11+ Support Thread 2026

[Elevenseconds]

Hi all

Am I going mad? I'm sure we had a thread to discuss those current Y5 who will be taking the exam in September. Has it disappeared, or am I having a moment?

Well in that case - how is everyone doing?

DD is working hard on her tutoring. Generally it feels like she's doing well. There are a couple of areas of maths she finds trickier - weights and measures, area and perimeter. She generally has a good attitude to it.

However, I'm very conscious that pride comes before a fall, and we know a couple of families where the first child has worked really hard and passed, and the second child (often regarded to have a better natural aptitude) just falls short, so I'm very aware that we shouldn't count our chickens.

So this time next year we'll be getting secondary school allocations. It seems to have come round quickly!

I feel I'm mostly talking to myself on this thread, but it's interesting to have a record.

DD's profile was initially quite well-rounded, but is becoming spikier with the deepening complexity of maths, plus the recent addition of Spatial Reasoning to her tutoring homework (not her strength).

She sometimes trips up on quite simple comprehension questions, but on the plus side her VR is extremely strong, and her technical English is also very good.

How is everyone else doing? I'm already looking forward to being done with it!

Still talking to myself but a useful record, nonetheless!

DD2 did a mock at the weekend - we need to wait about a week for her result, but she came out feeling positive, so it's good that she's had a good experience at least.

She does weekly online tests with her tutoring company, and she's coming out in the top 15-20% of her cohort, which is reassuring. But conversely I spoke to someone today who did the same tutoring company, whose child (like DD) was Greater Depth since Y1, who scored 116, got a 1:1 recommendation from the head, and didn't get through on Selection Review. So I'm very conscious not to count our chickens.

Multi-step word problems with maths remain her nemesys.

How is everyone else doing?

Ah this caught my attention as I was scrolling. We went through it last year, so feel your pain. Which area are you in? We're Bucks, and spatial hasn't come up for quite a few years now. Never say never though! Our daughter didnt "pass" (75%) any of her mocks, and she did about 10 of the damn things. I think the tutor made them tougher so nobody took foot off pedal. I'd take it all with a pinch of salt. Our daughter has never been greater depth but did pass, the main thing for us was drilling over summer and timing everything. Imo it's more about technique than anything else. Good luck!

Thanks! Yes, we are in Bucks too, and it's our second rodeo. DD1 passed comfortably - but the studying was hard work with lots of bumps along the way. It's hard to gauge if DD2 is genuinely a bit more able as she's finding it much easier - or if the tutoring has been set at a lower level, or if we're more experienced at handling it. Possibly a bit of all three.

I definitely don't feel nearly as anxious as with DD1 (not because I think DD2 is a sure thing but because I have a clearer idea of where the bar is, and that in itself brings a bit more certainty). Ask me again in September/October! 😂

Still talking to myself here! I’m sure previous years have had supportive threads sharing tips and worries.

Plodding along here. Noticed a definite uptick in the difficulty of NVR and Spatial which is hitting DD’s confidence, but chugging along!

How’s everyone else doing?

We have had 2 mocks and found that especially in maths DD has brain freezes. Questions she can do in her head at the dinner table are suddenly too tricky in the exam. Although there were some improvements from the first. She is still going to tuition but they are still going through content at the moment I'm hoping once they get to practicing exams it will improve more.

I'm struggling with helping with comprehension as none of us are that strong in English. She seems okay with creativity writing it won't take much to increase her score there.

Part of me is glad we don't have to worry about NVR or VR.

Hi - first post, long-time lurker. Daughter just sat first mock. She's fairly relaxed about the whole thing, which is good. Definitely has got some Maths questions wrong, based on her description, but luckily here Maths is only 25% of total mark - she's good at Maths, but she's not 'quick' like some kids. What I do find a bit frustrating is that in her group tutoring, they seem to have stopped teaching them things and focused only on practice tests and test technique these last few weeks. But we have to identify the problem areas ourselves and coach her it seems - fine, but not entirely sure what we're paying for at this stage! Fingers crossed.

Hello! First timer here and I am
far, far more stressed about that than DC (who just sat their first mock exam this weekend). Blithely told me they didn’t finish either paper despite my reminders to just put something for every question 😄Awaiting marks now. God knows what I’ll be like waiting for the results of the actual test!

Experienced MNers, I know kids don’t ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ per se, but am i right
in thinking that around 75% is the lowest realistic ‘good’ score?

I'm not an experienced MNer but I like to research everything! The result needed depends on the 11+ area / test / school. So you need to understand the test for your area and the schools you want to apply to.

My DD is sitting the test in Essex. None of the schools that use the test will accept a standardised score lower than 303, however the actual score needed to get into individual schools depends on their criteria and the pupils that have applied to the school.
Colchester County girls has a catchment area so a score of approx. 65% would get in within the catchment.
Colchester Royal Grammar (the boys school) has no catchment so a score of approx. 75% is needed.
For some of the Southend Grammar schools within catchment you can get in with 305 which is approx 55%.