13+ English: Tested Twice (2027 Entry)

ISEB tests 13+ English more than once, and the two sittings test different things. Most families first meet it inside the Common Pre-Test, usually sat in Year 6 or Year 7, which covers reading comprehension and grammar only – no writing task at all. Common Entrance English then reappears in Year 8, as two separate papers, Reading and Writing, that do test composition. A strong Pre-Test score has not yet tested a single piece of extended writing.

Why 13+ English Is Tested Twice, Years Apart

English is not the only 13+ subject sat more than once, but the gap between its two sittings is the one families most often misread. ISEB's own Common Pre-Test assessments page confirms the test "include[s] four subjects covering mathematics, English (reading comprehension and grammar), verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning" – English and mathematics are the only two subjects that appear in both the Pre-Test, usually sat in Year 6 or Year 7, and Common Entrance itself, sat in Year 8. Science, though compulsory at Common Entrance, is not part of the Pre-Test at all; French and the other languages remain optional at Common Entrance and never appear in the Pre-Test either – our separate 13+ French guide sets out that optional landscape in full.

The overlap between the two English sittings is smaller than the shared subject name suggests. The Pre-Test's English component tests reading comprehension and grammar only – there is no writing or composition task anywhere in it, at any point. Common Entrance English, arriving up to two full academic years later, adds an entire Writing paper the Pre-Test never touches, on top of a Reading paper that goes well beyond the Pre-Test's comprehension format. A child who scored well on the Pre-Test's English component in Year 6 has not yet been tested on a single piece of extended writing for 13+ purposes.

The practical consequence is timing. Pre-Test preparation that stops the moment the test is banked leaves the Writing paper - two fifths of the Common Entrance English marks - entirely unpractised until Year 8, often with less runway than a family assumes because the result already "felt done." Our separate ISEB Pre-Test guide covers that earlier stage, including the 2026-27 testing window, in full.

Foundation or Core Reading: What Actually Differs

Every 13+ candidate sits a Reading paper, but not the same one. ISEB's CE/CASE English specification sets two tiers, and the difference is the material tested, not the timing: "Foundation Reading. This paper assesses understanding of an unseen prose passage," while "Core Reading... assesses understanding of an unseen text, which may be prose, poetry or drama." A Core candidate can be handed an unseen poem or a play extract; a Foundation candidate never will be.

Both papers carry identical marks and timing – 50 marks, 1 hour 10 minutes – split across the same three sections. Section A is 15 marks of multiple-choice questions (eight of them, per ISEB's specification). Section B carries 25 marks of graded-difficulty questions moving from straightforward retrieval to inference and the effects of language. Section C is a single 10-mark extended response, which ISEB says "should be clearly structured and developed across three paragraphs of argument, using a model such as the Point Explanation Evidence Analysis model" – PEEA, in practice, is a rehearsable structure rather than a mystery.

ISEB sets no reading list and no set text for either Reading tier. Its own specification states plainly that "schools are encouraged to teach reading skills through the study of whole class texts," but confirms that, "to give schools full flexibility... there is no set text requirement" – whatever a school teaches in class, the exam passage itself will always be one the candidate has not seen before. The Common Entrance exam guide sets out where these marks sit against the other 13+ subjects, if English is one of several papers your child faces this cycle.

The Writing Paper: Two Pieces, Not One

Every 13+ candidate, Foundation or Core, sits the identical Writing paper: 50 marks in 1 hour 15 minutes. The structure catches families out more often than the timing does. ISEB's specification requires candidates to "choose TWO options from a choice of four, which may include: narrative writing; a descriptive piece or report on a journey, event or person; a persuasive speech; a letter discussing an issue and making recommendations to the reader." That is two complete pieces of writing, planned and executed inside one sitting – not one longer piece on a single title. A guide that describes the paper as a single sitting built around one choice of essay title is describing a different exam to the one ISEB actually sets.

The marks split unevenly between two different skills. Response, worth 30 of the 50 marks, covers "clear use of prompts," "effective organisation and structuring of ideas," and "appropriate use of perspective, voice and register" – in short, whether the piece does the job the chosen option asked for. Language, worth the remaining 20, covers spelling, sentence punctuation, "variety of sentence structures," and "use of expression and vocabulary." Three fifths of the paper rewards content and structure; two fifths rewards technical control, and a child who plans two ambitious pieces but rushes the mechanics is leaving marks on the table in the smaller but still substantial second category.

Because the paper asks for two separate pieces rather than one, time management inside the hour and fifteen minutes matters as much as the writing itself – a candidate who spends the majority of the sitting perfecting a single piece has left no real time for the second, whatever the quality of the first.

What ISEB's Own Mark Scheme Says a Strong Answer Looks Like

Knowing the mark totals does not tell a family what separates a strong script from an average one; ISEB's published band descriptors do. For Ideas, structure, form and voice – worth up to 15 marks on each Writing task – the highest band, 14-15, calls for "precise and imaginative use of prompts," work "structured masterfully to achieve appropriate effects," and "sustained use of an appropriate register." That is a considerably higher bar than simply answering the prompt: the top band expects deliberate control of structure and voice, not just relevant content.

For spelling, punctuation and expression – worth up to 10 marks per task – the top band, 9-10, requires spelling that is "nearly always accurate," "a full range of sentence punctuation... employed accurately to clarify and inform meaning," "a full range of sentence structures... used effectively, to enhance meaning," and "use of an appropriate tense... sustained throughout." A script with strong ideas but inconsistent tense control, or punctuation used decoratively rather than to clarify meaning, is capped below this band regardless of how imaginative the content is.

The same principle applies on the Reading paper's Section C extended response, where ISEB recommends the Point, Explanation, Evidence, Analysis model – a structure "developed across three paragraphs of argument" rather than a single unstructured answer. A child who can name a technique but cannot develop the point, explanation, evidence and analysis across three distinct paragraphs is working with the right knowledge in the wrong shape.

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Is CASE English Just a Harder Common Entrance Paper?

No – it is a different structure, not a harder version of the same one. Common Entrance splits English into two separate papers, Reading and Writing, marked separately and sat on different days. CASE English, ISEB's scholarship route at 13+, is a single paper instead: 100 marks in 1 hour 45 minutes, responding to "two or more unseen passages," with, per ISEB's own specification, "no set texts" – drawn from any genre or period, exactly as with standard Common Entrance Reading.

The combination is what actually changes the preparation. CASE brings reading response and expressive writing together inside one paper and one sitting, where Common Entrance keeps them apart as separately marked, separately timed papers. A candidate who has only practised Common Entrance's format – one passage, one Reading paper, then a wholly separate Writing paper on a different day – has not practised moving between analysis and original composition inside a single two-hour-plus sitting, which is what CASE actually demands.

Because CASE is a scholarship assessment rather than a pass/fail entry requirement, the standard expected is also simply higher across the same skills Common Entrance tests – there is no separate CASE-only syllabus to learn, only a harder application of the reading and writing skills both routes share.

When the 2026-27 English Papers Are Actually Sat

Across all three Common Entrance sessions in the 2026-27 cycle, English Reading is sat the day before English Writing, and the pattern repeats identically each time. In the Autumn 2026 session, Reading falls on Tuesday 3 November 2026, with Writing the following day, Wednesday 4 November 2026. Spring 2027 repeats the same Tuesday-then-Wednesday pattern on 26 and 27 January 2027, and Summer 2027 repeats it again on 8 and 9 June 2027. Whichever session a target school schedules, the candidate sitting it is in Year 8 of the 2026-27 school year, aiming for a Year 9 place in September 2027.

CASE English runs on a genuinely different calendar. Rather than Common Entrance's three sessions a year, CASE at 13+ offers two: Monday 22 February 2027 and Tuesday 4 May 2027, both sat from 14.15 to 16.00. A family preparing for a scholarship place needs to work to this separate February-and-May calendar, not the November-January-June pattern that governs standard Common Entrance entry.

The Common Entrance exam guide sets out the marks distribution and timetable structure for every other 13+ subject alongside English, if your child is sitting more than one paper this cycle.

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