writing "the dog's ran" instead of "the dogs ran".
• Missing comma after a fronted adverbial — "Later that day we left."
• Comma splice — joining two sentences with a comma instead of a full stop or conjunction.
• Speech punctuation order — placing the comma outside the closing speech marks.
• Colon vs semicolon confusion — using them interchangeably without understanding the difference.

Targeted correction routine

1. Show your child one correct and one incorrect sentence side by side.
2. Ask them to spot which is wrong and why.
3. Have them write a new correct sentence using the same punctuation rule.

Comparing right and wrong builds a stronger mental model than correcting errors alone.

When to move on

Once your child can explain the rule behind the fix without hesitation, that mistake is resolved. Redirect energy to the next one on the list.