Our Common Entrance (CE) at 11+ assessments are taken by pupils in Year 6, mainly for entrance into independent senior girls’ schools.
Pupils are usually entered for the examinations by their prep school.
Our CE at 11+ assessments consist of three papers: English, mathematics and science.
In September 2021, we launched new CE specifications to allow teachers to prepare for the updated exams from autumn 2022. The new specifications have now been rebranded in line with all other company products, but the content remains largely unchanged. However, in case of minor amendments, we recommend using the rebranded versions below.
English CE at 11+ Specification Mathematics CE at 11+ Specification Science CE at 11+ Specification
There are two CE at 11+ examination sessions each year, in November and January, however most pupils sit the examination in January.
Click to explore examination dates for CE and CASE.
ISEB keeps examination fees as low as possible – fees cover the costs of the setting, printing and despatch of papers, and associated administration.
CE at 11+ fee for candidates taking the examination in the UK: £130 CE at 11+ fee for candidates moving from a prep to parent senior school: £50
Late entries
ISEB does its best to accommodate late entries for its examinations and assessments. However, the costs involved in processing late registrations are high. Therefore, all late entries are subject to a fee of £50 per school if received after the published closing date.
Changes to individual candidate details (e.g. change of school, subject or level) are likely to incur an administrative fee of £5 per candidate if received after the published closing date.
If changes to individual candidate details result in additional papers being despatched to schools or other sitting centres, courier and packing charges will be added to the standard administration fee.
Certificate reprints
An administrative fee of £10 per certificate will be charged if a reprint is required.
Pupils are usually entered for CE at 11+ examinations by their prep school – this section provides important information and documentation relating to the administration of these examinations. Schools should read the Regulations and Instructions to Invigilators document carefully and ensure that they are followed.
For more information about registering candidates for CE at 11+ exams, please contact the team at Common-Entrance@iseb.co.uk
Schools with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) candidates should contact the relevant senior school to discuss each candidate’s needs.
ISEB has reviewed all access arrangements. Please refer to document Access Arrangements for CE for full guidance.
Prep schools are asked to send senior schools the ISEB SEND report. Computers may be used by candidates who have specific learning difficulties. In particular cases, schools may provide a reader or an amanuensis. For visually-impaired candidates ISEB can arrange for copies of the examination papers to be enlarged to A3. If other print amendments are required, please contact ISEB at least one year in advance of the examination session to obtain a quotation.
Candidates whose first language is not English are allowed to use English to first language dictionaries. They are also allowed up to 10% extra time if they have studied in the medium of English for fewer than three years. This must be agreed in advance with the candidate’s first-choice senior school.
A Head’s report is required for each candidate. It should be sent to the senior school at least two weeks before the first day of the relevant examination session. The ISEB Head’s Report Form is below. Some schools may prefer to use the ICAS Common Transfer Form.
Examination centres are reminded that all scripts should be sent to senior schools for marking on the day of the examination. They should be dispatched by a secure method to ensure that they arrive the following morning, by special delivery if necessary. It is essential that senior schools start marking as soon as possible in order to meet the tight deadlines for the publication of results.
Heads are asked to complete a declaration form to confirm that all the examination procedures have been followed. A signed copy of this form is to be sent to the relevant senior school(s) at the end of the examination period.
Senior schools should assess examination scripts by grades. In English, separate grades should be given for each of the two papers. Senior schools are asked to let prep schools know the percentage range represented by the grades in each subject.
Results of the CE at 11+ examinations should be available to prep schools by the Friday of the week following the examinations, and before parents are informed on the Saturday. Heads of prep schools appreciate it if heads of senior schools contact them by telephone about any concerns by the Tuesday of the week following the examination.
Senior schools are asked to send to prep school heads an overall report on their candidates’ performance. Prep school heads appreciate general comments on each subject. Senior schools are also invited to send copies of their reports to the Chief Executive Officer at the ISEB offices because the setters always appreciate feedback on how candidates tackled questions in the papers.
A set of important information and documentation relating to the administration of the CE 11+ examinations is provided on this page. Schools should read the Regulations and Instructions to Invigilators document carefully and ensure that they are followed.
If you require support with any area of CE at 11+ we recommend visiting our CE and CASE Support Portal where you will find a range of helpful information and FAQs.
You can also submit a support ticket which will come straight through to our customer service team. We endeavour to respond to all queries within 24 hours.
Visit our CE and CASE Support Portal or submit a support ticket.
Examination regulation
Centre declaration form
ISEB Head's report form
ICAS common transfer form
SEND report
Notification of access arrangements
CE Access Arrangements
Visit our new Support Portal to access a range of helpful articles and FAQs about CE at 11+. You can also submit an enquiry to our customer service team by submitting a support ticket.
Schools can now order past papers for Common Entrance (CE) and Common Academic Scholarship (CASE) exams through our new online shop. To access school-only products including individual print-on-demand papers and digital bundles of PDF papers, schools will need a verified ISEB School account for the online shop. Your school may already have an account - if you are unsure, please contact us by completing the ticket form on our Shop Support Portal to find out. See further information below.
Past CE and CASE exam papers are available to buy through the ISEB Online Shop. Schools can buy printed and digital past papers from 2019 to 2023, and can also place Advance Orders through the shop. Please note that you must be logged in to your school’s online shop account to see school-only past paper products.
In September 2021, we launched new CE and CASE specifications to allow teachers to prepare for the updated exams from autumn 2022. All past papers currently in the ISEB shop follow the syllabus used until June 2022. They remain valid as revision and practice materials, but they may not wholly correlate with papers written to the new specification. Please reassure your young people that revising with these papers remains the best way to prepare for their tests.
Past papers following the new specifications will become available to schools after each live exam session, beginning with the Autumn 2022 session. Parents and tutors are not able to order papers until one year after the exams have taken place, so schools can purchase the most recent papers for practice purposes knowing that pupils will not have seen them.
Schools can place orders for practice papers in advance of the next set of exams. This will ensure that they receive the papers immediately after the live exams have taken place.
The ISEB School Account is an account that provides access to school-only content and products on the ISEB website and online shop to schools that work with CE or CASE examinations or the iPQ.
It allows schools to order past papers for CE and CASE, and to register candidates for examinations and qualifications such as the iPQ. Find out more about the ISEB School Account.
If your school does not yet have an ISEB School account, you can request one here: www.iseb.co.uk/register.
We recommend that you read the guidance information and FAQs on the Support and Guidance for Schools page before you place your first order.
Access the Online Shop Knowledge Base here: shop.support.iseb.co.uk. You can contact our customer support team by raising a ticket.
Candidates can not be uploaded through the new system if they have not got a marking school selected in the spreadsheet drop down, previously known as 'undecided'.
Users are encouraged to upload once all candidates have confirmed their preferred senior school, alternatively, you can upload an updated spreadsheet at a later date to include these individuals, provided it is within the registration deadline.
Yes, these candidates should be registered as 'internal marking' from the drop-down list. Mark schemes will then be sent to prep schools for use after the examinations have taken place. Prep schools will need to decide their own grade boundaries.
As far as possible, candidates' details should be correct at the time of registration. Schools are able to access registration details by logging into their ISEB School Account and clicking on the 'Registrations' menu option. Once the closing date has passed, please notify us of any changes by completing a ticket on the CE & CASE Support Portal. Schools are likely to be charged an administration fee for each change. If changes result in the despatch of additional papers to schools, a charge will be made for packing and despatch.
Prep schools should make these decisions internally, taking into account senior school requirements. If it is felt that it would be in a pupil's best interests to sit a lower tier paper, prep schools should discuss this with the pupil's chosen senior school.
It is up to senior schools to set their own criteria for establishing grade boundaries, both within subjects and between levels. Senior schools are asked to let prep schools know what percentages their grades represent and how they distinguish between levels.
Senior schools are asked to report candidates' results to prep schools using grades. They are also asked to adhere strictly to the results deadline given in the information for schools about the administration of both the 11+ and 13+ CE examinations. Prep schools find it extremely helpful to receive as much information as possible about how their pupils performed in the examinations. Heads of Department welcome written reports or verbal feedback from their senior school colleagues.
The return of individual examination scripts by senior schools is entirely at their discretion.
ISEB always welcomes constructive feedback. This can be provided by completing the surveys which are sent out after the spring and summer examinations, or by contacting us via the CE & CASE Support Portals. All feedback is passed on to the relevant setting teams and to ISEB's academic committees.
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