How to Find an 11+ Tutor: What to Look For

To find a good 11+ tutor, look for three things in this order: real evidence they know your target school's exact exam format, checkable proof of who they are and what they have delivered, and a teaching style your child will actually sit still for. The hard part is the middle one. Anyone can write "experienced 11+ tutor, guaranteed pass" on a profile. What you want is credibility you can see rather than take on trust — a verified DBS check, a confirmed identity, real qualifications, and a track record built from delivered sessions and reviews, not a self-written bio. This guide walks through what to look for, the questions that separate a genuine 11+ specialist from a general tutor, and how to check the claims before you commit your child's Year 6 to someone.

Why "what to look for" is harder for the 11+ than for other subjects

Most tutoring searches are about a subject: GCSE maths, A-level chemistry, KS3 English. The 11+ is different, and it trips up a lot of parents. There is no single national 11+ exam. Each grammar school, or each group of schools that share an entrance test, sets its own format. Two grammar schools twenty miles apart can test different subjects, in a different style, with a different pass mark. So the first and most important thing you are checking for is not general teaching ability. It is whether this tutor genuinely knows the exam your child is going to sit.

That single fact reshapes the whole search. A brilliant tutor who has prepared children for one region's test may be the wrong choice for yours if your target school uses a different provider or a different subject mix. "Experienced 11+ tutor" is not enough on its own. "Experienced with the format used by the schools you are applying to" is the claim that matters, and it is the one you should press on hardest.

The six things a good 11+ tutor should be able to show

Here is a practical checklist. A tutor who is genuinely worth booking will meet most of these without you having to dig.

1. Knowledge of your specific target schools. Ask which schools they have prepared children for and what those schools' tests cover. A real specialist will talk fluently about the differences — which schools test verbal and non-verbal reasoning, which weight maths and English more heavily, which use a standard published format and which use a bespoke regional one. Vagueness here is the biggest red flag in the whole search.

2. A verified identity and background check. Your child will spend hours, often one to one, with this person. A current enhanced DBS check and a confirmed identity are not optional extras — they are the floor. The problem is that on most tutoring sites, "DBS checked" is just words the tutor typed. You want it verified by the platform, not asserted by the tutor.

3. Evidence, not adjectives. "Outstanding results" means nothing. What did they actually do — how many children, over how long, working towards which schools, and what changed? A tutor who can describe the arc of a real child's preparation, honestly including where it was hard, is telling you something a marketing line cannot.

4. A plan that fits the calendar. The 11+ is sat early — usually in the September of Year 6, before the school year has really got going. That means the serious preparation happens across Year 5 and the summer before. A good tutor will be clear about where your child is now, what a realistic runway looks like, and what they will not be able to fix if you start late. Honesty about timing is a mark of quality.

5. The reasoning subjects, handled properly. Verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning are the parts of the 11+ that catch families out, because they are barely touched in the normal primary curriculum. Children are not slow at them — they are simply unfamiliar. A tutor who treats reasoning as a teachable skill with its own question types and techniques, rather than something you either "have" or "don't", is the one you want.

6. A style your child will tolerate under pressure. The 11+ is a stretching exam for a ten-year-old. A tutor who is technically excellent but leaves your child anxious is not a good fit, however strong the credentials. Ask for a first session and watch how your child comes out of it.

Credibility you can see, not a star rating you take on trust

This is where the way you find a tutor matters as much as the checklist. On a typical listings site or a local parents' group, every claim on a profile is self-reported. The tutor writes "DBS checked, qualified teacher, 11+ specialist", and you are left to believe it or chase the proof yourself. A five-star average has the same weakness — a handful of reviews from unknown sources tells you the tutor was liked, not that they are who they say they are.

Tutorwise was built to close that gap. Every tutor carries a credibility score — we call it CaaS, Credibility as a Service — and the important thing for a parent is what sits underneath it. It is not a popularity rating. It is a computed score built from real, checked signals across six areas: the sessions a tutor has actually delivered, their credentials, their network on the platform, trust signals like a verified DBS check and confirmed identity, their digital footprint, and the outcomes they have produced. A tutor cannot simply type these in. The verifiable ones are verified, and only then do they count.

What that means in practice: when you look at a tutor on Tutorwise, you are not trusting a bio someone wrote about themselves. You are looking at an earned, checkable score that reflects what they have genuinely done and been verified for. A DBS check is a verified DBS check. A qualification is a confirmed qualification. A track record is built from real delivered sessions and real reviews, not a number the tutor chose. It turns "trust me" into "here is the evidence", which is exactly the shift a parent choosing an 11+ tutor needs — because the stakes are your child's year, and the usual signals are so easy to fake.

We wrote about the mechanism in more depth in How CaaS Works: Making Tutor Credibility Visible, and about why this beats the usual rating in Why Verified Credibility Beats a Five-Star Average. The short version: a score you can trace beats a star you cannot.

How to actually find one — a practical sequence

Once you know what to look for, the search itself is straightforward. This is the order that works.

Start from the school, not the tutor. Confirm exactly which schools you are applying to and find out what their entrance test covers and which format it uses. Your local authority, the schools' own admissions pages, and other parents at those schools are your best sources. You cannot judge a tutor's fit until you know the target.

Shortlist on evidence. Filter for tutors who show verified checks and a real track record with your kind of test, not the ones with the loudest headline. On Tutorwise you can search tutors by subject and area and see the credibility signals up front, which saves the round of "can you send me your DBS certificate" emails.

Have one honest conversation before you book. Ask the format question — "which schools have you prepared children for, and what did their tests cover?" — and listen for specifics. Ask about timing honestly: "we are starting in Year 5 / we are starting late in Year 6 — what is realistic?" A tutor who tells you an uncomfortable truth is worth more than one who tells you what you want to hear.

Book a first session and watch your child. The proof is in the room. Did your child understand more at the end than the start? Did they come out willing to go back? That single session tells you more than any profile.

Review after a few weeks, not a few months. Set a light checkpoint early. If the fit is wrong, you want to know while there is still runway, not in the summer before the exam.

Red flags worth walking away from

A few signals should make you pause. A guaranteed pass — no honest tutor promises one, because the exam is competitive and places are heavily oversubscribed in most areas. A refusal or reluctance to share verification. Vagueness about which schools and which formats they know. Pressure to book a long block of sessions before your child has met them once. And any suggestion of contact or arrangements off the platform, away from the safeguards that are there to protect your child — that is the moment to stop, not to negotiate.

A note on cost and value

11+ tutoring is an investment, and the honest framing is not "cheap versus expensive" but "will this hold up when it matters". A slightly higher hourly rate from a verified specialist who knows your target school's exact format is usually better value than a cheaper generalist you cannot check, because the wasted term is the real cost — the one you cannot get back before the exam. Judge value on evidence and fit, not on the headline rate.

Frequently asked questions

When should we start looking for an 11+ tutor? Most families begin serious preparation in Year 5, because the exam is usually sat in the September of Year 6. Starting in Year 5 gives room to build the reasoning skills, which are the unfamiliar part, without cramming. If you are starting later, a good tutor will be honest about what is realistically achievable in the time you have — and that honesty is itself a sign you have found a good one.

How do I check an 11+ tutor is genuinely qualified and safe? Look for verification you did not have to take on trust: a current enhanced DBS check and a confirmed identity, checked by the platform rather than typed in by the tutor. On Tutorwise this is built into a tutor's credibility score, so the checks are verified before they count. On a general listings site, ask to see the DBS certificate and confirm their teaching background directly.

What is the single most important thing to look for? That the tutor genuinely knows the exam your specific target schools set. The 11+ is not one national test — the format varies by school and region. A tutor who knows your schools' exact format is worth far more than a more decorated tutor who prepares children for a different one.

Does my child need a specialist in verbal and non-verbal reasoning? For most 11+ tests, yes. These reasoning subjects are barely covered in the standard primary curriculum, so children meet them for the first time in preparation. A tutor who treats them as teachable question types, rather than a fixed talent, will get further with your child.

Is online or in-person 11+ tutoring better? Both work. What matters more is the tutor's fit with your child and their knowledge of your target exam. Online widens the pool of specialists you can reach, which can be the deciding factor if the right specialist for your schools is not local. Judge the tutor on evidence and rapport first, and treat the format as a practical choice second.

Finding the right 11+ tutor on Tutorwise

The whole point of the checklist above is to replace guesswork with evidence. That is what Tutorwise is built to give you: tutors whose credibility is verified and visible before you book, so you are choosing on proof rather than on a profile someone wrote about themselves. Search 11+ tutors by subject and area, look at the credibility signals, have one honest conversation, and book a first session. If you are still deciding whether tutoring is the right move at all, When Should You Get a Tutor for Your Child? is a good place to start, and once you know your target subjects, the specific guides — 11+ Maths Tutor and 11+ English Tutor — go a level deeper.