How to use the summer holidays for 11 Plus (11+) preparation

The right daily amount

The target is the one that runs through all our advice: by the middle of the summer, roughly one practice test a day, with one full day off a week. Add the marking session afterwards, ten minutes of vocabulary and some reading, and the total is around two hours of focused work a day, which leaves most of each day free.

Do the work in the morning. Almost every child concentrates better before the day has properly started, and once the session is done, the rest of the day is free of it.

A six-week plan

• Week 1: ease back in. Reading, vocabulary, ten minutes of mental arithmetic, and one short paper late in the week to see the starting point. The first day of the holiday is no time for a full timed test.
• Week 2: a paper every other day, sat at a table, against a clock, marked together the same day. Swap subjects each time.
• Weeks 3 to 5: climb to a paper a day. Keep rotating subjects and marking the same day, and spend the short sessions in between on whatever the marking keeps flagging. The weekly day off stays, and these are the weeks it’s most tempting to drop it.
• Week 6: come back down. A paper every other day, the routine intact, no unfamiliar material. If your child’s exam is in early September, this week’s job is making sure they walk in rested.

If the plan slips, protect the marking first. An unmarked paper teaches very little, and at a paper a day a backlog builds in no time.

Top tips

• Give the work the same slot every day; a standing time means no daily negotiation.
• Count reading as work. Twenty minutes in a demanding novel builds comprehension and vocabulary as a paper does, and it doesn’t need to happen at a desk.
• Book any mock exams before the holiday starts; places go early.
• If you’re away, stop completely for the week. The break costs less than working through it would.
• Note each paper in one line: date, score, what went wrong. It takes ten seconds, and you’ll be glad of it by week five.
• Open each day with a subject your child will sit down for, rather than the one they find hardest.

What not to do

• Don’t run at full pace for six straight weeks. The climb and the taper are what make the daily papers possible; scores fall once a child is sick of the sight of the format.
• Don’t let the marking pile up. A paper is worth most in the day or two after it’s sat, before the thinking behind the answers fades.
• Don’t teach new topics in the final week if the exam is imminent. New material that close to the day shakes confidence just when it should be settling.
• Don’t swap workload notes with other parents. Other parents’ numbers are rarely accurate.

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