Hi 11-plus-ers,

We currently live in Eastcote, Middlesex, and will be moving to make us eligible for nearby grammar schools.

One determinant re. where we go will be the level of the tests and in this regard the SW Herts Consortium (https://www.swhertsschools.org.uk/) test is declared as being around KS2 standard. (Annoyingly, I cannot right now find where I saw this documented but I'm 100% sure I read it either on the above page or on a relevant school website).

Bucks, like Herts, also use GL as their test provider, however I'm trying to establish the following:

1. Are the Bucks and Herts papers the same?
2. If no, are they of the same / similar standard - or is one notably higher than the other?

Am really hoping someone knowledgeable can shed light on this for me!

Thank you,

Tamim.

The bit about KS2 is on the SW Herts schools website.
https://www.swhertsschools.org.uk/academic-ability-test/

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It is not the same paper but as they use the same provider and 50% of the same subjects (VR and Maths) the papers would look familiar.

The great advantage of the SW Herts Consortium is that you sit one exam consisting of GL Multiple Choice VR and Maths and your score enables you to apply to all the schools in the Consortium.

All the schools post details of last scores to get a place last year on their websites so when you get your results you can check your score and find out which schools you realistically have a chance of getting a place at.

I would say the papers are of a more advanced level but as you only have two subjects to prepare for instead of four that outweighs the level.

Mods please move this thread to the Herts section. DG

The Bucks system works completely differently to Herts, so it would be hard to compare. The Bucks 11 plus is only supposed to cover material taught up to year 5. In Bucks, broadly speaking, if you get a score of 121 or higher you are eligible for a grammar school, and about 30% achieve that score, or are deemed qualified after a review or appeal. So in a way, the difficulty or otherwise is irrelevant as the standardisation adjusts to qualify 30%. After that it is really on distance, although pupil premium also play a role these days. Some of the schools require you to live in the area for quite a long period of time before sitting the exam/applying, so do check the school websites for details, they all have their admission criteria on their websites.
As this post covers both Herts & Bucks it might be best to leave it here.