How the 11+ works

What is actually the same everywhere

Selective state schools admit on the basis of a test taken in the autumn term of Year 6, before the secondary school application deadline in the autumn. The test is not part of the national curriculum and schools do not have to prepare children for it, which is why so much of the preparation happens at home.

Beyond that, almost everything varies: who runs the test, what is in it, whether you register directly with the school or with the council, how the results are reported to you, and how a place is finally offered.

What varies, and matters most

• Who you register with, and by when. Registration closes months before the test, often before the summer holidays, and it is the single most common thing parents miss.
• What the test covers. Some areas test maths and English only; others add verbal and non-verbal reasoning.
• How scores are treated. Scores are standardised for age, and areas differ in how they combine and weight the papers.
• Whether living in the area matters, and how much, when places are allocated.

How these guides are written

Each guide is written from the published admissions arrangements for that area, which every admission authority is required to determine and publish each year. Where a guide states a date, a format or a deadline, it says which document it came from, so you can check it yourself. Nothing here is written from memory or copied from another site.

These guides are written for the adult making the decision. They are not advice about whether your child should sit the exam.