Two papers, age-standardised scoring, qualifying score 121 — everything parents need to understand the Bucks STT format
Book a Free ConsultationThe Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT) is the entrance test for all 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools. Administered by GL Assessment on behalf of The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools (TBGS), it consists of two papers sat on the same morning. Paper 1 covers verbal skills and is worth 50% of the combined score. Paper 2 covers maths (25%) and non-verbal reasoning (25%). All answers are multiple-choice. Scores are age-standardised, and the qualifying threshold is 121. This guide covers every component of the test in detail, explains how scores are calculated, and outlines what effective preparation looks like for each section.
The STT is designed to assess three broad cognitive areas: verbal ability, mathematical ability, and abstract/spatial reasoning. These map onto the two papers as follows:
| Paper | Components | Duration | Score weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 — Verbal | English comprehension + Technical English + Verbal reasoning | ~60 min | 50% |
| Paper 2 — Maths | Mathematics (KS2 problem-solving) | ~60 min (shared) | 25% |
| Paper 2 — NVR | Non-verbal reasoning (abstract patterns) | ~60 min (shared) | 25% |
Both papers are taken on the same morning, in the child's own primary school (for Buckinghamshire state primary pupils), with a short break between the two papers. All questions are multiple-choice — there is no written work, no open answers, and no mental arithmetic that requires working to be shown. Answers are marked by machine. This means that pacing, question-type recognition, and not spending too long on any single question are key skills.
Paper 1 is the highest-weighted paper and the one that most differentiates well-prepared from unprepared children. It covers three distinct components within a single paper, typically in the order: comprehension, technical English, then verbal reasoning. Each component has a different character and requires different preparation.
Students read an unseen passage — typically 400–600 words — and answer multiple-choice questions. The passage is usually either a narrative extract (fiction or memoir) or a structured non-fiction piece. Questions test inference (what can you deduce from the text?), vocabulary in context (what does this word mean in this sentence?), author's purpose and technique, and literal retrieval. Questions are designed so the answer cannot be found by simple keyword-matching — the child must understand what the passage is saying.
The best preparation for comprehension is sustained reading. Children who read widely — a mix of fiction, non-fiction, and age-appropriate quality journalism — build the vocabulary range and reading stamina that makes an unseen passage manageable. In preparation sessions, it is worth working through comprehension questions explicitly, discussing why an incorrect answer is wrong (often because it misreads inference or changes a detail) and building the habit of referring back to the text rather than answering from memory.
Technical English tests grammatical and punctuation knowledge through multiple-choice questions. Typical question types include: identifying which of four sentences is correctly punctuated, identifying which sentence contains a grammatical error, selecting the correct word form (e.g., between "lay" and "lie", "fewer" and "less", or the correct tense), identifying the type of clause or phrase, and completing sentences with the correct conjunction or preposition.
This section is consistently the most underestimated component of the STT. Primary school teachers and parents often assume that children who read and write well will naturally score well on technical English — but this is not reliable. A child who writes fluently may have never explicitly learned what a subordinate clause is, what distinguishes a semicolon from a comma, or when "who" vs "whom" is correct. These are learnable conventions, but they must be explicitly taught.
Targeted preparation for technical English should cover: clause types (main, subordinate, relative), punctuation rules (commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, speech marks), verb tenses (simple, continuous, perfect), word classes (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, conjunction, preposition), and common grammatical errors tested in the GL Assessment style (run-on sentences, incorrect pronoun case, subject-verb disagreement). Children who work through GL Assessment-style technical English exercises from Year 4 or 5 consistently outperform those who have not.
Verbal reasoning uses a set of consistent GL Assessment question formats. Unlike comprehension, where general intelligence and reading experience are decisive, verbal reasoning formats are fully learnable — a child who has been explicitly taught each format and has practised them systematically will outperform a child who has only guessed their way through past papers, even if the latter is naturally bright.
The most common verbal reasoning formats in the Bucks STT include:
Each format has its own strategy. Teaching a child to recognise the format type first — before attempting the answer — dramatically reduces errors and improves speed. Children who have worked through every GL Assessment verbal reasoning format explicitly, including less common types, are well-placed to score strongly on this section.
Struggling with the verbal skills paper?
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The maths section of Paper 2 covers the KS2 national curriculum, but with a problem-solving emphasis that goes beyond straightforward calculation. Most questions require several steps to reach the answer, and the question is presented as a word problem rather than a bare calculation. Common topics include:
The decisive factor in maths performance under exam conditions is timed fluency — the ability to work accurately at speed. Children who know the topics but have never practised in timed conditions often run out of time on the maths section. The solution is progressive timed practice: start with untimed topic work to build accuracy, then introduce time pressure gradually, eventually doing full-paper mock conditions regularly from Year 6 term 1.
A specific note on problem-solving language: many children who can do the arithmetic struggle with multi-step word problems because they lose track of what is being asked or misread a key word. Practising the skill of identifying exactly what is being asked before starting the calculation — and checking the answer makes sense — reduces avoidable errors significantly.
Non-verbal reasoning tests spatial awareness and abstract logic without using words or numbers. Every question presents shapes, patterns, or sequences, and the child must identify the rule and apply it. Common formats include:
Non-verbal reasoning is the section where children show the most variable natural aptitude — some children find it very intuitive and others find it genuinely difficult. The good news is that the formats are consistent and learnable. A child who has worked through all GL Assessment NVR question types systematically — including the less common 3D folding and cube net questions — will perform significantly better than an unprepared child with equivalent natural spatial ability. There is no substitute for deliberate practice with the specific GL Assessment format.
After the test, GL Assessment applies age standardisation before scores are reported. Here is how it works in practice:
Step 1: Raw marks are counted for each paper (number of questions answered correctly out of the total). Step 2: Each child's raw marks are compared against the performance of all children of the same age (in years and months) who sat the test as part of GL Assessment's standardisation sample. Step 3: A standardised score is calculated that expresses where the child falls in the distribution for their age group, not across all children. A standardised score of 100 represents average performance for the child's exact age. Scores above 100 indicate above-average performance; the maximum is typically around 140–141.
Step 4: The standardised scores from Paper 1 (weighted 50%) and Paper 2 (weighted 25% + 25%) are combined into the Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS). Step 5: Children with an STTS of 121 or above are considered to have achieved the qualifying standard. The result letter sent to parents in October states whether the child has achieved the qualifying standard and, if so, what their STTS is.
The key implication for preparation: because scores are age-standardised, summer-born children (July and August birthdays) are not at a disadvantage in the final score compared to autumn-born children — the standardisation compensates. However, summer-born children who have had less time to develop maturity and concentration may still benefit from slightly more preparation time as they approach the September test.
These dates apply to the 2026 test for Year 7 entry in September 2027:
After receiving results on 9 October, families have three weeks to submit the common application form. The form is submitted to the home local authority (not to the grammar school directly). Families list up to six school preferences in order, including both grammar and non-grammar schools. The order of preferences matters: admissions authorities see only whether the child is eligible for a place and where they fall in the oversubscription criteria, not the preference number — but if a child qualifies for both their first and second preference, they receive an offer from the first preference only.
For an overview of all 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools, catchment areas, and how to choose between them, see our Buckinghamshire grammar schools guide 2026. For individual school guides covering specific catchments, places, and what makes each school distinctive, see our guides for Aylesbury Grammar School, Royal Latin School, Burnham Grammar School, and Sir William Borlase's Grammar School. Our complete grammar school preparation guide covers how to structure preparation from Year 4 through to offer day.
The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test consists of two papers. Paper 1 covers verbal skills — English comprehension, technical English (grammar and punctuation), and verbal reasoning — and is worth 50% of the total score. Paper 2 covers maths (25%) and non-verbal reasoning (25%). Both papers are multiple-choice, each approximately 60 minutes, sat on the same morning with a short break. All scores are age-standardised to remove the advantage of older children. The test is administered by GL Assessment on behalf of The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools (TBGS).
The qualifying score for the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test is 121. This is an age-standardised score — not a raw mark — meaning a child who scores the same raw marks as an older child will receive a higher standardised score if they are younger. Approximately 37% of children who sit the test each year achieve 121 or above, making roughly 3,500 qualifying children competing for around 1,900 grammar school places across the 13 schools.
Technical English is one of the three sections within Paper 1 of the Buckinghamshire STT. It tests knowledge of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure through multiple-choice questions — for example, choosing the correctly punctuated sentence, identifying the grammatically incorrect sentence, or selecting the right word form. Technical English is the section most often cited as the unexpected difficulty: it is not tested in KS2 SATs and is not routinely covered by primary schools. Children who prepare specifically for technical English — using GL Assessment-style materials — typically score significantly higher on this section than unprepared children.
Children answer multiple-choice questions in both papers. Raw marks from Paper 1 are combined with a weighting of 50%, and raw marks from Paper 2 are split 25% maths and 25% non-verbal reasoning. These combined raw marks are then converted to age-standardised scores using GL Assessment's national standardisation tables, which account for the child's exact age in years and months on the day of the test. The resulting standardised scores are then combined to produce the final Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS). Children with a STTS of 121 or above are eligible to apply to Buckinghamshire grammar schools.
The 2026 Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test dates are: practice test on Tuesday 8 September 2026 and the main test on Thursday 10 September 2026. The practice test is purely for familiarisation — it does not count toward the final score. Results are emailed to parents on Thursday 9 October 2026. Families must submit the common application form by Saturday 31 October 2026. Registration for children not at a Buckinghamshire state primary school must be completed manually between 1 May and 2 June 2026.
The verbal reasoning section of the Buckinghamshire STT uses GL Assessment question types including: word codes (if 'CAT' encodes as '312', what does 'DOG' encode as?); letter analogies; missing letters in sequences; word analogies; compound word identification; and related letter/number pattern questions. These formats are consistent year to year and are fully learnable with deliberate practice. Unlike comprehension, which requires a broad reading background, verbal reasoning formats can be mastered systematically in 12–18 months of targeted preparation.
Leading Tuition covers all three verbal components, maths, and NVR for the Bucks STT — including the technical English section most primary schools never teach. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot.
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