The Lincolnshire 11+ in plain English
Lincolnshire's grammar admissions run on a consortium model: one shared test, one shared score, used across all 14 of the county's state grammars. The test is supplied by GL Assessment, sat in mid-September of Year 6, and covers English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning, and Non-Verbal Reasoning in standard GL format. Application logistics run through Lincolnshire County Council's admissions service.
Compared to southern grammar regions like Kent or Bucks, Lincolnshire is less coaching-saturated. The county's lower population density means tutoring isn't ubiquitous, qualifying-score thresholds are lower, and most candidates who pass do receive a grammar-school place. That said, the most over-subscribed grammars do have local catchment thresholds that effectively exclude out-of-area applicants.
Paper format
Standard GL Assessment multiple-choice papers across four components, sat over one or two sittings depending on the year. English is comprehension and language conventions, multiple-choice on a separate answer sheet. Maths is KS2 arithmetic, problem-solving, ratio, geometry, and time. Verbal Reasoning uses standard GL types (cloze, antonyms, codes, analogies). Non-Verbal Reasoning covers sequences, rotations, mirror images, and odd-one-out.
The 14 Lincolnshire grammars
Spread geographically across the county. In north Lincolnshire: Caistor Grammar (mixed) and Sir John Nelthorpe (Brigg, mixed). In Lincoln: Lincoln Christ's Hospital (mixed). On the Boston and east-coast side: Boston Grammar (boys), Boston High School for Girls, Skegness Grammar (mixed), and King Edward VI Grammar Louth (mixed). Around Spalding: Spalding Grammar (boys) and Spalding High School (girls). In the Bourne and Sleaford area: Bourne Grammar (mixed), Carre's Grammar Sleaford (boys), Kesteven and Sleaford High (girls), and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar Horncastle (boys).
The Stamford Endowed Schools (Stamford School, Stamford High School, Stamford Junior School) are independent fee-paying and sit outside the state-grammar consortium; they run their own entrance assessments and don't use the Lincolnshire 11+. Each state grammar's catchment differs; distance and local priority matter, and the county's geography means a child in north Lincolnshire is unlikely to commute to a Bourne or Sleaford grammar in practice.
Typical prep arc for Lincolnshire
A practical 12-month prep arc starts with months 1-3 (early Year 5): a diagnostic review of KS2 foundations, covering reading age, times tables, and written maths methods. The Lincolnshire test rewards solid basics; foundation work goes a long way. Months 4-9 cover GL question types one at a time, building pattern recognition for VR and NVR and working through Maths problem-solving and English comprehension. No rush to timed papers yet. Months 10-12 are full timed mocks: familiarisation with the multiple-choice answer sheet format and exam-day pacing.
Many Lincolnshire candidates benefit from once-a-week tutoring with structured home practice. Heavier prep is typically only necessary where you're targeting one of the more competitive grammars (Caistor, Boston, the Spalding pair, Bourne) and need to comfortably exceed the qualifying score for catchment-priority purposes.
Choosing a tutor
A few things worth asking. Whether the tutor has prepped Lincolnshire 11+ candidates in recent years. Whether they're local enough to know which grammars are over-subscribed and which aren't. Whether they offer online tutoring (likely the more practical option given the county's geography). Whether they can describe the GL paper format and the typical question rotation across years.
Lincolnshire has fewer specialist 11+ tutors than the southern grammar regions, but the ones who are local know the test well. Online tutoring also opens up out-of-county tutors who specialise in GL Assessment papers and can prep for Lincolnshire as readily as Kent or Trafford.