The Birmingham 11+ test: a guide for parentsThe Birmingham 11+ test: a guide for parents

The test has two papers. Each paper is divided into smaller, individually timed sections that test:

• English comprehension
• verbal reasoning
• mathematics
• non-verbal and spatial reasoning

The King Edward VI Foundation and Birmingham City Council describe each paper as around 60 minutes long, including time for instructions and example questions. There are no writing sections. Every question is multiple choice, and children record their answers on a separate answer sheet.

The results are weighted 50% for English and verbal reasoning, 25% for non-verbal reasoning and 25% for maths. The scores for each section are standardised to take account of age, so younger children are not at a disadvantage compared with children in the same year group who could be almost a year older.

Families receive standardised scores. The Foundation does not give raw scores, or say how many marks each section or the whole test is worth. How scores are used when places are offered is set out on the Foundation's results and offers page.

GL Assessment says 11+ tests vary from area to area, because local authorities or schools decide which subjects to test and the balance of question types. Check that any practice material you use fits the test described here, which is shared by 19 schools in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Birmingham's eight grammar schools all use the same entrance test. Six of them are King Edward VI grammar schools. The other two are Bishop Vesey's Grammar School and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. All eight are listed below, with our school-by-school guides.

The six King Edward VI schools are part of the King Edward VI Academy Trust, and the King Edward VI Foundation arranges the entrance test on behalf of all eight. The same test is used by 11 more schools in Warwickshire, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire, which together with Birmingham's eight form the West Midlands Grammar Schools partnership. See our West Midlands 11+ guide.

Each school sets its own admission arrangements, including how it offers places when more children apply than it has room for. Each Birmingham grammar school gives priority to applicants registered for Pupil Premium. To be considered for this, you must say so when you register for the test: see the Foundation's Pupil Premium page.

Read each school's admission policy on its own website before you name it as a preference. Every school's website is listed on the West Midlands Grammar Schools partnership page. You can also read the Year 7 admissions pages for Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls and Bishop Vesey's Grammar School.

Start with what the schools themselves provide. The West Midlands Grammar Schools preparing for the test page has an entrance test familiarisation guide and a link to free sample questions. None of the schools keep past papers.

Children eligible for Pupil Premium can get free Key Stage 2 learning and entrance test familiarisation through the schools' partner, and the same page explains how to register for it.

The schools say they are not connected to, and do not endorse or recommend, any organisation offering tuition or revision courses, and that intensive coaching or tuition is not in the long-term best interests of your child. Many children are anxious about sitting tests, and the schools suggest you help by not putting pressure on your child. Birmingham City Council's policy is that no teaching or coaching for the test should happen in Birmingham's primary schools.

If your child is in Year 3, read Year 3: what actually helps.

If you choose to practise at home, NextJen is one way to do it: short, adaptive practice in all four areas, questions written from scratch, a lesson for every skill and a worked answer to every question. See how NextJen works.