How many practice papers does your child need for the 11 Plus (11+)?

The build-up, term by term

The schedule we recommend:

• Year 4: a paper every few weeks, to get used to the format. The daily effort at this age should go into reading, vocabulary and quick mental arithmetic, because these take years to build and the exam leans on all three.
• Autumn of Year 5: one paper a week, marked together. This is enough to show which question types are costing marks while there’s still a full school year to do something about it.
• Spring of Year 5: two or three a week, now timed. Working against the clock changes how children answer, so it needs practising in its own right.
• The summer before the exam: build up to roughly one paper a day, alternating subjects. Six or seven weeks with no school timetable is the only stretch of the run-up where this is realistic, and it’s where the most progress gets made.
• The autumn term, for schools that test late: back down to three or four a week. By this point the level is built; the aim is simply to hold it until the exam.

Across the whole run-up that comes to well over a hundred papers for most children. Reached gradually, it’s a routine rather than a burden.

The daily half hour beside the papers

Two daily habits matter as much as the papers themselves, and both should start in Year 4:

• Ten minutes of spelling and vocabulary. Vocabulary decides more comprehension and verbal reasoning marks than anything else, and it grows too slowly to be left to the final months. Our vocabulary guide and spelling guide set out the method.
• Twenty minutes of reading. Whole novels, pitched a little above what your child would pick for themselves. Exam passages are usually drawn from classic fiction, so a child who has read some will recognise the style when it appears in a comprehension. Our 11+ reading list is the place to start.

If a week goes wrong and something has to give, drop the paper rather than the habits: a missed test can be made up at the weekend, whereas reading and vocabulary only build through daily repetition.

Which papers to buy, and when

We publish two kinds of practice paper, and it helps to be clear about the different jobs they do:

• Area and school-specific tests rehearse the real exam: the exact format and timings your child will meet on the day. The final months should be built on these.
• Subject packs teach. If comprehension keeps losing marks, more full tests will mostly confirm it; an English pack is what fixes it. The right response to a weak result is usually a subject pack, then back to the tests.
• Skills packs cover what full papers don’t drill. Creative writing is set by a large number of schools and tends to be left too late, and punctuation costs marks in every written answer. We publish separate packs for both.

The order follows from that: subject and skills packs through Year 5 to build the level, then area and school tests from the summer onwards to rehearse it.

Top tips

• If you’re starting late, there’s no need to panic: begin at the current stage of the schedule rather than trying to fit the earlier stages in too. Two years compressed into one term teaches less and wears everyone out.
• Mark together within a day or two, and keep a one-line log: date, score, the two things that went wrong. A month of entries will tell you what to practise next.
• Alternate subjects rather than sitting a run of papers in the same one.
• Check your school’s format before buying anything; multiple choice and written papers need different practice.
• Whatever else slips in a busy week, keep the reading and the vocabulary going.
• Keep one day a week free of 11+ work, right through to the exam.

How to prepare

One of the most effective ways to prepare for an 11+ entrance exam is to use practice tests written by experts. We publish a full range of 11+ revision resources: area and school-specific practice tests, subject-specific packs, spelling and vocabulary resources, and reading books.

Each of our practice tests:

• is available as a PDF download or in physical format
• familiarises your child with the types of questions they will face in the real exam
• includes answers to every question, with detailed, step-by-step explanations for the maths and reasoning questions
• builds your child’s confidence before the actual exam.

Use the finder below to jump straight to the papers for your child’s school or area.

Find papers for your school or area

Grammar schools and area tests

• Bexley
• Bishop Wordsworth’s
• Buckinghamshire
• CSSE
• Ermysted’s
• Gloucestershire
• Henrietta Barnett
• Kent
• QE Boys
• Redbridge
• Slough Consortium
• St Olave’s
• Sutton
• The Latymer School
• Tiffin School & Tiffin Girls’ School
• Trafford
• West Midlands

Independent schools

• City of London School for Girls
• Hampton
• Latymer Upper
• Merchant Taylors’
• St Paul’s Girls’ School
• St Paul’s Juniors