Sutton SET English: practise the answer rules
The full paper's suggested timings
- 5 minA · Spelling
- 25 minB · Text 1
- 10 minC · Text 2
- 10 minD · Compare both texts
Advisory, not locked. This practice set is shorter than a full paper.
Section A · Spelling
One answerWhich of these is the correct spelling?
One answerWhich of these is the correct spelling?
Section B · Text 1
Text 1 · Gull Point
Mara had kept the lamp at Gull Point for eleven winters, and she had never once let it go dark. On the night of the storm, the wind tore a shutter from its hinges and rain hammered the glass like thrown gravel. She climbed the ninety steps twice an hour, her lantern swinging, her knees aching. Somewhere below, a fishing boat was feeling its way home.
At midnight the flame stuttered. Mara's hands, stiff with cold, fumbled the wick until it caught again. She did not cheer. She simply sat down on the top step, pressed her palm against the warm brass, and listened to the sea argue with the rocks.
One answerWhy does Mara climb the ninety steps twice an hour? Pick the most accurate answer.
Exactly twoSelect the TWO words that best describe Mara in the second paragraph.
Select all that are correctWhich of these make Mara's work harder that night? Select all that are correct.
NOT questionLook at the first paragraph. Which of these is NOT correct? Select one answer.
Section C · Text 2
Text 2 · Keepers of the light
For hundreds of years, a lighthouse needed a keeper every night of the year. Keepers trimmed wicks, polished the great glass lenses and wound the clockwork that turned the light. The work could be lonely. Some lighthouses stood on bare rocks miles from shore, and bad weather could keep the supply boat away for weeks.
Today the lights around England and Wales work without a keeper living beside them. They are watched from a control centre, and engineers visit to check and mend them.
One answerAccording to Text 2, why could a keeper's work be lonely?
Section D · Compare both texts
Select all that are correctWhich of these are true in BOTH texts? Select all that are correct.
Exactly twoSelect the TWO statements that show how the texts are different.
Five-question recording rehearsal
One more short text, mixing all three answer types. When you mark it, each question says whether the mark was lost to the reading or to how the answer was recorded, and points to the line of the text that holds the evidence.
SET answer-rule rehearsal
Five-question recording rehearsal
Text 1: The last count before the tide · 8 min practice clock
Read the text once, then answer. Each question tells you how many answers to record.
The last count before the tide
[1]Ellis had promised to count the small wading birds on the mudflat. From the shelter, the birds resembled a handful of pepper scattered over silver paper. He counted nineteen, then twenty-three, then seventeen. Each time he lowered his pencil, a new wave moved the flock a little closer together.
[2]His older cousin Bea had drawn a grid on a transparent sheet. She held it against the shelter window. "Count one square at a time," she suggested. Ellis preferred his own method, which involved being very quick. He did not say so. He accepted the sheet and immediately found that two birds hidden beside a post had escaped his earlier counts.
[3]Near the water, a larger bird stood perfectly still. Ellis wrote down its name with confidence. Bea asked what he had seen. "A long beak," he said. "And those dark legs." A cloud moved away from the sun. The bird turned, showing a pale stripe above its eye. Ellis crossed out the name, leaving the letters readable, and wrote a different one beside it.
[4]"You could just rub that out," Bea said. "Then I might forget why I changed it," Ellis replied. The page was beginning to look untidy. For the first time that morning, the untidiness did not trouble him.
[5]As the tide rose, a dog ran along the far bank and the flock lifted. Ellis could no longer tell whether the birds settling downstream were the same ones. He drew a line under his count and wrote, Flock moved: stop here. He had fewer entries than he had hoped. Yet when Bea offered to copy his notes neatly at home, he shook his head. "These are the ones I can explain."
What does the comparison with pepper on silver paper chiefly help the reader imagine?
Which TWO details contribute to Ellis changing the bird's name?
Why do the changing totals matter in paragraph 1?
Which TWO qualities does Ellis show by the end?
Which statements are supported by Text 1?
Try the free Sutton SET lesson
If the reading, not the recording, cost the marks, the free first lesson works on finding evidence in a text.
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Questions parents ask
What is in the Sutton SET English paper?
The 2027 entry sample describes four sections: spelling, questions on Text 1, questions on Text 2, and a comparison of both texts. The suggested times add up to 50 minutes, and children can move between sections.
How are 'select TWO' questions marked?
Only both correct answers score. One correct answer scores nothing, and choosing more than two scores nothing.
How are 'select all that are correct' questions marked?
There are 2, 3 or 4 correct answers, never all five. The schools say a child does not need every right answer to score, but choosing all five scores zero. They do not share the rest of the formula.
What recording mistakes cost marks in SET English?
Marking one answer where exactly two are needed, marking three, marking all five on a select-all question, and leaving a question blank all score nothing. The five-question rehearsal on this page flags each of these separately from getting the reading wrong.
Are these real SET questions?
No. The texts and questions are our own originals written to the published rules. The official sample and answer sheet are linked below and are free from the school.