A calm 11+ preparation plan for Year 4 and Year 5

Check your own area. Registration windows, test dates and formats are set locally and change from year to year. The dates below are examples from official pages at the time of writing. Always confirm with your council, consortium or the schools you’re interested in.

If your child is in Year 5 now, the next round of 11+ tests in most selective areas will be sat in September 2027, at the start of Year 6, for secondary entry in September 2028. That gives you roughly eleven months. If your child is in Year 4, you have a year more than that, which is good news: the most useful things to do in Year 4 aren’t test practice at all.

This is a calm, realistic plan. It assumes ten to twenty minutes a few times a week, not every evening and weekend, and it leaves room for football, friends and being nine.

Step one: find out what your area actually does

There is no single 11+. Each area or consortium decides which test it uses, what it covers, and how children register. Before you buy anything, find out:

• which test your preferred schools use, and who sets it;
• which subjects it covers (some areas test English and maths only; others add verbal and non-verbal reasoning);
• whether you need to register, and when;
• whether the schools set a qualifying score or rank children by score;
• whether there are catchment areas or address cut-off dates.

Our guide to the 11+ by region is a starting point, but the schools’ own admission arrangements are the final word. Under the School Admissions Code, arrangements for September 2028 entry must be decided by 28 February 2027 and published by 15 March 2027, so that’s when you can read the confirmed rules for your child’s year.

Registration usually falls in Year 5

In most areas, registration opens in the spring or early summer of Year 5 and closes before the summer holidays. Three examples from official pages:

• Kent: for the September 2026 test, registration ran from 1 June to 1 July 2026. Requests for special arrangements had the same closing date.
• Buckinghamshire: children at state-funded Bucks primary schools are registered automatically (parents can opt out). Others, including children at schools in Milton Keynes, register in a window from 1 May to 3pm on 2 June.
• Essex (CSSE schools): the consortium says registration for 2028 entry will open in May 2027.

Put a reminder in your calendar now for April 2027 to check the exact dates. Missing a registration window is one of the few genuinely avoidable 11+ problems. If your child may need access arrangements, such as extra time or a modified paper, raise it with their primary school in the spring, as the deadline is often the same as registration.

If your child is in Year 4: build foundations, not stamina

Year 4 is the year to grow the skills every 11+ test leans on, without anyone mentioning the 11+:

• Reading, widely and for pleasure. Fiction, non-fiction, comics, recipes. Vocabulary and comprehension underpin English and verbal reasoning, and they grow slowly. Talking about what they read, and about unfamiliar words, helps as much as the reading itself.
• Times tables. Year 4 children in England take the multiplication tables check in the summer term. Quick recall frees up working memory for the harder thinking later.
• Puzzles and games. Spot-the-pattern puzzles, tangrams, building sets, word games and card games all exercise the reasoning that non-verbal and verbal reasoning questions test.

No test papers, no timers. If your child enjoys the odd reasoning puzzle, lovely. If they don’t, nothing is lost.

If your child is in Year 5: a 12-month plan

Autumn of Year 5 (now to December)

• Find out your area’s test and the schools’ rules (step one above).
• Many secondary schools hold open events in the autumn. Some welcome Year 5 families, which is a relaxed time to look around before it matters.
• Get a gentle baseline. A short, low-stakes check such as our free practice check (no sign-up) shows which question types are unfamiliar. Treat it as a map, not a verdict.
• Agree a light routine: three or four short sessions a week.

Spring of Year 5 (January to April)

• Learn the question types, one at a time, untimed. Talk through how they worked each one out. Understanding beats volume.
• Fill gaps in school maths. Much of the maths in 11+ tests overlaps with what children learn at school in Years 4 and 5, so fractions, percentages and multi-step word problems are worth steady attention. Our 11+-style maths hub covers the main topics.
• Keep reading. It remains the best long-term investment.
• Read the published admission arrangements for 2028 entry when they appear by 15 March.

Summer term of Year 5 (May to July)

• Register. Check the window and do it early.
• Work through the official familiarisation material for your area. Councils often publish a booklet, and GL Assessment offers free familiarisation papers to print at home. These show the layout and answer sheet, which matters for a multiple-choice test.
• Introduce gentle timing on short sections only, with generous limits at first.
• One mock in the real format, if you think it would help, followed by a relaxed chat about what felt hard.

Summer holidays

• Keep it light. A holiday is a holiday. Two or three short sessions a week is enough to stay familiar.
• A small number of timed papers, spaced out, to make the clock feel ordinary. See why timed practice can harm an anxious child before you start, especially if your child is a worrier.

September of Year 6: test week

• No cramming. Short, easy practice or none at all.
• Normal bedtimes, a proper breakfast, and something nice planned for afterwards.
• Tell them the truth: you’re proud of them for trying, whatever happens.

Little and often beats long and rare

Fifteen focused minutes four times a week will do more than a two-hour Sunday session, and it is far easier to protect. Short sessions keep motivation up, give you frequent small chances to notice what is tricky, and stop practice from swallowing family life. Stop while your child still has some energy left, so they come back willingly next time.

Mock tests: useful, in moderation

A mock in the right format takes the novelty out of the real thing: the answer sheet, the instructions, the length, the quiet room. That is genuinely helpful. What a mock can’t do is predict the result with any precision, especially if it is written by a different publisher from your area’s test. One or two in the summer is plenty for most children. Use them to spot patterns (rushing, running out of time on one section) rather than to chase a number.

Protecting wellbeing along the way

Watch for signs that the balance has tipped:

• dread or tears before sessions, or new trouble sleeping;
• talk of being “stupid” or “not clever enough”;
• dropping activities they used to love to make time for practice.

If you see these, scale back for a few weeks. Keep the language at home about effort and strategies, not scores, and make sure the grammar school isn’t presented as the only good outcome. Children work better when they know they are loved the same either way.

When a tutor helps, and when it isn’t needed

Tutoring isn’t a requirement, and plenty of children prepare at home. A tutor may be worth it if:

• there’s a specific gap, often a maths topic, that you can’t comfortably teach;
• practice at home has turned into arguments and your child works better with someone else;
• you want an experienced view on whether the test is a sensible fit.

It probably isn’t needed if your child is already comfortable with the format, is doing steady short practice, and is happy. Extra hours for a child who is already anxious rarely help. If you do use a tutor, ask how they will share progress with you, and keep the overall weekly load sensible.

The whole plan on one page

1. Find out your area’s test, subjects and admission rules.
2. Diary reminder: check registration dates in April 2027.
3. Year 4: reading, times tables, puzzles. No papers.
4. Year 5 autumn and spring: short, untimed practice by question type, plus school maths gaps.
5. Year 5 summer: register, use official familiarisation material, introduce gentle timing.
6. Holidays: light, with a few spaced timed papers.
7. Test week: rest, routine, reassurance.

Useful next reads

• 11+ in 2026 to 27: a parent’s guide by region
• Why timed practice can harm an anxious child (and what to do instead)
• Non-verbal reasoning explained, with examples
• If you’d like short, untimed 11+-style practice with a retro-arcade look, our 11+ practice hub explains how Puzzitron works. Start with the free practice check.