The pass mark is different in each LEA (Local Education Authority) and may vary from year to year. This is because there are only a set number of Grammar School places available, so the number of students passing each year needs to remain in line with the number of places available.

You will be given your child's Standardised Score (usually between 69 or 70 and 140 or 141) i.e not your child's Raw Score (the number of questions your child got correct on the test).

In some counties, where the eleven plus exam consists of more than one subject, the standardised scores are then weighted to give a final overall score.

You will need to establish the standardised pass mark and weighting for your own region, but to give you an example, the pass mark in Bucks (which only does VR exams) has been 121 in previous years.

More info on Kent 11+ exams

More info on Medway 11+ exams

More info on Redbridge 11+ exams

Is my child on track to pass?

Realistically, there is no foolproof way of assessing whether your child will or will not be successful in their 11 Plus Exam. This is dependent on so many factors, not to mention nerves on exam day (in many cases, worsened by parental pressure).

However, there are ways to gain a better understanding of your child’s current ability to help you decide whether they are suited to working at the pace required in a Grammar School Environment and their likelihood of passing the 11 plus exam. Understanding their current strengths and weaknesses will also indicate which areas to work on to help your child, in any case, at this point in their school career.

Find out how to assess your child's current ability - the first step when preparing for any 11 plus exam subject.

To give you a rough guideline for practice papers, your child should be aiming to score 90% (or more) consistently on practice papers by the time they are nearing their exam.

Practice papers do vary in difficulty though, which is why the analysis tools in COAsT are a great way to see how your child is doing in comparison to everyone else doing the same practice tests.

As a guideline, a percentile rank per test of 85 or more indicates a likely pass. This means your child is in the top 15% of all the children taking that particular practice test.

Compare COAsT and COAsT Lite