When Should Your Child Start 11+ Preparation? A Year-by-Year Guide for Slough and Buckinghamshire Parents

"When should we start preparing for the 11+?" It's the question we hear most often from parents walking through our doors at Think Smart Academy. And it's a fair question, because the answer isn't as straightforward as picking a date on the calendar.

Start too early, and you risk burning your child out before the exam even arrives. Leave it too late, and there simply isn't enough time to cover everything. The sweet spot depends on your child, the grammar schools you're targeting, and whether you're applying through the Slough Consortium or the Buckinghamshire system.

Over the past 10 years, we've helped more than 1,000 students secure grammar school places across both consortia. In this guide, we'll share what we've learned about when to start, what each stage of preparation should look like, and what to do if you feel you're already behind.

Why timing matters more than you think

The 11+ isn't like a regular school test. Your child won't walk into the exam having covered everything in their normal lessons. The test assesses skills in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English comprehension, and mathematics, and some of these subjects aren't taught at primary school at all.

Verbal reasoning is a type of problem-solving that tests a child's ability to understand and reason using words, including tasks like finding hidden words, completing word analogies, and solving coded sequences. Non-verbal reasoning tests similar logical thinking but through shapes, patterns, and spatial awareness rather than language. Most primary schools don't teach either of these, which means your child needs dedicated time to learn them from scratch. According to research published by the National Foundation for Educational Research, children who begin structured preparation 12 to 18 months before the 11+ exam tend to perform more consistently than those who start with less than six months of preparation time. That finding aligns closely with what we've seen across more than a decade of preparing students at Think Smart Academy.

The other thing parents often don't realise is that the Slough and Buckinghamshire systems work differently from each other.

The Slough Consortium (covering Herschel Grammar, Langley Grammar, St Bernard's Catholic Grammar, and Upton Court Grammar) uses CEM-style assessments. CEM is the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring, based at Durham University, and their tests are designed to be difficult to prepare for, with no published past papers and formats that change each year. A child needs a standardised score of 111 or above to be eligible for a grammar school place through the Slough Consortium.

Buckinghamshire grammar schools (including Royal Grammar School High Wycombe, Wycombe High School, Dr Challoner's High School, and others) use their own secondary transfer test. The scoring threshold in Buckinghamshire is higher, at 121 on the standardised scale. The test format draws on both verbal and non-verbal reasoning alongside English and maths.

Registration deadlines fall in the summer term before Year 6. If you're sitting the Buckinghamshire test, registration typically opens in May and closes in late June. Slough Consortium registration follows a similar timeline. That means by the summer of Year 5, your child needs to be registered, and ideally they should already be well into their preparation by then.

This is why timing matters. If your child is sitting the exam in September or October of Year 6, and registration closes the previous summer, the preparation window is shorter than most parents realise.

The year-by-year 11+ preparation timeline

Here's what a realistic timeline looks like, based on what we've seen work for families at Think Smart Academy over the past decade.

Year 3 (ages 7-8): Build the foundations

There's no need for formal 11+ preparation at this stage. The goal is simpler: help your child enjoy reading, get comfortable with numbers, and have fun with puzzles.

Read together daily. Fiction, non-fiction, even age-appropriate newspapers. The vocabulary and comprehension your child picks up now will directly help with the English sections of the CEM-style tests later on. Play maths games at the dinner table. Times tables, mental arithmetic challenges, number puzzles. And introduce logic puzzle books or crosswords, which build exactly the kind of thinking that verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions test, without any exam pressure attached.

The children who do well in Year 5 and 6 preparation are almost always the ones who arrived with a genuine interest in reading and problem-solving. That interest is what Year 3 is for.

Year 4 (ages 8-9): The ideal starting point

Year 4 is where most successful 11+ candidates begin structured preparation. At Think Smart Academy, we recommend starting in the autumn term of Year 4, giving your child roughly 18 months before the exam.

Keep it light. Around 20 to 30 minutes of practice, three to four times a week. Short, regular sessions build skills far more effectively than a two-hour slog on a Saturday.

The focus at this stage should be familiarisation, not speed. Introduce your child to verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning question types for the first time. Let them work through questions at their own pace without a timer. Timed conditions come later, in Year 5. And make sure preparation fits around hobbies, sports, and play. A child who is well-rested and enjoying life learns better than one who is stressed and resentful of extra work.

For parents in the Slough Consortium area, Year 4 is also a good time to start understanding how CEM assessments work. CEM doesn't publish past papers and the format changes each year, so preparation needs to develop broad skills rather than drill specific question types. At Think Smart Academy, our tutors build syllabi around the CEM framework so children are exposed to the right type of thinking from the start.

Year 5 (ages 9-10): Where it all comes together

This is the year everything ramps up. The groundwork from Year 3 and 4 starts to pay off, and preparation moves from familiarisation to proper exam readiness.

Your child should now be working through full-length practice sections covering all four areas: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English, and maths. Introduce timed conditions, but gradually. Start with generous time limits and tighten them over the year until they match real exam conditions.

Mock exams become important from mid-Year 5. They do several things at once: they reveal weak spots, they build stamina for sitting a long test, and they take the surprise out of the real exam day. At Think Smart Academy, we run regular mocks that mirror the format and timing of the Slough Consortium and Buckinghamshire tests, so children know exactly what to expect.

By mid-Year 5, patterns will start showing up. Maybe your child flies through maths but struggles with English comprehension. Or they score well on verbal reasoning but run out of time on non-verbal. This is where focused tutoring on specific weak areas really earns its keep.

One more thing: registration windows typically open in May and close in June or July. Don't miss the deadline.

Summer before Year 6: The final stretch

The summer between Year 5 and Year 6 is the last stretch before the exam. For children sitting the Buckinghamshire test in September, these few weeks matter a lot.

Run weekly mock exams under full timed conditions and treat them as dress rehearsals. Go through each mock together afterwards and spend revision time on the areas where marks are being dropped.

This period should be about consolidating what your child already knows and sharpening their exam technique, not learning new material from scratch. If there are still major gaps, increase tutoring sessions to close them.

And talk openly with your child about the exam. Reassure them that it's one opportunity, not the only one. Children who feel supported and calm on exam day do better than those carrying their parents' anxiety on their shoulders.

As we tell parents at Think Smart Academy: "Trying to prepare your child for the 11+ can be daunting and difficult, but it doesn't have to be. We'll provide you a smooth and hassle-free way to give your child the best chance of success."

What if you're starting late?

Not every family starts in Year 4. Some parents only hear about the 11+ when their child is already in Year 5. Others move to the Slough or High Wycombe area partway through primary school. Whatever the reason, starting late doesn't mean giving up.

11+ preparation is the structured process of building a child's skills in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English comprehension, and mathematics to the level required by selective grammar school entrance examinations. When time is limited, the key is to focus that preparation more intensively.

At Think Smart Academy, we work with late starters regularly. A focused six-month programme, with sessions two to three times per week, can cover the essential material if the child has solid core skills in reading and maths. The approach changes: instead of a gradual build-up over 18 months, we assess exactly where your child is right now across all four skill areas, then zero in on the gaps where the most marks can be gained in the shortest time. Mock exams start straight away so your child builds familiarity with the format quickly. The sessions are intensive but we're careful not to make them exhausting. Burning a child out two months before the exam helps nobody.

When is it genuinely too late? If there are fewer than eight weeks until the exam and your child has had no preparation at all, the window is very tight. But even then, exam technique and familiarity with the question formats can make a real difference. We've had children join our courses just weeks before the test and still secure a place.

Home prep, online platforms, or a tutoring centre?

Parents generally take one of three routes, and they're not mutually exclusive.

Home preparation works if you have the time, the confidence in the material, and access to good resources. Practice paper books from Bond, CGP, and Letts are widely available. The main challenge is knowing whether your child is actually reaching the right standard. Without benchmarking against other children or a professional assessment, it's hard to tell if you're on track.

Online platforms like Atom Learning offer adaptive questions and progress tracking. They're flexible and affordable. What they can't do is read your child's body language, pick up on frustration, or adjust the lesson on the fly the way a teacher sitting across the table can.

Tutoring centres give you that personal element alongside a proper syllabus. At Think Smart Academy, our tutors match the preparation to the specific exam your child is sitting, whether that's the Slough Consortium CEM assessment or the Buckinghamshire transfer test. Group sessions start from £15 per hour and have the added benefit of children motivating each other. One-to-one sessions work better for children who need concentrated help on particular weak spots.

The right choice depends on your child. Some thrive in a group setting where they can learn alongside peers. Others need the individual attention that one-to-one tutoring provides. Many families use a combination: working through practice papers at home during the week, and attending a tutoring centre for structured sessions and mock exams at the weekend.

Whichever route you choose, make sure it accounts for the specific exam your child will sit. A tutor who understands the CEM format used by the Slough Consortium will prepare your child differently from one teaching generic 11+ content. According to Buckinghamshire Council's grammar school admissions guidance, the secondary transfer test assesses skills that go beyond what the Key Stage 2 national curriculum covers. That's exactly why preparation tailored to the right exam format matters.

Common questions from parents

Is Year 3 too early to start 11+ preparation?

For formal exam preparation, yes. Year 3 children are too young for timed tests and exam-style questions. But it's a great time to build the foundations through daily reading, maths games, and logic puzzles. Think of it as preparing to prepare.

Can my child pass the 11+ without a tutor?

Yes, some children do pass without tutoring. However, the subjects tested in the 11+, particularly verbal and non-verbal reasoning, are not covered in the primary school curriculum. Most children benefit from dedicated support in these areas, whether from a tutor, an online platform, or a parent who is familiar with the material.

How many hours a week should my child study for the 11+?

In Year 4, around two to three hours per week spread across short sessions is enough. In Year 5, this typically increases to four to five hours per week, including practice papers and mock exams. The goal is consistent, focused practice rather than long, exhausting study sessions.

What score does my child need to pass the 11+ in Slough?

To be eligible for a grammar school place through the Slough Consortium, your child needs a standardised score of 111 or above. In Buckinghamshire, the threshold is higher at 121. A standardised score is an age-adjusted measure that compares your child's raw test performance against other children of the same age, producing a fair result regardless of whether your child is among the oldest or youngest in their year group. According to the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools, meeting the eligibility threshold does not guarantee a place, as schools are oversubscribed and further selection criteria apply.

What's the difference between the Slough and Buckinghamshire 11+ exams?

The Slough Consortium uses CEM-style assessments, which are designed to test a broad range of skills and change format each year. CEM does not publish past papers, so preparation focuses on developing strong underlying skills. The Buckinghamshire secondary transfer test has historically drawn on both verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning alongside English and maths, with a higher qualifying score of 121 compared to Slough's 111.

Where to go from here

The short version:

• Year 3 is for reading, maths games, and puzzles. No formal prep needed.
• Year 4 is the ideal time to start, with light, regular 11+ practice.
• Year 5 is where it all ramps up: exam-style questions, timed conditions, mock exams.
• Starting in Year 5? You can still do it, but you'll need a more intensive approach.
• The Slough and Buckinghamshire systems are different. Your preparation should be, too.

At Think Smart Academy, we've spent over a decade helping families across Slough and High Wycombe through this process. Whether your child is in Year 3 and you're planning ahead, or in Year 5 and feeling behind, we can put together a preparation plan matched to your child and your target schools.

Book a Free Consultation to talk through your child's preparation, or Start a Free Trial Lesson to see how we work. You can also give us a call at our Slough or High Wycombe centres. We're always happy to help.