Walk into any large WHSmith or browse the kids' education section on Amazon and you'll see dozens of 11+ books. CGP, Bond, Schofield & Sims, Letts, Galore Park, plus a hundred unbranded titles you've never heard of. Which ones are actually any good? And how do you avoid spending £200 on a stack of books your child won't open?
I've been through this with my own son and dug through the shelves repeatedly over the years. Most 11+ books are fine. A few are excellent. A couple are a waste of money. Here's an honest sort, broken down by what each kind of book is for and which publishers do each job well.
Start with what test your child is actually sitting
Before you buy a single book, find out which exam your child will face. The big format used to be split between GL Assessment and CEM, but CEM stopped running 11+ tests in 2022. Almost every selective area now uses GL Assessment or a school-written test. That matters because some older books on Amazon are still labelled "CEM-style" and the format is no longer in use. Check the publication date and check whether it says GL or CEM. For most parents in 2026, the answer is GL.
The exception is the small number of independent schools that write their own entrance papers. If your child's target school is independent, contact the registrar and ask which materials past pupils have used. Most schools are happy to point you at the right resources.
CGP for revision and accessible practice
CGP books are the workhorses of 11+ prep. They're colourful, well-laid out, and most children will actually pick them up and use them, which already puts them ahead of half the alternatives. The CGP 10-Minute Tests range is good for short daily practice. Their Practice Question Books cover verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and maths in clear bite-size sections.
Where CGP stops being enough is at the top end of difficulty. Children targeting super-selective grammars like Reading School, Kendrick, or the Sutton group need to push past the CGP ceiling. The questions are pitched for a solid pass, not for a top-100 score.
Bond for steady weekly practice
Bond is the brand most people remember from their own childhood, and the books are still excellent. The age-graded structure means you can buy books labelled 9-10, 10-11 and 11-12 and work through them in sequence. Bond's strength is consistency. Every page looks similar and the question difficulty rises predictably. A child who works through one Bond book per term has built real fluency by the time the test arrives.
The Bond Assessment Papers in particular are useful because each book contains multiple short tests. That makes it easy to set your child a 30-minute slot once or twice a week without planning anything. Bond also publishes useful 10-Minute Tests. Their How-To-Do guides for verbal reasoning are some of the clearest explanations of the question types you'll find anywhere.
Schofield & Sims for the maths and English fundamentals
Schofield & Sims aren't sold as 11+ books, strictly speaking. They're KS2 maths and English workbooks. But that's exactly why they're useful. A weak grasp of times tables, fractions, or basic grammar is what derails most 11+ candidates, not anything specific to the test. The Schofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic series and their Times Tables Practice books fill the gaps that 11+ practice papers don't.
Going into Year 5 with no plan? A term of Schofield & Sims mental maths plus daily 10 minutes of reading does more for an 11+ score than a stack of practice papers.
Practice papers from IPS, Athey and GL Assessment
Once your child is in the back half of Year 5, full-length practice papers become the priority. The questions need to look like the real test. Timing needs to be realistic. The marking schemes need to be clear enough that you can score them at home.
IPS Educational Publishing produces papers that closely match the GL format. Athey Educational also publishes GL-style packs that are widely respected. GL Assessment themselves sell official familiarisation papers through their website. These cost more per paper than third-party books, but they're the closest thing to the real exam your child will see before exam day.
A reasonable plan is six to eight full practice papers in the final three months before the test, sat under timed conditions. Don't burn through 30 papers. Children get fatigued and stop trying.
What about the unbranded Amazon stuff?
There's a flood of self-published 11+ books on Amazon now, often with vague titles like "11+ Practice Papers Year 5". Some are fine. Most are mediocre. A few are genuinely bad, with errors in the answer keys and questions that don't match any real exam format. Check reviews carefully and look for publication dates. If there's no clear publisher, no clear test format on the cover, and no answer rationale in the marking scheme, give it a miss.
What you don't need
You don't need every book in every series. You don't need a different book for every sub-skill. And you don't need to buy anything before Year 5 unless your child is already asking for harder work. The pile of unread 11+ books in the cupboard is a familiar sight in homes across Buckinghamshire and Kent. Buy less, use what you have properly, and you'll get further.
A reasonable book budget for the whole 11+ journey is £80 to £120 across two years. Anything more is usually padding.
A starter shopping list
If you want a concrete answer to "what do I actually buy", here's a defensible starter set for a child going into Year 5. One Bond Assessment Papers book in each of maths, English, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning at the 9-10 level. One CGP 10-Minute Tests book for each subject. One Schofield & Sims mental maths book at the appropriate level. That's eight books, total cost around £55. It will keep a Year 5 child busy for a full year. You buy the practice papers later.
FAQ
Are CGP books or Bond books better?
They do different things. CGP is more accessible and colourful, which helps with motivation. Bond is more structured and builds fluency over time. Most parents who do this well end up using both. Start with CGP if your child is reluctant. Move to Bond when daily practice is established.
Do I need separate books for GL Assessment?
For the most part, yes. Generic 11+ books cover the question types, but GL-specific books are pitched at the format and timing your child will actually face. If your area uses GL (most do, in 2026), buy GL-labelled materials for the final six months of practice.
My child hates worksheets. What do I do?
Try the CGP 10-Minute Tests rather than longer workbooks. The short format is much less intimidating, and a child who'll do 10 minutes a day for a year is in better shape than one who'll do an hour a week for three months. You can also use online practice platforms as a break from paper. Variety helps with younger children especially.
Can I just rely on books, or do I need a tutor too?
It depends on you, not the books. If you're confident teaching maths and English at KS2 level and you have time to sit with your child for 20 minutes most days, books alone are enough. If your work schedule means consistent home practice isn't realistic, a tutor adds the structure that books alone can't. The books are the same either way.
If you want a free way to see whether your child is on track before you spend a single pound on books, readyfor11.co.uk gives a benchmark test across reasoning, English and maths in around 20 minutes. No account, no paywall. It's a useful starting point for working out which books your child actually needs.