What the 11+ actually is
The 11+ is an entrance examination sat at the end of Year 5 or beginning of Year 6 (when your child is 10 or 11) used by:
- State grammar schools — selective entry, free to attend. Most concentrated in Kent, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Sutton, Trafford, Wirral, Lincolnshire, and a handful of other counties.
- Independent (private) senior schools — many use 11+ admissions tests, often in their own format or via the ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6.
There is no single national 11+ paper. Each grammar-school region commissions its own (or buys from one of the test publishers); each independent school may set its own. That's why "11+ prep" is regionally specific — what counts as good prep for Kent looks different from Bucks, Essex, or a Westminster-area independent.
Test types you'll come across
GL Assessment
The most common provider for state-grammar 11+. Separate papers for each subject (Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning), each typically multiple-choice on a separate answer sheet. Predictable format, well-supported by published practice papers from a range of publishers (CGP, Bond, Schofield & Sims, Letts, etc). Used in some form across most state-grammar regions.
CEM (legacy / now GL)
Centre for Evaluation & Monitoring papers were designed in the 2010s to be harder to coach: mixed-question papers with rotating question types and tighter time limits. CEM was acquired by GL Assessment in 2021 and the CEM brand has been retired. Former CEM regions have transitioned to GL-style papers, though the exact paper your child sits depends on the year and the specific school consortium — check the named grammar school's admissions page for the current format.
Bespoke regional tests
Some regions don't buy off-the-shelf. Buckinghamshire commissions its own tests via the Buckinghamshire Council. Essex has the CSSE consortium (Chelmsford, Colchester, Southend grammar schools) which sets its own papers. Individual independent schools may also set their own, and some use the ISEB Common Pre-Test as a Year 6 sift.
What's typically tested
Across all formats, the 11+ tests four core areas in some combination:
- Maths — KS2-level arithmetic, problem-solving, basic algebra, ratio & proportion, geometry, time and money. Past KS2 SATs questions are useful warm-up but 11+ tends to be harder per question.
- English — comprehension (fiction and non-fiction), vocabulary in context, grammar and punctuation, often a creative writing task in independent-school papers.
- Verbal Reasoning — language-based puzzle types: word codes, antonyms, analogies, rearranging letters. Mostly absent from KS2 schoolwork, so unfamiliarity is the main hurdle.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning — pattern recognition, spatial puzzles, rotations, sequences. Like VR, mostly novel to most Year 5 students.
How a tutor helps
Good 11+ tutoring isn't about cramming hundreds of papers. It's about three things:
- Filling gaps in the foundations. A child can't do well on 11+ Maths if KS2 multiplication tables aren't fluent. The first few sessions usually diagnose what's solid and what isn't, then patch.
- Familiarising with paper format. Most of the difficulty for an academically-strong child is the paper itself: speed, multiple-choice answer sheets, the unfamiliar VR / NVR question types. A tutor who knows your specific region's papers saves dozens of hours of guesswork.
- Managing exam-day nerves. The 11+ is most children's first high-stakes exam. Practice with timed papers under exam-like conditions — even just a few of them — helps far more than another textbook.
Choosing the right tutor
Things to ask in your first message to a tutor:
- Which 11+ papers have they prepared students for in the last two years (specific regions or schools)?
- Do they teach all four subjects (Maths / English / VR / NVR), or do they specialise?
- How do they structure prep over 12 months — what would weeks 1, 6, 12 typically look like?
- What practice-paper resources do they use?
- How do they handle children who struggle with timing under exam conditions?
A tutor who answers concretely — naming regions, papers, resources — is usually a better bet than one with generic answers. Use the on-platform messaging to chat before you commit to anything; it's free, and unlocking contact details only matters once you're sure.