The CSSE Selective Test
Most selective places in Essex are filled through one test, run by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE). CSSE was formed in 1993 as a voluntary association and writes its own papers rather than buying them from GL Assessment. Preparation built around a GL-style multiple-choice test does not map onto it cleanly.
Ten schools use the CSSE test for September 2027 entry:
Colchester County High School for Girls (girls' grammar)
Colchester Royal Grammar School (boys' grammar)
King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford (boys' grammar)
Shoeburyness High School (mixed comprehensive)
Southend High School for Boys (boys' grammar)
Southend High School for Girls (girls' grammar)
St Bernard's High School, Westcliff (girls, Roman Catholic bi-lateral)
St Thomas More High School for Boys, Westcliff (Roman Catholic bi-lateral)
Westcliff High School for Boys (boys' grammar)
Westcliff High School for Girls (girls' grammar)
Seven are grammar schools where the whole intake is selective. The CSSE guide designates Shoeburyness as a mixed comprehensive and the two Catholic schools as bi-lateral, and lists a much smaller admission number for each: 28 at Shoeburyness, 30 at St Bernard's and 30 at St Thomas More. One test covers all ten, so a child sits it once however many CSSE schools you name.
Registering for the test is not an application. You apply by naming the schools on your home local authority's common application form. Essex and Southend-on-Sea are separate admissions authorities, and the Southend and Westcliff schools sit with Southend even though they use the CSSE test.
The Essex grammar that is not in CSSE
Chelmsford County High School for Girls is not a CSSE member and runs its own entrance test, set by Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE). For 2027 entry it was held on Thursday 3 September 2026, with registration open from 13 April to 3 June 2026. A girl applying to both CCHS and a CSSE school sits two separate tests within a fortnight. CCHS states that the FSCE test "does not require specialist tutoring, and no specific preparation is necessary."
Dates for 2027 entry
Registration opened 12 May 2026 and closed 19 June 2026
Test on Saturday 19 September 2026, with a Tuesday 29 September sitting for religious observance, illness or other exceptional circumstances
Results emailed 12 October 2026
Local authority application deadline 31 October 2026
National offer day 1 March 2027
Registration for 2027 entry has closed. Families working towards 2028 entry should expect a similar pattern and watch the CSSE site from spring.
Paper format
Two papers, both sat on the same day.
English. Sixty minutes, plus ten minutes of extra reading time. The most recently published paper, for 2023 entry, has three sections: a comprehension worth 35 marks with a suggested 30 minutes, an applied reasoning section worth 5 marks with a suggested 10 minutes, and a continuous writing section worth 20 marks with a suggested 20 minutes. The writing questions come in a separate booklet and can be tackled at any point in the hour. Answers are written into the booklet, though the comprehension mixes written answers with tick-box questions where only a stated number of boxes may be ticked.
Mathematics. Sixty minutes, 60 marks in the 2023 paper, one mark for each correct answer, spread across around twenty numbered questions and their parts. Working is done on the white space around each question and answers are written in. Calculators, calculator watches, dictionaries and highlighter pens are not allowed.
Each paper is standardised and weighted so that it is worth 50% of the marks. CSSE also analyses results by date of birth to decide whether a statistical age adjustment is applied.
CSSE publishes past papers and mark schemes free on its site, the most recent being the 2023 entry set. Commercially sold practice material is at a similar level but, in CSSE's own words, is "not of the same format as the 11+ papers."
The continuous writing section
Parents moving from a multiple-choice 11+ region often hear that Essex has a creative writing paper. It is smaller than its reputation. In the 2023 entry paper the section carried 20 marks and a suggested 20 minutes, with two questions that both had to be answered. Each asked for at least six sentences on a given prompt, and the paper stated that correct spelling, punctuation and grammar carry marks.
Twenty marks out of the 60 available in English works out at roughly a sixth of the overall score, since English is half the total. It is worth practising, because writing accurately to a short time limit is a distinct skill, but it is not where most of the marks sit.
CSSE publishes a sample mark scheme for continuous writing. It bands work on ideas, on vocabulary and spelling, on grammar, on structure, and on punctuation.
Scores
CSSE publishes one hard floor: offers are not made to any child scoring under a total standardised score of 303. That is a minimum, not a pass mark. Actual cut-offs differ by school and are only known after national offer day. CSSE publishes a guidance sheet of historical scores alongside results in October, and says plainly that past scores guarantee nothing.
Treat pass marks quoted on forums with caution. Cut-offs move year to year and school to school.
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A tutor who knows the CSSE test should be able to:
Work from the CSSE past papers rather than generic 11+ workbooks
Explain how the three English sections divide the time and the marks
Practise short pieces of writing to a tight limit rather than long stories
Say which of the ten schools a family is realistically targeting, and whether Chelmsford County High and its separate FSCE test is also in scope
Generic 11+ material aimed at GL multiple-choice regions is a poor fit. Answers here are written into the booklet, and the applied reasoning section has no equivalent in a standard verbal reasoning paper.