What is on the 11 plus (11+) English exam?

Reading comprehension

Comprehension appears in almost every 11+ English paper. Your child reads an unseen passage, usually fiction, non-fiction or poetry, often taken from a book pitched above what they’d normally meet in Year 6, and answers questions on it.

Literal recall is only the start. Your child also needs to infer meaning that isn’t stated directly, explain the effect of a writer’s word choices, and work out unfamiliar vocabulary from context. Passages typically run to one or two sides of A4, though this varies by school.

Most GL-style papers set comprehension as multiple choice. School-set tests can differ: Henrietta Barnett’s first-round English paper is comprehension only, with no separate spelling and grammar section at all, while Essex and Southend’s CSSE exam mixes multiple choice with written answers and marks spelling, punctuation and grammar within those answers rather than in a section of their own.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar

Where a paper tests this separately, two question styles do most of the work: spot the mistake, where your child finds the error in a sentence, and complete the sentence, where they choose the missing word or punctuation mark. A typical GL-style section blends the two.

Some papers handle it differently. CSSE marks spelling, punctuation and grammar inside written answers, so a correct answer with clumsy punctuation can still lose marks; Henrietta Barnett’s first round leaves it out of the English paper altogether. Find out which arrangement your target school uses before deciding what to practise.

Creative and extended writing

A number of areas and schools set a writing task alongside comprehension. Kent’s second English component is a 40-minute writing task with 10 minutes for planning. It doesn’t count towards the numerical score, but a local headteacher panel can use it at the headteacher assessment stage, so it’s still worth taking seriously. CSSE’s English paper has a continuous-writing section carrying its own marks. The Latymer School’s English paper includes a piece of extended writing, and ISEB’s Common Entrance exam splits English into two equally weighted sections, one reading, one writing.

Where a writing task is set, the marking looks past spelling and grammar: organisation, a clear structure and a consistent idea carried through to the end all count. Prompts vary, and tend to ask for a story, a continuation of a given opening, a description, or a piece of non-fiction writing.

Handwriting counts too. In a written paper it’s part of what the marker sees, and an answer the marker can’t read earns nothing.

Top tips

• Check your target school’s official admissions page for its current English format before buying anything; the mix of comprehension, spelling and grammar, and writing varies widely.
• Find out whether answers are picked from options or written out; the two need different practice.
• If spelling and grammar are marked inside written answers, build the habit of proofreading every answer before moving on; without a dedicated section, those marks are easy to lose.
• Where a writing task is set, practise planning inside the time allowed rather than launching straight into a first draft.
• A school can set its own English paper rather than the area’s; Henrietta Barnett and the Latymer School both do.
• Formats aren’t fixed; confirm what this year’s cohort will sit.

How to prepare

Once you know which components your target school’s paper actually includes, match your practice to it: mixed comprehension for multiple-choice formats, timed writing practice if a writing task is set, and focused punctuation work wherever spelling and grammar carry their own marks. For the week-by-week detail on how much to practise and when, read our guide on how to improve your child’s 11+ comprehension.