If there is one answer choice on the SEAG Maths paper that causes more anxiety than any other, it is Option E: 'None of these'. Every multiple-choice Maths question offers five options (A, B, C, D and E), and E is always 'None of these'. It means the correct answer is not in the first four. For many children that is unsettling. They work through a calculation, arrive at an answer, see it sitting there as Option B, and then notice Option E waiting like a quiet challenge. Are you sure?
Understanding how Option E works, and building a clear strategy for handling it, is one of the most useful exam-technique skills your child can develop before test day.
Why 'None of these' exists
Option E is there to test whether a child can calculate accurately and trust their own working. In a standard four-option format, a child who is unsure can often guess by ruling out one or two clearly wrong answers. Option E breaks that approach. It forces the child to do the maths rather than pattern-match from the available choices.
It also tests something subtler. The wrong options on a SEAG Maths question are not random numbers. They are the answers a child would arrive at if they made a specific, predictable mistake. A carrying error. A misplaced decimal point. A forgotten unit conversion. Option E is the right answer on the questions where the test writers wanted the correct number to sit outside the predicted error pattern.
When is Option E the correct answer?
It is not a trick. It is not rare. Across a typical SEAG Maths paper, Option E is the right answer on roughly 3 to 5 questions out of the 22 scored multiple-choice Maths items. That is around 15 to 20 per cent of the time. Pretty much what you would expect if all five options were equally likely. Children who never pick Option E because it scares them are leaving marks on the table.
The questions where Option E tends to be correct share a few features:
- Multi-step calculations where the wrong options are the answers to common intermediate errors (stopping after the first step, or applying the wrong operation in the second).
- Unit conversion questions where the trap answers use the wrong unit, for example showing the answer in millilitres when the question asked for litres.
- Questions involving remainders where the listed options give the quotient but not the remainder, or the other way round.
The two-calculation strategy
The most reliable way to handle Option E is what we call the two-calculation strategy. It works like this.
- Do the calculation without looking at the options. Cover the answer choices with your hand or just focus on the question. Work it out on your rough paper and arrive at your answer on its own terms.
- Now look at the options. If your answer matches one of A through D, check it makes sense and pick it. If it does not match any of them, do the calculation again. Use a different method if you can. Work backwards. Estimate. Try a different route to the same answer.
- If you get the same answer twice and it still does not match A to D, pick Option E with confidence. You have verified your working. The right answer genuinely is not in the listed options.
This strategy works because it removes the paralysis. Instead of staring at five options wondering which one might be the trap, you calculate first, compare second, and verify third. The decision to pick Option E is based on evidence. Two independent calculations. Not a guess.
Common mistakes to avoid
In our classrooms, three patterns come up again and again with Option E.
1. Never picking Option E. Some children are so uncomfortable with 'None of these' that they force themselves to pick A, B, C or D even when their calculation does not match. They settle on the option closest to their answer and convince themselves they must have made a small error. Sometimes they have. Sometimes their original answer was right and by avoiding Option E they have given away a mark they had earned.
2. Picking Option E too quickly. The opposite mistake. A child does the calculation, does not see their answer, and jumps straight to Option E without checking. If they had recalculated they might have caught a small slip and got the question right.
3. Talking themselves out of the right answer. A child calculates correctly, sees their answer is not on the list, hovers over Option E for a moment, then panics and picks something close. Their own correct working gets overruled by the urge to avoid Option E. This is the most frustrating mistake of the three because the child actually had the right answer and let go of it.
Building confidence through practice
The best way to build confidence with Option E is simple. Practise with it. Every practice paper on SEAG Success uses the proper five-option format including 'None of these'. The more papers your child completes, the more they see Option E as both a correct and an incorrect answer. The more natural it feels to pick it when their working supports it.
When you are reviewing papers together, look out for any Maths question where your child avoided Option E despite their working pointing to it. Ask them why they changed their mind. Often the answer is just 'I wasn't sure'. That is the moment to walk back through the two-calculation strategy. If you got the same answer twice and it is not on the list, trust your maths.
Our dedicated 'None of These' Trap lesson walks through this strategy with worked examples, interactive practice, and a quiz designed to build comfort with Option E. If your child finds this topic stressful, that lesson is time well spent. It pairs naturally with the wider Avoiding Silly Mistakes lesson, which trains the same careful-reading habits that protect every Maths mark on the paper.
For the bigger picture on how the Maths section sits inside the wider paper, see our breakdown of the SEAG paper question types and timing. It shows where Option E appears and where it does not. For the wider view of how the whole P7 year is paced, our month-by-month preparation roadmap sets out when to introduce timed papers without burning your child out.
One last thing
Option E is not there to trick your child. It is there to reward children who calculate carefully and trust their working. A child who knows why Option E exists, has a clear strategy for it, and has practised picking it will walk into the test with one less worry. In a 60-minute paper of 56 questions, every worry you can take off the table is worth taking off.
