Preparing for the 11 Plus: A Calm Summer Plan

The best way to prepare for the 11 Plus over the summer is little and often: short, regular practice across the four areas the exam tests, with real rest built in rather than a holiday turned into a revision camp. Most grammar schools in England sit the test at the very start of Year 6, in September, which makes the weeks before it the window that matters most. The aim of that summer is not to cram. It is to arrive familiar with the question styles, quick with the basics, and calm enough to think clearly against the clock. A child who has practised steadily and still had a proper break will usually do better than one drilled to the point of dreading the paper.

This guide sets out a realistic week-by-week plan, explains what the 11 Plus tests, and shows how to judge whether your child needs a tutor and how to find one worth trusting if they do.

What the 11 Plus tests

The 11 Plus is an entrance exam used by grammar schools and many independent schools to select pupils at age ten or eleven. Formats vary by region and by school, but almost all papers draw on the same four areas:

• Maths — arithmetic, fractions, percentages, ratio and multi-step word problems, usually within the Key Stage 2 curriculum but asked at speed.
• English — comprehension of an unseen passage, plus spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary. Some schools add a short writing task.
• Verbal reasoning — word-based logic: codes, sequences, analogies and the kind of puzzle that rewards a wide vocabulary.
• Non-verbal reasoning — shape and pattern puzzles that test spatial thinking, with no reading involved.

The exact mix, whether the paper is multiple-choice or standard format, and whether there is a writing element all depend on the school. So the single most useful thing you can do before planning anything is to read the admissions page for the specific school or consortium your child is sitting for. That tells you which subjects are tested and in what style. A plan built around the wrong format wastes the very time it is meant to save. Grammar schools in areas such as Kent and Bexley, within reach of Greenwich and south-east London, commonly test in September of Year 6, while many independent schools set their own papers in January. Check the dates for your target schools early, because they shape everything that follows.

Little and often beats long and heavy

The instinct in the last summer before the test is to do more: longer sessions, more papers, more pressure. It rarely works. A ten-year-old holds focus for about half an hour on this kind of work before returns fall away. Three or four short, focused sessions across a week teach more than one exhausting Sunday afternoon, and they leave room for the thing that actually raises a score over six weeks: consolidation. Skills settle when the brain has time between sessions to file them away, which is why steady spacing beats a single heavy block every time.

Little and often also protects the part of the exam no worksheet trains directly, which is composure. The 11 Plus is timed, and speed under pressure is a skill of its own. A child who has met each question type calmly, many times, treats the real paper as familiar ground. A child who has only ever seen those questions in tense, marathon sessions carries that tension into the exam hall.

A week-by-week summer plan

Six weeks is enough to make real progress without turning the holiday into a grind. Adjust the shape to your child, but a workable rhythm looks like this:

• Weeks 1–2: diagnose and settle. Do one short paper in each of the four areas to see where the gaps actually are. Do not mark it as a verdict; mark it as a map. Then start 20–30 minute sessions, three or four times a week, on the two weakest areas. Keep sessions in the morning when possible, when a child is fresher.
• Weeks 3–4: build fluency. Turn the diagnosed gaps into daily habits: quick mental-maths drills, ten new vocabulary words a week, a short comprehension every few days. Introduce a gentle timer so speed grows without alarm. Keep celebrating small wins, because momentum is what carries a child through the middle weeks.
• Weeks 5–6: rehearse under real conditions. Move to full, timed papers once or twice a week, sat in one go, in a quiet room, marked together afterwards. The goal now is exam technique: reading the question properly, moving on from a stuck one rather than freezing, and checking answers if time allows. Keep the volume sane and protect at least one clear rest day.

Across all six weeks, keep the holiday a holiday. Days out, sport, reading for pleasure and doing nothing are not the enemy of preparation; they are what makes the preparation stick.

The part parents most often get wrong

The 11 Plus is one of the first times a family feels real academic pressure, and it is easy for that pressure to land on the child. The most common mistake is not doing too little work but making the work feel like a test of whether your child is good enough. Children read that quickly, and it costs more marks than any missed topic.

The better frame is a calm, practical one: this is a specific exam with a known shape, and we are getting familiar with it together. Praise the effort and the steady routine rather than the score on any single paper. If a practice paper goes badly, treat it as information about what to work on next, not as a forecast. A child who feels supported and prepared walks in able to think. A child who feels judged walks in trying not to fail, which is a much harder state to do well from. Keeping the summer warm and matter-of-fact is the single biggest thing within your control. It also helps to be honest with your child about what the exam is and is not. The 11 Plus decides one school place on one morning; it does not measure how clever they are or set the course of their life. Children who hear that from a parent tend to sit the paper with a steadier head, and a steadier head reads questions more carefully and makes fewer rushed mistakes.

Does your child need a tutor?

Plenty of children prepare well at home with good practice books and a parent who can keep the routine going. A tutor earns their place when something specific is in the way: a stubborn gap in one area that is not closing on its own, reasoning question types that are new to your child, or the plain fact that you do not have the hours to sit with them each week. If practice has stalled and confidence is slipping, focused help can turn the summer around. Our own guide on when your child actually needs a tutor walks through the signals in more detail.

The questions parents ask us before booking for the 11 Plus are strikingly consistent: how many sessions a week, whether it is too late to start, and how to tell a genuinely good tutor from a confident advert. Those questions are worth answering honestly before you commit, and the FAQ below covers the ones that come up most. If your child has additional needs, the same care applies with an extra filter — our guidance on finding a specialist SEN tutor is a useful companion, because the right specialist matters more than a general 11 Plus badge.

How to find an 11 Plus tutor you can trust

The hard part is not finding a tutor; it is knowing whether the one you have found is any good. A polished profile and a five-star rating tell you very little, because anyone can write their own bio and ratings are easy to inflate. This is the problem Tutorwise is built to solve. Every tutor is checked across six areas — the work they deliver, their credentials, their network, trust and safeguarding signals such as identity and DBS checks, their digital footprint and their measurable impact — with rates shown up front per session and reviews tied to real completed sessions. That turns a claim into something you can actually check before you book.

When you compare tutors, look for genuine 11 Plus experience with your target school's format, not just "exam prep" in general. Ask how they diagnose a child's gaps in the first session and how they report progress to you. Agree the number of sessions and the per-session rate before you start, so cost is clear from the outset. And if you have tried a tutor already and it is not working, do not stay out of inertia; our practical checklist for switching makes the change straightforward.

Ready to start? You can search verified 11 Plus tutors on Tutorwise, see their checks and per-session rates up front, and book someone who fits your child and your target school — in good time for a calm, well-paced summer rather than a September scramble.