Around 100,000 children sit the 11+ each year, competing for places at England's 163 grammar schools and at many selective independent schools. Numbers like that can make preparation feel like an arms race, and there is a whole industry happy to encourage the feeling. It does not need to be this way.
I have been teaching for over eight years, first as a primary classroom teacher and now as a specialist English tutor. The children who walk into the exam calm and ready are rarely the ones who completed the most practice papers. They are the ones whose families started the right things at the right time, in the right order.
This guide covers what the exam involves, when to start 11 plus exam preparation, what the research says about practising effectively and how to protect your child's confidence along the way.
What the 11 Plus Exam Involves
The 11+ is the entrance exam used by grammar schools and many independent schools to select pupils for Year 7. Children sit it at the beginning of Year 6, usually in September, at the age of 10 or 11.
Most tests assess a combination of four subjects:
- English: reading comprehension, vocabulary and grammar, sometimes with a separate writing task
- Maths: the Key Stage 2 curriculum, often including topics your child's class has not reached by September
- Verbal reasoning: word puzzles, letter codes and language logic
- Non-verbal reasoning: sequences, shapes and spatial thinking
Since CEM stopped producing its paper-based tests in 2023, GL Assessment has written the exams for most grammar schools in England. A small number of schools and consortia set their own papers, and many independent schools use the ISEB Common Pre-Tests instead. The subjects, question formats and timings all vary by school, so your first job is simple and free: read the admissions page of every school on your shortlist and note exactly what is tested, with which provider and on what date.
The 11 Plus Timeline: Dates Parents Need to Know
- Spring and summer term of Year 5: registration for grammar school tests opens and, in many areas, closes by June or July
- September of Year 6: most 11+ exams take place
- October of Year 6: results arrive, usually before the application deadline
- 31 October: deadline for the common application form (CAF), where you name your preferred secondary schools through your local authority
- 1 March: National Offer Day
The step that catches families out every year is that registering for the test and applying for a place are two separate processes. Sitting the 11+ does not apply for a school place, and naming a grammar school on your application does not enter your child for the test. Both matter, and the registration deadline comes first by several months. Your local authority's website and GOV.UK set out how the two fit together.
When to Start 11 Plus Exam Preparation
There are two kinds of preparation, and separating them answers most of the "when should we start?" question.
The first is foundations: reading widely, talking about books, secure number facts and writing for pleasure. This can begin in Year 3 or earlier, and it should never look like exam preparation, because it is not. It is the slow growth of the skills the exam measures.
The second is formal preparation: question formats, timing and technique. For most children, around twelve months is right, beginning in the autumn term of Year 5.
The research supports this division of labour. Sullivan and Brown (2015) analysed thousands of children in the British Cohort Study and found that reading for pleasure predicted progress not just in vocabulary and spelling but in maths too, more strongly than their parents' level of education. Bunting and Mooney (2001), studying the 11+ itself, found that a few hours of coaching and familiarisation raised scores by a useful but modest amount. Familiarity with the test helps children show what they know; it cannot replace the years of reading underneath.
In other words, the long runway of books beats the short runway of drilling. If your child is in Year 3 or 4, the most valuable thing you can arrange this week is a library card. My guide to 11+ reading comprehension includes reading lists for Years 3 to 5 if you would like somewhere to start.
How to Practise: Two Findings Worth Knowing
Once formal preparation begins, how your child practises matters as much as how much.
The first finding is about retrieval. Roediger and Karpicke (2006) showed that being tested on material produces much stronger long-term retention than re-reading it, a result replicated many times since. For the 11+, this means recalling beats reviewing: cover the vocabulary list and ask your child to remember the words, rather than reading it through one more time.
The second is about spacing. Cepeda and colleagues (2006) reviewed hundreds of experiments and found that the same amount of practice produces better learning when it is spread out rather than bunched together. Four 25-minute sessions beat one two-hour Sunday marathon, and children resist them far less.
When Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated ten common study techniques, practice testing and distributed practice came out on top. Re-reading and highlighting, the two things children reach for first, came out near the bottom.
Here is what this looks like as a Year 5 routine:
- Every day: 20 to 30 minutes of reading, some of it slightly beyond their comfort zone
- Twice a week: a short English session, comprehension one day and vocabulary or writing the other
- Twice a week: a short maths session on fluency and problem solving
- Once a week: a reasoning session, alternating verbal and non-verbal
- Every six to eight weeks: one practice paper, marked together and used to choose the next focus
That is roughly three hours of formal work each week, plus daily reading, and for most of Year 5 it is enough. In my lessons, a practice paper is a diagnostic tool rather than a workout: intensive timed practice waits until the summer term, when it sharpens technique without months of accumulated pressure.
Where to Focus in Each Subject
English is the slowest subject to build and the hardest to cram, because so much of it rests on vocabulary, and vocabulary grows over years rather than weeks. Comprehension questions demand precise inference, and writing tasks are marked for control as well as imagination. If English is the weak spot, start there: my guides to 11+ vocabulary and 11+ creative writing cover the methods I use with my own students.
In maths, secure the basics before touching anything labelled 11+: times tables to the point of automaticity, confident written methods and steady fraction work. Because the exam takes place in September, ask your child's teacher which Year 6 topics will not have been covered by then and fill those gaps over the summer.
Verbal reasoning looks like a separate subject, but mostly is not. Synonym, antonym and analogy questions are vocabulary questions in disguise, so children who read widely arrive with most of what they need and simply have to learn the question types.
Non-verbal reasoning is the least dependent on schoolwork and responds well to short, frequent puzzle practice. Ten minutes twice a week, learning to name what changes across a sequence (shape, shading, rotation, number), goes a long way.
Mock Exams and Exam Technique
11+ scores are age-standardised: raw marks are adjusted for your child's age in months, so summer-born children are not disadvantaged. What counts as a qualifying score varies by school and by year, which is worth remembering when practice paper percentages start to worry you.
Technique itself is teachable. Most papers are multiple choice with a separate answer sheet, so children should practise transferring answers accurately, using elimination to find the best answer rather than the first acceptable one and moving on when a question will not yield.
Mock exams earn their place in the final months. One or two full mocks, sat under timed conditions in an unfamiliar setting, takes the novelty out of the day itself, so the real exam feels like a repeat rather than a premiere. GL Assessment publishes free familiarisation materials, and I run 11+ mock exams with individual feedback if you would like exam-day conditions with a diagnostic report attached.
Keeping the Pressure Down
Test anxiety deserves more attention than most 11+ guides give it. A 30-year meta-analysis (von der Embse et al., 2018) found that anxiety consistently drags down test performance, with the effect strongest around this age group, and the same research field estimates that between 10 and 30 per cent of students experience high test anxiety. An anxious child can know the material and still underperform, which is why well-being work is exam preparation.
In practice, this means keeping clubs, sport and family time in the diary right through exam season. It means noticing the early signs of overload (trouble sleeping, tears over practice work, dreading sessions they used to enjoy) and scaling back when they appear. It also means having the plan B conversation early: the 11+ is one route among several, plenty of excellent schools do not select by test, and no result will change how you see your child. Children work better when the stakes feel survivable. Your calm is contagious.
Getting Help (and What Help Cannot Do)
Be wary of anyone who promises a pass. No tutor can manufacture ability, and the research above suggests coaching adds a real but bounded amount. What good tuition does is different: it finds the precise gaps, teaches the missing skills explicitly and protects a child's confidence while doing so.
If you want to know where your child stands before deciding anything, start free: my 11+ comprehension quiz gives a breakdown of strengths and gaps, and my free 11+ resources include practice materials you can use at home. If you would like tailored support after that, I offer one-to-one 11+ English tuition and a free 15-minute consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many hours a week should my child prepare for the 11+?
In Year 5, around three hours of formal practice split into short sessions, plus 20 to 30 minutes of daily reading. More than this tends to buy fatigue, not marks.
Is Year 5 too late to start 11 plus preparation?
No. Twelve months of well-structured preparation is the standard runway. Even a later start can work if you begin with a diagnostic and spend the remaining time on the biggest gaps rather than working through books cover to cover.
What score does my child need to pass the 11+?
There is no universal pass mark. Scores are standardised around an average of 100, and each school or region sets its own qualifying threshold, which can shift from year to year with the cohort. Check recent thresholds for your target schools rather than relying on percentages from practice papers.
Can I prepare my child for the 11+ without a tutor?
Yes, and many families do. Daily reading, a spaced routine, free familiarisation papers and honest marking will take you a long way. A tutor is most valuable when you cannot work out why marks are being lost, or when confidence needs rebuilding.
What happens if my child does not pass?
You will usually know the result before the 31 October application deadline, so you can order your school preferences accordingly. Waiting lists move, appeals exist for borderline cases and a child who thrives at a school that suits them will outgrow any single exam result.
Final Thoughts
Good 11 plus exam preparation is not mysterious. Read daily for years, practise little and often for about twelve months, use papers to diagnose rather than drill, rehearse the format once or twice and guard your child's confidence throughout. If you would like help with any part of that, please get in touch. I would love to help.