11+ guide · Last reviewed 16 September 2026
Which 11+ exam board does your school use?
GL vs CSSE vs FSCE vs ISEB, in plain English - and a straight answer on who BrightEleven is for.
The short answer
Most grammar-school areas in England use 11+ tests supplied by GL. Essex uses its own consortium test (CSSE). A group of selective schools, mainly in the West Midlands, uses FSCE. Many independent schools use the ISEB Common Pre-Tests, a shared consortium assessment, or papers of their own.
The only way to be certain is the admissions page of the school or council your child is applying to. It will name the provider, the papers and this year's dates. If it does not, ask the school directly: formats do change, and a forum post or a friend's memory from a few years ago may describe a test that no longer exists.
BrightEleven is built for GL-style tests only. If your child's school uses CSSE, FSCE or ISEB, please read the “who it is not for” section before you register. Our coverage page sets the same thing out as a table, subject by subject.
What happened to CEM
For many years two providers set most of England's grammar-school tests: GL and CEM (the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring). In 2023 CEM stopped setting paper 11+ tests, and most of the areas that had used it moved to GL-style tests. That is why older advice comparing “GL vs CEM” now reads out of date, and why some areas changed format recently even though the schools did not.
There is nothing here for BrightEleven to offer a “CEM mode” for, and we do not. If a school or council page still mentions CEM, check with them whether the page has simply not been updated.
The four families of 11+ test
The names below are the providers' own, used only to identify their tests. BrightEleven is independent of all of them.
GL (GL Assessment-style)
Used by most grammar-school areas. The tests cover four subjects - English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning - and are mostly multiple choice. Many areas run the four as separate papers with their own timing; some combine subjects into fewer papers. Which subjects count, and how they are weighted, is decided by the admissions authority.
This is the family BrightEleven prepares children for: practice and mock papers are written in the style of GL Assessment papers.
CSSE (Essex)
The Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex sets its own English and Maths papers for the Essex grammar schools. Answers are written out rather than chosen from options, and the English paper includes a writing task. There are no separate verbal or non-verbal reasoning papers.
BrightEleven is not built for CSSE. The underlying maths and English overlap, but the paper format, the writing task and the written-answer style do not.
FSCE
Future Stories Community Enterprise is a newer provider used by a group of selective schools, mainly in the West Midlands. Its papers are its own format and are not the four GL-style multiple-choice papers. For the current paper structure and subjects, check the school's admissions page - we would rather send you there than describe a format we have not verified.
BrightEleven is not built for FSCE.
ISEB Common Pre-Tests
Used by many independent senior schools. The Common Pre-Tests are taken online, are adaptive (the questions adjust as the child answers), and are typically sat in Year 6 rather than as a single exam day with four papers. Some independent schools use a shared consortium assessment instead, or set their own papers.
BrightEleven is not built for the ISEB Common Pre-Tests or for school-specific independent-school papers.
Who BrightEleven is for - and who it is not for
A good fit
- Your child will sit a GL-style grammar-school test, in any area.
- Your school uses GL-style tests but you are not yet sure of the exact paper format - the practice still matches the question styles.
- You do not know the area yet and want calm, adaptive practice in the four GL-style subjects while you find out.
Please do not buy BrightEleven if
- Your child is sitting the Essex CSSE test.
- Your child's school is part of the FSCE group of schools.
- Your child is applying to independent schools that use the ISEB Common Pre-Tests, a shared consortium assessment, or their own papers - unless they are also sitting a GL-style grammar test.
Much of the underlying maths, English and reasoning overlaps, so practice here would not be wasted - but the paper format would not match what your child actually sits, and we would rather you knew that before paying than after. In the app, choosing one of these areas shows the same note before anything is saved.
How to check for certain
- Find the admissions page for the school, or the council's secondary-transfer or grammar-school page for the area. It should name the test provider and the papers.
- Look at the familiarisation or sample material the school points you to. The provider's name is usually on it.
- If the school runs its own test, or the page is silent, ask the admissions office which provider sets the papers and whether the format changed this year.
- Check the year. Areas have changed provider recently, so a page or leaflet from a previous intake may no longer be right.
Once you know the test is GL-style, our standardised-scores guide explains what the result will look like, and how BrightEleven works shows what the practice involves.