The Kent Test is in September, at the start of Year 6. If your child has just started Year 5 that's months away - which sounds like plenty - until it isn't.

This is a straightforward breakdown of what's actually on the paper: which format Kent uses, what each section tests, and what preparation genuinely makes a difference.

What Is the 11+ / Kent Test?

If you're reading this you are probably already well aware, however for the sake of clarity: The 11+ is the selective entry exam for grammar schools. It's taken at the start of Year 6 (usually September, just after returning from the summer break), and results come back in October. School applications are then made through the standard secondary school process, with grammar school preferences listed alongside non-selective options.

One date most parents miss until it's almost too late: registration typically closes in June of Year 5 - a full year before the test itself. That's the real deadline to have on your radar. If your child is currently in Year 5, check the KCC website now.

Getting a qualifying score doesn't guarantee a grammar school place - it means your child is considered academically suitable. Popular schools are still heavily oversubscribed, so catchment, distance, and sibling clauses also apply, with some schools requiring a high-pass mark to be competitive.

In Kent specifically, the test is administered by Kent County Council using GL Assessment papers, and it covers four areas across two papers sat on the same day.

GL Assessment vs CEM - Which Test Does Your Child Sit?

This is the question ALL parents need to have the answer to early on - DON'T get caught out by preparing for the wrong format.

There are two main providers of 11+ tests used across grammar schools in England, and they are meaningfully different.

GL Assessment (Used in Kent)

GL Assessment is the provider used in Kent, as well as other selective areas including Buckinghamshire. If your child is sitting the Kent Test, this is the format they'll face.

Key characteristics:

• Mostly multiple choice - Verbal Reasoning, Maths, and Non-Verbal Reasoning are all multiple choice, but the English paper includes a written task
• Four distinct sections: English, Verbal Reasoning, Maths, Non-Verbal Reasoning
• Standardised scores - raw marks are converted so 100 = the national average for that age group
• Question types are consistent and predictable - the same formats appear year after year, which means targeted practice genuinely pays off

Because GL Assessment tests are structured and predictable, children who practise the specific question types - particularly in Verbal Reasoning - tend to improve meaningfully with preparation.

CEM (Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring)

CEM is the other main 11+ provider, used in areas outside Kent. It has a meaningfully different format - less predictable question types, a faster pace, and no consistent paper structure - so preparation strategy differs. If your child is sitting a CEM test rather than the Kent Test, this article isn't your primary resource. We'll be publishing a dedicated CEM guide soon.

Which One Does Kent Use?

Kent uses GL Assessment (but still check with your preferred schools - their websites will have the info). Everything from here on is written for that format.

The Four Areas Tested (GL Assessment / Kent Test)

The Kent Test is sat across two papers on the same day:

• Paper 1: English + Verbal Reasoning
• Paper 2: Maths + Non-Verbal Reasoning

1. English

Most parents focus their prep energy on Verbal Reasoning and Maths. English is often underestimated - and it has a sting in its tail.

The English paper has two parts. First, children are given a passage of text (fiction or non-fiction) and must answer multiple choice questions that test:

• Comprehension - finding and interpreting information from the text
• Inference - reading between the lines; what is the character feeling, what is implied?
• Vocabulary in context - what does this word mean as it's used here?
• Language analysis - why did the author use this word or technique?
• Grammar and punctuation - identifying errors, choosing the correct form

Second, children complete a written task - typically a short piece of creative or descriptive writing. This is worth understanding clearly: the written task is not included in the standardised score that determines whether your child qualifies. It's collected separately and held by individual grammar schools, who may use it to differentiate between borderline candidates when places are tight. Not every school uses it, and it won't rescue a weak test score - but for a child sitting right on the boundary, a strong piece of writing could matter. It's worth practising, and it's regularly overlooked.

What trips children up: The vocabulary questions. Children who read widely tend to do well here, but many children encounter words in the comprehension that they've simply never seen before - and if they don't know the word, they can't answer the question.

2. Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning is where many children lose marks they didn't expect to lose. It barely appears in the primary school curriculum, so most children encounter it for the first time in practice papers and find it baffling. It tests the ability to understand and work with words - quickly and accurately. GL Assessment question types include:

• Synonyms - which word has the same meaning?
• Antonyms - which word has the opposite meaning?
• Analogies - "Leaf is to tree as petal is to ___?"
• Word codes - if CAT = 314, what is TAC?
• Odd one out - which word doesn't belong with the others?
• Hidden words - find a word hidden across two words in a sentence
• Missing letters - complete the word pairs

The core skill here is word knowledge - you can't logic your way through a synonym question if you don't know what either word means. A wide vocabulary is the single biggest advantage a child can have in this section, and it's the one that rewards consistent preparation most.

3. Mathematics

This covers Key Stage 2 maths, but pushed harder and faster than most children experience in class. The questions include:

• Arithmetic - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division (including with decimals and fractions)
• Times tables - expected to be instant; slow recall costs valuable time
• Fractions, decimals and percentages - converting between them, applying them to problems
• Word problems - multi-step problems where children must identify what's being asked before they can solve it
• Number knowledge - factors, multiples, prime numbers, squares, negative numbers
• Measures - area, perimeter, volume, unit conversions
• Shape and space - angles, properties of shapes, coordinates
• Data - reading graphs, charts, and tables; calculating averages

What trips children up: Speed. Many children can do the maths - they just can't do it fast enough. Fluency with times tables and mental arithmetic is essential, because every slow calculation eats into time for harder questions.

4. Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning can't be revised in the traditional sense. There's no subject knowledge to memorise - it's entirely about pattern recognition in visual sequences. GL Assessment question types include:

• Pattern completion - which shape completes the pattern?
• Sequences - what comes next in the series?
• Odd one out - which shape doesn't follow the same rule?
• Matrices - complete the 3x3 grid following the pattern
• Codes - shapes are assigned letter codes; decode the rule

The key skill is logical observation - spotting how things are changing (size, rotation, shading, number of elements) and applying that rule consistently. Exposure through practice papers is the most effective preparation here.

What the Scores Mean

Each paper is marked and scores are standardised - adjusted so that 100 represents the average score for children of the same age group nationally. A score of around 108-112 or above is typically needed to qualify for grammar school consideration in Kent, though this varies by school and by year depending on the cohort.

Children are not told their raw marks - they receive standardised scores for each section and an overall combined score.

How to Prepare - Without Burning Your Child Out

This is where parents often go wrong: starting too late, leading to panic, which results in going too hard. Here's what actually works:

Start in Year 5 - or even earlier.
The test is in September of Year 6. Starting from scratch that summer leaves very little time. A light but consistent routine through Year 5 is far more effective than panic-cramming in July and August. If your child is in Year 4 or younger, even better - consistent reading, instant maths recall, and vocabulary building now pays dividends later.

Sort out times tables first.
If your child hesitates on 7x8 or 12x9, that needs to be fixed before anything else. Slow recall bleeds into every maths question. It should be automatic.

Read - a lot, and broadly.
Fiction builds inference skills and emotional vocabulary. Non-fiction builds comprehension of complex ideas. Both are needed. This isn't something you can shortcut.

Build vocabulary deliberately.
Don't just hope your child absorbs words through osmosis. Targeted vocabulary practice - learning word meanings, synonyms, antonyms, and how words are used in context - directly feeds both the English and Verbal Reasoning sections. This is the highest-leverage activity most children can do in the months before the test.

Do practice papers, but review them.
Practice papers are useful for familiarity with GL question types (especially Non-Verbal Reasoning) and building speed. But grinding through paper after paper without reviewing mistakes is wasted effort. One paper with careful review beats five papers done mindlessly.

Keep it positive.
Grammar school is a great option for the right child - but it's not the only path to a successful secondary school career. Children who sit the test under intense parental pressure tend to underperform. Keep the stakes real but not catastrophic.

Where The Revision Wizard Fits In

Most revision tools are just question banks. You do the questions, you get a score, and you're left to figure out what to do with it.

I built The Revision Wizard to work differently. The games and questions are the surface - underneath there's a layer of data that most prep tools don't give you at all.

The dashboard shows accuracy broken down by question type, with month-on-month trend lines so you can see whether your child is improving, plateauing, or quietly sliding in a particular area. More useful still is the Troublesome Items view - a table of the specific words and problems your child has answered wrong most often in the last 30 days, with the dates and correct/incorrect counts to show whether a gap is closing or widening. The platform also uses this data during play: questions your child struggles with come up more frequently, so the gaps get worked on automatically rather than just flagged for a parent to deal with.

Over 12 weeks it builds an accuracy trend and generates recommendations - when to push harder, when to revisit fundamentals, which areas need focus. It's the kind of read-out you'd get from a really good tutor at the end of a session, without the hourly rate.

The gamification - Gems, levels, badges, weekly leaderboards, milestone challenges - is there for a practical reason. Keeping a 10-year-old engaged with revision from Year 5 through to September of Year 6 is hard. Motivation has to come from somewhere beyond "this exam is important." The game handles that.

For the Kent Test: Vocabulary builds the word knowledge that drives both the English comprehension and Verbal Reasoning papers. Maths (Times Tables, Sums, Word Problems, Number Knowhow) covers the arithmetic fluency and problem-solving the maths paper demands. Levels run from Early KS1 to Late KS2 - so whether you're starting early in Year 3 (our Level 1 questions cater for even eariler) or drilling hard in Year 5, the difficulty matches where your child actually is. More subjects are coming, but for the Kent Test, vocabulary and maths is where a lot of the work is.

Bottom Line

The Kent Test is challenging so don't go in under prepared. Four sections, consistent question formats, standardised scoring. The right preparation genuinely works - and the children who do best aren't necessarily the cleverest, they're the ones who started early, built the right habits and know what to expect. They are the ones who:

• Know their times tables cold
• Have a wide, well-practised vocabulary
• Read regularly and broadly
• Have done enough practice to feel comfortable with the question formats
• Started early enough to build confidence rather than just cram
• Aren't crushed by anxiety on the day

Start early, keep it consistent, use the data to focus effort where it matters.

If you're looking for something to make the vocabulary and maths practice actually stick - without the daily battle to get them to do it - that's exactly what I built.

Start your 14-day free trial today - no card required!

Good luck to every family preparing for September. You've got this.