13+ Preparation — Common Entrance and Boarding School Entry | Leading Tuition

The 13+ admissions process is longer and more complex than most parents expect. It begins with the ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6, runs through conditional offers, and culminates in Common Entrance examinations in May of Year 8 — a period of nearly two years. For schools like Winchester that set their own papers, the preparation is different again.

Leading Tuition provides specialist 13+ preparation across all stages: ISEB pre-test coaching, Common Entrance subject tuition, and support for school-specific assessments and interviews. Select a school or exam below for a detailed guide.

What Are the Two Stages of 13+ Entry?

The 13+ admissions pathway at most independent senior schools follows a two-stage structure that spans approximately two years. Understanding how these stages connect is essential for families planning their approach.

The first stage is the ISEB Common Pre-Test, taken in Year 6 (typically October to January). This is a computer-adaptive online assessment covering English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Strong performance leads to a conditional offer from the target school, usually issued in November or December of Year 6. Most leading boarding schools — including Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Marlborough, Charterhouse, Rugby, Oundle and Tonbridge — use the pre-test as their primary first-stage selector.

The second stage is the Common Entrance examination, sat in May or June of Year 8. These written papers — set by ISEB and marked by the receiving school — confirm that a pupil meets the academic standard the school requires. Some schools set their own examinations instead of or in addition to Common Entrance: Winchester College uses its own Winchester Election papers, and some schools supplement Common Entrance with school-specific assessments or interviews.

Exam Guides

What Is the ISEB Common Pre-Test and How Does It Work?

The ISEB Common Pre-Test is a computer-based adaptive assessment administered online at a registered centre. It is taken in Year 6, typically between October and January, meaning most candidates are aged 10 or 11 at the time of sitting. The test is adaptive — meaning it adjusts in difficulty in real time based on each candidate's responses — and produces a standardised score that reflects developed ability across four cognitive areas.

The four components of the ISEB pre-test are: English (reading comprehension and vocabulary), Mathematics (number, ratio, algebra, geometry and statistics up to mid-Year 6 level), Verbal Reasoning (word patterns, analogies, word relationships and logical vocabulary questions) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (shape sequences, pattern identification, spatial reasoning and codes). Total testing time is approximately 90 minutes. Registration is managed through the candidate's prep school, which liaises directly with ISEB.

Results are reported on a standardised scale. Schools do not publish their precise thresholds, but candidates targeting highly selective schools such as Eton, Winchester or Harrow typically need to score above 115 to receive a conditional offer, with more selective awards and scholarship consideration requiring scores above 120. The ISEB pre-test is not a curriculum test — a strong Year 5 mathematical foundation and a wide reading vocabulary are important, but the verbal and non-verbal reasoning components require specific preparation as they are rarely encountered in ordinary prep school lessons.

For more detail on preparing for this assessment, see our full ISEB Common Pre-Test guide.

School-Specific Guides

What Does Common Entrance 13+ Involve?

Common Entrance at 13+ is a suite of written examination papers produced by ISEB and sat in May or June of Year 8. The papers are marked by the receiving school against that school's own pass mark — meaning two schools can require different standards even though they use the same ISEB papers. Most schools require pupils to achieve 55–65% across their chosen subjects for standard admission, though selective schools and scholarship candidates are expected to achieve considerably higher.

Three subjects are compulsory at most schools: English (divided into comprehension and composition papers), Mathematics and Science (typically offered as three separate papers in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, or as a single combined paper). Pupils also choose optional subjects from a range that typically includes French, Latin, Classical Greek, History, Geography, Religious Studies, Spanish and German. The subjects a pupil takes in Common Entrance should reflect both the requirements of their destination school and the curriculum offered by their prep school.

The writing tasks in English Common Entrance require fluency, originality and pace — qualities that take sustained practice to develop. The Science papers at standard level test understanding of key concepts rather than rote recall, but the extended-answer questions in higher-grade responses require structured scientific argument. History and Geography at Common Entrance involve significant essay writing, and French requires oral competence in addition to the written paper at some schools. Scholarship papers in any subject are more demanding than standard CE and require a level of intellectual independence that distinguishes truly outstanding candidates.

Schools that do not use Common Entrance — including Winchester College — set their own entrance examinations. The Winchester Election papers in Maths, English and the humanities are widely regarded as among the most academically challenging at 13+ level, and preparation for Winchester requires a specific and substantial programme. Our Winchester College 13+ guide covers the Election format in full.

When Should Preparation for 13+ Entry Begin?

The two-stage structure of 13+ admissions means that preparation needs to span several years rather than concentrate in a single intensive period. Families who start early enjoy a significant advantage — not because more coaching hours produce better results, but because genuine reasoning ability and academic fluency develop slowly and cannot be compressed into a short burst of preparation before the pre-test or Common Entrance.

The following timeline reflects the approach Leading Tuition recommends for families targeting leading independent senior schools at 13+.

Year 4 and early Year 5 (optional early start): Build strong foundations across English, Maths and general reasoning without any exam-specific practice. Wide reading across challenging fiction and non-fiction develops the vocabulary and comprehension depth that the pre-test English and verbal reasoning components reward. Strengthen mental arithmetic, fraction fluency and problem-solving habits through informal mathematical exploration rather than drilling. No timed testing at this stage.

Year 5 from September (recommended structured start): Begin targeted preparation for the ISEB Common Pre-Test. Introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types, which are unlikely to have been encountered in prep school lessons. Strengthen Maths across the areas assessed in the pre-test — including ratio, basic algebra, number theory and geometric reasoning. Work on reading comprehension strategies: identifying inference, author purpose and implicit meaning. Run occasional timed sections (not full tests) to develop pace under mild pressure.

Year 6, September through January (pre-test period): Increase session intensity and run full timed mock pre-tests at least monthly. Ensure your child is confident in all four test components and has experienced the adaptive format under realistic conditions. Confirm registration through your prep school well before the school's deadline. Most candidates sit the ISEB pre-test between October and January of Year 6.

Year 7 (post-offer, Common Entrance build): Following conditional offers, focus shifts to the Common Entrance syllabus. Begin systematic subject preparation in English, Maths, Science and each optional subject your child will take. Build the subject knowledge base and learn to write structured extended answers in Humanities. History and Geography essays at CE level are time-pressured and benefit from a clear paragraph framework practised over many months.

Year 8, September through May (Common Entrance run-in): Complete full past papers in every subject under timed exam conditions. Track performance against CE marking criteria and address remaining gaps. Scholarship candidates require additional sessions at a higher level of difficulty. Confirm the subjects your child will enter with their prep school and ensure preparation is aligned with the specific requirements of the destination school. Common Entrance papers are typically sat in the first or second week of May.

How Does Leading Tuition Support 13+ Preparation?

Leading Tuition's specialist tutors work across every stage of 13+ preparation — from early ISEB pre-test coaching in Year 5 through to Common Entrance subject tuition and scholarship support in Year 8. Our approach begins with an assessment of your child's current ability across the relevant subjects and components, which informs a bespoke preparation programme built around their target school, their prep school curriculum and their individual strengths and areas for development.

For ISEB pre-test preparation, our tutors cover all four components — verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and Maths — with a structured programme that builds from foundational skills to timed adaptive-format practice. For Common Entrance, we provide subject-specific tuition across English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, French, Latin and other CE subjects, with marking and targeted feedback on written answers. For scholarship candidates, our tutors are experienced in the additional demands of scholarship papers at schools including Eton, Harrow, Winchester and Marlborough, and work above the standard CE level to develop the independent thinking and academic depth that scholarship markers reward.

Our 2025 results show a 95%+ offer rate at selective schools for pupils we supported. We are rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot by families across the UK. Tuition is delivered online via a high-quality video platform, meaning our specialist tutors are accessible to families regardless of location.

See also our Common Entrance 13+ subject guide in the blog for detailed marking breakdowns and subject-by-subject guidance.

Frequently Asked Questions About 13+ Entry