A parent-made 11+ resource guide
The papers, links and lessons I wish I’d had at the start
A short, hand-picked list of free 11+ papers, plus honest notes from preparing my own son. Not an enormous download dump: just a practical place to begin.
How we prepared
We started preparing our son for the 11+ in Year 4, aiming for grammar school.
There’s no shortage of material: Bond, Examberry, Exam Papers Plus and plenty more. The trouble is that the quality varies a lot. Some papers are too easy, some are far too hard, and only a handful are for the schools you’re actually aiming for.
In our experience, some popular online practice tests were noticeably easier than Sutton’s second stage. He would routinely score 48 or 49 on them, then find some private mock tests hard. A high score on easy practice can be false comfort.
What helped most was working steadily through a lot of real papers, especially for maths, and keeping track as we went. Between them, the links below hold well over 150 free papers: more than enough for the whole of Year 5. We did one paper a week alongside everything else, and even at two a week you wouldn’t run out.
It worked out for us: my son’s scores were high enough for him to be offered places at both Wilson’s School and Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet. This is the approach that worked for him, and you’ll need to find what works for your child.
Built during our 11+ journey
Vocabulary was hard to practise consistently. So I built a game.
Lex11Plus makes daily word practice lighter, more memorable and easier to keep going. The first 120 words are free, with no sign-up needed.
Last reviewed 1 October 2026
Useful paper links
Start small. Choose one suitable paper, sit it, mark it carefully and use the mistakes to decide what comes next. Every link opens the school’s or the site’s own page in a new tab.
Don’t only practise your target school’s papers
Many selective schools have a written stage, not multiple choice: Sutton’s second stage, Tiffin’s Stage 2, the St Olave’s maths paper and Henrietta Barnett’s second round. Few of them publish full past papers.
So practise with written-answer papers from other schools, where your child writes the answers and shows the working. A good paper helps even if it isn’t from the school you’re aiming for. Manchester Grammar School’s arithmetic papers (2013 to 2019, with answers) were great practice for us, and the Examberry maths list also has Dulwich College, City of London and more.
Go to the Examberry maths papersPapers without answers? For maths that’s fine: an AI assistant such as ChatGPT can work through a question with you (do check its working, as it sometimes gets puzzles wrong). English is different, because marking comprehension and writing is more subjective, so the English papers with answers come first.
- Official: from the school or exam body
- Directory: a site that collects papers
Sutton
The Sutton grammar schools’ first stage. For the written second stage, see the tip above.
- OfficialSutton SET
Selective Eligibility Test: entry guidance
The Sutton SET guidance for September 2027 entry (the latest published), with English and maths sample questions and a sample answer sheet.
No answers · Sample questions to get used to the format, not a marked past paper
Maths
Where most of our weekly papers came from.
- DirectoryExamberry Papers
Free 11+ maths papers
Over 100 free maths papers from grammar schools, independent schools and exam providers, including Manchester Grammar School’s written arithmetic papers.
Some have answers · Answers wherever the school published them
- Directory11 Plus Guide
Free sample maths papers
Around 80 maths papers from publishers, exam boards and independent schools.
Most have answers · Most come with answers or a mark scheme
- OfficialCSSE (Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex)
CSSE examination resources
Free familiarisation papers for the Essex 11+, plus guidance on preparing.
Some have answers · A sample mark scheme for the writing paper
English
English marking is harder to judge yourself, so the papers with answers come first.
- OfficialThe Latymer School
English sample papers
Two English specimen papers (extracts from The Long Winter and Great Expectations) with their questions.
Answers included · Answers for both papers, plus the writing mark scheme
- OfficialJohn Lyon School
11+ sample papers
An English and a maths sample paper, set in the same format and difficulty as the school’s real exam.
Answers included · An answer document for each paper
- DirectoryAbacus 11+
Free 11+ English papers
Hundreds of free English papers from 2008 to 2025, grouped by school and exam provider.
Some have answers · Many come with a mark scheme; check before starting
Our mistake log
What preparing my son taught me
These are observations from our experience, not universal rules. Every child and every school is different.
The point of a paper isn’t the score. It’s finding out what to practise next. This is the routine that worked for us:
- 1Sit one paper a weekAlongside everything else. Start without strict timing while the methods settle, and add the clock later.
- 2Screenshot every mistakeWhenever he got a question wrong, I took a screenshot of it and saved it.
- 3Name the kind of mistakeMost fell into one of three kinds, and each needs a different fix:A careless slip. He knew it, but misread the question or copied a number wrongly.A missing concept. Something we still needed to teach.Timing. He knew the method but couldn’t use it quickly enough yet.
- 4Come back in a couple of weeksNot straight away. By then he’d forgotten how we solved it, so getting it right a second time really meant something.
A few more things I’d tell myself
Marking matters more than collecting
Ten carefully reviewed papers are worth more than a folder of fifty untouched ones. We often spent as long going through a paper as sitting it.
Recent formats matter
Older papers are still good practice, but always check your school’s current admissions guidance. Formats and timings change.
Vocabulary affects every English task
It underpins comprehension, verbal reasoning and the precision of creative writing. Short, regular practice worked better for us than occasional long sessions.
A little every day
Make vocabulary one less thing to organise
Lex11Plus turns daily vocabulary practice into a funny adventure that children want to come back to, five minutes at a time.