Reading School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About Reading School

Reading School is a selective state grammar school for boys aged 11 to 18, in Reading, Berkshire, offering both day and weekly boarding places. The school admits around 150 pupils into Year 7 each year: 138 day places and 12 boarding places.

Entry into Year 7 is by competitive entrance test. Reading School tests earlier in the year than most FSCE schools: the main sitting falls in the summer term of Year 5, several months before your son moves up into Year 6, rather than in the autumn of Year 6 itself.

Reading School is also the only school on our site where FSCE has a direct link to the school itself, which is worth knowing before you register. We explain this in Admissions below.

Key information for 2027 entry to Reading School at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: boys’ grammar school, day and boarding
• Test provider: FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise)
• Registration window: 27 March – 17 May 2026
• Exam date: Thursday 16 July 2026 (SEN candidates: Wednesday 15 July 2026; out-of-catchment day applicants: Friday 25 September 2026)
• Results date: mid-October 2026
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027
• Year 7 places available: 150 (138 day, 12 boarding)
• Contact details: www.reading-school.co.uk

Admissions information for 2027 entry to Reading School at 11 Plus (11+)

Reading School uses the FSCE Entrance Test, written by Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE). FSCE is a company established in 2022 which is itself a trading company of Reading School, so in this case the link is closer than “a grammar school writing tests for grammar schools” in the abstract: FSCE’s registered office is on Erleigh Road in Reading, the same address as the school itself.

The school’s stated reason for using an in-house test is that it covers only the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum taught up to the end of Year 5, which is intended to reduce the advantage held by tutored children.

For admission into Year 7 at Reading School in 2027, you must first register your son for the FSCE test through the school’s admissions pages. The main test takes place on Thursday 16 July 2026, earlier in the year than most other FSCE schools. There is a separate sitting for SEN candidates on Wednesday 15 July 2026, and a further sitting on Friday 25 September 2026 for out-of-catchment day applicants who were not tested in the main round. Results are released to parents in mid-October 2026.

You must then name Reading School on your local authority’s Common Application Form (CAF) by its national deadline of 31 October 2026. Registering with the school for the test is not the same as applying for a school place, and both steps are required.

There is no fixed pass mark at Reading School. The school states that the “eligible score” required varies from year to year, and candidates need to be of the required standard in each element of the test.

If more boys reach the required standard than there are places available in a category, the school’s oversubscription criteria, which include catchment area, named feeder primary schools and priority postcodes, are applied. These are set out in full in the admissions policy on the school’s website.

For an overview of how the wider FSCE test works, including the Adventure, Beacon, Compass and Discovery papers, see our full FSCE 11+ guide.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exams at Reading School?

Registration for 2027 entry opens on 27 March 2026 and closes on 17 May 2026. You register directly with the school through the admissions section of the Reading School website.

Make sure you check the school website for the current registration window and admission policy, as dates can change from year to year. If you are planning ahead for a younger child, use this page as a guide to the format and timing, and check the school’s website nearer the time for that cycle’s exact dates.

The application process is:

• Register your son for the FSCE test via the Reading School website
• Sit the entrance test in the summer term of Year 5 (main sitting Thursday 16 July 2026, with separate SEN and out-of-catchment dates)
• Receive the test results in mid-October 2026
• Complete your local authority’s Common Application Form (CAF), naming Reading School, by 31 October 2026
• Receive your offer on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for Reading School?

Boys sit four standardised papers: two multiple-choice, one short-written-answer and one creative writing paper. Reading School is one of only a handful of FSCE “wide curriculum” schools, so questions can be drawn from any Key Stage 2 subject taught up to the end of Year 5, not just English and maths.

The four papers are:

• Adventure Paper – multiple choice, drawing on any KS2 subject. Answers are marked by shading ovals on a separate answer sheet, which is then marked by computer.
• Beacon Paper – short written answers, drawing on any KS2 subject, written into boxes on a separate answer sheet, one digit or one capital letter per box.
• Compass Paper – a second multiple-choice paper, again drawing on any KS2 subject.
• Discovery Paper – a longer handwritten creative writing task, in response to a prompt. Only the answer sheet is marked.

Subjects that may appear across the wide-curriculum papers include English, maths, science, geography, history, art and design, computing, design and technology, languages, music and PE. There is nothing to memorise beyond the Year 5 programme of study: FSCE tests whether a child can apply what they already know to material set in an unfamiliar context, and background information needed to answer is usually given within the question itself.

A rough guide to the English and maths topics covered:

• Maths – arithmetic, fractions, decimals and percentages, measurement and unit conversions, geometry, statistics and handling data, word questions
• English – reading comprehension, inference, vocabulary in context, spelling, punctuation and grammar

There is no verbal reasoning and no non-verbal reasoning at Reading School.

It is important to note that the way an FSCE test is run differs from most other 11+ exams:

• Instructions are played from a voice recording rather than read out by an invigilator. The recording says when to open the booklet, which page to turn to, and how long each section lasts.
• Answers go on a separate answer sheet. Nothing written in the question booklet is marked.
• Boys must write in black biro or ballpoint pen. Frixion pens are allowed, but pencils are not.
• Rulers, protractors, dictionaries, calculators, scrap paper, stopwatches, phones and smart watches are not permitted.
• Multiple-choice ovals must be fully shaded. A line or a tick through an oval will not be read correctly.
• No marks are deducted for a wrong answer.
• Spare time at the end of a section can only be spent on that section. Once a section is closed, your son cannot return to it.

The multiple-choice and short-answer papers are marked using optical mark recognition, with people checking any answers the scanner finds unclear, and scores are then age-standardised.

Reading School 11 Plus (11+) top tips for your child

• Be confident across the whole KS2 syllabus up to the end of Year 5, not only English and maths. If a topic feels unfamiliar, don’t panic: much of what you need will be explained within the question itself.
• Read as much as possible in the run-up to the exam. This builds your vocabulary and gives you practice at reading and understanding texts quickly, which helps in the English sections.
• Listen to the recorded instructions carefully! Do not turn over any pages or start a new section before you are told to.
• Check your answer sheet as you go. Make sure the number on the answer sheet matches the number of the question you are answering in the booklet.
• Practise in black pen. If you are used to working in pencil, do a few papers in biro so that writing without an eraser is not new on the day.
• Shade the ovals fully. A line or a tick through an oval will not be read properly by the computer.
• Don’t leave any blanks! No marks are taken away for a wrong answer, so it is always worth putting something down.
• For the Discovery paper, spend a minute or two planning what you want to say before you start writing. Only your answer sheet is marked, so make sure your best version ends up there.
• Pay attention to the time! Move on if you are stuck, and come back to the question later if there is time left in that section.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) Reading School exam

Start with the official FSCE Familiarisation Guides, which Reading School publishes free on its admissions pages in separate versions for children and for parents, alongside an FSCE FAQ. These contain sample questions and sample answer sheets, and are a useful first look at the layout your son will meet on the day.

Beyond that, the most useful way to prepare is to use practice tests to familiarise your son with the exam format across all four papers. This gives him practice at working to a clock, transferring answers to a separate answer sheet, and moving between multiple-choice, short written and creative writing tasks, so that the format itself holds no surprises on the day.

Because Reading School sets two multiple-choice papers (Adventure and Compass), a short-written-answer paper (Beacon) and a creative writing paper (Discovery), practice in all of these formats is worthwhile, alongside wide reading to build the vocabulary and general knowledge the wider-curriculum papers can draw on. We would not recommend buying verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning material for this school, as none of it appears in the test.

For Reading School 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: