When parents start researching the 11+, they hit a wall pretty quickly. Half the forum posts talk about CEM. Half talk about GL Assessment. A few mention both as if they're interchangeable. So which one does your child actually sit, and does the distinction still matter in 2026?
Short answer: in most parts of England, GL Assessment is now the dominant provider, and CEM 11+ exams have largely been phased out. The long answer is more interesting though, and it explains a lot about why old advice you read online may already be out of date.
What GL Assessment actually is
GL Assessment is a private testing company that produces 11+ papers used by grammar schools across England. They've been around for decades, originally as nferNelson, and they publish papers in maths, English, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. Their tests split each subject into a separate paper, each timed individually, with questions in either standard format or multiple choice.
The style is fairly predictable. Topics are well documented. There are plenty of past papers and practice books available, which is part of the reason families and tutors find GL exams easier to prepare for.
If your child is sitting the 11+ in Kent, Buckinghamshire, Birmingham, Berkshire, or most parts of London, they're sitting a GL Assessment paper. The exam itself varies by region. Kent uses the Kent Test, which is GL-built but customised. Bucks uses the secondary transfer test, also GL. The underlying provider is the same.
What CEM was, and why you still hear about it
CEM stood for the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring, originally based at Durham University. They built a different kind of 11+ test from the early 2000s onwards, designed to be harder to coach for. The questions mixed maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning into the same paper rather than separating them. Question types varied between sittings. They never published practice papers officially.
The idea was that a test you couldn't drill made grammar school admissions fairer. In practice, parents who could afford specialist tutors still found ways to prepare. The families who couldn't were left more exposed than ever. It was controversial for years.
Birmingham, Bexley, Wirral, parts of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, and Walsall used CEM through most of the 2010s. Then in 2019, Cambridge Assessment bought CEM. By 2022, most consortia had dropped CEM and switched back to GL Assessment. Birmingham moved over. Berkshire moved over. Bexley moved over. The era of the CEM 11+ effectively ended.
So if you're reading a forum post from 2018 telling you to prepare for a CEM-style mixed paper, that advice is stale. It no longer applies to almost any grammar school region in England.
The practical differences between the two test styles
Style mattered when CEM was still running. GL papers separate subjects out, give your child a clear timer per paper, and stick to predictable question types. A child who's done the work knows what's coming. CEM papers used to mix everything together, with shifting question formats and quirky time pressure. Even well-prepared children could feel wrong-footed on the day.
For maths, GL covers the standard primary curriculum plus a layer of harder problem-solving. CEM did similar content but framed it differently. More wordy questions, more numerical reasoning style problems, with the maths hidden inside the words.
For English, GL uses a comprehension passage followed by separate vocabulary, grammar and spelling sections. CEM bundled vocabulary, cloze tests and shuffled sentences into the verbal reasoning sections. That made the line between English and verbal reasoning quite blurry.
Verbal reasoning under GL has 21 standard question types. Under CEM, the question types varied, so families never quite knew what to drill. Non-verbal reasoning was the most similar across both. Visual pattern questions don't change much from one provider to another.
What this means for parents in 2026
If you're prepping your child for a grammar school place starting September 2027, your child is almost certainly sitting a GL Assessment paper. Worth checking on your local authority's admissions page to confirm, but it's GL in nearly every region now.
That makes preparation more straightforward. The full GL syllabus is out there. You can buy official practice papers, third-party books from CGP and Bond, and use online platforms that mirror the format. Your child can do timed papers under exam conditions and get an honest read of where they're sitting.
What you should ignore is any prep advice still framed around "CEM-style" tests. That world has mostly gone. If a tutor or platform pitches you on their CEM expertise as a selling point in 2026, push back. Ask them what they think your child will actually be sitting. The honest ones will tell you it's GL.
A quick word on Essex and the CSSE
One regional twist worth mentioning. Essex grammars use the CSSE, which stands for the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex. It's its own thing — neither GL nor CEM. The CSSE writes its own exam in-house, with English and maths combined into two papers that include their own particular flavour of comprehension and problem solving. If you're in Essex, this whole GL vs CEM debate isn't really yours. Your benchmark is past CSSE papers, sold by CSSE directly.
How to find out where your child actually stands
Whatever provider your local grammar uses, you need an honest baseline before you spend time or money on preparation. That's the whole reason I built ReadyFor11. It's a free benchmark test that tells you, in plain English, where your child sits across the four 11+ skill areas, mapped to the GL format your grammar will use. No payment, no trial nag, no upsell. Try it at readyfor11.co.uk.
FAQs
Is the 11+ still CEM anywhere in 2026?
Almost nowhere. The big CEM regions like Birmingham, Berkshire, Bexley and Walsall have all switched to GL Assessment. A handful of independent schools may still use CEM-style assessments, but for state grammar school entry, you can plan around GL.
Is GL Assessment easier than CEM was?
Not easier exactly, but more predictable. GL's question types are documented and consistent, which means a well-prepared child knows what to expect. That works in your favour if you've put the time in. It works against you if you haven't.
How do I find out which exam my child will sit?
Check your local authority's admissions page, or the individual grammar school's website. Most regions publish the test format, dates and registration deadlines clearly. If you can't find it, email the school directly and ask. They'll tell you.
Do I still need old CEM practice papers?
Probably not. If your region has switched to GL, focus on GL practice papers. The skills your child builds for verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and maths transfer reasonably well between the two. The format and timing are different enough that drilling the wrong style will set bad habits.
Want to know exactly where your child sits before spending money on prep? ReadyFor11 gives you a free, honest readiness benchmark, mapped to the GL Assessment format your local grammar uses. Take the test at readyfor11.co.uk.