Here's a small confusion that trips up almost every parent at the start. The exam is called the 11 plus, so you'd assume children sit it when they're eleven. They don't. Most are still ten when they walk into that test hall, and a good number have only just turned ten over the summer.
The "11" doesn't refer to the age of sitting. It refers to the age children will be when they start secondary school the following September. So the name describes the destination, not the day of the test. Once that clicks, the timing makes a lot more sense, and you can work out exactly where your child sits on the calendar.
Which school year do you sit the 11 plus in?
In England, children sit the 11 plus at the very start of Year 6. That's the final year of primary school. They've just come back from the summer holidays, they're the oldest in the school, and within a few weeks they're sitting the most consequential test of their young lives. It happens fast.
A child who turns eleven in, say, the following March will be ten years and a few months old on test day. A summer-born child with an August birthday might be ten years and one month old. The age gap inside a single Year 6 cohort can be almost a full year, which matters more than most parents realise. I'll come back to that.
So the answer to the year-group question is clean: Year 6, autumn term. What's less clean is the exact week, because that depends entirely on where you live.
When in the year does the test actually happen?
Most regions test in September. A few run into early October. The opening fortnight of Year 6 is the busy window. For super-selective schools in London the dates sit right at the front of September, sometimes before your child has properly found their new classroom.
Kent runs its test in early-to-mid September, usually the second week back. Buckinghamshire's Secondary Transfer Test lands in mid-September too. The CSSE exam in Essex tends to fall slightly later, often the back half of September into early October. London's super-selectives, the likes of Henrietta Barnett and Tiffin, run their first-stage tests in the first half of September. Second-stage tests follow weeks later for the children who get through.
Here in Berkshire it's a fragmented picture. Reading School and Kendrick test in September, but the exact dates shift year to year. The consortium arrangements mean you need to check each school individually rather than assume one date covers everything.
Why does this matter for age? Because a September test means your child is being assessed at the youngest possible point in Year 6. There's no extra term of maturity, no autumn growth spurt in concentration. They sit it almost the moment the year begins. That's worth holding in mind when you're planning preparation, because the clock is shorter than the "Year 6" label suggests.
Registration happens a year earlier than the test
This is where the timing genuinely catches people out. You don't register for the 11 plus in Year 6. You register in Year 5, usually over the summer term and into the early autumn before the test year.
Most regions open registration in the late spring or summer of Year 5 and close it well before the September exam. Kent's registration window, for example, runs across June and into early July of Year 5. Miss that window and your child can't sit the test, no matter how ready they are. I've heard from parents who only discovered the 11 plus existed in the September their child started Year 6. By then the door had already shut for a full year.
So if your child is in Year 5 right now and grammar school is even a maybe, this is the bit you can't leave. Find your region's registration dates and put them in your calendar today. The test is a Year 6 event. The paperwork is a Year 5 job.
What about summer-born children?
This is the part that worries parents most, and it's the part where the system is fairer than its reputation suggests. If your child was born in late August, they could be nearly twelve months younger than the September-born children in the same exam hall. At ten years old, eleven months of development is a lot. It shows up in handwriting speed, in stamina across a long paper, in how well a child copes under timed pressure.
Grammar schools account for this through age standardisation. The marking process adjusts each child's raw score based on their exact age in months on the day of the test. A younger child needs fewer raw marks to reach the same standardised score as an older one. The system is trying to measure ability, not the accident of a birthday. It isn't a token gesture either. The adjustment can move a borderline summer-born child onto the right side of the qualifying line.
Does age weighting completely level the field? No, and I won't pretend it does. A very young child still has to perform on the day, and some struggle with the sheer length of the papers regardless of how the score is adjusted afterwards. But the idea that summer-born children are doomed at the 11 plus is a myth. The standardisation is built precisely to stop that happening. If you've got an August baby, prepare them properly and trust the maths to do its job.
Can a child sit the 11 plus in a different year?
Almost always, no. The 11 plus is a one-shot test taken at the start of Year 6, and the vast majority of children get a single attempt at that fixed point. There's no early entry in Year 5 for the keen, and no second go in Year 7 if it doesn't work out the first time.
The narrow exceptions exist but they're rare. A child who's seriously ill on test day can sometimes sit a late or deferred paper, arranged through the admissions office with medical evidence. And some grammar schools admit a handful of children later through Year 7, 8 or 9 vacancies, using their own assessments rather than the standard 11 plus. Those routes are real, but you shouldn't plan around them. Treat the autumn of Year 6 as the one shot it almost always is.
FAQ: 11 plus age and timing
How old is my child when they sit the 11 plus? Usually ten years old. The test falls at the start of Year 6, so children are aged between ten and eleven, and most haven't yet had their eleventh birthday on test day.
What year do you take the 11 plus? Year 6, in the autumn term. Most regions test in September, with a few running into early October. Registration, though, happens the year before, during Year 5.
My child has a late August birthday. Are they at a disadvantage? Less than you'd fear. Grammar schools use age standardisation, adjusting each child's score for their exact age in months, so younger children need fewer raw marks to hit the same standardised score. It genuinely helps borderline summer-born children.
Can my child sit the 11 plus in Year 5 to get ahead? No. The test is taken at the start of Year 6 and there's no early-entry option. If your child is in Year 5, your job right now is registration and steady preparation, not sitting the exam itself.
Knowing the dates is one thing. Knowing whether your child is actually ready for them is another, and that's the question that should drive your planning. ReadyFor11 gives you a free, honest benchmark of where your child stands against the 11 plus standard, with no paywall and no sales pitch. Find out where they really are before the Year 6 clock starts. Try it at readyfor11.co.uk.