What is on the 11 plus (11+) verbal reasoning exam?

Word-based question types

These test how well your child understands what words mean, on their own and next to each other:

• Odd one out / odd two out: given a set of words, work out which one (or two) don’t belong with the rest, spotting that ‘whale’ doesn’t belong in a list of fish.
• Shades of meaning: from a set of words, identify the pair closest in meaning, or most opposite, which needs a finer grasp of vocabulary than a simple synonym match.
• Analogies: ‘is to’ questions (night is to dark as day is to light), where your child works out the relationship first and then applies it to a new pair.
• Vocabulary questions: finding synonyms, antonyms and homonyms, or spotting the connection between a set of words.

Puzzle and logic question types

These lean on pattern recognition and logic more than vocabulary, though a wide vocabulary still helps:

• Word puzzles: finding words within words, missing letters, swapped vowels, scrambled words, combining two words into a compound word, hidden words inside a sentence, and moving a letter between two words to make two new ones.
• Logic puzzles: letter logic, number logic, deductions and statement logic, where your child works through a short set of clues or rules to reach a single answer.
• Alphabet and code puzzles: working out a pattern in a run of letters, or cracking a code based on letter or number positions, then applying the same rule to a new word or letter set.

How the format varies by area

Verbal reasoning rarely stands alone. In several GL-style areas, including Buckinghamshire, the Slough consortium and Gloucestershire, it’s paired with English comprehension in a single ‘verbal skills’ paper. Kent tests it in its own booklet alongside non-verbal reasoning. The West Midlands and Trafford both run it inside two all-subjects papers, and in Trafford’s case the comprehension questions sit inside the verbal reasoning section itself rather than forming a section of their own. Gloucestershire and Trafford both move to a different, curriculum-based test from 2028 entry, so check which test applies to your child’s year group.

Not every school tests it: Sutton’s own SET exam and Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet both leave verbal reasoning out entirely. Henrietta Barnett’s first-round paper gives 20 minutes for 34 questions spread across five subtests. Your target school’s official admissions page will say what applies.

Top tips

• Confirm whether your target school tests verbal reasoning at all. Sutton’s SET and Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet don’t.
• Learn the names and instructions for each question type in advance, so exam-day instructions don’t cost time your child doesn’t have.
• If your area folds verbal reasoning into an all-subjects paper, practise switching between question types under time pressure rather than drilling one type at a stretch.
• Where comprehension sits inside the verbal reasoning section, as in Trafford, practise moving between a reading mindset and a puzzle mindset within the same few minutes.
• Note which question types run slow in early practice, and give those their own short sessions.
• Formats and even the subjects tested can change between cohorts, so confirm for your child’s own year.

How to prepare

Once your child knows the question types, the highest-value practice is repetition under realistic time pressure, working through a mix of the types above rather than drilling one at a time. For the week-by-week detail on how much to practise and when, read our guide on how to improve your child’s 11+ verbal reasoning.