Ask this question in any parent group and you will get answers ranging from 'Year 2, obviously' to 'six weeks is plenty' — usually delivered with equal confidence. After 15+ years of preparing children for entrance exams, here is the honest answer: structured preparation should begin at the start of Year 5, with gentle groundwork in Year 4. Earlier than that risks burnout for marginal gain; later than that is recoverable, but the options narrow. Here is what that means in practice, year by year.
The year-by-year 11+ preparation plan
| School year | What to do | What NOT to do |
|---|---|---|
| Year 3 (age 7–8) | Nothing labelled '11+'. Read together daily, play word and logic games, keep times tables sharp. Curiosity is the curriculum. | Practice papers, tutoring 'to get ahead', mentioning the exam at all. Nothing kills a 7-year-old's love of learning faster. |
| Year 4 (age 8–9) | Gentle groundwork: wide reading (the single best verbal reasoning prep that exists), vocabulary habits, puzzle books your child enjoys, secure core maths. Visit prospective schools casually. | Timed tests and formal mocks. Skills first, pressure never — there is no exam this year. |
| Year 5 (age 9–10) | Structured preparation begins in the autumn: learn the question types for your region's test (most areas, including Birmingham, Trafford, Bradford and Gloucestershire, use GL Assessment-style papers). Weekly focused practice; first full papers in spring; timed papers by summer. | Daily drilling. Little and often (20–40 minutes) beats weekend marathons — this is precisely why TutorMint lessons are 40 minutes. |
| Summer before Year 6 | Technique phase: timed papers under real conditions, the 2-pass answering method, targeted work on the two weakest question families only. | Teaching new content in the final fortnight, or letting the exam swallow the whole summer. Rested children rank higher than crammed ones. |
| September of Year 6 | The test itself (most regions sit it in the first half of September). Light review, early nights, calm parents. | Panic-buying last-minute tuition marathons. At this point, confidence is worth more than one more paper. |
Starting late? Here's the honest triage
If you are reading this in the spring or summer of Year 5, you are not too late — but skip the leisurely phase.
Go straight to:
- 1One diagnostic paper per subject to find the true gaps
- 2Targeted work on the weakest two question families
- 3Timed technique from six weeks out
A focused six-month runway produces strong results every year. A six-week runway can still improve ranking — but only through technique and timing, not new knowledge, so spend it there.
The signs you've started too early
Tears before practice, 'I'm stupid' language, gaming the tick-count rather than thinking, or a child who can do the questions but has stopped reading for pleasure — all mean the schedule is ahead of the child. Pause for a month. A Year 5 child who likes learning will overtake a Year 4 child who has learned to dread it, every single time.
One regional note for 2026 families
Preparation should always be tuned to your region's specific test — question types, timing and scoring all vary. Most TutorMint regions use GL-style papers today, but providers do change: Gloucestershire's consortium, for example, moves to a new provider (FSCE) from September 2028 entry. If your child is currently in Year 3 or 4, build flexible skills rather than format tricks — vocabulary, reasoning and calm timing transfer to any test a region adopts.
Our free demo lesson includes an honest assessment of exactly where your child is on this timeline.
Ready to find out where your child stands?
Sources
- TutorMint founder — 15+ years preparing children for UK entrance exams
Written by TutorMint Founder
15+ years of classroom and one-to-one teaching experience. Facts checked 23 July 2026.