11 plus guides for parents
Every guide Pathway Eleven publishes, grouped by what you need next. Start at the beginning if the 11 plus is new to you, jump to your child's year group if it is not, and use the subject guides once you know where the work is. Each one is written or reviewed by a qualified teacher and stamped with the date it was last revised.
- 52separate guides, free to read
- 4subject areas the test samples
- 19West Midlands school pages
Latest
The newest pages in the library, with the date each one went up.
- 11 plus past papers: what actually exists
Why no past paper is published for this test, what the consortium and the schools do publish, and what a good practice paper has to copy.
- GL Assessment and the 11 plus test
Every published description of this paper, quoted separately and reconciled by nobody, plus what free material exists.
- 11 plus mock exams in Birmingham
The five things a mock must replicate, six questions for a centre, and an honest comparison with a timed paper at home.
- 11 plus maths explained
What the maths paper tests, how it is timed and weighted, and the three topic families that cost the most marks.
- 11 plus English explained
Comprehension, spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary, and why the English side is worth twice what maths is worth.
- 11 plus vocabulary: how to build it
A weekly method, the roots worth teaching, reading by year group, and two hundred starter words you can print.
- Is my child on track for the 11 plus?
Year 4 and Year 5 checkpoints term by term, how to tell without a formal test, and what to do if you miss one.
- How much 11 plus practice per day?
A daily amount families actually sustain, what a good session contains, and the four signs it has become too much.
- Does the 11 plus include creative writing?
No writing section in the shared consortium test, in its own published words, and the independent schools that do set one.
- What is a good 11 plus score?
Qualifying score, priority score and the score the last offer went to: three different numbers doing three different jobs.
- Can you retake the 11 plus?
One sitting per child in the consortium's own words, what happens if a child is ill, and the routes that stay open.
- Pathway Eleven or an 11 plus tutor?
Sourced West Midlands tutor rates against one monthly price, what each one gives a child, and why many families use both.
- Pathway Eleven or Bond 11 plus books?
Bond's own published book prices, what a printed workbook does well, and the one thing it cannot do for you.
- Pathway Eleven or Atom Learning?
Atom's published plans and prices read from its own pages, and the six decisions that actually separate the two.
- The Birmingham 11 plus
The eight city grammar schools, the shared test, the registration window and the qualifying score, each figure linked to the page that published it.
- The Walsall 11 plus
Both Queen Mary's schools: the shared test, the closing time, the published place categories, and the council form with its 10pm deadline.
- The Wolverhampton 11 plus
The city's one school in the shared arrangement, the schools next door on the same result, and the two test dates a family has to tell apart.
- The Warwickshire 11 plus
The county's six schools, its own Parent Portal and later closing time, the two test days, and how the score sets priority rather than passing.
- The Shropshire and Telford 11 plus
Newport Girls' High School and Haberdashers' Adams, the Monday the rest of the region does not sit, and which council to apply to.
- West Midlands 11 plus results
When the score arrives, what a standardised age score means, qualifying against ranking, waiting lists, appeals, and how to talk to a child about it.
- Secondary transfer in the West Midlands
The whole Year 6 council year for every family: the application form and its 31 October deadline in eleven areas, how preferences really work, offer day, waiting lists and appeals.
- West Midlands 11 plus results tracker
Every published cut-off, qualifying score, waiting list score and appeal outcome in the region, by school and year, each figure sourced.
- Which grammar schools can my child apply to
Type a postcode and see the nineteen partnership schools in distance order, with each school's catchment rules and published cut-offs.
- A free 11 plus guide for your parents
For a primary school office: a newsletter paragraph and a link line to copy, plus an ungated A4 sheet to print, all of it information rather than coaching.
- How to register for the West Midlands 11 plus
Two portals, two closing times, and the one deadline preparation cannot rescue. What each asks for, and what to re-check every spring.
- West Midlands 11 plus exam dates and deadlines
Every published date for the current cycle: registration, the two test days, results and national offer day, each cell linked to the school or council that published it.
- Birmingham 11 plus standardised scores explained
What the number on the results letter means, why no raw mark can be converted into it, and four years of published cut-off scores school by school.
Getting started
The six that answer the questions coming before any subject.
- What is the 11 plus?
The test explained from scratch, including the bit almost nobody explains: how a standardised score is worked out and why a raw mark tells you very little.
- 11 plus preparation: a guide for parents
The main parents' guide. Timing, routine, the four skill areas, and how to build a week that a ten-year-old will actually keep to.
- 11 plus grammar school test
How selective state schools admit at eleven: who sets the paper where you live, what it samples, and the deadlines that sit either side of it.
- 11 plus tutor or an online course?
An honest comparison of what each one is good at, what each one costs, and the case for using both.
- 11 plus preparation without a tutor
What a parent can genuinely do alone, what is genuinely hard alone, and the honest trade between money and hours.
- The 11 plus glossary
Standardised score, qualifying score, superselective, CAF, consortium. Every term defined, each one linkable.
- Is my child on track for the 11 plus?
Year 4 and Year 5 checkpoints term by term, how to tell without a formal test, and what to do if you miss one.
- How much 11 plus practice per day?
A daily amount families actually sustain, what a good session contains, and the four signs it has become too much.
- Does the 11 plus include creative writing?
No writing section in the shared consortium test, in its own published words, and the independent schools that do set one.
- What is a good 11 plus score?
Qualifying score, priority score and the score the last offer went to: three different numbers doing three different jobs.
- Can you retake the 11 plus?
One sitting per child in the consortium's own words, what happens if a child is ill, and the routes that stay open.
By year group
The same test, a different job in each year, plus the planner that maps one out.
- 11 plus preparation in Year 3
Reading, number facts and curiosity, in short daily pieces. The normal place to begin, and the easiest, because the work can stay gentle.
- 11 plus preparation in Year 4
The year to meet every question type without pace or pressure, so that nothing in Year 5 comes as a surprise.
- 11 plus preparation in Year 5
A term-by-term plan for the decisive year: content first, then timing, and the registration window in the summer term.
- The free Year 5 term planner
The Year 5 plan as a printable sheet with a weekly rhythm table for each term, blank for you to fill in.
Subjects
One guide for each of the four areas an 11 plus paper samples.
- 11 plus maths explained
What the maths paper tests, how it is timed and weighted, and the three topic families that cost the most marks.
- 11 plus English explained
Comprehension, spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary, and why the English side is worth twice what maths is worth.
- 11 plus vocabulary: how to build it
A weekly method, the roots worth teaching, reading by year group, and two hundred starter words you can print.
- 11 plus English comprehension
How to read an unseen passage under time, and why the inference questions are where the marks are won and lost.
- 11 plus verbal reasoning question types
Codes, analogies, hidden words, letter sequences. Every type set out, with the vocabulary work that underpins all of them.
- 11 plus maths topics: a checklist
The topic list to work through, and the reason most lost marks are pace and multi-step problems rather than missing knowledge.
- 11 plus non-verbal reasoning explained
Sequences, matrices, rotations, reflections, cubes and nets. The area children improve on fastest, and then stop.
Mock tests and exam day
Sitting a paper is its own skill. These three are about that skill.
- Free 11 plus practice papers
A sample paper, its answer sheet and worked answers, free to download with nothing to sign up for, and a longer pack for an email address.
- 11 plus mock tests online
Why switching between areas under a clock is its own skill, how often to sit a full paper, and what to do with the result.
- 11 plus exam stress
What anxiety looks like in a ten-year-old, what helps, and the things well-meaning parents do that make it worse.
Papers and tests
Which papers exist, who publishes the test, and what tuition and mocks cost.
Pathway Eleven is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GL Assessment.
- 11 plus past papers: what actually exists
Why no past paper is published for this test, what the consortium and the schools do publish, and what a good practice paper has to copy.
- 11 plus maths papers: ten worked questions
Ten original questions with full working, the topic families that reward drilling, and three ways a mark is lost.
- 11 plus English papers: a passage, worked
An original passage with ten worked questions, the four families they belong to, and the reading that actually builds the skill.
- 11 plus verbal reasoning papers, worked
Ten worked questions, the alphabet as a number line, and which families move in a week and which take a term.
- 11 plus non-verbal reasoning papers
Eight drawn questions with their reasoning, the five families, and why nets are learned with scissors rather than a workbook.
- GL Assessment and the 11 plus test
Every published description of this paper, quoted separately and reconciled by nobody, plus what free material exists.
- GL Assessment or CEM: which 11 plus test?
The direct answer for this region, what CEM is now, and the three checks before you buy any practice pack.
- How to choose an 11 plus tutor in Birmingham
Five questions to ask, the warning signs, the published Birmingham rates and the free routes most families never check.
- 11 plus tuition cost: the published figures
What an hour, a year and a whole programme cost, quoted from the pages that published the figures.
- 11 plus mock exams in Birmingham
The five things a mock must replicate, six questions for a centre, and an honest comparison with a timed paper at home.
Comparing the options
What a tutor, a shelf of books and the other platforms cost and give. Every figure sourced and dated.
- Pathway Eleven or an 11 plus tutor?
Sourced West Midlands tutor rates against one monthly price, what each one gives a child, and why many families use both.
- Pathway Eleven or Bond 11 plus books?
Bond's own published book prices, what a printed workbook does well, and the one thing it cannot do for you.
- Pathway Eleven or Atom Learning?
Atom's published plans and prices read from its own pages, and the six decisions that actually separate the two.
- 11 plus tutor or an online course?
The longer editorial behind the comparisons above: what each format is good at, and the case for using both.
Regional entrance tests
Where selective schools share one test between them. Ours starts with the West Midlands.
- The Birmingham 11 plus
The eight city grammar schools, the shared test, the registration window and the qualifying score, each figure linked to the page that published it.
- The Walsall 11 plus
Both Queen Mary's schools: the shared test, the closing time, the published place categories, and the council form with its 10pm deadline.
- The Wolverhampton 11 plus
The city's one school in the shared arrangement, the schools next door on the same result, and the two test dates a family has to tell apart.
- The Warwickshire 11 plus
The county's six schools, its own Parent Portal and later closing time, the two test days, and how the score sets priority rather than passing.
- The Shropshire and Telford 11 plus
Newport Girls' High School and Haberdashers' Adams, the Monday the rest of the region does not sit, and which council to apply to.
- West Midlands 11 plus results
When the score arrives, what a standardised age score means, qualifying against ranking, waiting lists, appeals, and how to talk to a child about it.
- Secondary transfer in the West Midlands
The whole Year 6 council year for every family: the application form and its 31 October deadline in eleven areas, how preferences really work, offer day, waiting lists and appeals.
- West Midlands 11 plus results tracker
Every published cut-off, qualifying score, waiting list score and appeal outcome in the region, by school and year, each figure sourced.
- Which grammar schools can my child apply to
Type a postcode and see the nineteen partnership schools in distance order, with each school's catchment rules and published cut-offs.
- A free 11 plus guide for your parents
For a primary school office: a newsletter paragraph and a link line to copy, plus an ungated A4 sheet to print, all of it information rather than coaching.
- How to register for the West Midlands 11 plus
Two portals, two closing times, and the one deadline preparation cannot rescue. What each asks for, and what to re-check every spring.
- West Midlands 11 plus exam dates and deadlines
Every published date for the current cycle: registration, the two test days, results and national offer day, each cell linked to the school or council that published it.
- Birmingham 11 plus standardised scores explained
What the number on the results letter means, why no raw mark can be converted into it, and four years of published cut-off scores school by school.
- The West Midlands 11 plus entrance test
The two papers, how the result is weighted, the Year 5 registration step, and the full list of partnership schools with a page for each.
West Midlands school pages
One page per partnership school, grouped the way the partnership groups them.
Shropshire, Wolverhampton and Walsall
Birmingham
- Bishop Vesey's Grammar School
- King Edward VI Aston School
- King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys
- King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls
- King Edward VI Five Ways School
- King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys
- King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls
- Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls
Where to go next
If you only have time for one link, make it the first.
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