What Foundation, Core and CASE actually mean for a 13+ Science paper, and what changes once a target school drops Common Entrance.
Book a Free ConsultationISEB's Common Entrance specification for 13+ Science sets two different paper structures, not one: a single Foundation paper worth 80 marks in 60 minutes, or three separate Core papers in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, each worth 60 marks in 40 minutes. Both routes sit inside Common Entrance itself, sat in Year 8; a CASE scholarship candidate instead takes one 90-minute paper split into three 25-mark sections.
Already know whether your child's target school sets Science as a single Foundation paper or three separate Core papers? Our expert 13+ Science tutors build every programme around the exact paper structure your child will actually sit, not a generic revision pack.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppAt 11+, ISEB's Common Entrance Science is a single combined paper: 80 marks in 60 minutes, testing biology, chemistry and physics "with approximately equal weighting," according to ISEB's own CE/CASE Science specification. At 13+ the same specification splits into two distinct routes, and a family has to know which one their target school actually sets before doing anything else.
The Foundation route is the simpler of the two: one combined paper, again 80 marks in 60 minutes, with "approximately equal numbers of questions based on the 13+ biology, chemistry and physics specifications" in a single sitting.
The Core route is structurally different, not just longer. It is three separate papers – Biology, Chemistry and Physics – each 60 marks and 40 minutes, sat on three different days rather than in one sitting. A pupil preparing for Core is preparing for three separate exam experiences and three separate opportunities to have an off day, not one.
Scholarship candidates sit a third structure again. CASE, the 13+ scholarship exam, is one 90-minute paper divided into three sections – Section A Biology, Section B Chemistry and Section C Physics – each worth 25 marks. It resembles Core in having three subject sections but compresses them into a single sitting rather than three separate ones.
| Route | Structure | Marks / time |
|---|---|---|
| 11+ Common Entrance | One combined paper | 80 marks, 60 minutes |
| 13+ Foundation | One combined paper | 80 marks, 60 minutes |
| 13+ Core | Three separate papers (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) | 60 marks / 40 minutes each |
| 13+ CASE (scholarship) | One paper, three sections (A Biology, B Chemistry, C Physics) | 25 marks / section, 90 minutes total |
Source: ISEB CE/CASE Science specification, retrieved 7 September 2026.
Which tier a candidate sits is usually the school's decision, guided by ISEB's own recommendation – except that, as of 7 September 2026, ISEB publishes two different versions of that recommendation. Its CE/CASE Science specification document, retrieved that day, states plainly: "We recommend that candidates who are expected to achieve less than an average of 35% on the three Core papers consider using the Foundation level paper." ISEB's own live Common Entrance Science assessments page, checked the same day, gives a different number: "We advise schools to consider entering candidates for the Foundation paper if they are expected to achieve less than an average of 40% on the three Core papers." Both are first-party ISEB sources, both were live on 7 September 2026, and neither is marked as superseding the other. We are not going to guess which figure your target school actually applies – confirm the working threshold directly with the school before assuming either one, because a five-point gap in an average mark is exactly the kind of margin that decides whether Foundation or Core is the safer choice for a specific child.
Families comparing 13+ subjects often assume Science, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning sit inside the same exam, at the same time. They do not. Verbal and non-verbal reasoning live entirely inside the ISEB Common Pre-Test, the online adaptive assessment most 13+ families sit at Year 6 or 7 – years before Common Entrance itself, and banked for whichever senior school the family later applies to. Science has never been part of that Pre-Test. It exists only inside Common Entrance, CASE, or a school's own separate paper, sat at the point of 13+ transfer itself, not years earlier. A parent who has already done verbal and non-verbal reasoning at Year 6 still has an entirely separate Science paper ahead of them at Year 8 – our separate guides to 13+ verbal reasoning and 13+ non-verbal reasoning cover that earlier stage in full.
The specification behind every one of these papers – Foundation, Core and CASE alike – is a major 2021 revision of the 2015 syllabus, first taught from September 2021 and first examined from November 2022, according to ISEB's own CE/CASE Science specification document. The 11+ content is explicitly unchanged; only 13+ moved.
A minimum of 25% of the marks in every CE/CASE science paper, at both 11+ and 13+, is based on "Thinking and Working as a Scientist" rather than recalled facts – practical method, evaluating evidence, interpreting data. A pupil who has only memorised the biology, chemistry and physics content is leaving a quarter of the marks unaddressed.
The command-word system ISEB uses is deliberately "compatible with that used by GCSE awarding bodies in England and Wales," so a pupil meeting command words such as describe, explain and evaluate at 13+ meets the same vocabulary again at GCSE, rather than a bespoke set that has to be relearned.
Content within the specification has also moved since the 2021 launch. Chromatography, within the Separating Mixtures topic, only became examinable "from autumn 2024 onwards" – an addition made after the main revision, so an older past paper will not mention it. In the other direction, the light year as a unit of astronomical distance was dropped from the 2021 revision: ISEB's own specification-comparison document confirms the light year "might be used in questions but all necessary information would be given," so a pupil no longer needs to know the conversion by heart.
None of the competing "13+ Science papers" guides we reviewed name a single syllabus topic, a mark-scheme detail, or the 2024 and 2021 changes above – precisely the gap a pupil relying on generic past-paper packs falls into.
Whatever your child's Core Biology, Chemistry and Physics papers cover this cycle, our 13+ Science tutors work directly from ISEB's own specification, including the 25% of marks set aside for Thinking and Working as a Scientist, rather than a one-size revision guide.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppISEB's own Common Entrance overview confirms that 13+ pupils "sit the CE assessment…when they are in Year 8, and there are three examination sessions each year; in November, January and May/June" – all three inside a single academic cycle, not three different year groups. For 2026-27, that cycle runs Autumn 2026, Spring 2027 and Summer 2027, and every child sitting any one of the three is in Year 8 during 2026-27, heading toward the same September 2027 start in Year 9.
In the Autumn 2026 session, ISEB's published exam timetable sets Science Core Biology on Tuesday 3 November 2026, Science Core Chemistry on Wednesday 4 November 2026, and Science Core Physics on Thursday 5 November 2026 – with the single Science Foundation paper offered as an alternative on that same Thursday.
The Spring 2027 session repeats the identical Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday pattern on 26, 27 and 28 January 2027, and the Summer 2027 session repeats it again on 8, 9 and 10 June 2027 – the same three-day Biology-Chemistry-Physics order every time, only the calendar month changes.
The one detail worth being careful with: ISEB reuses the same three session names – Autumn, Spring, Summer – every single year, so the season name on its own tells a family nothing. A school's "Autumn" sitting the following year belongs to an entirely different cycle and a different Year 8 cohort, sat roughly twelve months later. The calendar year attached to the session, not the season name, is what actually pins a date to a child.
Which of the three sessions a candidate sits is set by the target school, not by the family – some schools test in November of Year 8, others wait until January or the final Summer session, and the choice has nothing to do with a child's own readiness.
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Whichever session your child's school schedules, November, January or the Summer round, our 13+ Science tutors work backward from the actual sitting date rather than a vague exam season.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppNot every 13+ school still uses ISEB Common Entrance, and dropping it does not mean every subject disappears in the same way. Mill Hill School and Winchester College both sit outside Common Entrance for 13+ entry, and they give opposite answers on Science specifically.
Mill Hill's own admissions page describes its Stage 1 assessment for the 13+ Entry Pathway as "a computer based test in Maths, English, NVR, VR provided by Quest (formerly Atom)" – with Maths, non-verbal reasoning and verbal reasoning adaptive, and a non-adaptive one-hour-ten-minute English section. Science does not appear anywhere in that list. A family targeting Mill Hill at 13+ is not preparing a Science paper at all, whatever their other target schools require.
Winchester College takes the opposite approach. Its own admissions page states that "all candidates must take Winchester Entrance papers in Maths, English, Science, History and Geography," sat, per the same page, "in the April/May of Year 8." Crucially, Winchester also states that the "prime requirements are Maths and English" – so a Winchester candidate sits a full Science paper that the school itself does not treat as decisive for entry. Preparing for Winchester's Science paper is therefore about arriving competent and unstressed, not about clearing a pass mark that does not formally exist.
Westminster, Tonbridge, Wellington and Harrow each set their own conditions again, and none of them match Mill Hill's or Winchester's pattern exactly – our 13+ tuition guide sets out what each of those schools actually requires, school by school, in its own words.
If your child's target school still uses Common Entrance, Foundation and Core call for genuinely different revision plans. Our 13+ Science tutors will tell you honestly which tier fits your child, rather than defaulting to whichever pack is easiest to teach.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppIt depends on the tier. ISEB's Common Entrance specification sets a single Foundation paper for candidates who need it - one combined test worth 80 marks in 60 minutes - or three separate Core papers instead: Biology, Chemistry and Physics, each worth 60 marks in 40 minutes. A CASE scholarship candidate sits a different structure again: one 90-minute paper split into three 25-mark sections. There is no single "13+ Science exam" - the paper structure itself is the first thing a family needs to establish with their target school.
ISEB itself gives two different answers. Its current science specification document states: "We recommend that candidates who are expected to achieve less than an average of 35% on the three Core papers consider using the Foundation level paper." Its own live assessments page, checked on 7 September 2026, instead says schools should "consider entering candidates for the Foundation paper if they are expected to achieve less than an average of 40% on the three Core papers." Two first-party ISEB sources genuinely disagree, and neither is dated as an update to the other - confirm the actual threshold your target school applies before assuming either figure.
No. Verbal and non-verbal reasoning live entirely inside the ISEB Common Pre-Test - the four-part online assessment (English, mathematics, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning) that most 13+ families sit at Year 6 or 7, one to two years before Common Entrance itself. Science has never been part of that Pre-Test and never appears there. It exists only inside Common Entrance, CASE, or a school's own separate paper. A family assuming their child's Pre-Test result covers Science at 13+ has confused two entirely different assessments, sat at different ages, for different purposes.
ISEB's current specification - a major 2021 revision of the 2015 syllabus, first examined from November 2022 - sets biology, chemistry and physics content with a minimum of 25% of the marks in every paper drawn from "Thinking and Working as a Scientist" rather than recall. The command-word system is deliberately compatible with GCSE awarding bodies in England and Wales, so a 13+ pupil meets the same vocabulary again at GCSE. Content also moves: chromatography within Separating Mixtures became examinable only from autumn 2024, while the light year as a unit of astronomical distance was dropped in the 2021 revision - any necessary detail is now given in the question itself.
No. CASE, the 13+ scholarship route, sets a single 90-minute paper divided into three sections - Section A Biology, Section B Chemistry and Section C Physics - each worth 25 marks. That is a different shape from both Common Entrance routes: Foundation's one 60-minute, 80-mark paper, and Core's three separate 40-minute, 60-mark papers. A pupil preparing for a scholarship assessment is preparing for a genuinely different exam structure, not a harder version of Core.
All three sit within the same 2026-27 Common Entrance cycle - the label a family needs to watch, because ISEB reuses the same three session names every year. In the Autumn 2026 session, Biology falls on Tuesday 3 November, Chemistry on Wednesday 4 November and Physics on Thursday 5 November, with the single Foundation paper offered as an alternative on that Thursday. The Spring 2027 session repeats the same Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday pattern on 26, 27 and 28 January 2027, and Summer 2027 repeats it again on 8, 9 and 10 June 2027. Whichever session a target school schedules, the child sitting it is in Year 8 of the 2026-27 school year, aiming for a Year 9 place in September 2027.
No - Mill Hill and Winchester show two opposite answers. Mill Hill's Stage 1 assessment for 13+ entry is "a computer based test in Maths, English, NVR, VR," with no Science component at all. Winchester, by contrast, still requires "Maths, English, Science, History and Geography" from every candidate, even though the school states plainly that the "prime requirements are Maths and English" and entry is not dependent on the results. There is no single rule for schools that have moved away from Common Entrance - each school's own admissions page is the only reliable source, and it is worth checking before assuming either pattern applies.
Yes, in a different way. Where a school has dropped Science entirely, as Mill Hill has, our 13+ tutors redirect preparation time toward the papers that school actually sets - Maths, English and reasoning - rather than a subject that will never be examined. Where a school still sets its own Science paper without it deciding entry, as at Winchester, our 13+ Science tutors prepare a child to sit it competently and without unnecessary pressure, working from ISEB's own specification content even where the exam board is not ISEB. Either way, preparation follows the actual paper your child will sit, not a generic 13+ Science course.
Whether your child faces Foundation's single paper, Core's three separate papers, or a school-specific requirement like Winchester's, our expert 13+ Science tutors build a plan around the exam your child will actually sit.
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