When Should You Start Preparing for the 11+? A Year by Year Timeline

Most children should start structured 11+ preparation in September of Year 5, roughly twelve months before the exam, because the test itself is sat in the first weeks of Year 6, not at the end of it. That single fact moves the real deadline back a full year from where most families assume it sits: the effective cutoff is the summer holiday at the end of Year 5, not the end of Year 6. Maths, English comprehension and reasoning also rest on foundations built over years of ordinary schooling, but their exam-specific technique can be built effectively within a focused Year 5 programme. Vocabulary is the exception: word knowledge accrues through years of repeated exposure rather than weeks of drilling, which is why it specifically benefits from a head start the rest of the syllabus does not need.

Key takeaways

• The 11+ exam is sat in September of Year 6 (the Kent Test, for example, tests children in the first weeks back after the summer), so the real preparation deadline is the summer before Year 6, not the end of it.

• Year 5, running from September to the exam roughly twelve months later, is the mainstream starting point for structured work across maths, English comprehension, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, and vocabulary together.

• Year 4 is a light introduction to all four exam strands, maths, English comprehension, reasoning and vocabulary, not formal exam practice: around 20 minutes of daily reading, times tables to 12, and a light introduction to reasoning question types.

• Year 3 preparation is rare and relevant mainly to families targeting super-selective grammar schools or the most competitive independent schools.

• Vocabulary benefits from a longer runway than the exam-specific technique in maths or reasoning, because word knowledge accumulates through repeated exposure over years; maths and reasoning still need real foundations, but their exam-specific technique can be built effectively within a focused Year 5 programme.

When Is the 11+ Exam Actually Sat?

The 11+ exam is sat in September of Year 6, in the first weeks back after the summer holiday, not at the end of the school year as the name suggests to many first-time parents. In Kent, for instance, children sit the test in the first weeks of Year 6 for entry to grammar school the following September, and the local authority is explicit this is a September event, not a summer-term one.

That timing changes what Year 6 actually is for your family. If the exam falls days into the school year, Year 6 cannot be a preparation year: there is no autumn term left once the test has already happened. The real working deadline is the summer holiday at the end of Year 5, when any remaining gaps need to be closed.

Registration deadlines catch families out more often than the exam date itself. For the Kent Test, registration typically opens in early June and closes on 1 July, months before the exam, and Kent County Council's guidance is clear it does not accept late applications or appeals for missed deadlines (Kent County Council). Every selective area sets its own registration window, so check your local authority's or consortium's dates directly rather than assuming a single national date applies.

When Should Your Child Start Preparing for the 11+ in Year 5?

Year 5 is the mainstream starting point: most families begin structured preparation in September of Year 5, roughly twelve months before the exam, and that window is long enough to build real competence across the syllabus if the pace stays consistent rather than rushed.

A realistic Year 5 pattern is one to two focused sessions a week, around 45 to 60 minutes each, covering maths, English comprehension, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, and vocabulary in rotation. From around March of Year 5, sessions shift toward timed full papers, since technique under time pressure is a different skill from untimed accuracy. By the summer before Year 6, most families increase to roughly two full papers a week to build stamina ahead of the September exam.

What This Looks Like Across the Syllabus

Maths, English comprehension and reasoning all draw on foundations built gradually over years of schooling, much as vocabulary does. What differs is the exam-specific layer on top, the question types and the timed format, which is genuinely learnable within a focused year of Year 5 practice. Vocabulary asks for something different: a child cannot absorb exam-level vocabulary in the same weeks-long bursts that build exam technique elsewhere, which is why it needs a longer runway, covered below.

What Foundational Work Belongs in Year 4?

Year 4 is a light introduction across all four strands of the 11+, maths, English comprehension, reasoning and vocabulary, at a basic level, not formal exam practice on an eight or nine year old. Each strand gets a small, informal foothold: times tables to 12 and simple number work for maths, a gentle introduction to verbal reasoning question types such as synonyms, antonyms and odd one out for reasoning, and around twenty minutes of daily reading that builds comprehension and vocabulary together, since passive exposure to new words and ideas is exactly what a Year 5 structured programme later builds on.

Most reputable tutors warn against drilling exam-style practice papers this early: children who start timed practice papers two years out from the exam are, tutors report, more likely to lose motivation before the exam arrives. Burnout in Year 4 does not save time later, it costs it, because a demotivated Year 6 child is harder to prepare than a fresh one.

A demotivated Year 6 child is harder to prepare than a fresh one, which is the real cost of starting formal exam drilling too early.

Is Starting in Year 3 Ever Necessary?

Starting in Year 3 is rarely necessary, and where it happens it should mean general familiarity with reading, writing and numbers, not anything exam-shaped. This tier is relevant only to a minority of families, specifically those targeting super-selective grammar schools or the most competitive independent school entrance exams. The pool of applicants there is unusually strong, and margins are thin.

For most families aiming at a typical grammar school place, Year 3 preparation adds little beyond what a child would naturally pick up through normal reading, and risks the same burnout problem that makes early Year 4 drilling a poor trade.

Why Does Vocabulary Preparation Run on a Different Clock?

Vocabulary preparation benefits from a longer runway than the exam-specific technique in maths or reasoning, because word knowledge is built through repeated exposure over time, resisting compression into a short, intense burst of practice close to the exam. Maths and reasoning also need real foundations built over years, but their exam-specific technique, the particular question types and the timed format, can move from unfamiliar to reasonably fluent within a school term of focused practice once those foundations are in place. A word seen once, in one context, is not reliably known. Real mastery comes from meeting it again, in a different form, days or weeks later.

This is not just intuition. Research on spaced retrieval in children's word learning, spanning typically developing children and children with additional language needs, has found that repeated, spaced exposure to new words produces stronger, more durable retention than massed, one-off exposure, which is why last-minute revision of a word list the week before an exam does not stick the way distributed practice does (Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders). That is the practical case for giving vocabulary a longer runway than the rest of the syllabus, even when nothing else starts before Year 5.

The practical implication is a two-speed calendar: general reading from Year 3 or Year 4 builds passive exposure at no real cost, and structured, systematic vocabulary work begins in Year 5 alongside the rest of the syllabus. For a family starting later than they would like, a structured word bank with spaced repetition, rather than a flat list worked front to back, closes the gap faster than flash cards alone by resurfacing the words a child is actually struggling with, not repeating ones they already know. 11+ Vocab Quest's word bank runs to over 1,800 curated 11+ words for exactly this reason: a family starting in Year 5 needs the full breadth of likely exam vocabulary available from day one, not a partial list that has to be topped up later.

Testing a word six different ways (meaning, synonym, antonym, fill in the blank, context and usage) also matters more than it might seem: a child who can define a word is not the same as one who can recognise it inside an unfamiliar sentence under exam pressure, which is the gap single-format definition drilling leaves open.

Two Things That Catch Families Out

Regional variation is the first trap. Some areas test in September of Year 6, in line with the Kent Test timeline above; others, including some consortium and independent school routes, test later in the autumn term. Check your specific local authority's or target school's published dates directly rather than assuming the Kent timeline applies everywhere.

Registration deadlines are the second, and the more dangerous one, because they fall so far ahead of the exam itself that they are easy to miss. Kent's registration window for Year 5 pupils closes at the start of July, roughly two months before the test; other counties set similarly early cutoffs, and missing the window generally means missing the exam entirely, with no appeal (Kent County Council). Put the registration date in a calendar the moment your child starts Year 5.

"Start earlier and score higher" statistics circulating on some tutoring sites are marketing claims, not published research findings, and treating them as fact can push a family into starting formal drilling years before it helps. The evidence base supports early, low-pressure reading and, separately, an earlier start for vocabulary specifically. It does not support starting full exam-style practice in Year 3 for a typical grammar school place.

Turning This Timeline Into a Weekly Plan

Every child's starting point is different: how much of this timeline applies depends on your child's existing knowledge, strengths and target schools, so treat it as a framework to adapt, not a fixed schedule. Once you know your child's exam date, the timeline above becomes a countdown rather than an abstraction. Counting back from September of Year 6 to today tells you how many months of Year 5 style preparation are realistically available, and that number should set the pace, not a generic "twelve months" rule of thumb if your family genuinely has more or less time than that.

For vocabulary specifically, a useful way to plan is mapping the months remaining onto a staged structure rather than an undifferentiated list. 11+ Vocab Quest's 36 quest levels are built to be paced this way: a family with twelve months to the exam can map roughly three levels a month, while a family starting later can compress the same levels into a faster, still structured pace. Progress tracking that shows which words a child is still getting wrong, rather than which levels they have technically completed, is what should decide next week's priorities: revisiting struggling words repeatedly is what the spaced retrieval research above actually supports, not working front to back through a list because that is where you left off.

See exactly which words your child already knows and which ones need work with a free 11+ Vocab Quest diagnostic at 11+ Vocab Quest.

For the vocabulary-specific side of this timeline, including what to prioritise if you are starting later than you would like, what to review in the final month before the exam covers the closing stretch once the structured Year 5 work is underway.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should my child start preparing for the 11+?
Most children should start structured preparation in September of Year 5, roughly twelve months before the exam. Year 4 is a light introduction across all four exam strands, maths, English comprehension, reasoning and vocabulary, not formal drilling, and Year 3 preparation is rarely necessary outside super-selective or top independent school routes. Vocabulary is the exception, since word knowledge builds through repeated exposure over years rather than weeks, though every strand needs real foundations built over time.

Is Year 4 too early to start preparing for the 11+?
Year 4 is not too early for a light introduction across maths, English comprehension, reasoning and vocabulary: daily reading, times tables, and light exposure to reasoning question types are appropriate at this age. Formal, timed exam practice at eight or nine years old is generally too early, and reputable tutors report it risks burnout well before the actual exam.

What if we are starting in Year 5 with less than twelve months to go?
A shorter runway means a faster but still structured pace, not abandoning structure. Compress the syllabus into the months available, move to timed papers sooner, and for vocabulary specifically, prioritise a structured word bank that resurfaces struggling words rather than working through a list from the start.

Does starting earlier really lead to a higher score?
There is no published research showing an earlier start produces a higher overall 11+ score. The evidence is narrower: spaced retrieval research shows vocabulary specifically benefits from distributed exposure over time, which is why an earlier start helps that strand in particular. Maths and reasoning also need real foundations, and their exam-specific technique responds well to a focused, well-structured twelve-month Year 5 programme. "Start earlier, score higher" claims circulating on some tutoring sites are marketing rather than published research findings.

How is vocabulary preparation different from maths or verbal reasoning preparation?
Maths and reasoning also need strong foundations built over years of schooling, but their exam-specific technique, the question types and timed format, responds well to a school term or two of focused practice once those foundations are there. Vocabulary is different: a word needs to be met repeatedly, in different contexts, over an extended period before a child reliably recognises it under exam pressure. That is why vocabulary preparation benefits from starting earlier than the rest of the 11+ syllabus, not because maths and reasoning need no real foundational work, but because word knowledge accrues on a longer timescale even after those foundations are in place.

Disclaimer
This article provides general guidance on 11+ preparation across maths, English, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and vocabulary. The ideal starting point, sequence, time commitment and focus for each subject will vary depending on your child's existing knowledge, strengths, areas for improvement and target schools. Parents should carefully assess their child's individual learning needs and tailor their preparation accordingly. Exam formats, dates and registration deadlines differ by region and school, so always check the latest information with the relevant local authority or school. The suggested timelines are illustrative and do not guarantee exam success.