What is the 11+? A plain guide for 2026/27

The short answer

The 11+ is an entrance test used by grammar schools, and by some independent schools, in parts of England. It is sat in Year 6, the final year of primary school, and it decides eligibility for a place in Year 7 at a selective school. It is not a national exam: only areas with grammar schools run one, and each admissions authority - a council, a group of schools or a single school - sets its own arrangements.

If there are no grammar schools in your area, there is no 11+ to sit. Some families apply to a grammar school in a neighbouring area, in which case that area's test and rules apply.

Who sits it, and when, in 2026/27

A child who starts Year 7 in September 2027 is in Year 6 during the 2026/27 school year, and that is the year the test is sat. In most grammar-school areas the test falls in the autumn term, soon after Year 6 begins, so that results are known before the secondary-school application deadline. Registration for the test is a separate step from the school application and closes earlier; in a number of areas it closes before Year 6 has started.

We do not type dates on this page, because they are set by each admissions authority and change from year to year. Our exam-dates tool lists what we currently understand for each area, with a label showing whether each entry has been verified. The authoritative source is always the admissions page of the school or council, and it is worth reading it while your child is still in Year 5.

What a GL-style test covers

Most grammar-school areas use tests supplied by GL Assessment. A GL-style test draws on four subjects, and the admissions authority decides which of them count and how they are weighted.

Some areas run the four as separate papers with their own timing; some combine them into fewer papers. The papers are usually multiple choice, with answers marked on a separate sheet. Whether rough paper is provided, and the exact format for your area, is on the familiarisation material the school points you to.

Who sets the test

For many years two providers set most of England's grammar-school tests. That changed when CEM stopped setting paper 11+ tests, and most of the areas that had used it moved to GL-style tests. Essex uses its own consortium test (CSSE), a group of schools mainly in the West Midlands uses FSCE, and many independent schools use the ISEB Common Pre-Tests. Our guide to which exam board your school uses explains the four families, and the shift from CEM covers what changed and why older advice reads out of date.

BrightEleven is built for GL-style tests only. If you are not yet sure which test your child will sit, the which-test lookup is the quickest place to start.

How results are reported

Results come as standardised scores, not raw marks: the marks are converted onto a common scale that allows for the child's age in months and for differences between papers. There is no national pass mark. Each admissions authority sets its own qualifying score, or ranks candidates in order, or both, and the level that secures a place varies from school to school and from year to year. Our standardised-scores guide explains the scale and why we never predict a number.

Deciding whether to enter

A grammar school is one good route to a good secondary education, not the only one, and the decision to enter is the family's. It helps to look at the schools themselves - open days, travel time, what your child says about them - before looking at practice papers. A child who is entered because the family has thought it through, and who knows the test is one afternoon rather than a verdict on them, tends to approach it more steadily.

If you do go ahead, our guides on when to start and how much practice is enough are the natural next reads.