Track A: Adaptive online test
Used by many independent senior schools via the ISEB Common Pre-Tests, and by some grammar regions with similar online formats.
EnglishMathsVerbal ReasoningNon-Verbal Reasoning
Free 11+ prep plan
Two exam formats, one household
Senior schools measure children in fundamentally different ways. Some use an adaptive, online, multiple-choice test. Others set their own written papers, marked by hand. This plan shows you how to prepare for both at once, at home.
Always confirm dates, fees and paper formats against each target school’s admissions page before locking anything in. Those details move every cycle. The exam formats themselves are stable.
Step 1
Identify your track (or tracks)
Check each target school's admissions page for the exam it uses, then match it to a track below. Preparing for schools on different tracks means running both in parallel.
Track B: School's own written papers
Used by schools that set and mark their own bespoke papers in-house, and by grammar regions using written GL papers.
EnglishMathsVerbal Reasoning
Step 2
The two formats side by side
Same child, very different exams. Here is exactly how the formats differ.
| Attribute | Adaptive online | Written papers |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Online, adaptive, multiple-choice | Written, paper-based, hand-marked by teachers |
| Curriculum scope | Year 5 national curriculum only | Full KS2 curriculum (especially maths) |
| Adaptive? | Yes. Difficulty rises and falls with performance. Early accuracy unlocks harder, higher-mark questions. | No. Fixed papers. Every child sees the same questions. |
| Answer style | Multiple-choice, on screen | Hand-written, including short and long or extended answers |
| Stage two | Often followed by an assessment day: group activities, a short written task (commonly ~30 minutes of creative writing) and a 1:1 or small-group meeting with teachers. | Often followed by an interview (typically around 20 minutes) and a group activity assessing creativity and teamwork. |
| Where sat | Usually at the child's current school; overseas sittings via approved centres. Online. | At the school itself on the exam day. |
| VR prep source | ISEB-style VR: vocabulary, sentence completion, cloze passages and word logic. | GL-style VR papers, widely available in shops and online. Many schools base their own VR papers on GL Assessment formats. |
Step 3
What each format rewards
The skills that win marks are different in each format. Train the right ones.
What the adaptive online format rewards
Because the test adapts, the first questions in each section matter more than the last. A run of early errors caps the difficulty (and therefore the mark ceiling) the child is offered.
- Calm, accurate starts. Slow down at the beginning of each section, not the end.
- Screen fluency: navigating multiple-choice on a computer, making educated guesses, watching the on-screen timer and progress bar.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning, which many written-paper schools do not test at all.
- Year 5 content specifically. Going beyond it wastes effort for this format.
What the written-paper format rewards
Papers are hand-marked by teachers, so working shown, legible handwriting and quality of written English all count.
- Extended writing: a full creative composition, plus short and long comprehension answers with inference.
- Shown maths working across the full KS2 range (arithmetic, geometry, measure, data, problem-solving), non-calculator.
- GL-style verbal reasoning, logical thinking and vocabulary.
- Handwriting speed and stamina. Screen practice will not build this.
Step 4
Subject-by-subject prep map
What to practise for each subject, per track.
| Subject | Adaptive online | Written papers |
|---|---|---|
| English | Multiple-choice comprehension, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary on screen. Year 5 level. | Comprehension with short and long written answers, inference, plus a full creative writing piece. |
| Maths | Multiple-choice, Year 5 curriculum, speed and accuracy under adaptive timing. | Full KS2, non-calculator, shown working, word problems and problem-solving. |
| Verbal Reasoning | ISEB-style: cloze, sentence completion, word logic. | GL-style VR papers (widely available in shops and online). |
| Non-Verbal Reasoning | Yes: spatial and visual pattern questions, multiple-choice. | Often not tested. Check your target school, and skip if not needed. |
| Writing / composition | Usually one short creative task at the stage-two assessment day. | Core written paper element. Needs the most practice of the two tracks. |
| Spoken / group | Group workshop task plus a 1:1 meeting. | An interview (around 20 minutes) plus a group activity. |
Step 5
Running both tracks in parallel
Many families prepare for two or more schools with different formats at once, and most exams cluster in the late autumn of the entry year. That means both prep tracks peak at the same time. Structure the year so the shared work does double duty and the format-specific work is timetabled deliberately, not crammed.
Shared core (counts for both)
- Reading comprehension and vocabulary. Wide reading across genres feeds both English formats.
- Creative writing. Written-paper schools need it most; adaptive-test schools use it at stage two.
- Core KS2 maths fluency and mental arithmetic.
- Verbal reasoning fundamentals (the ISEB and GL styles overlap more than they differ).
Adaptive-only, timetabled separately
- Weekly timed online multiple-choice practice, to build screen fluency and adaptive-test technique.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning drills.
- At least 3 full online-style mock tests so the format feels routine, not novel, on the day.
Written-only, timetabled separately
- Weekly timed handwritten papers to build handwriting speed and stamina.
- Extended composition practice: full stories and descriptions, marked against a checklist.
- Full KS2 maths beyond Year 5, with every step of working shown.
- At least 3 full written mock papers under exam conditions at a desk, on paper.
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