11+ learning library
Source-led explanations of how local 11+ tests work, for parents and tutors.
38 guides
Most 11+ advice tells parents to keep an eye on the time and never says what the time is. This guide turns published test timings into seconds-per-question budgets, checkpoint pacing, answer-sheet discipline and a structured wrong-answer review.
15 min read
GL Assessment advises against CAT4 practice while prep sites sell it. The contradiction dissolves once you know whether your child is sitting a diagnostic CAT4 or an admissions one.
15 min read
Most guides describe the CSSE 11+ from the outside: two papers, sixty minutes, not multiple choice. We opened the actual papers, mark schemes and standardisation report to show what really decides an Essex grammar school place.
14 min read
Most guides list the four 11 plus English topics and stop. We use published papers and mark schemes to show what each section is actually worth, and how that should change your revision.
13 min read
Practice Papers and Mock Tests
A curated list of genuinely free 11+ papers you can download as PDFs without an account, plus the part nobody else covers: how to mark the paper and turn a raw score into a rough standardised estimate.
13 min read
Three complete 11 plus revision timetables (12 months, 6 months and 6 weeks), counted backwards from the real test date rather than forwards from today. Free, ungated and built around spacing, interleaving and a recovery plan for the weeks you miss.
15 min read
A source-led explainer of the ISEB Common Pre-Test: the current timings, how the adaptive engine really works, free sample questions for all four sub-tests, and why parents never see the score.
13 min read
A source-led guide to the Kent Test for parents: the real timeline, exact paper timings, why the qualifying score moves every year, and why individual grammar schools admit at far higher scores than the county threshold.
14 min read
The 21 verbal reasoning question types every 11+ family is told to learn, sourced against what the exam boards actually publish, with an original worked example for each and per-type time budgets taken from a real 25-minute paper.
13 min read
Twenty-two original 11+ maths questions on the page, ordered easy to hard the way a real paper is, each with the full method and the fastest mental route. Plus the technique split nobody mentions: multiple-choice papers and written papers reward different tactics.
15 min read
Practice Papers and Mock Tests
Most things sold as 11 plus past papers are practice papers written by publishers, because GL and Cambridge do not release live tests. Here is what genuinely exists, school by school, and how to use it.
15 min read
A Year 4 child is roughly 12 to 14 months from 11+ registration and about 18 months from the paper itself. Here is what that timeline means in practice, with checkpoints you can verify and a maximum weekly workload rather than a minimum.
16 min read
VAT on private school fees is real and precisely dated, but the official application data shows no national grammar school surge. Here is how to tell which claims hold up, and what actually decides whether your child gets a place.
14 min read
Two official figures for home education are in circulation and they are not interchangeable. Here is what 126,000 and 175,900 each mean, why no honest UK-wide total exists, and how much of the rise is better counting.
13 min read
A precise, dated guide to what section 7 actually requires, what a local authority can and cannot make you do, and which parts of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 are genuinely in force.
16 min read
The law does not require a timetable, set hours or marked work, but it does reward evidence of progress. Here is a four-part system (goals, rhythm, review, evidence) that keeps home education defensible without turning your house into a classroom.
15 min read
A disclosed buyer guide written by a company that sells one: how to decode the word adaptive, test whether a progress report is real evidence, and run a seven-day trial that actually decides.
15 min read
The official data confirms a real boys-girls writing gap, then explains almost nothing about your own child. Here is what the numbers say, whether the writing task even counts where you are applying, and a diagnostic that routes to three different fixes.
14 min read
A step-by-step reset for parents whose child has stopped co-operating with 11 plus practice: how to tell ordinary resistance from real distress, a seven-day pause, the exact words to use, and how to decide whether to reduce, pause or stop.
16 min read
The 11+ advice online tells you to practise for seven minutes, twenty minutes, forty-five minutes or two whole papers a day. Here is what the evidence really supports, and what it does not.
15 min read
Grammar schools do not look for a type of child. They run a published, legally governed allocation procedure, and passing the test is usually only eligibility, not currency.
13 min read
Access arrangements for the 11+ are decided by your admission authority, not by a national rulebook. Here is how to find out which body decides, what evidence it will demand, and what to do if it says no.
15 min read
Ten grammar schools use the FSCE 11 plus for September 2027 entry, and twelve more have announced it for 2028. Every row here is checked against the school's own admissions page, with the source printed beside it.
13 min read
FSCE runs four named papers across eleven Key Stage 2 subjects, with audio instructions and no authorised past papers. Here is what the official Familiarisation Guides actually say.
13 min read
A region-by-region guide to 11 plus results dates and qualifying scores, and the full sequence from the results letter to the 31 October application deadline, National Offer Day and grammar school appeals.
10 min read
Verified 2026 tutor and app prices, the free council and GL Assessment route almost nobody mentions, and three fully costed 12-month budgets so you can choose a route on evidence rather than anxiety.
15 min read
Practice Papers and Mock Tests
A neutral, non-retail comparison of Bond 11 plus and CGP 11 plus books: question-style fidelity, answer quality, cost per question, and where each brand is genuinely weak.
14 min read
Most 11+ guides explain GL Assessment and stop there. This one compares all five boards UK parents actually meet, and shows how format changes the way you prepare.
13 min read
A region-by-region guide to where the UK grammar schools are, which entrance test each area uses, what it tests, and when registration opens and closes. Includes the deadline most parents miss.
14 min read
A complete taxonomy of 11+ non-verbal reasoning question types, each with a worked example, a repeatable solving rule and the distractor examiners plant. Includes official ISEB and GL exam facts.
14 min read
A complete 11 plus maths topic list, organised as a decision guide rather than a directory. Includes the four areas school teaches after the exam is over, the classic traps per topic, and how pace differs by board.
12 min read
Practice Papers and Mock Tests
A curated library of free 11 plus papers where every entry tells you its duration, question count, whether answers are included and whether it matches your local board before you download it.
12 min read
Start with a fifteen minute diagnostic, not a reading list. This guide routes you to one of three plans, gives weekly time budgets in minutes from Year 3 to exam week, and tells you exactly what to cut when time runs short.
12 min read
The 11 plus is not one exam. It is roughly fifteen different tests sharing a name, and which one your child sits depends entirely on your postcode. Here is how to find yours.
13 min read
Help children break non-verbal reasoning into manageable checks for shape, number, position, rotation, reflection, matrices and folded figures.
6 min read
Learn the main families of 11+ verbal reasoning questions and use a repeatable method that builds vocabulary, accuracy and timing in the right order.
5 min read
Understand what the 11+ is, why formats differ by area, which subjects may appear and how testing fits into the grammar-school application process.
5 min read
A calm, practical guide to building foundations in Years 3 and 4, adding structured preparation in Year 5 and using timed practice proportionately.
5 min read
Create one learner profile and begin with the free four-subject diagnostic. No card is required.
