The 11+ is one of the most misunderstood exams in primary education. Many families start too late, focus on the wrong subjects, or burn their child out with relentless drilling long before the exam arrives. This guide gives you a research-backed, practical framework for 11+ preparation at home — covering the right timeline, a subject-by-subject approach, how to use mock tests effectively, and how to keep the whole process manageable for your child.
What the 11+ Actually Tests
The 11+ is not a single exam — it varies significantly depending on which exam board your target school uses. Before buying a single practice book, check which board your school works with, because this determines which subjects matter most and how they are tested.
Problem-solving with words — analogies, word codes, classifications, sequences. This is the subject most children find least familiar because it is almost never taught in school. It requires specific, targeted preparation.
Pattern recognition and abstract thinking using shapes and symbols. It tests spatial and logical intelligence rather than curriculum knowledge. It is harder to improve through practice than VR, but familiarity with question types meaningfully reduces errors.
Reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, and sometimes creative writing. Closely tied to the school curriculum, but exam technique — answering in full sentences, quoting the text — must be explicitly practised.
Number, fractions, algebra, geometry, and problem-solving. 11+ maths typically sits 12–18 months ahead of the Year 5/6 school curriculum. Speed without a calculator is essential.
GL Assessment (used in Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire and many individual schools) tests all four subjects separately. CEM (used in Buckinghamshire, Birmingham and some others) blends verbal ability, numerical reasoning, and spatial skills without labelling them by subject. ISEB tests English and Maths only. Always check your target school directly before buying preparation materials.
When to Start — and When Not To
Most educational specialists recommend beginning structured preparation 12–18 months before the exam. For most grammar schools, the 11+ is taken in September or October of Year 6, meaning serious preparation should begin in Year 4 or early Year 5. Starting before 18 months is usually counter-productive: children experience burnout well before the exam, and early preparation is forgotten if not regularly maintained.
The most common mistake families make is starting with practice papers immediately, before establishing where their child currently stands. A diagnostic assessment first — covering all four subjects and producing a standardised score — tells you where the real gaps are. This prevents spending months drilling a subject the child has already mastered.
| Timeframe | Focus |
|---|---|
| 18+ months out | Run a baseline diagnostic assessment. Identify your child's standardised score and percentile. Don't buy practice books yet. Read widely every day. |
| 12–18 months out | Gentle familiarisation — one subject at a time. Focus on understanding concepts, not drilling. 20–30 minutes three times a week. |
| 6–12 months out | Structured weekly practice across all four subjects. First timed papers. Review every error together — understanding why matters more than the mark. |
| 3–6 months out | Full mock papers under real exam conditions. Identify remaining weak question types. Targeted revision on specific areas. |
| 6–8 weeks out | Final push on weak areas only. Re-test with a fresh diagnostic to measure progress. Reduce volume, maintain sharpness. |
| Exam week | No new material. Light review, plenty of sleep, confidence-building. Review what your child is good at — not what worries them. |
Subject-by-Subject Preparation
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal reasoning is the most teachable subject in the 11+. There are approximately 21 distinct question types in GL Assessment papers — analogies, codes, hidden words, odd-one-out, number series, and more. Every type is finite and pattern-based. Work through each type separately before mixing them in timed papers. Children who practise mixed papers too early confuse question types, which is one of the most common error patterns in the real exam.
Vocabulary is the hidden foundation. A child who has never encountered the word "amiable" cannot answer a synonym question about it, regardless of how much verbal reasoning technique they have drilled. Wide reading — fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, magazines — is the most effective vocabulary-building strategy. Consider daily "word of the day" discussions and a dedicated vocabulary notebook.
Non-Verbal Reasoning
NVR is the hardest subject to dramatically improve through practice, because it tests spatial and fluid intelligence rather than learned knowledge. However, familiarity with question formats — matrices, series, reflections, rotations, figure types — meaningfully reduces errors caused by confusion about what is being asked. Use visual practice books rather than text-heavy ones. For children who struggle with spatial reasoning, Lego, tangrams, and 3D puzzles are genuinely useful preparation activities.
Timing is critical in NVR: GL Assessment typically allocates around 50 seconds per question. Children who "get stuck" on a hard matrix and spend three minutes on it lose more marks from unanswered questions than from the single wrong answer. Teach your child to mark a difficult question and move on, returning at the end.
English
Wide reading remains the single most effective preparation for 11+ English — more effective than practice papers alone. Children who read broadly across fiction, non-fiction, and journalism develop the vocabulary, comprehension stamina, and implicit grammatical instinct that exam technique cannot fully substitute. Aim for 20–30 minutes of reading every day, across a range of genres.
For comprehension technique, teach your child three principles: answer in complete sentences that include the question; always support with a quote from the text; and read every question before reading the passage, so they know what to look for. Creative writing in the 11+ rewards structure and ambitious vocabulary — practise planning a piece (introduction, three paragraphs, conclusion) before writing it.
Mathematics
11+ maths typically covers content that is 12–18 months ahead of the standard Year 5/6 school curriculum. The key topics to prioritise are: fractions (operations, equivalence, mixed numbers), percentages (of amounts, percentage change), ratio and proportion, basic algebra (solving for x, substitution), area and perimeter (including compound shapes), and data handling (averages, pie charts, probability). Multi-step word problems are consistently the area where children lose most marks.
Speed without a calculator is essential. Practice mental arithmetic every day — not as a formal exercise, but through daily activities like mental calculation of change, doubling and halving prices, or quick percentage estimation. Children who are slow at basic arithmetic run out of time on maths papers even when they know the method.
Building a Sustainable Weekly Routine
The most damaging preparation pattern is unpredictable — intense for a few weeks, then nothing for a month, then intense again. Consistent, modest practice outperforms erratic heavy practice by a significant margin, both for retention and for managing your child's anxiety levels.
A realistic weekly routine in the 6–12 months before the exam looks like this: two 45-minute sessions per week covering individual question types or specific topics, plus one longer session (60–75 minutes) for a partial or full timed paper, followed by a structured review of errors. That is approximately three hours of focused preparation per week — manageable alongside school homework without crowding out childhood.
Rotate subjects rather than drilling one to exhaustion. If your child struggled with verbal reasoning codes last week, this week focus on non-verbal matrix questions — then return to codes next week. Spaced repetition consolidates learning more effectively than massed practice.
How to Use Mock Tests Effectively
Mock exams are only useful if they are treated exactly like the real exam. This means: a quiet room, a proper desk, strict timing with no stopping, and no help during the test. Children who have practised with unlimited time or with a parent sitting next to them are often unprepared for the psychological pressure of the real exam environment.
Start introducing timed mock papers 6 months before the exam. In the final 3 months, aim for one full mock per fortnight. After every mock, review every error together — but focus on understanding the correct method, not on the mark. A child who understands why they got question 14 wrong is more prepared for the exam than one who simply knows the score.
Use percentile, not percentage.A score of 72% correct only tells you what fraction of questions your child answered. It tells you nothing about whether that was a good performance or a poor one relative to other children. Always compare against standardised percentile data — a score of 72% might place your child in the 80th percentile or the 40th percentile depending on the paper's difficulty.
Managing Exam Pressure
Anxiety is one of the biggest performance inhibitors in children sitting the 11+. A child who is well-prepared but highly anxious will consistently underperform in exam conditions compared to a slightly less-prepared child who is relaxed and confident. Managing the emotional side of 11+ preparation is not separate from academic preparation — it is part of it.
Signs of problematic anxiety include sleep disruption, refusing to practise, emotional outbursts after poor mock results, or physical complaints (headaches, stomach aches) on practice days. If these appear, reduce the practice volume immediately and reintroduce a more gradual schedule.
On the day before the exam: no new material, no practice papers. Light activity, a normal evening routine, an early bedtime. Remind your child that their best is enough — and that a grammar school is one pathway, not the only one. Children who sit the 11+ believing their entire future depends on it underperform. Children who sit it relaxed and curious perform at or above their practice level.
The First Step: Get a Baseline Score
Before buying any practice book or engaging a tutor, take a free diagnostic assessment. This tells you exactly where your child currently stands — which subjects are strong, which have gaps, and what their current standardised percentile position is.
Eduentry covers all four 11+ subjects (English, Mathematics, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning) and produces a standardised score on the same scale (mean 100, SD 15) used by GL Assessment. Not sure what a standardised score means? Our guide to standardised scores explains exactly how to read and use your child's results. Retesting every 3–4 months tracks real progress over time.