Starting 11 Plus Preparation in Year 4: What Actually Matters

Year 4 is a useful time to review reading, vocabulary and maths foundations. Start with what your child finds difficult, discuss it with their teacher and check the current requirements of any selective schools you are considering.

This guide connects those decisions to curriculum expectations and published admissions examples. The examples show how a calendar works; they do not replace the policy for your child’s target school and entry year.

The suggested workload is a starting point to review with your child, rather than a minimum to meet. Reduce it when it crowds out sleep, play or schoolwork. Test subjects and dates vary, including newer school-specific arrangements.

How far away is the 11+ when your child is in Year 4?

The gap depends on the month of Year 4 and the school’s entry cycle. For a test in September of Year 6, the interval is two years from the start of Year 4, about 15 months from its June times-tables check and about 14 months from its July end.

Medway’s published 2026 example placed testing in September of Year 6, with registration in May and June of Year 5. Buckinghamshire’s 2026 cycle also registered candidates before its September test. These are examples rather than a rule for every school. Gloucestershire has announced summer Year 5 FSCE testing for 2028 entry, and Trafford is moving to summer Year 5 testing from 2029 entry. Check the school’s current admissions policy and familiarisation guide.

Write down three separate dates: test registration, the test itself and the school application deadline. Establish the entry year first. Do not calculate a deadline from a fixed number of months remaining in Year 4.

Use the time available to build reading, number fluency, vocabulary and concentration, while checking what the target school will test. Our year-by-year guide to when to start 11+ preparation helps organise those learning decisions.

The widget below shows an illustrative school-year calendar from a date of birth. It does not establish the registration or test deadline for an individual selective school.

What should "starting in Year 4" actually mean?

Begin with a learning need rather than a fixed amount of test practice. Reading together, discussing vocabulary and practising a number fact can be useful without recreating exam conditions.

Notice what councils themselves say. Buckinghamshire's advice to parents is behavioural rather than academic: make sure your child has experience of working quietly on their own, with no distractions or interruptions. It points families to a free familiarisation booklet and to free materials from the test provider, and notes that even its own practice test is recommended but not compulsory. Use that familiarisation advice alongside the actual test timetable and your child’s schoolwork.

Possible Year 4 priorities are:

• Do: build a daily reading habit that survives busy weeks, secure times tables to automatic recall, widen vocabulary through reading and discussion, and let your child sit quietly with one task for a stretch.
• Do: give brief, cheerful exposure to reasoning question types late in the year, so they are not novel in Year 5.
• Do not: run timed full-length papers, add repeated full papers or tutoring without identifying a learning need and checking the target school’s timetable.
• Do not: measure progress in percentages of papers. A percentage alone does not explain which method needs attention or predict an admissions result.

What does the national curriculum already expect of a Year 4 child?

The national curriculum provides a reference for school learning. Maintained schools in England must teach it; check what your child’s school has introduced.

In maths, the Year 4 programme of study requires pupils to recall multiplication and division facts for multiplication tables up to 12 x 12. It also expects counting in multiples of 6, 7, 9, 25 and 1,000, recognising the place value of each digit in a four-digit number, rounding any number to the nearest 10, 100 or 1,000, and reading Roman numerals to 100 (I to C). Year 5 then steps up sharply: reading, writing, ordering and comparing numbers to at least 1,000,000, rounding to the nearest 100,000, and Roman numerals to 1,000 (M).

Fluent number facts can reduce the calculation load when learning a new method, but tables recall alone does not establish readiness for Year 5. Look at place value, reasoning and the child’s explanations too.

In English, the lower key stage 2 programme of study asks for listening to and discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books, reading books structured in different ways and for a range of purposes, and using dictionaries to check the meaning of words. Use a range of texts and talk about their meaning alongside any written practice.

Autumn term: how do you know when times tables are secure enough?

The Multiplication Tables Check gives a narrow national measure of recall, not a complete account of maths understanding.

The check is taken by Year 4 pupils in a set window each June. It is 3 practice questions followed by 25 questions, with 6 seconds to answer each and a 3 second pause between them. The short response time places emphasis on fluent recall, though a single check score does not describe all of a child's mathematical understanding.

National results give you a real benchmark. In the 2024/25 Multiplication Tables Check, the average score was 21.0 out of 25, and 37% of eligible pupils scored full marks, up from 34% in 2023/24.

The national check is not part of the 11+, and its score does not predict an admissions result. You can use short recall practice to spot facts that still take effort, while keeping the focus on the curriculum rather than a target score.

The autumn work is therefore small and boring in the best way: five to ten minutes of tables recall on most days, focused only on the facts that are slow, plus reading. Do not practise the tables your child already knows. Choose a few facts that need attention, connect them to known facts and review whether the practice is helping.

Spring term: what does vocabulary work actually look like?

Vocabulary grows through repeated encounters, explanation and use. Start with words from your child’s reading and schoolwork.

The national curriculum spelling appendix provides separate statutory lists for years 3 and 4 and years 5 and 6. Its introduction says both lists can be taught within key stage 2; that does not make the years 3 and 4 list a four-year timetable or prove that mastering it in Year 4 is ahead of schedule. Ask the teacher which spellings and patterns the class is practising.

Alongside spelling practice, you could try these reading and vocabulary activities:

• Keep two books running: one your child reads alone, one you read aloud together that is above their independent level. Pause to explain an unfamiliar word and connect it to the passage.
• Keep a dictionary within reach and use it, in line with the curriculum's own instruction to check the meaning of words they have read.
• Collect words rather than test them. A jotter can record a word, its sentence and its meaning in that context.
• Talk about shades of meaning. Why did the author choose reluctant rather than unwilling? That habit later becomes closest-meaning questions in verbal reasoning.

Summer term: when should reasoning appear, and what should you buy?

If the target test includes reasoning, introduce a small relevant example when it suits your child. The provider’s recommendation to familiarise does not prescribe a universal starting term.

GL Assessment says familiarisation is particularly useful for verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning tests because children may not have encountered these types of questions before, and it recommends children familiarise themselves with the multiple-choice layout, the content and examples of question types. It gives away 10 hours of free familiarisation material as downloadable PDFs across six areas.

That is the honest answer to "which workbook should I buy in Year 4?": before you buy anything, use the free material from the organisation that writes the tests, and use your council's own free booklet if you are in a selective area. The amount of material available is not a required practice dose. If you want to understand the question families before you sit down with your child, our non-verbal reasoning guide and verbal reasoning guide walk through the patterns and a solving method for each.

The goal in summer term is recognition, not scores. Twenty minutes a week, untimed, with you sitting alongside talking through why an answer works. If your child finds a whole question type baffling, that is useful information for Year 5, not a crisis in Year 4.

What can you review at the end of Year 4?

If useful, use these prompts for a low-pressure conversation near the end of Year 4. They are an informal checklist, not a validated assessment or a prediction of 11+ performance.

1. Tables. Which multiplication facts up to 12 x 12 come quickly, and which need more practice?
2. Division facts. Can your child connect division facts to the multiplication tables they know?
3. Four-digit place value. Can your child explain the value of each digit in a four-digit number?
4. Rounding. Can your child round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000?
5. Spellings. Which words from the years 3 and 4 spelling list need another look?
6. Reading. What kind of book does your child enjoy reading independently?
7. Comprehension. Can your child describe what a character wanted and point to a clue in the text?
8. Vocabulary. Can your child use the sentence around an unfamiliar word to discuss its meaning?
9. Focus. What length of quiet task currently feels comfortable?
10. Reasoning exposure. Has your child seen the kinds of reasoning questions their target school describes?

Use the answers to choose one or two manageable next steps with your child and, where useful, their teacher. There is no official score band for this checklist, and it cannot show whether a child is on track to pass a selective test.

Keep the workload manageable

There is no universal weekly allowance that fits every child. If a routine helps, start small and review it:

• Treat any weekly amount as a suggestion, not a target. Keep sessions short and adjust them to your child's needs.
• Choose a short activity on a skill that needs practice, such as a few number facts or words from a book. There is no need to cover every activity each week.
• Include reading in the overall workload when it takes effort; keep space for reading for pleasure.
• Use relevant untimed examples while teaching a new method. Introduce format and timing rehearsal according to the actual test date and your child’s needs.
• Leave room for rest, play and schoolwork; reduce or stop extra practice if it is causing stress.

Review whether the extra practice is useful and comfortable for your child. More time is not automatically better preparation.

Watch for the warning signs: reluctance to start something they used to enjoy, tears over easy questions, sudden reluctance to read for pleasure, physical complaints on practice days, or asking whether they will still be liked if they do not pass. Any one of those means the schedule comes down immediately, not next term.

How are selective tests actually scored, and what does that change?

Subject weightings are another reason to check the local test rather than assume every assessment gives subjects equal weight.

In Buckinghamshire, the Secondary Transfer Test is produced by GL Assessment, measures verbal, non-verbal and mathematical skills, and comprises two test papers of about 60 minutes each with a break between. The score itself is made up of 50% verbal, 25% mathematical and 25% non-verbal standardised scores, with standardised scores running from 60 to 170.

For a Year 4 parent, this is one example of why test specifications matter: in Buckinghamshire verbal skills have the largest weighting. The council says scores are age-standardised, so children's ages are taken into account. Other areas use different structures and scoring rules.

On thresholds: Buckinghamshire's qualifying score is 121 or above, and the council expects about 37% of children to reach it. Scoring above 121 does not give higher priority for a place. Weightings, thresholds and paper structures differ substantially between areas, so check your own authority (our guide to grammar schools by area is a starting point) rather than assuming Buckinghamshire's model applies where you live.

Frequently asked questions

How should I prepare for the 11+ in Year 4?

Build capacity, not exam technique. Regular reading, practice recalling tables up to 12 x 12, steady vocabulary growth from books, and opportunities to focus quietly can all help. Add light, untimed reasoning familiarisation if it matches the target school's test. Keep any extra work manageable and adjust it to your child.

Is 70% enough to pass the 11+?

Raw percentages usually are not how selective tests are decided. Marks are typically converted into age-standardised scores and compared against a qualifying threshold or a ranked list. Buckinghamshire, for example, uses a qualifying score of 121 and expects roughly 37% of children to reach it. So a 70% raw score could sit either side of a threshold depending on the paper's difficulty, the cohort and your child's age. Ask your local authority what its threshold is and how it is calculated.

Is Year 4 an important year?

Yes, but not for the reason the workbook adverts suggest. Year 4 is the year the national curriculum expects full recall of tables up to 12 x 12, and the year before the sharp step up to numbers beyond a million in Year 5. Use schoolwork to decide which skills need attention; a full test paper is not required to practise a number fact.

Is the 11+ harder than SATs?

They serve different purposes and have different formats. Key stage 2 tests assess curriculum attainment; a selective entrance test supports a particular admissions process. Some selective tests include reasoning or unfamiliar formats, but subjects, timings and what children have studied vary. Compare the current official samples rather than assume one test is always harder.

What should the Year 4 to Year 5 handover look like?

Over the summer between Year 4 and Year 5, confirm which test your area uses, when registration opens and what the school expects. Dates change by entry year. Use the checklist above to choose manageable next steps, then follow the sequence in our year by year plan for preparing for the 11+. Introduce practice papers when they suit the child's needs and target school's published arrangements.

Check the entry year and official dates first: some routes now test in Year 5. Use Year 4 schoolwork, reading and short explanations to choose manageable practice, while leaving time for rest and play.