Using words to describe probability: impossible, unlikely, uncertain, even chance (fifty-fifty), likely, certain, and fair.
Where your child meets this in real life: Weather forecasts, discussing chances of events, understanding risk
Each SEAG paper has 28 maths questions. Questions 29 to 50 are multiple choice with five possible answers, and questions 51 to 56 need a short written answer. With 56 questions in 60 minutes across English and maths, that is about a minute per question.
SEAGReady breaks probability language into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Identify events that are certain (will definitely happen) or impossible (cannot happen)
Distinguish between likely (probably will happen) and unlikely (probably won't happen) events
Identify even chance (fifty-fifty) situations and explain what makes a probability experiment fair
Try three free questions from our probability language course. They start easy and get harder, so you can see where your child's confidence runs out. If they manage the last one without a hint, this topic is probably secure. If not, the steps above show where to start.
Jacob picks one marble from the bag without looking. Is picking a blue marble certain, likely, or impossible?
The chocolates in Katie's box are shown. She picks one without looking. Is picking caramel likely, unlikely, or even chance?
Mei wants a fair game: one player wins on red and the other wins on blue. The spinner sections are all equal size. Which design makes the game fair?
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Olivia has a bag containing 10 green marbles. There are no other colours in the bag.
Is picking a green marble certain, likely, or impossible?
10 green, 0 other
Every marble in the bag is green
Step 1 of 4
Olivia has a bag containing 10 green marbles. There are no other colours in the bag.
Is picking a green marble certain, likely, or impossible?
Picking a green marble is certain because every marble is green.
The key insight: Certain means it will happen every single time, with no exceptions!
Common mix-up: Saying 'likely' because there are lots of green marbles. Likely means it will probably happen. Certain means it MUST happen. With only green marbles, there is no chance of anything else.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in probability language, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
Sitting the SEAG test this November? Read our last-month revision plan, Paper 1 vs Paper 2 and test day guide.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.
Free to start · no card needed