What questions are asked in Wirral and Liverpool?

Calday Grange, West Kirby, Wirral Grammar School for Boys and Wirral Grammar School for Girls.

These schools use the CEM 11 Plus exam format. This test consists of two papers each will be 45 minutes long.

Within those two papers pupils will find a mix of individually timed topics.

These will cover Non-Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning (Maths calculation questions and worded problems) and VR (these include a mix of vocabulary, comprehension  and traditional VR questions).

The papers tend to be heavily weighted towards literacy and particularly reward students with very good core Maths and English skills, particularly a wide vocabulary.

CEM tests are designed to be less coachable than previous tests because past papers are not made available, questions are not known in advance and while some prediction is possible they can change without notice.

CEM tests generally reward those pupils with a very strong understanding of the KS2 syllabus and who have gone through a long and slow preparation rather than hothousing.

St. Anselm’s College

It is hard to predict what will come up in these papers as they are school written, however we do have some advice available based off information from their past papers. The tests are liable to change and aren’t guaranteed to follow the same pattern as previous years.

The English Paper includes a comprehension with standard answer questions, and is not multiple choice. It also includes a 20 minute essay task.

The Maths is a standard format paper with lots of worded questions.

Expect a lot of questions in the Mental Maths paper which will really stretch times table knowledge and the ability to apply it.

We believe that the Verbal Reasoning is a GL type paper. Find more information on this under the Upton Hall School section.

Upton Hall School

GL Verbal Reasoning uses the 21 known verbal reasoning question types but these can change at any time and the schools are under no requirement to notify parents. It is our belief that GL will at some stage introduce less publicised question types into their mix without warning. Parents whose children have prepared properly for this and who have a wide vocabulary and have tried different formats of test should not be overly concerned. In the meantime GL continues to use the 21 question types plus variants. If you would like to find out more about this test go our page on GL Verbal Reasoning. The GL Verbal Reasoning test will reward those pupils with an in-depth knowledge of the different questions but most work should be focussed on building a wide vocabulary as it is this aspect which normally separates the good from the excellent.

The Blue Coat School

The Blue Coat School’s admission tests are school written and there is little information on the format of the papers and the content. However, we suggest using GL preparation for these tests, so use these resources to prepare for the 11 Plus Maths Test, these to prepare for the 11 Plus English Test and these to prepare for the 11 Plus Non-Verbal Reasoning Test.

Which 11 Plus Exam Preparation Options Are Right For You ?