11+ tutoring, without the hype
The 11+ is a high-stakes exam wrapped in a lot of noise, and most of what a worried parent reads online is written to sell something. This page is not. Here is what the exam actually is, when it is really sat, what "too late" honestly means, and how to choose a tutor who is worth the money.
Tutorwise is a new platform and we are still building our tutor base — so browse before you commit to anything, and read the section below before you book anyone, here or elsewhere.
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There is no single "11+ exam"
This is the first thing to get right, because it decides everything else — what to practise, and which tutor is actually useful to you.
GL Assessment
The most widely used 11+ provider. Papers are drawn from a bank covering English, Maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning — though which of those four your child sits depends entirely on the school.
School or consortium papers
Many grammars and independent schools set their own papers, or share one across a local consortium. Format, timing and content vary far more than parents expect — a Sutton paper is not a Kent paper.
ISEB Common Pre-Test
Used by many independent senior schools as a first filter, usually taken on a computer and adaptive — questions get harder as your child gets them right. Often sat in Year 6 or Year 7, ahead of a school interview.
A note on CEM
If someone offers you "CEM prep", ask when they last checked
For years the 11+ was described as a straight choice between two boards, GL and CEM, and CEM had a reputation for being harder to coach. CEM has since been withdrawn as an 11+ provider, and the areas that used it have moved to GL or to their own papers.
A lot of 11+ advice online — and a fair number of tutors, and a great many revision books still on sale — has not caught up. That is a useful test in itself. Anyone selling you CEM-specific preparation for an exam your child is sitting now is working from an out-of-date picture of the exam.
The only source that is ever authoritative is the school. Formats, dates and registration deadlines change year to year, so before you plan anything, read the current admissions page for each school on your list. If this page and the school disagree, the school is right.
The timeline
The 11+ is sat earlier than most parents realise
This is the mistake we see most. Parents plan for exams "in Year 6" and assume they have the whole of Year 6 to prepare. They do not.
Year 4 to Year 5 — the real prep window
Most families who prepare deliberately start somewhere in Year 4 or early Year 5. That is not because the exam needs two years of cramming — it is because reading age, vocabulary and mental-maths fluency are slow-growing things, and they are what the exam is really testing.
Spring and summer of Year 5 — registration
Registration for most selective schools opens and closes during Year 5, months before the exam. Miss the deadline and the preparation is irrelevant — your child simply does not sit. Diarise every school separately.
September of Year 6 — the exam
The papers are typically sat in the first weeks of Year 6, in September, not in the summer term. Your child effectively sits the exam having just finished Year 5. Then results in the autumn, the council application form by 31 October, and offers on 1 March.
The honest answer
Is it too late to prep for the 11+?
It depends on where your child is starting, and anyone who answers without asking that is guessing. But here is the honest shape of it.
What late preparation can genuinely fix: exam technique, timing, and familiarity with the format. These move fast. A capable child who has never seen a non-verbal reasoning question or worked against a clock can lose a lot of marks to pure unfamiliarity, and a few focused weeks can win most of those marks back. If your child is already working at or above age-related expectations in English and Maths, a short, well-aimed run at the exam is worth doing.
What it cannot fix: reading age, vocabulary and mental-maths fluency. These are built over years, not weeks. If there are real gaps in the underlying English or Maths, no amount of September cramming will close them, and pretending otherwise sets your child up to fail an exam they were never going to pass — which is a miserable thing to do to a ten-year-old.
The distinction that actually matters is which school. A super-selective that takes the top handful of scorers is a different proposition from a grammar with a qualifying mark that a solid, well-prepared child can clear. Late preparation can realistically change the second outcome. It rarely changes the first.
And it is worth saying plainly: the 11+ is one exam, on one morning, when your child is ten. Children who do not get a place go on to do well, and the family that treats it as make-or-break usually has a worse year than the family that does not. Prepare properly, then hold it lightly.
Choosing a tutor
Six questions worth asking before you book
The "secret" tutor passed around a local parents group is not necessarily the right one for your child. These questions tell you more than a recommendation does.
Ask which exam, and which schools
The single most useful question. An 11+ tutor who has prepared children for your specific school or consortium knows the paper. A tutor who says "11+" as one generic thing probably does not.
Ask how they assess the starting point
A good tutor wants a baseline before selling you anything — where the reading age, mental maths and timing actually are today. Prep that skips the diagnosis is prep aimed at the average child, not yours.
Check DBS and references
Ask for a current DBS certificate and speak to a parent they have taught. Tutoring is unregulated in the UK — anyone may call themselves an 11+ tutor, so the checks are yours to make.
Be wary of guarantees
Nobody can guarantee a place. Super-selective schools reject strong candidates every year simply because there are more of them than there are seats. A tutor promising a pass is telling you something about the tutor.
Ask what happens between lessons
One hour a week is not where the progress is made — it is in what your child does on the other six days. A tutor should be setting short, specific work and actually marking it.
Watch for past-paper drilling
Papers are a diagnostic, not a teaching method. A tutor who only sets timed papers week after week is measuring your child, not teaching them. Gaps get found that way, but they do not get filled.
Realistic hours
How much tutoring is actually useful
For a child preparing over a year or more, roughly one hour a week with a tutor, plus twenty to thirty minutes of focused practice on most days, is a pattern that works and is sustainable. The daily habit matters more than the weekly hour.
More is usually not better. Once a child is doing several hours a week of 11+ work on top of school, returns fall away and resentment sets in — and a tired, fed-up child underperforms on the day. If you find yourself adding hours because you are anxious rather than because the work calls for it, that is worth noticing.
Group sessions can be a genuinely good option, and not only on cost: children benefit from seeing how other children tackle a question. One-to-one earns its premium when there is a specific gap to close, or when your child needs the pace set to them.
Whatever you spend, ask for evidence it is working. A tutor should be able to show you movement — in accuracy, in timing, in reading age — not just tell you that things are going well.
Find an 11+ tutor on Tutorwise
We would rather be straight with you: Tutorwise is new and we are still building our base of verified, DBS-checked tutors. So browse and see for yourself, or post what you need — the subject, the school you are aiming at and your timescale — and let tutors come to you. No fee to look, and no pressure to book.
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