What is a good 11+ score? Pass marks and what schools look for

A 'good' 11+ score is one that gets your child into the school you're aiming for, and that number varies hugely. Most 11+ tests are reported on a standardised age score (SAS) scale where 100 is the national average, around 115 puts a child in roughly the top 20 per cent, and 120+ typically puts them in the top 10 per cent. Many grammar schools and selective independents look for scores in the 111 to 121+ range, with the most competitive schools pushing higher.

The key point: There is no single national pass mark. Each school or consortium sets its own threshold, and that threshold moves year to year based on how children perform. This guide explains how the scoring works and what typical thresholds look like, so you can sense-check what your child needs without getting fixated on a single number.

Most 11+ tests use standardised age scoring (SAS) rather than a raw mark out of 100. The standardisation does two things. It adjusts for the child's age (younger children get a small uplift, older children don't lose marks), and it places the score on a national reference scale where 100 is the average for the age group.

The scale typically runs from around 70 at the bottom to around 140 at the top, with 100 sitting at the middle. The standardisation matters because a raw score of 75 out of 100 doesn't tell you much: It could be excellent or middling depending on how hard the paper was. A standardised score of 120 means the same thing across years and across boards. It's always the top 10 per cent of children that age.

Grammar school pass marks vary by area, by year and by school, but most sit in the 111 to 121 range as a minimum threshold. Crucially, hitting the pass mark only puts a child in the pool of eligible applicants. Whether they get a place then depends on how oversubscribed the school is and how it ranks applicants (catchment, sibling priority, distance, or by score).

A rough picture of what local areas have historically looked for as a minimum qualifying score:

Buckinghamshire (Bucks consortium): 121 across the test, with the actual offer cut-off varying by school.

Kent Test: A standardised aggregate of 332 across the three papers (each scored up to 141, for a maximum aggregate of 423), with no single paper below the published minimum (typically reported in the 106 to 109 range depending on cycle). The cut-off is reviewed annually by Kent County Council; confirm the current minimum on the council's published guidance.

Bexley: From September 2026 (2027 entry), the Bexley Selection Test moved from GL Assessment to Quest Assessments and is now two papers: one covering verbal ability and English comprehension, the other covering numerical reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. The weighting is unchanged (50% verbal, 25% numerical, 25% non-verbal) and the average weighted age-standardised score is still 200. Bexley council no longer publishes a single headline qualifying score in the same form, so check the council's current guidance.

Medway Test: A weighted aggregate where English and maths are doubled and verbal reasoning is single-weighted (each standardised to a maximum of 140, for a maximum aggregate of 700). Qualifying scores are set annually by Medway Council so that roughly a quarter of the cohort is deemed selective, and have hovered in the high-480s to low-490s in recent cycles; check Medway Council's published data for the current cycle's figure.

Birmingham (King Edward VI consortium): KEVI publishes a qualifying score and a separate priority score each cycle (recent cycles have reported a qualifying score around the mid-200s and a priority score around the low-to-mid 220s). Verify the current thresholds with KEVI consortium admissions directly.

For London grammar consortiums (Sutton, Kingston, Wilson's, etc.), the published 'qualifying' score is usually around 111, but the practical cut-off for an offer is often considerably higher because schools rank by score. None of these numbers are official 'pass marks' set by Ofqual or DfE: They're operational thresholds set by each local authority or consortium, which is why they move year on year.

Independent schools using the ISEB Common Pre-Test or their own entrance papers don't usually publish a numerical pass mark. The ISEB Pre-Test reports an age-standardised score per subject (maths, English, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning) on the same kind of 70 to 140 scale, but each school decides internally what range it's looking for.

For the most academically selective independents (think Westminster, St Paul's, Eton, Highgate, City of London Boys), schools tend to look for ISEB scores at or above 120 on each paper, alongside a strong school report and successful interview. For less competitive independents, scores in the 105 to 115 range alongside good supporting evidence are typically enough to progress to interview.

The ISEB Pre-Test is also adaptive, which means the test gets harder as the child answers correctly. The score reflects the difficulty of the questions the child managed to answer, not just the number they got right. This is worth knowing because raw answers wrong vs answers right isn't a useful way to evaluate how well a child did.

For state grammar schools, the score is usually the gateway: Score above the qualifying mark and you're in the pool, then offers are made based on the school's published oversubscription criteria. Those criteria typically include some combination of children in care, siblings already at the school, distance from the school, or rank order by score. Hitting the pass mark doesn't guarantee a place if the school ranks by distance and you're outside the practical catchment.

For independent schools, the ISEB Pre-Test or in-house entrance test score is one of three or four factors. The others usually include the head's reference from the current school, an interview (sometimes called a 'taster day' or 'assessment day'), and in some cases a written paper sat at the school itself. Schools weigh these differently, so a strong reference and interview can sometimes outweigh a slightly weaker test score, particularly at schools that prioritise 'fit' alongside academics.

What that means in practice: A 'good' score is the one that's competitive for the specific school you're aiming for, not a single magic number. Talk to the school directly, look at their published admissions criteria for the last 3 years, and aim above the published threshold rather than at it.