Independent schools · 11+ and 13+
The ISEB Pre-Tests: one sitting, several school decisions
The ISEB Common Pre-Tests are shared, but the admissions decisions are not. One child may take the same four tests for several schools, each with its own deadline and next stage. Here is how to organise the sitting, understand the adaptive format and prepare without turning every evening into another mock.
Updated · Sources last reviewed · By Eleven Plus Diary
First check that this is actually your child’s test
“The 11+” is not one national assessment. The ISEB Common Pre-Tests are four online tests used by some independent schools for Year 7 entry and by others as an early stage for Year 9 entry. They are not the Kent Test, a borough grammar test, Common Entrance or a school’s own written paper.
Ask every prospective school which route applies to your child’s entry year. Sevenoaks, for example, currently uses ISEB as a first stage for Year 7, followed for most candidates by its own English, maths and group work. Eton uses ISEB in Year 6 as the first stage towards a conditional Year 9 place. The same result is doing different admissions work.
Still deciding which schools, or which entry age, to aim for? Start with our independent school admissions overview, which maps the 4+, 7+, 11+, 13+ and 16+ routes. This page assumes the ISEB Pre-Tests are already part of your plan.
If you are applying to state grammar schools, start with our grammar-school admissions guide. For early independent-school registration and conditional offers, use the 13+ and pre-tests guide. This page is the practical companion for the ISEB sitting itself.
For the wider school choice, read our Sevenoaks profile or Eton profile. A shared test should not blur the differences in entry age, school life, boarding or what a family is committing to.
One profile, three different relationships
The current registration toolkit separates the roles. A parent creates the Applicant Profile and shareable Applicant ID. A senior school attaches the applicant to its process and sees the result. An invigilation centre schedules and supervises the tests. Registration with ISEB is free; school application and venue charges are separate matters.
Enter the child’s legal name, date of birth and current school carefully. Share the Applicant ID—not a test access code—with every senior school that asks for it. Parents cannot add senior schools themselves: the school links the profile using that ID. Check that each appears in the portal and keep a ledger of deadlines and contacts.
The Applicant ID can be generated once personal details and the SEND/EAL yes-or-no fields are complete, even if the venue is still missing or pending. Send the ID to schools while you finish the venue arrangements; do not let one task silently hold up the other.
Selecting an invigilation centre does not book a sitting. Contact the centre and obtain confirmation. ISEB recommends a child’s current school or a prospective senior school where possible. A new non-school venue needs ISEB approval and written approval from every prospective senior school for its venue and staff.
“Shared” does not mean every school is automatically included
A child normally sits once in the academic year. Results can be used by several participating senior schools, but those schools still need the Applicant ID and their own application. If a late school is added after the sitting, ask that school how to attach the existing result and whether it will accept the application. The ability to share results does not override a deadline. Do not arrange a second attempt.
The registration rules state that if a child does sit more than once in the same academic year, the first result stands. A new application is not a reset button. The useful parent job is making sure the correct schools are linked, not trying to find another test date.
A later academic year is different. ISEB’s previous-year guidance says a school can request the old result using the old ID. If the school requires testing in the new year, create a new Applicant Profile within the existing guardian account and share its new ID.
Four tests add up to two hours and fifteen minutes
The current ISEB timings total 135 minutes, excluding arrival, setup and breaks. The parts may be on one day or split across days. The centre decides the schedule within the earliest school deadline.
| Test | Standard time | What the framework covers |
|---|---|---|
| English | 40 minutes | Reading comprehension and grammar |
| Mathematics | 40 minutes | Content through the end of Year 5 |
| Verbal reasoning | 25 minutes | Words, language, logic and vocabulary |
| Non-verbal reasoning | 30 minutes | 2D patterns and 3D spatial reasoning |
The tests are online and multiple choice. Rough paper and a pencil are allowed for all four parts, but the invigilation centre supplies them. ISEB’s test rules prohibit calculators, textbooks and other help. Its preparation guide confirms rough work is not marked. A school’s separate written paper may use different rules, including method marks.
Adaptive does not mean “rush until the hard questions appear”
After each answer, the system selects a question intended to be suitable for the child’s developing performance estimate. Children can see different questions and even different numbers of questions. They cannot skip a question or return to change an answer. Finishing a different number from a friend reveals neither child’s score.
ISEB’s adaptive-testing explanation says accuracy and consistency matter more than speed. An early mistake does not set a permanent ceiling, and a child can score highly without answering every possible question. “Unlock the hardest level” is poor advice for a format that does not expose levels to the child.
A better instruction is: read the whole question, choose the best answer you can, then let it go. There is no back button to justify carrying the last problem into the next one.
Start with the free walkthrough, not a shopping basket
The official test walkthrough lets a child see the page setup, sample question interaction and answer selection. ISEB describes its purpose in the walkthrough guidance. It is familiarisation, not a score prediction. Use it early enough to discover that scrolling, the timer or screen layout feels awkward, not the night before the test.
Ask the child what felt unfamiliar. “I could not find the next button” calls for another short walkthrough. “I did not understand fractions” calls for teaching. “The countdown made me freeze” may call for hiding the timer and discussing support. Three different problems need three different responses.
These examples are our own diagnostic conversations. They are not ISEB questions or accounts of successful applicants. No practice question on this page is presented as live-test content.
Two practice mistakes worth slowing down for
These are original fictional exercises, not ISEB specimens, predicted questions or a difficulty benchmark. Use them to see the difference between checking an answer and helping a child understand why it works. Explain together first; this is not a scored home assessment.
A maths answer that is right halfway through
Six bottles each contain 750 ml. A group drinks 2 litres. How many millilitres remain? The invented choices are 2,500 ml, 4,500 ml, 2.5 ml and 7,500 ml.
First, six lots of 750 ml make 4,500 ml. Then convert 2 litres to 2,000 ml and subtract: 4,500 − 2,000 = 2,500 ml. A child who chooses 4,500 ml may have completed the multiplication but missed the second step. Ask them to point to the words telling us what happened next.
If they choose 2.5 ml, check units rather than setting ten more multiplication questions. Ask whether a few drops could plausibly be what remains from six bottles. Then change the quantities in one fresh problem. A correct explanation without your prompts tells you more than correcting the original answer together.
A reading answer that adds something the text never said
An invented passage: “Maya put the spare key back under the pot. At the gate, she stopped and checked her own pocket once more.” Which claim is best supported: she has lost her key; she is checking whether she has her key; she dislikes the house; or she plans never to return?
Checking whether she has her key is the best-supported choice. Losing it is possible, but the passage does not establish that. Ask the child which words support their answer and which part they supplied themselves. The lesson is to separate a reasonable inference from an attractive invented story.
This does not replace creative-writing practice for schools that set a separate composition. Our 11+ writing guide shows how to help a child develop an idea without handing them an adult script.
There is no ISEB pass mark to reverse-engineer
ISEB age-standardises the four scores against a sample from the independent-school sector. Its score explanation gives a scale with average 100 and standard deviation 15. These are standardised scores, not percentages. The reference is not a national average, an offer line or a prediction for a named school. Each school decides how to use the result alongside its other evidence.
Age-standardisation compares the child with pupils of the same age, so it is intended to account for age differences within the cohort. It does not mean that schooling, language, disability or every other difference between children has disappeared from the admissions picture.
ISEB does not release results to parents and says there are no grades or common pass mark. Parents can ask the senior school whether it will provide context. A commercial mock may use different questions and a different comparison group, so its “standardised” score is not automatically interchangeable with a live ISEB score.
Treat claims such as “School X needs 125” as unattributed unless the school publishes the figure for the relevant cohort and year. Even a genuine historical threshold could move, and some schools use ISEB only to decide who reaches another stage.
Test day needs a plan for ordinary problems
Confirm whether the four parts are together or split, the start time, breaks, food, collection and approved arrangements. Your child should know that rough paper is available and that the timer and progress bar can be hidden. They should also know not to compare their progress bar with another child’s.
If the child is unwell before the appointment, contact the centre and applying schools before starting. We found no universal ISEB rescheduling guarantee, so confirm any new date against every school deadline.
If illness or a technical problem occurs during a test, the child should tell the invigilator. ISEB’s November 2025 administering guide allows an invigilator to pause for illness, an agreed rest break or technical difficulty. The centre records circumstances and contacts ISEB where completion or reset needs advice.
Closing the browser does not pause the timer. The child should raise a hand and let the invigilator respond rather than trying to fix the device. A family can document what happened later; during the test, preserving an accurate centre record matters.
Do not promise a resit. ISEB decides whether a disrupted test should be reset after investigating; an ordinary second attempt in the academic year is not available. Ask the centre to record the incident, then notify affected senior schools without coaching the child through an argument about the result.