Ratio and Proportion

National Curriculum (England): Key Stage 2 SATs · Year 6 · KS2 SATs (primary)

8 ready-made resources for teaching Ratio and Proportion, written for Year 6 Maths (KS2 SATs). Slides, worksheets, mark schemes, homework, an assessment and retrieval quizzes, all with SEN-friendly scaffolding built in as standard. Below is what the topic requires and where pupils usually go wrong, free to read whether or not you sign up.

Independently rechecked. These files were written to the specification from our own topic maps, then put through a separate recheck pass from the one that wrote them, which found and fixed real errors. A subject teacher has not signed them off individually, so give them your usual read before you teach from them.

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What is in this bundle

Assessment mark schemeWord, editable
End-of-topic assessmentWord, editable
HomeworkWord, editable
Retrieval-practice quizzesWord, editable
SlidesPowerPoint, editable
Starter & exit ticketWord, editable
WorksheetWord, editable
Worksheet mark schemeWord, editable

What pupils need to be able to do

Solve problems about the relative sizes of two quantities, where a missing value can be found using known integer multiplication and division facts (the informal groundwork for ratio: formal a:b notation is optional at this stage, not a strict requirement).
Solve problems involving the calculation of percentages (for example, of a given measure) and use percentages to compare two or more quantities.
Solve problems involving similar shapes, where the scale factor between them is either given or has to be worked out first.
Solve problems involving unequal sharing and grouping, using knowledge of fractions and multiples (e.g. sharing an amount so that one part is a given fraction of another, or so that quantities are described as "for every 2 of one thing, there are 3 of another").

Where pupils go wrong

Scaling only one quantity in a ratio or similar-shapes problem and leaving the other unchanged, rather than scaling both consistently.
Confusing "increased by a scale factor of 3" with "increased by 3", i.e. adding instead of multiplying.
In unequal-sharing problems, dividing the total by the wrong number of parts (e.g. dividing by 2 for a 2:3 share instead of by 5, the total number of parts).
Using percentages to compare two quantities without checking they're being compared against the same original amount, leading to a misleading comparison.

How it gets asked in the exam

Paper 1 (arithmetic) style: rare on this strand, ratio and proportion content is almost entirely tested through reasoning-paper contexts rather than bare calculations.
Papers 2–3 (reasoning) style: "A recipe for 4 people needs 200g of flour. How much flour is needed for 10 people?", "Shape A is enlarged by a scale factor of 3 to make Shape B. If a side of Shape A is 4cm, how long is the matching side of Shape B?", "Share £60 between two people in the ratio 2:3."

Key vocabulary

Ratio, proportion, scale factor, similar shapes, relative size.

Assumed prior knowledge (Year 5)

Multiplying and dividing whole numbers and decimals by 10, 100, and 1,000.
Solving problems involving multiplication and division, including scaling by simple fractions.
Recognising and using thousandths, and relating them to tenths and hundredths.

How Speca scaffolds this topic

A bar-model visual for sharing/grouping problems, consistently showing the total split into equal labelled parts before any calculation, makes the "divide by the total number of parts" step concrete rather than a rule to memorise.
For scale factor problems, show the object and image shapes side by side with corresponding sides colour-matched, so scaling "both dimensions, not just one" is visually obvious.
A worked "unitary method" template (find the value of one unit or part, then scale up or down) used consistently across recipe-scaling, sharing, and comparison problems, so the same underlying method is recognised across different question wordings.

Every file, free to start

Three full bundles a month at no cost, no card needed. Speca can also write a resource for a topic we have not built yet, and mark a photo of a pupil's working against the mark scheme.

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