Exams run mid-November 2026 – mid-January 2027
Independent school 11+ dates 2026/27 and 2027/28: which schools set a written maths paper
Exam dates, registration deadlines and formats for fourteen leading independent schools and the London 11+ Consortium, and the one question that shapes how your child prepares: is there a written maths paper, or is maths tested only on screen?
schools and groups we could check set a written maths paper
at many schools, then written maths for a shortlist
for a written maths paper, where the school states a length
11+ exam dates and formats for September 2027 entry
As of November 2026. Every row was checked on the school's own admissions page on 4 November 2026; where we could not confirm a detail there, the row says “Check the school's site”. Dates change, so confirm on the school's page before you rely on one. “Closed” means the deadline had passed when we checked.
| School | Exam date(s) | Registration deadline | Format | Written maths? | Maths paper length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Paul's School (boys; 11+ entrants join St Paul's Prep) | ISEB Pre-Test by Sat 14 Nov 2026; written exams Wed 9 Dec 2026; interviews 14–19 Jan 2027 | Fri 16 Oct 2026 (closed) | ISEB Pre-Test, then its own written English and maths papers | Yes (stage 2) | Not published |
| St Paul's Girls' School | ISEB Pre-Test by Thu 19 Nov 2026; written exams Sat 5 Dec 2026 | Fri 6 Nov 2026, 9am | ISEB Pre-Test, then written English, maths and general comprehension papers | Yes (stage 2) | Not published; two sections: arithmetic and problem solving, then multi-part questions |
| Westminster Under School | ISEB Pre-Test 23 Nov – 7 Dec 2026; written papers Sat 9 Jan 2027 (about 100 children) | Wed 30 Sep 2026 (closed) | ISEB Pre-Test, then its own written maths and English papers | Yes (stage 2) | 40 minutes |
| Latymer Upper School | Wed 2 Dec 2026; interview sessions Jan 2027 | Mon 12 Oct 2026, midday (closed) | Its own written English and maths papers | Yes | 60 minutes |
| North London Collegiate School | Thu 3 Dec 2026 | Fri 13 Nov 2026, 4pm | Its own written maths and English papers, on paper | Yes | 1 hour 15 minutes |
| Alleyn's School | Fri 8 Jan 2027 | Fri 13 Nov 2026, midday | Its own written reasoning, English and maths assessments; the ISEB Pre-Test is not used | Yes | Not stated on the admissions page |
| Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood | Sat 28 Nov 2026 (reserve day Mon 30 Nov) | Sat 31 Oct 2026 (closed) | Three written papers (English, maths, general paper) plus a short online test | Yes | 45-minute written paper, plus a 20-minute online maths test |
| The Manchester Grammar School | An assessment day (from Mon 21 Sep 2026), then Entrance Examination Day Wed 13 Jan 2027 | Wed 18 Nov 2026 (for a guaranteed assessment day) | Assessment day (a maths lesson, group activities, creative writing), then two arithmetic and two English papers | Yes | Not stated on the admissions page |
| Whitgift School | Tue 5 Jan 2027 | Fri 6 Nov 2026 | Its own papers in English, maths and thinking skills | Yes | Not stated on the admissions page |
| City of London School for Girls | Online test 13–18 Nov 2026; second assessment Wed 6 Jan 2027 | Closed (date not shown) | One-hour online test (Cambridge Select Insight), then written English and maths | Yes (stage 2) | 45 minutes (problem solving) |
| Haberdashers' Boys' School | Fri 20 Nov 2026 | Fri 6 Nov 2026 | Paper test built with QUEST: multiple-choice and written questions | Partly (maths shares a section with non-verbal reasoning) | 45 minutes (maths and non-verbal reasoning together) |
| King's College School, Wimbledon | Sat 5 Dec 2026 (morning); interviews for selected candidates 14–16 Jan 2027 | Mon 2 Nov 2026, noon (closed) | Its own written papers in English, maths and verbal reasoning (maths in two sections, no calculator) | Yes | 50 minutes (maths, both sections) |
| London 11+ Consortium girls' schools (e.g. Godolphin and Latymer) | Godolphin and Latymer: Fri 27 Nov or Tue 1 Dec 2026; other members: check each school | Godolphin and Latymer: Fri 6 Nov 2026, noon | One shared Consortium test: an adaptive maths section on the Year 5 curriculum, then a non-adaptive multi-step problem-solving section | No separate maths paper | Check the school's site |
| City of London School (boys) | Fri 27 Nov 2026 | Mon 2 Nov 2026 (closed) | Online test, mostly multiple choice (no calculators), then a handwritten creative-writing task | No | 20 minutes of online maths (adaptive) |
| Dulwich College | Fri 4 Dec 2026 | Mon 2 Nov 2026, midday (closed) | Online tests, mostly multiple choice, then a creative-writing task | No | 20 minutes of online maths, plus 15 minutes of puzzles and problem solving |
Each school's name links to its official admissions page. Westminster School itself admits at 13+; its 11+ route is Westminster Under School. The London 11+ Consortium girls' schools share one test, but each sets its own deadline and test days.
2027/28 (September 2028 entry): no school in the table has posted these dates yet. If the pattern holds, registration closes between late September and mid-November 2027 and the exams run from mid-November 2027 to mid-January 2028. St Paul's says ISEB registration for 2028 entry opens in July 2027. We will update this table when the schools publish.
Three kinds of 11+ maths test
Online first stage, then written
The ISEB Pre-Test (or another online test) decides who is invited back. The written maths paper that follows is the decisive one. St Paul's, St Paul's Girls', Westminster Under and City of London School for Girls work this way.
The school's own written paper
Every candidate sits the school's own maths paper on the day: Latymer Upper, NLCS, Alleyn's, Merchant Taylors', Manchester Grammar and Whitgift. Several publish sample papers on their admissions pages.
On screen only
There is no separate written maths paper: maths is tested in a timed test whose maths section is adaptive. City of London School and Dulwich College (online, mostly multiple choice) and the London 11+ Consortium, whose test ends with a multi-step problem-solving section.
What makes the written 11+ maths paper hard
The written papers don't go far beyond the Key Stage 2 curriculum. Westminster Under, for example, expects the standard Key Stage 2 programme and is “particularly interested in the children's ability to apply the mathematics they have learnt in the context of problem solving”. The difficulty is in how the questions are built:
- Several steps in one question. A child has to find a missing value before the question can even start.
- Answers are written, not chosen. There are no options to check against, so each step has to be right.
- Plan for no calculator. Practise fractions, percentages and long multiplication by hand, and check each school's rules.
A typical written-paper question mixes two prices, a “twice as many” condition and an exact total, so the child has to group the items before any sum works. Our hard 11+ maths questions have original problems like that, sorted by topic, each with a worked method and the common slip. For the online first stage, see ISEB Pre-Test maths: what it tests and how to practise.
More on 11+ maths
Hard 11+ maths questions
Original multi-step problems in the style of the written papers, with methods.
ISEB Pre-Test maths
What the online first stage looks like and how to get used to it.
11+ maths syllabus
The Year 5 and Year 6 topics the papers draw on.
Applying to a grammar school instead? See the Essex 11+ (CSSE), Sutton SET stage 2 and FSCE 11+ maths pages.
Independent school 11+ FAQ
When are the independent school 11+ exams? +
For September 2027 entry they run from mid-November 2026 to mid-January 2027. City of London School for Girls runs its online test in mid-November; Haberdashers' Boys', Merchant Taylors', City of London School and the London 11+ Consortium schools test in late November; Latymer Upper, NLCS, Dulwich, St Paul's Girls' and St Paul's in early December; Whitgift, CLSG, Alleyn's, Westminster Under and Manchester Grammar in January. Check each school's admissions page for its own date.
Do independent schools still set a written maths paper? +
Most leading schools do. Some set their own written maths paper for every candidate (Latymer Upper, NLCS, Alleyn's, Merchant Taylors', Manchester Grammar, Whitgift). Others first use an online test, usually the ISEB Pre-Test, and set the written maths paper only for the shortlist (St Paul's, St Paul's Girls', Westminster Under, City of London School for Girls). A few, such as City of London School and Dulwich College, test maths only on screen.
What is the ISEB Pre-Test? +
The Common Pre-Tests from the Independent Schools Examination Board are four online, adaptive assessments in maths, English, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, usually taken in Year 6 or Year 7. A child sits them once, and the results are shared with every school they have applied to that uses them. The 2026–27 testing window runs from September 2026 to late May 2027.
When should my child register for September 2028 entry? +
Schools publish dates for September 2028 entry during 2027. This year's deadlines ran from 30 September to 18 November, so plan to register in the autumn of Year 6 at the latest and check each school's page from spring 2027. St Paul's says ISEB registration for 2028 entry opens in July 2027.
How is the written 11+ maths paper different from the online test? +
The online stage is mostly multiple choice and tightly timed, and in adaptive sections a child often cannot go back to a question. The written papers ask the child to write each answer, and they reward multi-step problem solving: St Paul's Girls', for example, starts with arithmetic and problem solving, then moves to multi-part questions. Plan for no calculator (City of London School bans them at every stage) and check each school's instructions.
Math Explorers Club is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Independent Schools Examination Board (ISEB), the London 11+ Consortium, Cambridge University Press & Assessment, QUEST, or any school named on this page. School names are used only to describe their admissions arrangements.