2026 11 Plus Pass Marks for 2027 Entry, by Area

There is no national 11+ pass mark. A raw percentage such as 70% or 80% does not identify a qualifying result unless the admissions authority publishes that rule for the particular test and entry year.

2026 test scores for September 2027 entry

• Kent: 345 total and at least 111 in each paper. This is the 2026 grammar-school assessment threshold, not an offer.
• Medway: 478 total weighted score. This is the minimum score for a grammar assessment in the 2027 admissions round.
• Birmingham: 205 qualifying; 224 King Edward VI priority. The 205 applies to all eight Birmingham grammar schools; the 224 priority score applies at the six King Edward VI schools. School policies still decide offers.
• Buckinghamshire: 121. This is the usual qualifying score. Read the school's policy if a Pupil Premium child scored below 121.
• CSSE Essex: 303 minimum. The consortium does not make an offer below this score except through a successful appeal; each school's actual offer cut-off is decided later.
• Bexley: no fixed score published before the test. Use the selective decision in the child's result, then check each school's admissions policy.
• Walsall: school-specific rules. Queen Mary's Grammar School says about 200, subject to governors' confirmation in November 2026. Queen Mary's High School has not confirmed its 2027 minimum. Birmingham's 205/224 rules do not apply to either school.
• Haberdashers' Adams, Shropshire: check its entry-year academic standard. The 2026 results sheet lists 205 generally and 195 for eligible Pupil Premium applicants for 2026 entry. Those are historical figures, not confirmed 2027 thresholds. See the Adams school guide for its separate day and boarding priorities.
• Torbay: school-specific Yes or No guidance. The shared test does not create one published pass mark for every Torbay grammar school; read the result for each school.

These are different score scales and different kinds of rule. Do not compare the numbers across areas or treat qualification as a place offer. If your child already has a result, read the current steps for Kent, Medway, CSSE Essex, Bexley, Walsall or Torbay. Our Birmingham guide and Buckinghamshire guide explain those areas' school-specific decisions.

Many selective areas use age-standardised scores, but their scales and allocation rules differ. Buckinghamshire's 121, the Lincolnshire total of 220 and the CSSE minimum of 303 are not interchangeable. Some authorities state a threshold before the test; others set it after marking. Meeting it still does not guarantee a school place.

This guide separates published qualification rules from offer cut-offs and links to the authority or school behind each example. Always check the entry year, score scale and oversubscription rules on your own results letter and determined admission arrangements.

Is 70% enough to pass the 11+?

A practice-paper percentage tells you how many available marks your child earned on that paper. It does not, on its own, tell you their official standardised score or whether they would qualify in a particular area. Where an authority publishes a conversion method, use it only for the paper and cohort it describes.

The practical consequence is that the same 70% can produce very different outcomes:

• Age standardisation can give two children with the same raw mark different scores. The direction and size of any difference depend on the test’s method and age reference data.
• A raw percentage cannot show where a child sits on the test’s reference scale. That depends on the published standardisation method and reference data.
• The threshold that standardised score is measured against is set locally, so it differs from county to county and can move from one entry year to the next.

So the question "is 70% a pass" cannot be answered, but a better question can be. Ask instead: what standardised score does my area require, is that figure fixed or set annually, and how many children typically reach it? That is a question with real answers, and the rest of this guide supplies them.

Why there is no national 11 plus pass mark

There is no national pass mark because there is no national 11 plus. Selective admission survives in around 36 English local authority areas plus a scattering of individual schools, and each of those areas designs its own arrangements. Test formats differ, subject weightings differ, and the body that sets the threshold differs.

GL Assessment, whose papers are used across much of the country, is explicit that it supplies the assessment rather than the cut-off. Its guidance describes a Standard Age Score as a conversion of a pupil's raw score into a standardised score that takes account of the pupil's age in years and months, with an average of 100. What counts as qualifying is then decided by the local authority, the consortium or the school's own trust.

That is why the weightings vary so much. Buckinghamshire builds its Secondary Transfer Test Score from 50% verbal skills, 25% mathematical skills and 25% non-verbal skills. Bexley uses the same 50/25/25 split across verbal, numerical and non-verbal. Medway weights its papers English times two, Mathematics times two and Reasoning times one. Essex, through the CSSE, uses only English and Mathematics, each worth 50%. Four areas, four different definitions of a total score, and therefore four incomparable thresholds. If you want the format detail behind these, our guide to the 11 plus exam covers what each area actually asks children to sit.

11 plus qualifying scores by area, with sources

Every figure below was read on the official page cited beside it. Where a number in wide circulation disagrees with the official page, we say so.

Buckinghamshire: 121. The council states that if a child's Secondary Transfer Test Score is 121 or above, they qualify for grammar school. Standardised scores fall between 60 and 170, and around 37% of children are expected to score 121 or above. The page was last updated on 9 April 2026. Source: Buckinghamshire Council, marking the Secondary Transfer Test.

Kent: 345 total, with no single score below 111 (2026 test, September 2027 entry). Children receive three standardised scores, in English, maths and reasoning, plus an aggregate. This year the council requires at least 345 overall and at least 111 on each paper. Individual scores range from 69 to 141, and the highest possible total is 423. Source: Kent County Council, Kent Test results.

Older pages still quote 332 as if it were a permanent pass mark. It was the threshold for an earlier test; it is not the 2026 test threshold. Use the council's current result page and our Kent Test guide for the entry year you need. For children taking the Kent Test in 2027 for September 2028 entry, Kent has appointed Quest Assessments as the new provider. The council says the test’s purpose, structure and timing will remain the same; this change does not affect children who have already taken the 2026 test (Kent County Council update, 16 October 2026).

Medway: 478 for September 2027 entry. Medway sets a minimum total weighted score every year. Recent figures are 478 for 2027 admissions, 481 for 2026, 482 for 2025 and 492 for 2024. The tests are designed to assess the equivalent of 26% of children attending Medway maintained schools as suitable for grammar. Source: Medway Council, the Medway Test.

Lincolnshire: 220. Answering "what is the pass mark" directly, the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools states that the qualifying level is a total standardised score of at least 220 across both papers. The Consortium also notes that the tests identify potential rather than attainment, may be taken only once in an academic year, and that raw scores are not released to parents. Source: the Lincolnshire Consortium selection process FAQ at grammarschools.lincs.sch.uk.

Bexley: no fixed pass mark. All children who take the test are ranked in order of their total age-standardised score, and the council, together with the four grammar schools, then determines the selective score. The average total weighted age-standardised score is 200, with roughly two-thirds of candidates scoring between 170 and 230. In 2025, 5,866 children sat the test, 2,070 reached the selective standard, and 800 grammar places were available. Source: Bexley Council, about the selection test.

Essex (CSSE): 303 minimum, but not a guarantee. The CSSE Information Guide for 2027 entry states that offers are not made to any child scoring under a total standardised score of 303, with successful appeal places awarded outside that criterion. The same guide is careful to add that the actual cut-off scores are only known after national offer day in March, and that there is no guarantee of a place based on historical information. Candidates sit English and Mathematics, each sixty minutes, with ten minutes additional reading time for English.

Birmingham: 205 qualifying for all eight grammar schools; 224 priority for the six King Edward VI grammar schools (2027 entry). The King Edward VI Foundation's current results page states both figures. The 224 priority score applies within those schools' published admissions categories; it is not an offer guarantee or a rule for the other two Birmingham grammar schools.

Walsall: check the two Queen Mary's schools separately. Queen Mary's Grammar School lists 200 as an approximate minimum for 2027 entry, subject to analysis and governors' confirmation in November 2026. Queen Mary's High School says its 2027 minimum is still to be confirmed in November. Both participate in the West Midlands Grammar Schools test partnership, but neither school adopts Birmingham's 205 qualifying or 224 King Edward VI priority number as its own rule. See our Walsall results guide before using an older offer score to choose preferences.

Shropshire: Haberdashers' Adams sets its own qualifying standard. Its 2027 determined policy allows eligible Pupil Premium or Service Premium applicants to qualify no lower than 5% below the general standard, with the required evidence and separate day and boys' boarding priorities. The policy does not give an absolute 205/195 pair for 2027. Those figures are labelled 2026 entry on the school's historical results sheet. Birmingham's numerical rules do not establish Adams' standard. The school says test registration alone is not an application; families must name Adams on their home council's secondary form.

Torbay: the result is school-specific guidance, not a shared numerical pass mark. Churston's amended 2027 policy says families receive a Yes or No outcome against its qualifying score. Torquay Boys' Grammar School's policy also gives Yes or No and does not disclose scores. Read the guidance for each school and its current priority rules; our Torbay results guide explains the 2027 application decision.

How to read the table: fixed thresholds versus annually set cut-offs

The figures above look like the same kind of thing. They are not, so check which decision each figure describes.

Published-in-advance thresholds are stated before the test for a named entry year. Recheck each new policy rather than assuming they never change. Buckinghamshire's 121, Lincolnshire's 220 and the CSSE minimum of 303 are examples. Birmingham has now published 205 as its qualifying score for 2027 entry and 224 as the King Edward VI priority score; check the entry year whenever you use either number.

Annually set or ranked cut-offs work in the opposite direction. Bexley ranks every candidate and then decides the selective score. Medway sets a minimum total weighted score each year, which is exactly why it has moved from 492 to 482 to 481 to 478 across four admission rounds. Kent publishes its threshold in October, after the tests have been marked. In these areas the pass mark is an output of the cohort, not a target set in advance. Do not quote last year's number as though it were this year's.

That distinction matters for how you prepare. Against a fixed threshold, you are aiming at a stated bar. Against a ranked cut-off, you are competing with the children who happen to sit the test in the same year as yours, which makes consistent performance across full papers more informative than any single score. Relevant mock practice can help rehearse the format and identify methods to revisit, but it does not recreate the official cohort or predict its cut-off.

Check school policies as well as the council overview

A council's general entrance-test page may omit a figure that appears in a school's own policy or in the determined arrangements. Absence from an overview is not evidence that no official threshold exists.

Stretford Grammar School: 334 for 2027 entry. The school's admissions page publishes that qualifying score and says that it is not an offer of a place. It reports one standardised score without a breakdown. Check each Trafford consortium school's own qualifying and oversubscription rules; do not treat one school's figure as a rule for every school.

Redbridge: minimum threshold of 104 for 2027/28. Paragraph 2.12 of the council's determined admission arrangements states that applicants below 104 are not added to the ranked list or waiting list. Above that floor, the policy's priority categories and ranking still decide allocation. A minimum threshold is not the score of the last child offered a place.

Where a page does not give a numerical threshold, read the determined policy and results guidance before concluding that the number is unpublished. Registration, test qualification and the school application are separate steps.

How standardised scores work, and why percentages are the wrong unit

Standardisation does two jobs. First, it adjusts for age, so that a child born in August is not penalised against a child born the previous September. Second, it puts marks on a reference scale for that test. Single-paper scales, weighted composites and added totals can use different numbers, so check which result your authority reports.

A worked example, using invented numbers to show the mechanism rather than to predict anything: imagine two children each score 42 out of 60 on the same reasoning paper, which is 70%. One is 10 years 2 months old at the time of the test, the other 11 years 1 month. Age standardisation can give children with the same raw mark different scores because their ages differ. The exact adjustment depends on the test’s published method; this example is not a score conversion. Whether raw marks or a breakdown are also reported depends on the authority. Use the score and rule specified on the official result.

This is also why score conversion tables published by tuition companies should be treated as illustrations, not lookups. Use a conversion only if the relevant authority publishes it for the exact paper and cohort. CSSE publishes named annual reports; those are different from guessed GL conversions or a previous year’s coefficients applied to a new paper. Understanding which board your area uses helps here, and our comparison of GL, CEM and ISEB explains how the marking differs.

Our 11+ score calculator by area uses published methods and thresholds. It explains when you need a reported score rather than a raw mark. Guessed cohort statistics cannot predict an official GL result.

What counts as a good 11 plus score?

A score only has meaning on the scale used for that test. Buckinghamshire publishes 121 as its qualification rule. You cannot apply that rule to Bexley’s different scale or to the CSSE combined total.

Check three things on the official results letter and school policy:

1. Is this a component score, a weighted score or an added total?
2. What qualifying rule applies to the same test and entry year?
3. Does the school rank qualified applicants by score, distance or other priority criteria?

There is no general rule that 111, 121 or 129 secures a place across areas. Use a reported percentile only if the provider supplies it for that particular assessment. Tracking progress over time on comparable practice is a separate task from interpreting an admissions result.

Qualifying does not mean a place

Reaching the qualifying standard entitles your child to be considered. It does not entitle them to a place. Bexley's own 2025 figures make the point plainly: 2,070 children met the selective standard, and there were 800 grammar places available. Wirral says the same thing in words, noting that oversubscribed schools use other criteria to decide who is offered places. The CSSE adds that actual cut-off scores are only known after national offer day in March.

Kent spells out the consequence for families who apply anyway. If a child is not assessed as suitable for grammar, you can still name a Kent grammar school on your application, but that application will be refused when places are offered on 1 March 2027, with a right of appeal.

So the sequence is: sit the test, receive a standardised score, be assessed against a threshold or a rank, then enter the general admissions round where distance, siblings and other published criteria apply. Build a preference list that works at every stage, not just the first one.

Our grammar school applications and offers tool lets you compare published historical preferences and offers for schools on your shortlist. Use the figures to ask better questions about oversubscription, not to turn a qualifying score into an offer probability. The current school's admissions policy decides how eligible children are ranked.

When these numbers change and how this page is maintained

The annually set thresholds land in autumn. Kent emailed its 2026 result on 15 October 2026 and has published the 345 total and 111 per-paper threshold. CSSE sent its 2026 test results by email on 12 October 2026; its actual school offer cut-offs will only be known after national offer day. Medway sets a fresh minimum weighted score each admission round, which is 478 for 2027 admissions.

Check the entry year beside each figure and follow its official source. Thresholds and last-offer scores can change, and the latest result may not be available yet. A missing figure stays unknown; it is not a reason to estimate one. If you are working out where your child currently stands against a real paper rather than a rumour, use the authority’s official familiarisation material to check the format. Our short practice mock is a separate sample and does not reproduce every area’s paper or standardisation.

11 plus pass mark FAQs

Is there a percentage pass mark for the 11 plus?

No single percentage applies nationally. Authorities in the examples above publish local score rules; check the current policy for the test and entry year that applies to your child. A practice-paper percentage alone cannot determine an official result.

Why do so many sites say 80%?

Treat an unexplained percentage as unverified. Ask which authority publishes it, for which test and entry year, and whether it is a raw qualification rule or a practice target.

What is the highest possible 11 plus score?

It depends entirely on the area, because totals are constructed differently. In Kent, individual scores range from 69 to 141 and the highest possible total is 423. In Buckinghamshire, standardised scores fall between 60 and 170.

Can my child retake the test if they miss the threshold?

Generally no within the same admissions round. Lincolnshire, for example, states that its tests may only be taken once in the academic year. Some areas operate a review or appeal process instead, which is not the same as a retake.

How should we prepare if our area does not publish a pass mark?

Check the test’s published content and format, then use your child’s working to choose skills to practise. Use mock exams for format and timing rehearsal when appropriate. A practice result cannot establish an unpublished qualifying score.