What's the percentage pass mark for 11 plus exams?

Welcome to our 11+ blog titled, What’s the percentage pass mark for 11 plus?

* * * CONTENT UPDATED OCTOBER 2020 * * *

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We also recommend these Parents Guides to the 11 Plus to provide insights into the overall process to help parents/tutors to guide their children’s 11 plus learning.

What’s the 11+ pass mark?

That depends on what Local Educational Authority (LEA) you take the test in. Each region has its own pass marks for entry into a grammar school. In fully selective regions where there are many grammar schools, (i.e. Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire, Kent) the pass mark is lower than in areas with fewer grammar schools (Greater London).

In addition, different schools within the same LEA may have different minimum pass marks.

11 plus practice tests

Also, 11 plus pass marks are standardised using a complex statistical process.

Put simply, this means a child’s score is adjusted to reflect their age and the difficulty of the paper. Standardisation ensures fairness because older children would otherwise have an advantage.

Some grammar schools select candidates by ranked order. Places are given to the children who performed best on the test.

Other schools have a minimum pass mark and use other criteria, such as distance, faith, siblings, to select candidates. In conclusion, it is impossible to say exactly what percentage you need to pass the 11-plus.

However, as an approximate figure, a child will need to score about 80—85% to pass. Obviously, in more competitive areas this figure may be higher.

11 plus practice tests

What’s the percentage pass mark for 11 plus?

School Test Research

In 2016 Skipper and Douglas published their research named: The impact of a selective entry examination on children’s feelings as they approach the transition to secondary school. They specifically looked at how different experiences of the selective entry examination influenced children’s feelings towards themselves, the school and intelligence.

At time point 1, those who decided to take the exam showed more positive outcomes than those who didn’t. However, they were more likely to hold a fixed view of intelligence, which has been associated with long-term negative outcomes.
At time point 2, those who passed the exam showed more positive outcomes. However, again they held a more potentially maladaptive fixed view of intelligence.
Those who failed are distinguishable from those who did not take the exam.

It was however clear that failing or not having a chance to sit the exams lead to consistently negative outcomes.

What’s the percentage pass mark for 11 plus?

Further Research

As a lot of research suggests, our thoughts about whether intelligence is fixed or malleable have a great influence on our educational path and subsequently our results. A belief in the more malleable nature of intelligence is associated with positive educational outcomes. If you believe your effort can make a difference, you will see the value in working harder, recovering and persevering through setbacks as well as choosing challenging goals.

A fixed view of intelligence means more negative longer-term outcomes. With a fixed view of intelligence, failure becomes personal and insurmountable. However, 11+ promotes a very fixed view of intelligence.