CSSE Maths Past Papers: Where to Get Them, How to Use Them

CSSE publishes six real maths past papers. The papers for 2021, 2022 and 2023 entry are free to download, with their mark schemes, from the CSSE Practice Material page. The papers for 2024, 2025 and 2026 entry are sold as printed packs at £19 each, English and maths together. Nothing else is a real CSSE paper: books and websites sell “CSSE-style” papers written by their own authors.

CSSE states that “all CSSE examination papers are protected by copyright”, so we link to them and never copy them. The three practice questions at the end of this post are our own.

Where to get CSSE maths past papers

As of November 2026. Check the CSSE website before ordering.

How ordering works: you choose packs on the online form, CSSE emails you a payment link, and the pack goes out by second-class post. CSSE says to allow up to ten days. Overseas postage is extra.

The free papers have appeared in May each year (the 2021-entry paper in May 2024, 2022 in May 2025, 2023 in May 2026). If that pattern holds, the next one will go up in May 2027.

What the CSSE maths paper looks like

• 60 minutes, 60 marks.
• One mark for each correct answer, almost always. The mark scheme lists answers only, with no marks for working. The free papers have a few exceptions: one 2023-entry spatial question is worth 2 marks (1 mark for a partly right answer), and the 2021-entry scheme gives a later part its mark when it follows correctly from the child’s own earlier answer.
• Some answers need two or three boxes for one mark (hours and minutes, a pair of numbers), while others give one mark per box, such as each co-ordinate.
• Almost every answer is written in. Each paper also has a few marks (about 4 to 6) where the child picks: true or false, always / sometimes / never true, choose statement A, B or C, or the odd one out of five cube nets.
• No calculator, and no smartwatch. Your child brings a pen, pencil, ruler and eraser.
• CSSE says the test is based on Key Stage 2. The real papers sometimes go further: decimal × decimal, fraction ÷ fraction, equations with the unknown on both sides, upper and lower bounds. The test is sat in September of Year 6, so Year 6 topics such as algebra, ratio and the mean have usually not been taught at school yet.
• The free papers have 20 or 21 numbered questions, most split into parts (a, b, c…), which is how 60 marks fit into an hour.

The English paper is the other half of the score. Both papers are standardised and weighted equally.

How answer-only marking works

Because marks go to the final answer, working earns nothing on its own. A child who sets up a problem perfectly and then slips on 7 × 8 scores the same as a child who left it blank. Four habits follow from that:

1. Answer in the form asked. If the question wants minutes, write a number of minutes, not hours and minutes. If it wants centimetres, give centimetres: one real CSSE mark scheme turns down an answer given in mm where the box asks for cm.
2. Check the units on the answer line before writing anything in.
3. Leave time to check. One quick estimate per answer (“is £10 sensible out of £24?”) catches most slips.
4. Fill every box of a multi-part question. A later part can still earn its mark, so never leave it blank because an earlier part went wrong.

What one mark is worth: for 2027 entry, the maths raw marks had a mean of 25.8 out of 60 and a spread (standard deviation) of 12.8, across 4,994 children. Using CSSE’s published formula, one raw maths mark added about 1.8 points to the total score (our calculation from the 2027 Entry Standardisation Report). An average child scores 300, and CSSE makes no offer below 303, so three careless slips cost about 5 points. Our CSSE pass mark page has every school’s last-place score.

The CSSE also warns that commercial practice books are “at a similar level but are not of the same format as the 11+ papers”. That is the main reason to use the six real papers well.

A study timeline for a Year 5 child

Today’s Year 5 children sit the test in September 2027 for entry in September 2028. CSSE says the exact date will be published by Easter 2027 and that registration opens in May 2027 (see our CSSE 11+ 2027 hub). For reference, the last test was on Saturday 19 September 2026.

That is six papers over six months, which matches the CSSE’s own advice that “children only need a limited amount of practice to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and timing”. Keep the newest paper for last, because it is closest to the test your child will sit.

For a full list of the topics in the curriculum, see our 11+ maths syllabus.

Three CSSE-style practice questions

These are original questions in the CSSE style: write-in answers, one mark per answer (Problem 2 has two answers, so two marks), no calculator. Give your child about six minutes for all three. Problem 1 tests the form of the answer, Problem 2 the units, and Problem 3 a fraction of what is left: the three slips that cost the most marks on answer-only papers. Each solution names the most common wrong answer.

The problems

Problem 1

A train leaves at 10:47 and arrives at 13:12. How long is the journey? Give your answer in minutes.

Watch out: An hour has 60 minutes, not 100, so you can’t subtract times like ordinary numbers. Count on to the next o’clock.

Problem 2

A ribbon 4 metres long is cut into as many 45 cm pieces as possible.

(a) How many pieces are there?

(b) How many centimetres of ribbon are left over?

Tip: Change the metres into centimetres first, so both lengths are in the same unit.

Problem 3

Priya has £24. She spends 3/8 of it on a book, then 1/3 of what is left on lunch. How much money does she have now?

Watch out: “What is left” means the money after the book, not the £24 she started with.

Solutions