QE 11+ 2026 entry

[Overlyconcernedmum]

My DS just completed his QE exam and thinks it went horribly wrong. Any parents know how many marks can be dropped on average and still get in?

I know it’s a difficult to answer question but I’m just trying to understand how the standardised score works.

Unfortunately no one knows. It’s all so dependent on how other kids did. What does he mean by “horribly wrong”? Was he not able to finish the test?

It’s the hardest test in London! Calm down. You won’t know until you receive the results. Sometimes, the fact they realise it was difficult, is a good thing.

My son did today and said it’s very hard too. Hope the cut off mark will go down this year.

English test was very hard, my son and many others I know found it quite difficult. Maths seems was ok. Was it English that went “horribly wrong”?

I think English is always the tricky one in boys superselective grammars. The cohort tends to be very good at maths naturally so it is for English where they can differentiate the most. Same at Wilson’s, St Olave’s etc.
If you look at GCSE results they are mainly all getting 9s in Maths, but English less so, so schools want to focus on English ability too. It is harder to get top grades in English at GCSE than Maths and there are 2 English GCSEs they have to do.
So the English is going to be hard.

My son is generally very good in Maths. He consistently scored 60/60 in the Atom QEB practice, found maths very challenging, and English relatively easier compared to maths. In maths, he was unable to answer the last four questions. What are the odds of correctly answering enough questions out of 60 to achieve a standardised score of 115/142?

Hi . I am still confused how the scores are calculated. Are raw scores from 60 marks each subject ? If yes then how SAS scores reaches 220 kinds ? I would be grateful if anyone can explain.
My DS sat on this 17th for the exam and found English really hard.

When you say English was tricky and maths was comparatively easy , what is the number of wrong answers or blank you expect in maths out of 60 ?

Individual raw scores are turned into standardised scores for each paper through a calculation involving the mean and standard deviation for the paper, usually with an element of correction for the age of the candidate. (There is more than one way of doing that - I know how it is done for our local grammar schools, as the CSSE publishes the details each year after reults are notified, but GL may do things differently).

For each paper, you will usually end up with a standardised score between c.69 and c.141 (therefore, a combined score for two papers in the range 138 - 282).

From what I remember last March the first round cut off score was around 237.
It is always more a question of how you perform relative to the other boys who sat the test with you. You look at the number of places available and figure out whether your DC has a safe score. It then also depends on how other parents rank the school because some of the boys have other first choice preferences (mixed grammars, schools closer to home, sometimes private schools).
If your kids gets a really solid score like 260 then you will know they will get it, if you put it first. If you are more borderline around the historic cut off scores then it really is just down to luck as to how other parents rank the schools on the CAF. There are scores where the boys are in the top 180 of performers on the day. You can usually work it out.
Whatever a child reports is neither here nor there as they cannot second guess how the other boys found it.

He says he was unsure only in 1 question, the rest were easy.. English is nowhere near it though, but QE is not our first choice so we’re ok whatever the results are.
Agreed with the above comment - it’s always a question of how they perform relative to other boys.

Last year cutoff was 237 but currently the waiting list has reached 235.

That is great . My son couldn’t finish the last 4 questions as he didn’t get the time . He found Maths very hard and English easy .

we never send him to any coaching . He is self taught using Atom. In Atom , he scores consistently 60/60 witth Atom and he was surprised at how hard the real exam was ; may be not that prepared to these tough questions.

i think atoms data is all wrong . He was shown from the beginning “a master” in all concepts and well above the QEB cohort who attended the exams last year .

let’s now wait for the results . He gave his all

Thank you that’s really helpful

@nijuc - my DS has a friend who last year just did 1 month Atom in summer holidays and passed for several superselectives including QE score. Very bright mathematically gifted boy. Just relax and wait for the results. It is done now.

Last year there were people sending their DC for all superselective across London, typically people with 1 kid, willing to move. There were even people coming from other parts of the country sitting exams there too, and even some people flown in (latter I do not like, I feel unless refugee child, should not be allowed and parents should have to have at least a couple of years tax residence here, but that is the system we have).

I think they just have different style of questions, not necessarily easy or difficult. My son never scored 100% on atom but did on other tests (eg bond). He is naturally good in maths but not english, he says he guessed more than 10 questions from 2nd story 😂 not sure what to expect 🙊

Are we expecting results today? I read somewhere that results come out earlier than the expected date. Mostly Fridays . Any idea ?

I’ve heard they are very precise with the dates and it would come out earlier only if the 1st October is a weekend. So I think it’s going to be Wednesday.. honestly as I’m typing this I am hoping that I’m wrong lol. This has been the longest week ever 🙄

Same, im sure Ive refreshed my email more than 100+ times today. I have no hope for today since almost 6pm

I think it’s 1st then. It’s going to be the longest week ahead !!

The results have been emailed. My son missed it by 7 points but good luck to everyone else!

My son missed it by 5 points. Best of luck for all .

My DS got 242, 113/129
Is it safe score to secure a place in QE (considering due to VAT inclusion in private schools)
Based on this , can we plan to move closer to school before March.

My DS got 225, 114/111
Is there any chance to score to secure a place in QE?
I don't know what went wrong, he said he did very good in maths, but got lower score.

Based on the historic admissions data, a score of 242 should be safe to get an offer on National Offer Day, but 225 is very unlikely unfortunately, even on continuing interest.