Mathematics (GL Assessment)  Time allowed: 50 minutes

The Mathematics paper is based on work which candidates would normally cover during Key Stage 2 of the national curriculum.

English (GL Assessment)  Time allowed: 45 minutes

The English paper tests comprehension, vocabulary and punctuation.

Verbal Reasoning (GL Assessment)  Time allowed: 50 minutes

This test is designed to analyse a pupil's academic potential and does not depend upon prior knowledge.  We strongly advise that parents ensure that their sons are familiar with this component of the entrance tests as they may otherwise never have encountered such questions.

GL Assessment papers

For the three GL Assessment (Granada Learning Assessment) papers, questions are of a multiple-choice style with candidates entering their answers on a pre-printed sheet.  Scores achieved in these papers are standardised against national criteria by age.

All GL Assessment tests are designed to be taken to very strict time limits.  Many students within a wide range of ability will be able to answer most of the questions, given sufficient time; our tests show a student’s ability to work accurately at speed, a vital aspect of their future work in a selective school.  For this reason, no variation in this timing is permitted unless the applicant has a relevant Education Health Care Plan or Statement of Special Educational Need, in which case a maximum of 25% additional time may be permitted.

We recommend children familiarise themselves with the multiple-choice layout of the test, content and examples of some types of questions they will face.  We want to give all children the opportunity to experience sample questions across a range of question types in advance of the test.  This is particularly true with the verbal reasoning tests as they may not have encountered these types of questions before.  GL Assessment provide free familiarisation materials (you may need to scroll down when accessing the page to view the materials).

GL Assessment produces packs of 'multiple choice' practice papers for the tests used (English, Mathematics and Verbal Reasoning), which can be purchased on-line from https://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/products/11plus-series-11-plus-practice-papers/

Parents should take care to ensure that their children are familiarised with the 'multiple choice' versions rather than the 'standard' versions of the GL assessment tests.  Note that there are also 'Variety Bundles' of the papers available.  These packs contain one each of the English, mathematics, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning papers. We do not use the non-verbal reasoning papers as part of our selection process.  The papers in the variety packs are the same as those in the individual subject packs.