Using CE 11+ English and maths past papers as preparation tools for the ISEB Pre-Tests

If your child is taking the ISEB Pre-Tests in the 2025-26 academic year, you might be thinking about how you can support their preparation at home. Our new ISEB Pre-Tests (11+) Prep Pack is a comprehensive preparation bundle, containing more than 65 high-quality materials and guidance resources prepared or curated by ISEB, the exam board behind the Pre-Tests.

The ISEB Pre-Tests (11+) Prep Pack includes 16 sets of Common Entrance (CE) 11+ past exam papers for English and mathematics.

Why are Common Entrance (CE) 11+ past papers helpful revision and preparation resources for the Pre-Tests?

In your own prep pack, you will find:

• Eight CE 11+ English exam packs
• Eight CE 11+ Mathematics exam packs

What is Common Entrance (CE)?

Common Entrance (CE) is a paper-based assessment from ISEB used by many independent schools in the UK to evaluate pupils as part of wider admissions processes. CE is taken at two levels, CE 11+ exams are taken by pupils in Year 6, mainly for entrance into independent senior girls’ schools, and CE 13+ exams are taken by pupils in Year 8.

CE 11+ exams include papers in three subjects: English, maths, and science. The exams are written, using printed papers, and are sat under timed conditions.

ISEB’s CE 11+ English and maths exams assess similar skills as the Pre-Tests, and draw on the same content as taught in the National Curriculum. Using past CE 11+ past papers as part of Pre-Tests revision at home can complement and effectively support your child’s preparation for all sections of the test, including English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. The papers also support the wider development of knowledge and skills that pupils will call upon throughout their ongoing learning journeys, through to GCSE and A Levels.

How can CE 11+ past papers support each of the four sections of the ISEB Pre-Tests?

English and Verbal Reasoning (VR)

These two sections of the Pre-Tests require your child to demonstrate a good understanding of the following concepts:

• Vocabulary: Knowledge of word meaning, word families, prefixes and suffixes.
• Punctuation: Knowledge of how punctuation should be used.
• Grammar: Knowledge of what is grammatically correct, rather than complex terminology (pupils will be expected to be able to identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions); clauses; formal and informal language; verb agreement; sentence structure. In most questions, pupils will be asked ‘What is grammatically correct?’ rather than having to recall the names of specific tenses.
• Spelling: Knowledge of spelling patterns and common exception words.
• Reading comprehension: Pupils will be presented with several short passages (between 300 – 500 words) each with a series of multiple-choice questions. These questions will cover skills such as inference, retrieval, explaining meaning, summarising and comparing.
• Reason and logic skills: Problem-solving techniques, trial and error and recognising suitable
  solutions.

How do the CE 11+ English past papers support the development of pupils’ understanding of these concepts?

• CE 11+ English Reading past papers include an extract for your child to read, which will likely be from a text that your child won’t recognise, set to the correct level for the Pre-Tests. This is great reading comprehension practice for the Pre-Tests, as it is important for your child to be able to understand and summarise an unfamiliar text.
• The CE 11+ English Reading past papers also ask questions about the extract, including language/word analysis, exploring/inferring meaning, understanding character, summarising events and justifying opinions. These questions will help your child to practice a variety of vocabulary, reading comprehension, and reasoning skills required for the Pre-Tests.acter, summarising events and justifying opinions. These questions will help your child to practice a variety of
• To gain full marks for each CE 11+ question, your child will need to include accurate spelling and grammar. This is great practice for the spelling and grammar sections of the Pre-Tests.
• Your child can check their work against the CE 11+ English Reading mark scheme, which provides detailed guidance on how each question is marked. Using the mark scheme can also help to identify which areas they might need to improve on ahead of the Pre-Tests.
• CE 11+ English Writing past papers provide a choice of five different writing prompts that pupils choose from in the exam, however, at home, your child can practice creating a piece of writing in response to all five prompts. This gives them a wide range of prompts they can practice their writing with at home, and you can review their pieces for vocabulary, punctuation, grammar and spelling, to determine the areas they could improve upon.

Mathematics and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR)

These two sections of the Pre-Tests require your child to demonstrate a good understanding of the following areas from the National Curriculum, up until the end of Year 5:

Mathematics:

• Number and place value: Understanding the value of each digit within a number based on its position.
• Calculations: Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
• Fractions, decimals and percentages.
• Geometry: Knowledge of different shapes and their properties, and applying geometric concepts such as angles, perimeter, area, volume, symmetry and coordinates in problem solving.
• Measurement: Knowledge of how to measure and convert length, weight and volume using different units.
• Statistics: Ability to solve comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in a line graph, and to complete, read and interpret information in tables, including timetables.
• Mathematical fluency: Some questions will assess mathematical fluency in the form of arithmetic questions; others will require solving mathematical problems, possibly including more than one of the topics above.

Non-Verbal Reasoning:

• Analysis of 2D figures and diagrams to look for patterns, including similarities and differences, completing the diagram, and code matching.
• Manipulation of 3D figures and diagrams to visualise them in a different way.

How do the CE 11+ Mathematics past papers support the development of pupils’ understanding of these areas?

• CE 11+ mathematics past papers include questions that assess similar content to the mathematics and NVR sections of the Pre-Tests, and use similar language. This enables your child to practice answering the kind of questions they will be asked in the Pre-Tests. Although the format of the questions is different, with the Pre-Tests including solely multi-choice questions, pupils will use the same skills and techniques to work out the answers.
• CE 11+ mathematics past papers follow a similar format to the Pre-Tests. As the Pre-Tests are adaptive tests, they start with easier questions and move into more challenging questions to establish each child’s individual ability, while ensuring they do not ever feel overwhelmed. Similarly, CE 11+ mathematics past papers also start with easier questions and move into progessively more challenging questions which encourage deeper problem-solving and decoding skills. By practicing with CE 11+ mathematics past papers children can familiarise themselves with a similar test format to the Pre-Tests.
• CE 11+ mathematics past papers include questions on pattern recognition and code matching, which are excellent practice for the Non-Verbal Reasoning section of the Pre-Tests.
• CE 11+ mathematics past papers present a variety of question types that train pupils to effectively process information and work through steps to reach the solution. This process can be practised offline using CE 11+ mathematics past papers and then utilised during the Pre-Tests, where students can use the process of elimination to support their answers to multiple-choice questions.
• You can check your child’s work against the CE 11+ mathematics mark scheme, which provides detailed guidance on how each question is marked. Using the mark scheme can also help to identify which areas they need to improve on ahead of the Pre-Tests.

Order your ISEB Pre-Tests (11+) Prep Pack

If you have not yet ordered your ISEB Pre-Tests (11+) Prep Pack you can do so via the ISEB Online Shop for Families. You’ll get 16 sets of CE 11+ past papers for English and mathematics, as well as a wide range of other support and preparation resources.