The Complete Guide to 11+ Maths

11+ Maths draws on the standard primary school curriculum up to the end of Year 5 or start of Year 6, so nothing on the paper should be entirely unfamiliar territory in principle — the challenge is applying it quickly and under pressure. Core topics include the four operations with increasingly large numbers, done both mentally and on paper; fractions, decimals and percentages, including converting between them and calculating percentages of amounts; and ratio and proportion, including sharing amounts in a given ratio and scaling recipes or quantities up and down.

Geometry features prominently too: area and perimeter of rectangles and compound shapes, angles on a straight line and around a point, properties of 2D and 3D shapes, and sometimes basic coordinates and reflection or rotation of shapes on a grid. Time, speed and distance problems come up regularly, often as word problems requiring the child to work out one of the three from the other two, along with more general time and date calculations, such as working out durations across the 24-hour clock.

Beyond these, expect basic algebra (solving simple equations, finding missing numbers, working with simple sequences and finding the nth term in easier cases), data handling (reading and interpreting bar charts, pie charts, tables and line graphs), and a heavy dose of worded, multi-step problems that combine several of the above skills into one question — these tend to be where the exam becomes genuinely challenging rather than merely a knowledge test.

The core content is broadly similar everywhere, but presentation differs. GL Assessment maths papers tend to test topics fairly directly, often as short standalone questions with occasional word problems, and are multiple choice or short-answer under fairly strict time limits. CEM-style tests, by contrast, tend to frame almost every maths question as numerical reasoning — wrapping the underlying calculation in a short written context, so reading carefully to extract what's actually being asked becomes as important as the calculation itself.

The ISEB Common Pre-Test, used by many independent schools, presents maths on screen and adapts in difficulty as the child answers, so children need to be comfortable with an on-screen format as well as the content. Independent schools that set their own papers vary the most, with some pitching maths noticeably above the standard curriculum for their most academically selective intake.

Whatever the format, the underlying maths skills transfer well between exam boards, so building genuine fluency rather than narrowly drilling one board's exact question style is time well spent regardless of which specific exam your child will sit.

The single biggest cause of lost marks is rushing without reading the question fully, particularly on multi-step word problems where a child correctly calculates one part of the answer but misses that the question asked for something built on top of it — for example, finding the cost per item when the question actually asked for the total cost of a different quantity. Teaching children to underline or note the actual question being asked before diving into calculation prevents a surprising number of otherwise avoidable errors.

Fraction and percentage conversions are another frequent stumbling block, especially when a question requires converting between the two, or finding a percentage of an amount that isn't a round number. Children who have only practised round, tidy numbers can freeze when the numbers in the actual exam are messier. Similarly, ratio problems trip children up when the ratio needs to be applied to a total rather than to one part, a distinction that's easy to gloss over without careful practice.

Time, speed and distance questions are a classic weak spot because they involve converting units (minutes to hours, for instance) as well as applying the right formula, and children often apply the formula correctly but get the units wrong. Finally, careless arithmetic slips under time pressure — a misread digit, a forgotten carry, a sign error — cost far more marks in aggregate than most parents expect, which is exactly why timed practice, not just untimed topic practice, matters so much.

The most effective 11+ maths preparation moves through three stages: first building genuine topic-by-topic fluency (so a child can do a percentage or ratio question comfortably and correctly, without time pressure), then adding timing (so the same skills hold up under exam conditions), and finally mixing topics together unpredictably (so a child develops the judgement to identify which skill a given question needs, since the exam itself won't tell them).

Starting too early with mixed, timed practice before the underlying topic fluency is solid tends to just entrench errors and knock confidence. It's better to identify and shore up specific weak topics first — whether that's fractions, ratio, or multi-step word problems — before moving to full timed papers.

Regular, shorter practice sessions spread out over months tend to produce better results than occasional long cramming sessions, both because spaced repetition helps maths facts and methods stick, and because it avoids the fatigue and dread that long, infrequent maths sessions can build up in a reluctant child.

Skylark 11+'s free diagnostic identifies exactly which maths topics your child needs to focus on first, and its adaptive practice adjusts question difficulty as they improve, rather than working through a fixed worksheet regardless of level. The personalised plan — a full year for early starters, or an 8-week emergency option — paces this topic-building-then-timing progression automatically, backed by timed mock exams and downloadable worksheet PDFs for offline practice, for £199 a year.