When should your child start 11+ preparation?

1. When is the 11+ actually sat?

The 11+ exam is typically sat in September or October of Year 6 — when your child is 10 or 11 years old. Registration deadlines for grammar schools usually fall in the June or July before. Keep this in mind: preparation and registration are two separate timelines, and both need to be on your radar. If you are new to the process, our What is the 11+ exam? guide covers the basics.

2. Year 3 (ages 7–8): build the love of learning

Not the exam habit

Formal 11+ prep in Year 3 is almost never necessary — and in some cases, counterproductive. But Year 3 is an excellent time to lay the foundations that make later preparation significantly easier.

3. Year 4 (ages 8–9): a gentle, curious introduction

Year 4 is the sweet spot for a soft start. Your child is old enough to understand the concept of an entrance exam, but young enough that the stakes feel distant and manageable.

This is a good time to show your child what a sample question looks like — keeping it curious and low-key rather than serious. If times tables aren't solid yet, now is the time to fix that. If reading is reluctant, build the habit with books they actually choose themselves.

On a platform like Studoo, Year 4 is also a great moment to get a baseline picture of which topics your child finds easy and which cause hesitation. The data at this stage is genuinely useful — and entirely low-stakes.

4. Year 5 (ages 9–10): where serious preparation begins

For most families, Year 5 is when real, structured 11+ preparation starts — and this is entirely appropriate. The exam is now roughly 12–18 months away, which is enough time to make meaningful progress without burning out.

A realistic Year 5 plan can look like this:

• Three to four short sessions per week. Twenty to thirty minutes is more effective than two-hour weekend marathons.
• Rotate subjects. Maths one session, verbal reasoning the next. Variety maintains engagement.
• Introduce timed practice — gradually. Start with untimed questions, then introduce gentle time awareness once accuracy is building.
• Encourage honest self-assessment. One of the most useful habits to develop is knowing when you're guessing vs. when you're confident. Studoo builds this into its practice flow — and the resulting data is invaluable for parents tracking weekly trends.

By the end of Year 5, your child should have covered the core syllabus at least once and have a clear picture of their strongest and weakest areas.

5. Year 6 (ages 10–11): consolidate, practise, and protect wellbeing

The first term of Year 6 is exam season for most grammar schools. That means preparation should be largely complete before the summer holidays — Year 6 is not the time to learn new concepts. It is the time to consolidate, practise under exam conditions, and actively manage confidence.

Key priorities in Year 6:

• Full mock papers under timed conditions — ideally four to six weeks before the actual exam date.
• Review errors carefully — not just what your child got wrong, but why. A pattern of mistakes in one area is far more actionable than a single slip.
• Keep wellbeing front and centre. Sleep, exercise, and downtime are not luxuries in Year 6. They are performance essentials.
• Watch the behavioural data. Speed, confidence, and the rate of answer changes often tell you more than scores alone about how your child is really feeling heading into exam week.

6. What if we're starting late?

If you're in Year 6 and only just beginning, don't panic — but do be realistic. Focus on the highest-yield areas for your specific exam (for many schools, GL-style maths and verbal reasoning cover a large share of the marks). Skip lower-priority topics. Practise past papers. And prioritise your child's confidence above everything else.

A child who sits the exam calm and self-assured will consistently outperform a child who is technically more prepared but anxious. Emotional readiness is not a soft metric — it directly affects performance.

7. The golden rule, whatever year you're in