Free parent guide · Y5-Y6
11+ Prep Pack: Your 6-Month Study Plan
A structured month-by-month guide to 11+ preparation for UK grammar and independent school entry.
This 11+ Prep Pack is built for families starting 6–12 months out from the exam window. It covers the four core 11+ subjects — maths, English, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning — with a month-by-month schedule, the most common pitfalls, and specific advice for the major UK exam formats (GL Assessment, ISEB Common Pre-Test, CSSE, Kent Test and school-specific papers). Follow the plan steadily and your child will walk into the test feeling prepared, not panicked. All guidance here is drawn from several years of tutoring UK 11+ families across every major exam region. The plan is deliberately realistic — about 3 hours of focused prep per week, not 10 — because burnout is the most common cause of 11+ failure.
Month 1: Baseline and diagnostic
Start with a past paper under timed conditions, no help. This is diagnostic, not a score to worry about. The goal is to identify which of the four subjects is weakest and which specific topics are pulling the overall score down. Most children start with gaps in two or three specific areas rather than "11+ in general" — commonly fractions (maths), vocabulary breadth (English), code-type questions (verbal reasoning), and rotation/reflection (non-verbal reasoning). Mark the paper honestly, list the weak topics, and build the next five months around closing them. Do not attempt another full paper this month.
Month 2: Build maths foundations
Maths is the fastest area to improve in month 2 because the content is finite. Focus on: place value, the four operations, fractions (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing), decimals, percentages, ratio and proportion, basic algebra, time, money, and measurement. Do 15 minutes of mental arithmetic four times a week and 30 minutes of written problem-solving twice a week. Do not do timed papers yet — focus on accuracy first, speed second.
Month 3: English comprehension and vocabulary
Vocabulary is the single biggest 11+ English differentiator, and it cannot be crammed. Build it through reading — one challenging novel every 2–3 weeks — plus a vocabulary log where new words go with their meaning and a sentence. Comprehension practice starts this month too: short passages from a CGP or Bond practice book, two per week, with careful discussion of every answer (especially inference questions). If your child is asked "why did the author choose the word X", practise pointing at an emotional effect, not a literal meaning.
Month 4: Verbal and non-verbal reasoning
Verbal reasoning has 21 standard GL question types. Introduce them one at a time (one new type per 20-minute session) before drilling mixed-type papers. Non-verbal reasoning has around 10 main question types — pattern completion, matrix puzzles, rotation, reflection, odd-one-out, 3D nets — and is the most trainable 11+ section once your child has seen each type a few times. Aim for a 20-minute reasoning session four times per week across both subjects.
Month 5: Timed papers and pace
Introduce full timed papers this month — one per week, alternating subjects. The goal is pace, not perfection. Mark together using the official mark scheme (Bond and CGP papers have them). Log the recurring mistake types — usually 2–3 specific question styles — and do targeted drill on those the next day. Do not move on to month 6 if timing is still a problem — pace is the single biggest exam-day difficulty.
Month 6: Exam technique and confidence
Month 6 is about sharpening, not learning new content. Two timed papers per week, detailed feedback, and a focus on the specific habits examiners reward: showing working for 2-mark maths questions, writing "because…" sentences for inference questions, double-checking answers without redoing the whole calculation, and managing time with a watch. In the final two weeks before the test, reduce to one paper per week and focus on sleep, nutrition and confidence. Cramming in the final week does more harm than good.
Pitfalls to avoid
Three mistakes we see every year. First: starting too late and trying to cram 6 months into 6 weeks — this burns children out and scores drop under stress. Second: only practising timed papers without consolidating content — children who never learn fractions properly cannot magically start getting them right in a timed paper. Third: using the wrong practice materials — Bond and CGP are fine but make sure you are using the right paper style for your target school (GL, ISEB, CSSE, Kent or school-specific).
When to get tutoring help
Most families benefit from at least a few sessions with an experienced 11+ tutor — often around months 3–5 when the weaknesses identified in month 1 are being actively closed. A good tutor spots subtle errors a parent might miss (e.g. a child consistently picking the second-nearest answer on verbal reasoning analogies) and corrects them fast. If your child is below expected standard at the month 3 diagnostic, weekly tutoring until the test is usually the right move. If they are already comfortably at expected standard, a fortnightly check-in is often enough.
Quick-reference checklist
- Month 1: diagnostic past paper + weak topic list
- Month 2: daily mental arithmetic + twice-weekly problem solving
- Month 3: reading log + vocabulary log + weekly comprehension practice
- Month 4: verbal and non-verbal reasoning, one question type at a time
- Month 5: weekly timed paper + error log
- Month 6: exam technique drill + sleep/confidence routine
- Test week: no new content, sleep routine, confidence conversations only
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Frequently asked questions
- How many hours a week should my child spend on 11+ prep?
- About 3 hours per week across 6 months is the sweet spot for most children: 15 minutes of mental maths four times a week, 30 minutes of English twice a week, and one 45-minute reasoning session. More than that is usually counter-productive — tired children revise worse.
- What are the best 11+ practice books?
- Bond and CGP cover the basics well and are affordable. For the final two months, use real past papers where available (CSSE publishes them; Kent Test is well-documented) or specific prep packs for the schools you are targeting. Avoid unnamed online packs of unknown quality.
- When is the 11+ test held?
- Most 11+ tests are held in September or October of Year 6, with some grammars testing in early September and others (like Tiffin's Stage 2) in mid-November. Independent schools using ISEB Common Pre-Test usually test in October–November. Check your target schools' admissions pages for the current year's dates.
- My child scored well on the month 1 diagnostic. Do we still need 6 months?
- Probably not — strong diagnostic scorers can usually get away with 3–4 months of focused prep plus confidence work. But do not drop below 2 months, even for confident children — exam technique and pace need at least that long to build.
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