How the 11+ works
Formats, providers, scores and dates, explained once and properly.
GL, CEM, CSSE, FSCE or Quest: which 11+ test is it?
GL Assessment, CSSE, FSCE, Quest or a school’s own paper: which 11+ test each grammar school really sets, why CEM is no longer the answer, and how to check.
9 min read · reviewed September 2026
Results day, waiting lists and appeals: what happens next
What follows an 11+ result: the statutory dates, how a waiting list is re-ranked, and appeal figures from 44 schools’ own Freedom of Information replies.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
11+ pass mark, qualifying score and cut-off
Three different numbers get called the 11+ pass mark. What a qualifying score, a published cut-off and a lowest admitted score each actually mean.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
Standardised age scores: what an SAS of 121 means
A standardised age score compares your child with everyone who sat the same paper, adjusted for age. Here is what a score of 121 does and does not tell you.
8 min read · reviewed September 2026
Subject technique
Worked examples for the question types children lose marks on.
Verbal reasoning question types, with worked examples
The verbal reasoning question types an 11+ paper can set, with one worked example each: the question, the wrong route children take, and the answer.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
11+ comprehension in 30 minutes: where the marks are
How long the reading should take, where a comprehension paper’s marks actually sit, and two worked questions: one literal, one inference.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
11+ creative writing: what the marker looks for
Two answers to the same writing task, marked line by line against a school’s own published scheme, plus which schools set a writing paper at all.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
Regions and schools
What a consortium actually sets, area by area.
The Kent Test 2027 entry: format, scores and next steps
What the Kent Test contains, when it is sat, the score Kent County Council asks for, and what happens between results day and a school place.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
What is the Sutton SET? Six schools, two stages, 2027 entry
Six Sutton schools share one morning paper, and at five of them it only decides who is invited back. The dates, the format, and what qualifying does not buy.
9 min read · reviewed September 2026
The CSSE 11+ 2027 entry: one exam, ten Essex schools
The Essex consortium writes its own English and maths papers, and one sitting reaches all ten schools. What that means for registering, scoring and applying.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
Grammar school catchment, distance and moving house
Which grammar schools have a catchment area, what a priority area and a last distance offered each really do to your place in the queue, and moving house.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
Data
Pieces built on figures we hold and check ourselves.
Is 332 a Kent Test pass? Not for 1,340 children in 2025
Kent County Council’s own 2025 scores report shows at least 1,340 children who cleared the 332 total and were assessed for high school anyway.
9 min read · reviewed September 2026
Where would my child rank? The Kent Test 2025 score curve
Kent County Council’s own 2025 scores report, re-derived: the middle half of grammar-assessed children scored 349 to 384, and the middle was 365.
10 min read · reviewed September 2026
Parent strategy
Timing, workload and the decisions around the test.