The 11 Plus Exam: What It Is, Who Sits It and How It Works

The 11 plus is a name used for different entrance assessments, not one national examination. Start with the schools you are considering, the year your child would join and each school’s current admission instructions. Those details decide the test, its subjects, registration and application steps.

English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning appear in different combinations. Some schools also assess writing or other skills. A provider’s name does not tell you every local paper, timing or qualifying rule. If you want a short first-steps checklist instead, read our practical parent guide to the 11+.

Which admission route are you considering?

1. State grammar schools in England: testing is organised by councils, school groups or individual schools. Many normal Year 7 tests take place around the start of Year 6, but the exact entry-year calendar matters. The test registration and home council’s school application are separate steps.
2. Independent senior schools: each school sets its registration and assessment sequence. Some use ISEB Common Pre-Tests, with other school assessments or interviews. Check the school rather than assuming all independent schools follow one calendar.
3. Northern Ireland: the Schools’ Entrance Assessment Group, SEAG, provides an assessment for Primary 7 pupils applying to participating post-primary schools. Use the Northern Ireland process and the schools’ criteria, rather than an English council timetable.

Examples of how local tests differ

These examples were reviewed on 24 October 2026. The September 2026 sittings below concern September 2027 entry; they are not a calendar for later applicants.

• Buckinghamshire: The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools describes GL Assessment papers for verbal skills and for mathematical/non-verbal skills. Each takes roughly an hour including instructions and practice, with a break between them. The shorter Practice Test is separate. The automatic qualifying score is 121; the school’s admission policy then governs offers.
• Warwickshire and the West Midlands: Warwickshire Council describes English, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and maths across two multiple-choice tests, each around an hour including instructions and examples. Sharing results between participating authorities requires the relevant registration choice. Eligibility to sit Warwickshire’s test is based on date of birth; qualification and admission to a particular school are separate matters. The council directs late applicants to contact the relevant testing authority.
• Redbridge: the council identifies GL Assessment and two papers: English/verbal reasoning and maths/non-verbal reasoning. For 2027 entry, registration closed at 5pm on 15 June 2026 and the test date was 18 September 2026. The council publishes a common-catchment requirement. Check its actual address guidance and the schools’ policies before assuming an address qualifies.
• CSSE in Essex and Southend: the 2027-entry guide gives English at 60 minutes plus 10 minutes’ reading time, and maths at 60 minutes. The test was scheduled for 19 September 2026. CSSE administers the examination; families apply for school places through their home council and schools apply their own admission criteria.
• Gloucestershire: the schools organise the shared test and registration. The reviewed 2027-entry route used GL Assessment. The next cycle is different: Ribston Hall’s 2028-entry page announces an FSCE test on 3 July 2027, during Year 5, with registration from 8 February to noon on 19 March 2027. Do not wait for September of Year 6 or reuse the previous provider’s format.
• Northern Ireland: SEAG’s current timetable lists assessment papers on 14 and 21 November 2026, with Statements of Outcomes on 23 January 2027. Its emergency registration window on 19 and 20 October 2026 has closed. These dates belong to the Northern Ireland route.

GL is one provider among several. For example, Bexley uses Quest, while some school routes use FSCE or their own papers. Older CEM-labelled practice material may cover useful skills without matching the current local assessment. Our provider comparison explains why the school and entry year matter alongside the provider name.

The lookup below brings together dated route summaries. It is an orientation aid: check the linked authority or school before acting, particularly when the next entry-year arrangements differ.

What might the subjects include?

Use the local familiarisation material to check the actual content. These are examples of skills, not a national 11 plus syllabus:

• English: reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation or spelling. Some tests include a writing task; others do not.
• Maths: number and calculation, fractions, decimals, percentages, measures, geometry or word problems, depending on the test.
• Verbal reasoning: word relationships, vocabulary, codes, sequences and language-based reasoning. Knowledge of words can matter alongside working out a rule.
• Non-verbal or spatial reasoning: patterns, shape relationships, rotation, reflection, matrices, nets or other visual problems.

Our English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning guides give examples to discuss. Check which skills your target test includes before choosing practice.

Raw marks, standardised scores and qualification

A raw mark comes from marking answers under that paper’s scheme. Depending on the test, the authority may then standardise marks, account for age, combine components or apply weights. Read its published method; there is no single calculation that converts every practice percentage into an official score.

Buckinghamshire is a concrete example. The council’s marking guide describes age standardisation and a 60–170 score scale. Its final score weights verbal skills at 50%, maths at 25% and non-verbal skills at 25%. A score of 121 or above qualifies; a higher score does not give extra admission priority there. A place still depends on the school’s admission rules. Other areas can rank by score or apply different qualifying requirements.

“Is 70% enough?” therefore needs a named test, year and official marking method. A practice percentage describes that practice set. It does not establish an official standardised score, national percentile or admission outcome.

The score calculator explains the local methods it supports. Check its stated cycle and assumptions before using a result. For a school offer, use the current determined admission policy as well as the test result.

Keep test registration separate from the school application

For normal state-school entry in England, record two separate tasks:

• Register for the correct assessment, if required. Some pupils are registered through their primary school; others need a parent’s registration. Check any access-arrangement or supplementary-form deadline too.
• Apply for a school place through your home council, naming schools in your genuine preference order and following its actual date and time.

For September 2027 entry, Kent closes on 2 November 2026, while Warwickshire closes at 4pm on 31 October 2026. Do not assume that every council uses the same time. GOV.UK gives 1 March 2027 for secondary offers in this cycle. Follow the home council’s instructions for receiving and responding to an offer.

The dates guide compares current examples. A qualifying test result does not submit the council form or guarantee a place. Review, waiting-list and appeal procedures are separate routes, with their own conditions and deadlines.

Independent schools and ISEB Common Pre-Tests

ISEB describes four online adaptive assessments covering maths, English reading comprehension and grammar, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. They are often taken in Year 6 or Year 7 and can be completed together or over several days. Parents register through the Guardian Portal and share the applicant ID with participating schools.

For the 2026–27 testing session, ISEB’s published window runs from 1 September 2026 to late May 2027. Individual senior schools set their own deadlines, which may be earlier. Adaptive questions respond to performance; one question by itself does not tell a child how their overall result will be reported.

These Pre-Tests are distinct from Common Entrance. Check the school’s complete sequence, including any later tests, interviews, references or offer conditions. Our ISEB guide explains the assessment. Ask the target school which tests apply to the year your child would join.

What preparation might cost

Start with free official familiarisation material where available. Check whether the format fits the target test and whether answers are supplied before buying more.

For one dated price example, GL’s maths collection listed each Maths Practice Pack at £11.99 including VAT and its three-pack maths bundle at £31.99 on 24 October 2026. Each pack contains three question papers with answer sheets and parent guidance. GL says the pack numbers do not indicate increasing difficulty. Prices and editions can change; this is an example, not a required shopping list.

Tutor and platform costs depend on the provider, duration and service. Compare the actual terms and sample material. Our books and resources guide discusses choosing relevant resources, and the pricing page shows Smart Cub Learning’s own plans.

Three original questions to try

These are short practice examples, not a representative test or a readiness assessment.

1. Verbal reasoning: find a four-letter word hidden across the end of one word and the start of the next: Sarah’s coach opened the gate.
2. Maths: a minibus leaves at 08:50. It spends 1 hour 45 minutes travelling and stops for 25 minutes, in addition to that travelling time. When does it arrive?
3. Spatial reasoning: a square tile has a black dot in its top-left corner and a short line along its bottom edge. Rotate the whole tile 90 degrees clockwise three times. Where are the dot and line now?

Answers and methods

1. CHOP, across coach opened. The letters stay in their original order across the space.
2. 11:00: 08:50 + 1 hour = 09:50; + 45 minutes = 10:35; + 25 minutes = 11:00.
3. The dot moves top-left → top-right → bottom-right → bottom-left. The line moves bottom → left → top → right. Three clockwise quarter-turns equal one anticlockwise quarter-turn.

Discuss how each answer was found, then choose further practice that fits the actual test. Three answers cannot establish readiness, diagnose a learning need or predict a school place.

Questions parents ask

Is the 11 plus harder than school tests? It is a different assessment, and difficulty depends on the paper and child. Timings, unfamiliar question formats and selection rules can affect the experience. Compare current sample questions and discuss learning needs with the teacher rather than assuming one fixed level of difficulty.

What is a good score? Check the named test and school’s current policy. A qualifying threshold and the score needed for a ranked offer can be different things.

Can a child take tests in more than one area? Check each route’s eligibility, registration and sitting dates. Where schools share a test, they may require a result-sharing choice; other tests require separate sittings. A clash or address rule can affect the options.

What should we do next? Choose the target schools and entry year, read their current instructions, record both test and school-application tasks, and check the requirements again before acting.