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What is in the 11 plus exam?


What is in the 11 plus exam?

What is included in the 11 plus exam will vary from grammar school to grammar school. The eleven plus exam papers will be based on some of the following types of questions and it may involve sitting two or even three eleven plus examinations. Sometimes the tests will be of a different kind, for example, a non-verbal reasoning and a verbal reasoning test and in other cases, the tests will be the same.

  • Verbal Reasoning test
  • Non-verbal reasoning tests
  • Mathematics tests
  • English tests

Verbal Reasoning eleven plus tests

  • This involves the child thinking about words and text and solving problems, sequences etc. It requires the pupil to have a good grasp of English grammar and a large vocabulary. Most schools administer at least one verbal reasoning test.

Non-verbal Reasoning eleven plus tests

  • Many independent schools also use non-verbal reasoning tests. This involves the child thinking about pictures and diagrams, and solving problems based on these items, it also makes demands on the child's mathematical capabilities. However, it makes less demand on the understanding of written language.

Mathematics and English eleven plus tests

  • These are used by some schools, but not to the same extent as verbal reasoning tests and non-verbal reasoning tests. However, where they are used you can expect the requirements to be quite high.

The 11 plus papers come in two formats:

Traditional Format

Where your child writes the answers in a space on the eleven plus test paper.

Multiple Choice Format

In this type of 11 plus test, your child marks their answer on a separate score sheet by putting a line against the correct answer. This in itself is a difficult task and is akin to Non-verbal reasoning.

This type of answer format is to accommodate marking using a computer optical reading machine