The 11-plus explained: grammar school entry in England
The 11-plus explained: what the grammar school exam tests, when children sit it, how standardised scores and qualifying work, and how to apply in England.
The 11-plus is the entrance test that state grammar schools in England use to select pupils by academic ability. Grammar schools are selective state schools, free to attend, and the 11-plus is how that ability is measured. Children sit it in Year 6, and the result decides whether your child is eligible for a grammar place, while the council application and the school's oversubscription criteria decide who is actually offered one. This guide explains what the test covers, when it happens, how the scoring works, the difference between qualifying and super-selective schools, and how a grammar place fits into the normal admissions round.
What is the 11-plus?
The 11-plus, sometimes written as the 11+, is an entrance exam taken in the final year of primary school. Passing, or more accurately qualifying, makes a child eligible for a place at a state grammar school. As of 2026, England has around 163 grammar schools, according to the House of Commons Library, and they are concentrated in a minority of areas, such as Kent, Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire, and several London boroughs. In much of the country there are no grammar schools at all, so the 11-plus only matters if you are applying to one.
One distinction matters from the start. A qualifying score makes your child eligible, but it does not by itself secure a place, because grammar schools, like all schools, can be oversubscribed.
What the 11-plus tests
The 11-plus usually assesses some combination of four areas: English, maths, verbal reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning. Verbal reasoning tests problem-solving with words and language, while non-verbal reasoning uses shapes and patterns. Not every area appears in every test, and the balance differs from one region to the next.
The test is usually set by an external provider or consortium rather than written by each school. The provider varies by area, with GL Assessment used in most grammar-school areas but not all, so the papers your child sits depend on where you apply. Because of that variation, the single most useful thing you can do early is to check exactly which test your target grammar schools use, and what it covers, rather than assuming a national standard.
When children sit the 11-plus and how to register
The 11-plus runs ahead of the main secondary application. The test is usually sat in the autumn term of Year 6, with most schools testing in September and a few in early October. You normally have to register your child for the test separately from the council application, often during Year 5, and the registration window is set by each grammar school or local consortium, such as the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, rather than nationally.
The timing helps in one way: results usually arrive in October of Year 6, before the 31 October secondary deadline, so you have the result, whether a score or a qualifying outcome, before you finalise your preferences. Missing a registration deadline, on the other hand, usually cannot be undone, so note the dates for each school as early as you can.
How 11-plus scores work
Results are not raw marks. They are reported as a standardised age score, which adjusts a child's marks to take account of age differences within the school year, so a younger child is not simply compared on raw marks with an older classmate. As Buckinghamshire Council explains for its own test, scores are usually placed on a scale of roughly 70 to 140, where 100 is the average for the cohort.
In qualifying areas, the school or consortium sets the standardised score a child needs to be eligible, and it varies. Many qualifying marks sit around 111, though the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools publishes its own qualifying score and Buckinghamshire requires 121. Reaching the mark makes your child eligible, but the exact threshold and how it is used depend on the school, so treat any single figure as a guide and check the school's own arrangements.
Qualifying schools and super-selective schools
Grammar schools fall into two broad groups, and the difference matters for your chances.
- A qualifying grammar school treats any child who reaches its threshold as eligible, then ranks eligible children by its ordinary oversubscription criteria, often distance or a catchment area. Here, living close can be as important as the score, once your child has qualified.
- A super-selective grammar school does not use a fixed pass mark. It ranks all qualified children by their score and offers places to the highest scorers until it is full, as schools such as Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet do. At these schools the effective cut-off is often well above a normal qualifying mark, and distance may matter only as a tie-breaker, if at all, so check the school's policy.
Knowing which type you are dealing with changes your strategy. At a super-selective school the score usually carries the main weight, though you should still check the policy for any tie-breakers, while for a qualifying school a solid pass plus a close address can be the stronger position.
How the 11-plus fits the secondary application
The 11-plus does not replace the normal admissions process; it runs alongside it. You still name the grammar school on your council's secondary application by 31 October, in order of preference with any other schools, and you receive your offer on national offer day in March. Because the equal preference system means lower preferences cannot harm a higher one, it is common to list a grammar school alongside a realistic non-selective school where your address normally has a reasonable chance, as a safety net. Our guide to the secondary admissions timeline sets out the full calendar, and the school admissions guide explains how preferences and oversubscription work.
How FindMySchool helps
Working out which grammar schools are realistic for your family is the hard part, and it is where FindMySchool helps. Our grammar schools hub lists grammar schools by area, so you can see which ones are near you and compare them in one place.
- Browse the grammar schools hub to find selective schools by location and open a profile for the detail.
- Use the school search and the map to weigh a grammar option against strong non-selective schools nearby, with catchment distance data where available.
- Read the secondary admissions timeline so the test dates and the 31 October deadline line up in your plan.
Before you commit, do three things: confirm which test each target grammar school uses and its registration deadline, be realistic about whether it is a qualifying or super-selective school, and list at least one realistic non-selective school, where your address normally has a reasonable chance, as a safety net. That gives your child a fair shot at a grammar place without risking the rest of the round.
Frequently asked questions
The 11-plus is the entrance test that state grammar schools in England use to select pupils by academic ability. Children sit it in Year 6, and a qualifying result is needed before a grammar school can offer a place.