11 Plus Preparation Timeline: Year 4 to Year 6 (2026)

Effective 11 plus preparation is not about studying as intensively as possible — it is about studying the right things at the right time. A well-structured timeline from Year 4 through to exam day in Year 6 allows children to build skills progressively, develop stamina, peak at exactly the right moment, and avoid the burnout that can affect children who cram too hard too late. This month-by-month guide covers every key milestone from September of Year 4 through exam day.

Year 4: Foundation Phase (September to July)

September to December of Year 4 is the research and familiarisation phase. A child in Year 4 in the 2026/27 school year joins Year 7 in September 2029, so a September test falls in September 2028; the Kent Test for September 2027 entry was held on Thursday 10 September 2026 for pupils at Kent primary schools (the weekend of 12 and 13 September 2026 for other pupils), early in Year 6. If you are considering a grammar school, now is the time to identify which schools you are targeting, confirm which test each school uses and who provides it, and understand what each test requires. Do not begin intensive preparation in September of Year 4 — children who start drilling practice papers 24 months before the exam can lose motivation and risk burnout long before the actual exam arrives. Check the entry point as well as the provider: if the schools on your list take most of their pupils at 13+, the entry route and timetable are different — see our guide to the ISEB Pre-Test and 13+ preparation — and the timeline below no longer applies.

The most valuable activity in this phase: establish a strong daily reading habit. Wide reading — fiction, non-fiction, newspapers — supports verbal reasoning scores and English comprehension. Aim for a little independent reading every day. This habit, maintained through Year 5 and into Year 6, is worth protecting alongside the practice work.

January to April of Year 4: Begin light, engaging introduction to verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types if your child is ready. A good starting point is non-verbal reasoning activities, framed as puzzle-solving rather than formal academic work. Introduce one or two verbal reasoning question types per month through informal practice — untimed, low-pressure, framed as puzzles rather than tests.

May to July of Year 4: Continue light introduction. Identify any mathematical gaps by comparing your child's school maths with the topics your target tests cover — some topics may be introduced later in school than the exam requires. Use the summer between Year 4 and Year 5 to consolidate rather than accelerate: 2–3 weekly tuition sessions or structured workbooks rather than an intensive programme.

Year 5: Systematic Preparation (September to July)

September to November of Year 5 is when structured, regular preparation should begin seriously. Establish a weekly routine of one or two focused preparation sessions. Begin systematic coverage of all the verbal reasoning question types — one to two types per fortnight, practised until correct consistently before moving to the next. Ensure every maths topic your target tests cover is practised, especially those not yet taught in school.

December to February of Year 5: Introduce timed practice for individual question-type sets. Start with very short timed bursts, building to longer timed sections by February. Timed practice reveals where bottlenecks are — which question types your child is slow on — and guides your preparation focus for the spring term.

March to May of Year 5: First complete timed papers. By March of Year 5 (approximately 6 months before the September exam), introduce the first complete timed practice papers across every section of the test. Mark them carefully and treat the results diagnostically — not as a measure of final performance, but as a guide to where the remaining months of preparation should focus. Aim for 2–3 complete papers per month during this period.

June to July of Year 5: Review and consolidation. Use the final term of Year 5 to address persistent weaknesses identified from paper practice. Focus specifically on question types where more than 2–3 marks per paper are still being lost. Enter the summer holidays with a clear picture of current strengths and the areas that need most attention in Year 6.

Summer Before Year 6: The Critical Window

The summer holidays between Year 5 and Year 6 are one of the most important preparation windows in the whole preparation timeline. At this point, the exam is only weeks away for September sitters — in the 2026 cycle the Kent Test for Kent primary school pupils was on Thursday 10 September 2026 and the Slough Consortium's test on Saturday 19 September 2026 — and further off for children sitting in November or December. A steady routine through this period works better than either a complete break or pushing too hard.

The optimal approach during the summer: maintain 2 structured preparation sessions per week (not daily intensive sessions), complete 2 full timed practice papers per week in the style of your target test, with careful mistake review, and target any persistent weaknesses identified during Year 5. Daily reading should continue throughout. Mock exam practice at a tutor centre — where conditions replicate the real exam environment — is highly valuable during the 4 weeks immediately before the exam date.

Shorter breaks matter too: our five-day half-term 11+ catch-up plan sets out what a single half-term week can realistically fix for a child who has fallen behind, and what needs a longer plan.

Anchor the Plan to a Real Date, Not to "Autumn of Year 6"

Every timeline on this page counts backwards from an exam day, so the single most useful thing a family can do in Year 5 is find out what that day actually is. The dates below are for September 2027 entry and are taken from each admitting authority's own published guidance. They fall in different exam seasons, and a plan built for the wrong one is a plan that peaks in the wrong month.

Two practical consequences follow. First, a family applying across more than one of these is not preparing for one exam season but for two or three, and registration windows close at very different points: Friday 5 June 2026 for the Slough Consortium, Wednesday 1 July 2026 for the Kent Test and Friday 30 October 2026 for City of London School for Girls. Second, the phrase “the 11+ is in September” is true for some children and eight to twelve weeks wrong for others. Confirm the date with the admitting authority before you build any of the phases below around it.

Year 6: The Final Phase (September to Exam Day)

For schools with September exams — including Kent (Thursday 10 September 2026 for Kent primary school pupils; the weekend of 12 and 13 September 2026 for other pupils), Buckinghamshire (Buckinghamshire Council gives 8 and 10 September 2026 as its test dates; The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools list 8 September as a practice test and 10 September as the Secondary Transfer Test), the Slough Consortium (Saturday 19 September 2026), QE Boys Barnet (usually September) and Henrietta Barnett (Round One on 2, 3 and 4 September 2026) — the final preparation phase runs through the summer holiday and the first weeks of September. For schools testing later in the autumn term — Tiffin School held its Stage One tests on 2 October 2026, and the London 11+ Consortium sits on 27 November, 1 December or 3 December 2026 — there is more Year 6 preparation time.

Week 1 and 2 of September: Peak preparation intensity. Daily timed section practice, with at least one full mock exam under exam-realistic conditions (quiet room, timed, no interruptions). Review all mistakes from recent papers systematically.

Week 3 of September (for week-4 exams): Begin winding down new material. Focus on consolidation, confidence-building, and quick reviews of question types that still feel uncertain. No long practice sessions — aim for short, focused reviews.

Final week before exam: Light warm-up sessions only (one timed section on Monday and Tuesday). Wednesday completely free. Thursday: brief review of a handful of questions of any types still feeling uncertain. Friday: complete rest. Establish a pre-exam routine: good sleep, nutritious breakfast, early arrival at the venue. See our grammar school hub, our guide to passing the 11 plus, and our 11 plus tuition service for further guidance on all aspects of 11 plus preparation. For advice on what comes next, see our Year 6 to Year 7 transition guide, and for exam-day strategy see our 11+ exam technique guide.

Mock Exam Schedule: What, When, and How Many

Mock exams — full papers taken under timed conditions in a formal setting — are a valuable preparation tool in the final weeks before the actual exam. Children who have already worked under exam-like time pressure can find the real conditions less daunting than those who have only practised at home in informal conditions. The goal is not to pass or fail the mock but to make the conditions on actual exam day feel completely familiar and unremarkable.

Recommended mock exam schedule: first full mock in March of Year 5 (diagnostic baseline); second mock in June of Year 5 (mid-preparation check); third and fourth mocks in July and August (summer preparation); fifth and sixth mocks in September of Year 6 (final preparation); final mock the week before the exam (confidence check only). At a minimum, every child should complete three full mocks under timed conditions before the actual exam. Children targeting highly selective schools should aim for six or more.

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Kent and Buckinghamshire registration, and dates still ahead

Kent County Council opened Kent Test registration on Monday 1 June 2026 and closed it on Wednesday 1 July 2026. Buckinghamshire Council opened registration on 1 May 2026 for children at partner schools and schools outside Buckinghamshire, and it closed at 3pm on Tuesday 2 June 2026; children at state-funded Buckinghamshire primary schools do not need to register. Both registrations ran in the summer term of Year 5, so a child in Year 4 in the 2026/27 school year will reach that stage in the 2027/28 school year and should check each council's page at the start of Year 5.

Other dates still ahead for September 2027 entry:

• Henrietta Barnett School: Round Two of the entrance test is on Tuesday 6 October 2026, for the top 300 candidates from Round One.
• Buckinghamshire: Secondary Transfer Test results are due on 9 October 2026, according to The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools.
• Kent: results day is Thursday 15 October 2026.
• Tiffin School: parents are told on 16 October 2026 whether their son is invited to Stage Two, which is held on 12 November 2026.
• Common Application Form: the Slough Consortium's key dates give the closing date as Saturday 31 October 2026.

Reviewed October 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against Kent County Council, Buckinghamshire Council and The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools, the Slough Consortium's key dates, and the admissions pages of QE Boys Barnet, Henrietta Barnett, Tiffin School, Wimbledon High School, City of London School for Girls and the London 11+ Consortium.

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