Practical guidance from the Leading Tuition team
Book a Free ConsultationThe honest answer is that official 11 plus past papers vary enormously depending on which school or consortium your child is applying to. Some grammar schools publish free sample papers on their own websites; others release nothing at all and rely on third-party providers to produce practice material. Understanding what is genuinely available — and where the gaps are — will save you hours of searching and help you focus your child's preparation on the right content.
Unlike GCSEs or A-levels, the 11 plus is not a nationally standardised exam with one awarding body. Grammar schools and selective independent schools set their own tests, or commission them from specialist providers. The two dominant providers are GL Assessment and CEM (Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring), which is part of Durham University. Some schools write their own papers entirely.
Because schools pay these providers to design bespoke assessments, the actual test papers are considered proprietary. That means true past papers — the exact questions used in a previous year's sitting — are almost never released publicly. What you will find instead are official sample papers, practice papers produced by the providers themselves, and high-quality third-party resources designed to mirror the style and difficulty of each test.
The availability of practice material depends heavily on where you are in England. Here is a breakdown of the main grammar school areas and what you can realistically access:
Kent operates one of the largest grammar school systems in England, with over 30 selective schools. The Kent Test is set by GL Assessment and covers verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and spatial reasoning. Kent County Council publishes free familiarisation materials on its website, including sample questions and a practice test booklet. These are the closest thing to official past papers available and are essential starting points.
Buckinghamshire uses a CEM-style test administered by the Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools consortium. The test covers verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning. The consortium publishes a sample paper and guidance document, but the CEM format is deliberately varied year to year to reduce the impact of coaching, so the sample material gives a feel for the style rather than a repeatable template.
Schools such as King Edward VI Grammar Schools in Birmingham use their own independently set papers. King Edward VI publishes past papers directly on its admissions pages, making it one of the more transparent grammar school groups in England. These are genuine past papers and are invaluable for targeted practice.
Many grammar schools in Lincolnshire, Trafford, Wirral, and parts of Essex use GL Assessment papers. GL Assessment sells its own practice papers through its website and through major retailers. These are not past papers from specific sittings, but they are produced by the same organisation that writes the real tests, so the format, question types, and timing are accurate.
Schools such as Haberdashers', St Paul's Girls' School, Latymer Upper, and Dulwich College set their own entrance exams for Year 7 entry. Most do not release past papers, though some publish specimen papers or sample questions. For these schools, preparation typically relies on high-quality commercial practice papers and targeted tuition.
Once you know which test format your target school uses, you can find appropriate practice material from these reliable sources:
Having the right papers is only part of the picture. How your child uses them matters just as much. A common mistake is to work through papers too early in Year 5, burning through limited material before the child is ready to benefit from timed, exam-condition practice.
A more effective approach is to spend the first phase of preparation — typically from Year 4 or early Year 5 — building core skills in verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and comprehension without time pressure. Introduce timed practice papers in the final two to three months before the exam, which for most grammar schools falls in September or October of Year 6.
When marking papers, focus on why a question was answered incorrectly, not just the score. Patterns in errors — for example, consistently losing marks on analogies or number sequences — point to specific skills that need reinforcement rather than simply more paper practice.
At Leading Tuition, we often see children who have completed dozens of papers but made little progress because the underlying skill gaps were never addressed. Targeted work on weak areas, followed by fresh timed papers, is far more productive than repetition alone.
CEM tests are specifically designed to be harder to prepare for than GL Assessment papers. The question formats change, passages are unseen, and the test is adaptive in some versions. This does not mean preparation is pointless — strong reading habits, a broad vocabulary, and solid mental arithmetic all transfer directly — but it does mean that drilling a fixed set of question types is less effective than building genuine underlying ability.
If your child is sitting a CEM-format test, prioritise reading widely (fiction, non-fiction, newspapers), regular mental maths practice, and exposure to a variety of reasoning question styles rather than trying to memorise a single approach.
Are there free 11 plus past papers available online?
Some are genuinely free. Kent County Council, King Edward VI Schools in Birmingham, and several other grammar school consortia publish free sample or past papers on their websites. For most areas, however, free resources are limited to brief sample questions, and you will need to purchase practice papers from providers such as GL Assessment or CGP for comprehensive preparation.
Do GL Assessment and CEM release their actual past papers?
No. Both GL Assessment and CEM treat their test papers as proprietary and do not release the exact questions used in previous sittings. GL Assessment does sell official practice papers that match the format and difficulty of its tests. CEM publishes some sample material, but its papers are intentionally varied to reduce the advantage of intensive drilling.
Which schools publish their own 11 plus past papers?
King Edward VI Grammar Schools in Birmingham are among the most transparent, publishing past papers directly on their admissions pages. Some independent schools publish specimen papers. For the majority of grammar schools, particularly those using GL Assessment or CEM, official past papers are not publicly available and you must rely on sample materials and commercial practice resources.
When should my child start using 11 plus past papers?
Most children benefit from beginning timed past paper practice around two to three months before their exam, which typically means from June or July of Year 6 for a September sitting. Before that point, focus on building the underlying skills — reasoning, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and mental arithmetic — so that paper practice is genuinely useful rather than just an exercise in guessing.
Finding the right practice material for the 11 plus is genuinely easier once you know which test format your target school uses. Start with the school's own admissions page, identify whether the test is GL Assessment, CEM, or independently set, and then build a preparation plan around the resources that most closely match what your child will face on the day. A focused, skills-first approach will always serve your child better than simply accumulating papers.
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