A month-by-month, term-by-term Quest Assessment plan for Year 4 and Year 5 — weekly practice hours, registration windows and test-date patterns by school type
Book a Free ConsultationMost Quest Assessment advice online tells parents to "start early" without saying what that actually means term by term. This guide is different: it lays out a concrete, term-by-term Quest preparation plan spanning Year 4 through Year 5, with recommended weekly practice hours, the registration and test-date patterns for the three main types of Quest-using school (independent day schools, the Bexley grammar consortium, and the London Consortium), and the specific reasons the adaptive Quest format changes how a timeline should be built compared with a standard paper-based 11+ plan. If your child is targeting Dulwich College, City of London School for Girls, Forest School, a London Consortium school, or one of the Bexley grammars, this is the planning layer that sits underneath the section-by-section guides.
For a full breakdown of what each Quest section actually tests, see our Quest Assessment Part 1 guide (English, Maths, VR, NVR) and our Quest Assessment Part 2 guide (Creative Comprehension, Puzzles and Problem Solving, and school-set Creative Writing). This page focuses purely on when to do what — the planning and pacing layer, not the content of each section.
A general 11 plus preparation timeline (see our 11 Plus Preparation Timeline: Year 4 to Year 6 for GL Assessment and CEM-style grammar school tests) is built around fixed-difficulty paper exams where every child sees the same questions. Quest Assessment is different in three ways that change the shape of a sensible timeline. First, the Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning sections are adaptive: the platform routes your child to harder questions the moment they answer correctly, so early questions matter disproportionately and genuine depth of understanding matters more than volume of past-paper drilling. Second, Quest content draws on National Curriculum material up to approximately Year 5 level, which means a child sitting the test in September or October of Year 6 is effectively being assessed on material they should have substantially finished by the end of the Year 5 summer term — not material still being taught in the first weeks of Year 6. Third, registration and test dates are set independently by each school rather than by a single regional authority, so the timeline has to flex around three genuinely different school-type patterns rather than one fixed national date.
These three factors mean a Quest-specific timeline should front-load Non-Verbal Reasoning and adaptive pacing practice earlier than a standard 11 plus plan would, and should treat the Year 5 summer term — not the Year 6 autumn term — as the point by which most content needs to be secure.
For most families targeting Quest-using independent schools, structured preparation should begin in the autumn or spring term of Year 5 — roughly 12 to 18 months before a September or October Year 6 test. Year 4 is not too early for light, low-pressure exposure, particularly to Non-Verbal Reasoning, which does not appear anywhere in the National Curriculum and rewards early, unhurried familiarity far more than most other Quest content. But Year 4 should stay exploratory. Children who begin drilling full timed sections 24 months before the actual test consistently show declining motivation well before exam day — think of Year 4 as the familiarisation phase and Year 5 as the systematic phase, not as two years of the same intensity.
Families targeting the most selective Quest schools — where competitive candidates typically need Standardised Age Scores of 115–130 or higher — benefit from beginning systematic Maths and reasoning coverage no later than September of Year 5. Because the adaptive sections expose the ceiling of your child's preparation quickly, a child who has built genuine depth by early Year 5 has far more runway to demonstrate that depth than one who starts drilling only in the summer before Year 6.
Autumn term (September–December): No formal Quest-style practice. The highest-value activity at this stage is daily independent reading — 20 to 30 minutes across fiction and non-fiction — which builds the vocabulary range and comprehension stamina that the English section and the word-based Verbal Reasoning questions both depend on later. There is no meaningful return on formal test practice at this stage; the return on reading habits compounds over the following two years.
Spring term (January–April): Introduce Non-Verbal Reasoning informally, through puzzle books and pattern-spotting games rather than timed sections. Because NVR tests innate pattern recognition rather than curriculum knowledge, treating it as a game at this age builds comfort without creating pressure. This is also a good point to note, informally, which Maths topics (fractions, angles, data handling, ratio) are appearing in your child's schoolwork ahead of or behind the pace Quest schools will eventually expect.
Summer term (May–July): Light, weekly 30–45 minute sessions combining VR word puzzles, NVR pattern work and mental Maths games. Everything at this stage should be framed as play, not preparation for a test. The goal for the whole of Year 4 is familiarity and enjoyment, not performance — intensive Year 4 preparation is one of the most common single causes of burnout well before the Year 6 test actually arrives.
Year 5 is where preparation becomes systematic. The table below sets out the recommended focus, weekly practice hours and practice type for each term of Year 4 and Year 5, plus the six-week summer holiday before Year 6 — the single most useful reference point on this page if you want the whole plan at a glance.
| Term | Priority Focus | Weekly Hours | Practice Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 4 Autumn | Daily reading only | 0 (reading habit, not formal practice) | 20–30 min daily independent reading |
| Year 4 Spring | Informal NVR exposure | 0.5–1 hr | Puzzle books, pattern games (untimed) |
| Year 4 Summer | VR, NVR and mental Maths as games | 0.5–1 hr | Weekly informal sessions, no timing |
| Year 5 Autumn | Systematic Maths, VR, NVR, English coverage | 1–1.5 hrs | 1–2 structured sessions, question-type practice |
| Year 5 Spring | Timed section practice, pacing | 1.5–2 hrs | 5–15 min timed bursts per section |
| Year 5 Summer | Full Quest-format mock sections, weak-point review | 2–2.5 hrs | 1 full timed section per week + review |
| Summer Holiday (pre–Year 6) | Full mocks, adaptive pacing, consolidation | 3–4 hrs | 2 structured sessions/week incl. 1 full mock |
Concretely, that means: Autumn term of Year 5 (September–December) — establish a weekly routine of one to two 45–60 minute sessions covering Maths topics through Year 5 level, systematic Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning question types one at a time, and English comprehension and SPAG. Spring term (January–April) — introduce short timed bursts, starting at 5 minutes and building to 15 minutes per section, to build pacing awareness; this matters more for Quest than for a standard 11 plus paper because the adaptive Maths, VR and NVR sections punish a slow, hesitant start far more than a fixed-difficulty test does. Summer term (May–July) — begin full-length, timed Quest-format mock sections and use the results diagnostically to identify which sections need the most attention over the summer holidays before Year 6.
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Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppAs a rough guide, drawn from the table above: Year 4 autumn term needs no formal hours beyond daily reading; Year 4 spring and summer terms, roughly 30–45 minutes once or twice a week, entirely game-based; Year 5 autumn term, 1 to 1.5 hours a week across one or two sessions; Year 5 spring term, 1.5 to 2 hours a week as timed practice is introduced; Year 5 summer term, 2 to 2.5 hours a week including at least one full Quest-format timed section; and the six-week summer holiday before Year 6, 3 to 4 hours a week split across two structured sessions.
These figures assume a child on track for a moderately selective Quest school. Children targeting the most competitive schools — where a Standardised Age Score of 120 or above is realistically needed — often add an extra 30–60 minutes a week from Year 5 spring term onwards, concentrated specifically on the adaptive Maths and reasoning sections, where the ceiling effect of the algorithm rewards genuine depth over volume. Quality of review matters as much as hours logged: a child who completes three timed sections a week with careful, question-by-question error analysis will out-improve a child doing six sections a week without reviewing what went wrong.
Registration and test-date timing varies meaningfully by school type, and this is one of the most commonly misunderstood parts of Quest planning — families often assume all Quest schools follow one shared calendar, when in fact each school (or consortium) sets its own.
| School Type | Typical Registration Window | Typical Test Window | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent day schools (Dulwich, CLSG, Forest, Whitgift, Trinity Croydon, etc.) | Spring–summer term, Year 5 | September–early October, Year 6 | Online, adaptive Part 1 (+ Part 2 for some) |
| Bexley grammar consortium (4 schools) | Summer term, Year 5 | September, Year 6 | Paper-based, fixed-difficulty Quest |
| London Consortium (14 girls' schools) | Autumn term, Year 6 (centralised) | Many members: January, Year 6 | Online, ~100 min shared assessment |
Because exact dates are confirmed independently by each school and can shift from year to year, always verify the current registration window and test date directly with each target school's admissions office before finalising your preparation timeline — treat the ranges above as planning guidance, not a substitute for checking the school's own admissions page.
The Bexley grammar consortium — Bexley Grammar School, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, Townley Grammar School and Beths Grammar School — uses a paper-based, fixed-difficulty version of Quest rather than the adaptive online Part 1 used by independent schools. Because there is no adaptive ceiling effect, Bexley-focused families can weight their final six months slightly more towards timed, paper-based practice and slightly less towards the online pacing drills that matter so much for adaptive sections. See our Quest Assessment vs ISEB Common Pre-Test comparison for how the paper-based and adaptive formats differ in more depth.
Most independent day schools use the adaptive online Part 1 (and sometimes Part 2), tested in September or early October of Year 6 — the tightest turnaround of the three school types, since there are typically only two to four weeks between the start of Year 6 and the test itself. This is precisely why the Year 5 summer term matters so much for this group: there is very little runway once Year 6 begins.
The London Consortium's later, often January, test date gives families an extra term of Year 6 preparation time compared with the September-testing independent schools — but the Consortium's Creative Comprehension component is also the most distinctive and demanding element of any Quest configuration, so that additional time is generally best spent on multi-source comprehension practice specifically, not simply extending the standard Part 1 plan. See our Quest Assessment Part 2 guide for a full breakdown of Creative Comprehension preparation.
The summer holiday between Year 5 and Year 6 is one of the most important windows in the whole Quest timeline, particularly for the independent day schools testing in September of Year 6, where the gap between the start of term and the test itself can be as little as two to three weeks. Families who use this period well consistently arrive at the test noticeably steadier on pacing than those who either stop entirely or push too hard.
The most effective approach: two structured sessions a week (not daily drilling), including at least one full timed Quest-format mock section per week by August, continued daily reading throughout, and dedicated pacing work on the adaptive VR and NVR sections specifically, since these are the most time-sensitive elements of the whole assessment. Families supported by Leading Tuition who maintain this two-session summer rhythm typically arrive in September with noticeably steadier pacing on the adaptive sections than families who stop preparation entirely over the holidays, or who switch to daily intensive sessions — which tends to produce fatigue rather than improvement in the final fortnight before the test.
Three signals suggest a Quest preparation timeline needs adjusting. First, if by the spring term of Year 5 your child has had no exposure at all to Non-Verbal Reasoning, this is worth addressing promptly — NVR is the section most children find genuinely unfamiliar, and a late start compresses what should be a gradual, low-pressure introduction into a rushed one. Second, if by the summer term of Year 5 your child has not yet completed a single timed practice section in any Quest subject, pacing awareness (knowing how long 60–75 seconds actually feels like inside a VR question) will need to be built quickly rather than gradually, which is a harder and more stressful process. Third, if a diagnostic run under real Quest-adaptive conditions in early Year 5 shows your child is answering early questions incorrectly and therefore never reaching harder material, this needs targeted attention immediately — because of the adaptive design, a shaky start genuinely limits how much of your child's ability the test can measure, regardless of how strong their later performance might have been.
If your child is starting later than this timeline suggests — for example, beginning structured preparation only in the autumn of Year 6 — a focused, well-structured three-to-six month programme concentrated on the adaptive sections and pacing is still genuinely effective; it simply compresses the Year 5 stages above into a shorter, more intensive window rather than skipping them. For families also preparing for the ISEB Common Pre-Test for 13+ entry, much of the Year 5–6 groundwork — particularly adaptive-format pacing and NVR — can be usefully integrated across both tests; see our Quest Assessment Part 1 guide for more on the overlap. For guidance on the score your child should be aiming for at each stage, see our Quest Assessment scoring guide.
For most families targeting Quest-using independent schools, structured preparation should begin in the autumn or spring term of Year 5, roughly 12 to 18 months before a September or October Year 6 test. Year 4 is not too early for light, low-pressure exposure — particularly Non-Verbal Reasoning, which is not taught in the National Curriculum and rewards early familiarity. However, Year 4 should stay exploratory rather than intensive: children who drill full timed papers 24 months out from the exam typically show declining motivation by the time the real test arrives. Families targeting the most selective Quest schools (Dulwich College, City of London School for Girls, The Perse) benefit from beginning systematic Maths and Verbal Reasoning coverage no later than September of Year 5, since the adaptive sections reward genuine depth rather than last-minute drilling.
Year 4 should be split into three light phases. Autumn term (September–December): daily reading for 20–30 minutes and no formal Quest-style practice — focus on vocabulary and comprehension through varied books. Spring term (January–April): introduce Non-Verbal Reasoning informally through puzzle books and pattern games, since NVR is not covered in school and benefits from an early, unpressured start; also begin noting any Maths topics (fractions, angles, data handling) that appear ahead of the school curriculum. Summer term (May–July): light, weekly 30–45 minute sessions combining VR word puzzles, NVR pattern work and mental Maths, framed entirely as games rather than tests. The goal across all three terms is familiarity and enjoyment, not performance — intensive Year 4 preparation is one of the most common causes of burnout before the actual Year 6 test.
Year 5 is when structured, systematic preparation begins. Autumn term (September–December): establish a weekly routine of one to two 45–60 minute sessions covering Maths topics through Year 5 level, systematic Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning question types, and English comprehension and SPAG. Spring term (January–April): introduce short timed bursts (5–15 minutes) for each Quest section to build pacing awareness, since the adaptive Maths, VR and NVR sections punish slow starts more than a standard paper-based 11+ test. Summer term (May–July): begin full-length, timed Quest-format mock sections and address any weak spots identified from timed practice, so that by July your child has a clear picture of which sections need the most attention over the summer holidays before Year 6.
As a guide: Year 4 autumn term needs no formal hours beyond daily reading; Year 4 spring and summer terms, roughly 30–45 minutes once or twice a week; Year 5 autumn term, 1 to 1.5 hours a week across one or two sessions; Year 5 spring term, 1.5 to 2 hours a week as timed practice is introduced; Year 5 summer term, 2 to 2.5 hours a week including at least one full Quest-format timed section; and the six-week summer holiday before Year 6, 3 to 4 hours a week split across two structured sessions. These figures assume a child on track for a mid-to-high SAS range at a moderately selective Quest school — children targeting the most competitive schools (SAS 120+) often add 30–60 minutes a week from Year 5 spring term onwards, concentrated on the adaptive Maths and reasoning sections where the ceiling effect rewards depth.
Registration timing varies by school type. Most Quest independent day schools (Dulwich College, City of London School for Girls, Forest School, Whitgift, Trinity Croydon and similar) open registration in the spring or summer term of Year 5 and hold their Quest Part 1 test in September or early October of Year 6. The Bexley grammar consortium (Bexley Grammar, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar, Townley Grammar and Beths Grammar) typically opens registration in the summer term of Year 5 for a paper-based Quest test sat in September of Year 6. The London Consortium of 14 independent girls' schools registers centrally and many member schools hold their shared Quest-built assessment in January of Year 6, later than the independent day-school norm. Because exact dates are set independently by each school and can shift year on year, always confirm the current registration window directly with each target school's admissions office before finalising your preparation timeline.
The summer holiday between Year 5 and Year 6 is one of the most important windows in the whole timeline, particularly for schools testing in September of Year 6, when the gap between the start of term and the test itself can be as little as two to three weeks. The most effective approach is two structured sessions a week (not daily drilling), including at least one full timed Quest-format mock per week by August, continued daily reading, and dedicated NVR and VR pacing work since these adaptive sections are the most time-sensitive. Families supported by Leading Tuition who maintain this two-session summer rhythm typically arrive in September with noticeably steadier pacing on the adaptive sections than those who stop preparation entirely over the holidays or who switch to daily intensive sessions, which tends to produce fatigue rather than improvement in the final fortnight.
Leading Tuition builds individual Quest Assessment preparation timelines matched to each child's target schools, current ability and start date, delivered by specialist tutors who understand the adaptive Maths, VR and NVR format alongside the non-adaptive English section. We run an adaptive-format diagnostic at the start of Year 5 (or on request in Year 4) to establish a genuine baseline under Quest-realistic conditions, then build a term-by-term plan covering all four sections at a sustainable weekly pace. Programmes are tailored to each school's specific Quest configuration, including Bexley's paper-based format and the London Consortium's extended Creative Comprehension test. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. Book a free consultation at leadingtuition.co.uk/consultation or message us on WhatsApp to discuss where your child currently is in their preparation.
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Leading Tuition builds individual, term-by-term Quest Assessment preparation plans matched to your child's target schools and current level. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot.
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