We tried the 11-plus test – and nobody got full marks

The eleven-plus is the examination required for students in the UK to enter grammar school after primary education.

The test consists of three sections: English, Maths, and Verbal Reasoning. Each school is responsible for its own weighting. The pass mark is between 121 and 160.

We asked our BI reporters a selection of questions from a sample eleven-plus test.

The questions were the following:

1. Which has the greater mass, 3 kgs of onions or 7 lbs of sugar?

2. ‘The carriage passed over a little bridge beneath which water rushed’. Which of the words here is a preposition?

a. The
b. Carriage
c. Little
d. Beneath

3. Which one of these words has the closest meaning to "expanse"?

a. Open
b. View
c. Area
d. Boundary

4.What types of words are these? Ponies, sheep, mountains, bushes.

a. Abstract nouns
b. Proper nouns
c. Common nouns
d. Collective nouns

5. Bridgetown, Barbados is four hours behind GMT. If a plane leaves London at 06:00 GMT, write the local time it lands in Bridgetown if the flight takes six hours.

6. Sam has 75 pens and he ties them into bundles of 8. How many pens does he have left over?

*Answers below

1. 7 lbs of sugar
2. Beneath
3. Area
4. Common nouns
5. 8am
6. Three

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Business Insider UK is the largest business news site for British readers and viewers in the UK. Our mission: to tell you all you need to know about the big world around you. The BI UK Video team focuses on business, technology, strategy, and culture with an emphasis on unique storytelling and data that appeals to the next generation of leaders – the digital generation.

[jennabartels]

the 11+ I took was so much harder than this

[moongonemadmode]

Absolutely crazy is the answer to this 11 plus test. I mean, I'm TONS younger than these guys and I know what a preposition is: beneath

[HonourMSP]

0:35 nobody has an excuse to get that question wrong

[jodimoulder]

Good luck to all doing their 11+ today 😊

[WonderWoman-dtkw]

God, I've only just started 11+ and I felt breezy with those questions.

[roddytoo]

In the Kent and Medway 11+ tests the results are standardised according to age. As far as I know since 2003 no one has achieved 100% in their raw scores, the tests are designed that way.

[jennabartels]

for me I had english comprehension, writing, maths, verbal and non verbal and then an interview. I passed though and I’m now in my new private scwl😇

[Sarawarawara-]

This Is nowhere near the 11+ test difficulty!

[AlasdairHan]

exams in the UK vary school by school.From my experience, private school exams are the easiest however grammar school exams are the hardest. Each private school has their own exam and some schools are easier. Generally, schools nearer to the centre of london are harder. They incrementally get easier as you move further out.

[ellaanais]

i did the 11+ in 2014 and there were three papers: verbal, non-verbal and maths

[ilyasahmed]

I'm doing my 11+ in 10 days 😱😰and I don't know why I'm watching this it certainly isn't 11+

[dancole]

I'm 27 and I scored 4 out of 6. Math questions you can work out but some are either you know or don't and you cannot find a way to work it out, but rather take an 'educated guess' eg. I've not heard of the word 'preposition' before but got the answer correct because I looked at the 'position' part of the word and associated it with beneath, as in to be positioned beneath something; which isn't testing intelligence, but knowledge. Sums up schools in a nutshell :/ Oh well, I'd rather have creativity than a qualification.

[thushanthijoysubanandan]

I actually did this test before in CGP.

[saraandstuartshannon]

We are just preparing our daughter for this test and letting her exercise on previous years tests. So many questions are misleading, aren’t clear on what is expected and we even find completely wrong answers as right which is insane, and should never be the case.

[pavishsam]

It consists 4 sections verbal .non-verbal .maths and English

[aliyahajiboye]

The real 11+ is a lot more difficult than this. I do believe that I got one of the highest scores and I got 162 out of 200. Honestly though it’s really really uncommon for anyone to get 100%

[socksalots]

if adults cant do this without failing








i dont even wanna know what 11 children are gunna do

[Zerbey]

The 11+ is an exam that unfairly tells a 10 year old "sorry kid, you'll work in a blue collar job the rest of your life because you're too dumb to pass it". Well, I failed it. I remember my parents sitting down and saying "well you're borderline, they think you'll do better at a secondary modern - perhaps you'll learn a trade". Well, guess what - I went to University and now I have an IT career. Time to abolish this stupid thing once and for all.

[iiirosestudios]

Those questions were easy. Call yourself adults! If the 11+ was actually those type of questions, if the pass mark was 5, I'd be WAY into the millions. Can anybody give me some advice for when I do my exams in September; I'm freaking out!!

[midnightpotato]

These r way to easy to be an 11+ test....