The Complete 11+ Preparation Guide for 2027 Entry
· 13 min read
Everything you need to know about preparing your child for the 11+ exam in 2027 — timelines, subjects, exam boards, and a month-by-month study plan.
Choose your target schools before you choose your materials
Effective 11+ preparation starts not with practice papers but with a clear picture of which schools your child will sit for. A grammar-school test alone is a different preparation plan from a grammar plus an independent school. A super-selective is a different plan again. Spend a weekend in Year 4 or early Year 5 visiting open events at your shortlisted schools, reading their admissions pages, and confirming the exam board(s) they use. Three things to settle before you commit to materials: which exam board the test uses (GL Assessment, CEM-style, CSSE or a school-set paper); whether the school is catchment-based or super-selective; and what subjects the test actually covers. Our 11+ by region index walks through each major region's setup. With those answers in hand, the right preparation plan is much clearer — and the wrong materials are obvious to avoid. Parents who skip this step often end up drilling content their child will never be tested on, or under-preparing for the format that actually decides the outcome.
When should you start preparing?
Most education experts recommend beginning structured 11+ preparation in Year 4 (ages 8-9), giving your child approximately 18 months before the exam in September of Year 6. Starting too early risks burnout; starting too late leaves insufficient time to cover all four subjects and build exam technique. The ideal approach is to build strong foundations in Years 3-4 through regular reading and Maths practice, then introduce 11+-specific content (verbal and non-verbal reasoning) from the start of Year 4. By Year 5, your child should be doing structured practice four to five times per week, building toward timed mock exams in the summer term. Late starts in Year 5 or even early Year 6 still produce strong outcomes when the preparation is focused and consistent — the trade-off is that broad-and-shallow practice becomes a luxury you can no longer afford, and ruthless prioritisation matters more. Our dedicated guide on when to start 11+ preparation walks through each scenario, including super-selective targets and summer-born children.
What subjects are actually tested?
The 11+ typically covers four subject areas: Mathematics, English, Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR). Maths and English build on the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum but test at the upper end of expected ability, often a year or more above standard Year 5 depth. Verbal Reasoning tests logic, vocabulary and language manipulation through question types like analogies, code-breaking and shuffled sentences — these are not taught in school and require dedicated practice. Non-Verbal Reasoning tests spatial awareness and pattern recognition through shape sequences, matrices and reflection problems. Critically, the four-subject default does not apply everywhere. The CSSE test used by Essex grammar schools covers only English and Mathematics. The school-set Tiffin tests in Kingston upon Thames also cover English and Maths only, with no reasoning papers. Conversely, Sutton's super-selectives test four subjects at Stage 1 and add a written Stage 2 for the top scorers. Confirm what your target schools actually test before committing to a four-subject preparation plan — wasted preparation is the most common avoidable mistake.
Understanding the exam boards: GL vs CEM vs CSSE
Three main exam providers set 11+ papers across England. GL Assessment is by far the most common, used in Kent, Buckinghamshire, Birmingham, the West Midlands Grammar Schools consortium and many other regions. GL papers have predictable question formats that respond well to structured practice — an advantage over less predictable formats. CEM (Durham University) was designed to be harder to prepare for, with less predictable formats; many former CEM schools have switched to GL since CEM withdrew from paper-based testing in 2023, but 'CEM-style' practice materials remain useful for some consortia. CSSE serves Essex grammar schools with a distinctive format: English and Maths only, no reasoning papers, with open-answer working and a creative writing component. Knowing your exam board is essential because it determines what to practise, how to practise, and what question formats to expect — see our 11+ exam boards strategy guide for the full board-by-board strategy and our GL vs CEM 2027 explainer for the recent format changes.
How much preparation is enough?
There is no single correct number of hours, but a sustainable rhythm matters more than total volume. As a working baseline, most Year 5 families settle on 3-5 hours of focused 11+ practice per week — typically 20-30 minute daily sessions plus one longer weekend session — rising to 5-7 hours per week by the spring of Year 5 and 6-8 hours per week in the final few months. A child doing four 20-minute focused sessions plus one weekend hour consistently for 18 months outperforms one doing eight hours one week and nothing the next. Consistency, not intensity, is the win. Practice sessions should be focused — quiet space, no phones, one subject or one paper at a time. Short and engaged beats long and distracted, every time. For a full weekly template that fits 11+ around school, sleep and family time, see our 11+ revision timetable.
Month-by-month plan: Year 4 through to test day
September to December of Year 4: introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types in short, untimed sessions. Build vocabulary through wide daily reading. 15-20 minutes daily. January to April of Year 4: build fluency with all question types; start short timed practice on familiar topics. 20 minutes daily. May to August (Year 4-5 summer): increase to 25-30 minutes daily; cover all topic areas; begin mixed-topic practice. September to December of Year 5: shift toward exam technique; start full timed practice papers; identify and target weak areas via an errors log. 30 minutes daily plus a weekly longer session. January to April of Year 5: intensive practice; weekly mock or full paper; maintain confidence rather than chasing volume. May to July of Year 5: taper practice slightly; focus on exam-day strategy and confidence; registration typically opens. August to September of Year 6: final mock exams, light revision only, and a deliberate taper in the week before the test. The exam itself is typically in early-to-mid September of Year 6, with results released in mid-to-late October — see our 11+ results day guide for what happens between October results and 1 March National Offer Day.
What if my child is starting late?
Many families start later than ideal — typically partway through Year 5 — and outcomes are often still good when the plan is focused. Three rules apply for late starts. First, narrow the scope aggressively: drop subjects that are not tested at your target schools, and focus on the highest-value question types in the subjects that remain. Second, accept that mock-paper scores will start low: a child new to GL formats often scores 40-50% on their first mock, and that number can climb 15-25 percentage points over a few months of focused practice. Third, prioritise quality of practice over quantity: a child doing 30 focused minutes a day for six months outperforms one doing 90 distracted minutes a day for the same period. Late starts are not the right time to try to do everything; they are the time to find the few highest-leverage activities and protect time for them. Super-selectives like Sutton's or Reading's two-stage tests are the hardest to catch up on at a late start — be honest about the gap before committing the family to an unrealistic target.
How GrammarPrep fits in
GrammarPrep is an AI-adaptive 11+ platform built around the messy reality of family preparation — variable time, mixed motivation, and weeks where school work crowds out everything else. The free diagnostic identifies your child's strengths and weaknesses across all four subjects in 15 minutes, and the adaptive engine then adjusts question difficulty in real time so practice always sits at the productive challenge level rather than too easy or too frustrating. Parents get a clear readiness score and weekly progress reports, replacing the guesswork of 'is my child on track?' with evidence. The platform configures itself for the exam board your child will sit, so a Kent family practises GL formats and an Essex family practises CSSE formats — no wasted material. Start with the free diagnostic at grammarprep.uk/onboarding; no account required to see your child's starting picture across the four subjects.