GL Assessment provides the shared West Midlands entrance test. It does not set the qualifying score or offer places. Several bodies publish descriptions of the paper and they print different timings, so this page quotes each one separately and reconciles none of them.
Who is GL Assessment, and what do they do?
They are the publisher of the test, not the people who decide who gets in. The distinction matters more than it sounds, and most of the confusion families meet comes from collapsing it.
The King Edward VI Foundation, which runs the Birmingham grammar schools, states plainly: “the test is provided by GL Assessment”. Source: King Edward VI Foundation, entrance test information, checked 6 September 2026. The same page states that “all costs associated with the entrance test, including the test itself, are paid for by the grammar schools”.
Three bodies own three parts of your child's autumn. The publisher writes and supplies the test. The consortium of West Midlands grammar schools runs registration and the sitting. The individual schools and the local authority set the qualifying scores, make the offers and hear the appeals. Questions about your own child belong with the last of those, not with the publisher.
What is published about the paper, and by whom
This is where families go wrong, because there is no single published description. Several bodies describe the same arrangement and they do not print the same number of minutes. Below is what each one says, in its own words, with nothing reconciled.
Two of the rows below print an identical sentence. That is not us welding two sources together: Queen Mary's Grammar School and Newport Girls' High School each publish the same wording on their own admissions pages, as several schools in the consortium do.
| Published by | Its own words |
|---|---|
| West Midlands Grammar Schools | “Candidates will sit two papers, each approximately 50-60 minutes long (which includes time for instructions and example questions)”, and each paper “is divided into smaller individually timed sections”. Source |
| King Edward VI Foundation | “Candidates will sit two papers, each approximately 60 minutes long (which includes time for instructions and example questions).” Source |
| Warwickshire County Council | Each of the two tests “will take around 60 minutes to complete (including spoken instructions at the start and explanations of the practice items)”. Source |
| Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall | “Normally, each test paper is approx. 50 minutes in length.” Source |
| Newport Girls' High School | “The Test comprises two papers.” “Normally, each test paper is approx. 50 minutes in length.” Source |
| Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls | “There are two papers of approximately 45 minutes each.” Source |
We have not reconciled those figures and we would advise you not to either. Averaging six official numbers produces a seventh that nobody publishes, and the version that governs your child is the one in the letter your allocated test centre sends. Plan for about an hour a paper, built out of shorter timed sections, and treat any site that prints one confident number as a site that has picked a source without telling you.
Most of those bodies publish the same shape, and that shape is more useful than a minute count. Two papers. Four areas: the consortium names them as “English Comprehension, Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics, Non-Verbal/Spatial Reasoning”. Multiple choice, with answers on a separate sheet, which Newport Girls' High School puts in capitals: “candidates MUST write answers on the separate answer sheets provided”. And a published weighting of “50% for English/verbal reasoning, 25% for non-verbal reasoning and 25% for mathematics”.
Two of the schools in the table above word it differently, and we would rather show you that than smooth it away. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls publishes that “Children will write their answers in the test booklets and most of the questions will be multiple choice”, which is neither a separate answer sheet nor multiple choice throughout. Source: Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls, Year 7 admissions, checked 6 September 2026. Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall publishes that “The Test comprises two papers, which assess Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Reasoning provided by GL Assessments”, which names three assessed areas rather than four and no English comprehension. Source: Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall, September 2027 entry, checked 6 September 2026. The version that governs your child is the one your allocated centre sends you.
Rehearsing that shape at home is most of the preparation. Start a free week of Pathway Eleven and the daily plan covers all four areas from a Starting Assessment.
How is the score standardised?
By age, and against other children rather than against a pass mark. GL Assessment's own guide to standardised tests explains a standard age score as one that “takes into account the pupil's age in years and months and gives an indication of how the pupil is performing relative to a national sample of pupils of the same age”, and states that “the average score is 100”. Source: GL Assessment, a guide to standardised tests, checked 6 September 2026.
The consortium describes the same principle for this test in admissions language: “the scores for each section are standardised to take into account differences in age, meaning younger children are not disadvantaged compared to children in the same cohort who could be almost a year older”. Warwickshire County Council puts it as “the raw data is then standardised and weighted to provide a total score for each child”.
Two things follow for a parent. A summer-born child is not competing against children almost a year older, so age standardisation removes a disadvantage rather than adding marks. And a percentage from a home practice paper cannot be converted into one of these scores, because there is no cohort behind it. Anybody offering that conversion is selling you arithmetic that does not exist.
What the published thresholds actually are, school by school, is a separate matter and it is set by the schools rather than the publisher. Our Birmingham standardised score page sets out the qualifying and priority scores as the Foundation publishes them, and what is a good 11 plus score explains how to read them.
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What preparation material does GL Assessment publish?
Two kinds, and it is worth knowing which is which before you spend anything.
Familiarisation material is free. Its own 11 plus site for parents says: “we recommend children familiarise themselves with the multiple-choice layout of the test, content and examples of some types of questions they will face”, and its frequently asked questions describe “10 hours of free familiarisation materials” to help children prepare for these tests. Source: GL Assessment, free 11 plus materials, checked 6 September 2026.
Practice papers are bought. The same site draws the line itself: “familiarisation papers are in PDF format for home printing, while practice papers come as printed booklets”, and its FAQ describes each book as containing “three question papers and answer sheets, as well as guidance for parents on the overall test experience”. Source: GL Assessment, 11 plus frequently asked questions, checked 6 September 2026.
What is not published by anybody is the number of questions. We looked for a count in every source on this page and none of them prints one, so any site that gives you a figure for questions per section has either counted a practice booklet or invented it.
What is not published anywhere is a past paper. Read the whole of that site and you will find familiarisation papers and practice papers, and no past papers, because the questions are reused. Our page on 11 plus past papers goes through what that means for a family and what to use instead.
The schools publish familiarisation material of their own too. The King Edward VI Foundation states that “a full familiarisation guide is available to download”, and the consortium says “familiarisation questions can be found at the bottom of this page which show the style of questions to appear in the test and how answers must be recorded”. Both are free, both are short, and in our experience most families never open either.
Which areas use this test?
Five admissions areas share one paper, and each publishes its own description of the arrangement. The table below is the sourced version: every cell is a quotation read at its own address on 6 September 2026.
| Area | What is published |
|---|---|
| Warwickshire | The council publishes that the test “is currently operated as a shared test between the Warwickshire, Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire Grammar Schools”, and that “the same test papers are used across all authorities”. Source |
| Birmingham | The King Edward VI Foundation, which runs the Birmingham grammar schools, publishes that “the test is provided by GL Assessment”. Source |
| Walsall | Queen Mary's Grammar School publishes that “The Test comprises two papers, which assess Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Reasoning provided by GL Assessments”. Source |
| Wolverhampton | Named by Warwickshire County Council as one of the five sharing the test. Check the individual school's admissions page for its own timings. Source |
| Shropshire | Newport Girls' High School publishes that “The Test comprises two papers.” Source |
Outside those five, the publisher supplies tests to other admissions authorities as well, but we have not found a published national list from the publisher itself and we will not print one assembled from other people's blog posts. Check what your own admissions authority publishes, and if you are trying to work out which arrangement your child is sitting, GL Assessment or CEM sets out what each body publishes today.
Area by area: Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Warwickshire and Shropshire, with the schools in each.
What if my child needs reasonable adjustments?
There is a published route, and it closes earlier than registration does. The King Edward VI Foundation's test page carries a reasonable-adjustments section, stating “If your child requires reasonable adjustments, Please see further information by clicking here”, and a separate route for religious observance whose supporting letter “must be submitted no later than 26th June 2026”. Source: King Edward VI Foundation, entrance test information, checked 6 September 2026.
Two things follow. Start the conversation with your child's school early, because the evidence usually comes from them and gathering it takes longer than a form does. And read the deadline published for your own cycle rather than the one quoted above, because these dates move each year and an access request missed by a week is not reinstated. How to register for the 11 plus in the West Midlands sets out the registration window itself.
What Pathway Eleven is, and what it is not
Pathway Eleven is an online 11 plus preparation service that gives each child a personalised daily plan of revision, guided teaching and timed practice, with every question reviewed and approved by a qualified teacher before it is released. Full mock rehearsals are part of full membership rather than the trial, and they unlock from Year 4. One monthly price of £49 covers every area from Year 3 to the test, and the first week is free.
Our mocks rehearse the published format described above: the two-paper shape, sections timed one at a time, and the separate answer sheet. The papers themselves are our own, written in house. They are not GL Assessment papers and they are not past papers. Pathway Eleven is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GL Assessment.
We say that here rather than in small print because the market this page sits in does not. Material sold as official, approved or past is material to walk away from, whoever is selling it.
Questions parents ask about GL Assessment
Does GL Assessment decide who gets a grammar school place?+
No. The King Edward VI Foundation states that the test is provided by GL Assessment, and the schools and councils do everything else: they set the qualifying scores, rank the applications, make the offers and hear the appeals. A question about your child goes to the school or the council.
How long is each paper?+
It depends which body you read, and they differ. The consortium publishes approximately 50 to 60 minutes a paper, the King Edward VI Foundation approximately 60 minutes, Queen Mary's Grammar School approximately 50 minutes and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls approximately 45 minutes. The version that governs your child is the one in the letter from your allocated test centre.
Does GL Assessment publish past papers?+
Not on the site it runs for parents. What is published there is free familiarisation material and practice papers to buy, described by GL Assessment as printed booklets of three question papers each. Nothing on that site is a past paper.
What is a standard age score?+
GL Assessment describes it as a score that takes into account the pupil's age in years and months and shows how the pupil is performing relative to a national sample of pupils of the same age, with an average of 100. The consortium says the same thing in admissions language: scores are standardised so that younger children are not disadvantaged.
Is Pathway Eleven connected to GL Assessment?+
No, and the section above says so in full. Pathway Eleven has no connection to the publisher, to the consortium or to any school named on this page. Our practice papers and mocks rehearse the published format; the questions in them are our own and are reviewed and approved by a qualified teacher before release.
Which areas share this test?+
Warwickshire County Council publishes that the test is operated as a shared test between the Warwickshire, Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire grammar schools, with the same test papers used across all authorities. For any area outside those five, check what your own admissions authority publishes.
Where to go next
- GL Assessment or CEM: which test does your area use?, the distinction and why it matters.
- 11 plus past papers, why none is published and what to use instead.
- The West Midlands 11 plus entrance test, the shared test and the partnership schools.
- Birmingham 11 plus standardised scores explained, the published thresholds.
- What is the 11 plus?, who sits it and how the marking works.
- 11 plus mock exams in Birmingham, centres against timed mocks at home.
- A free practice paper in the published format, with a second paper and a short sample in the same email.
- What Pathway Eleven costs, one plan, every subject.
A Starting Assessment covers all four areas, and the daily plan follows what it finds.
What GL Assessment and the schools publish, read address by address
Every quotation on this page was read at its own published address on 6 September 2026. Where two bodies publish different figures, both are printed above and neither is adjusted.
- King Edward VI Foundation, entrance test information, the test provider, the sixty-minute description, the familiarisation guide and who pays for the test. Checked 6 September 2026.
- West Midlands Grammar Schools, the entrance test, the fifty to sixty minute figure, the individually timed sections, the four areas, the weighting, age standardisation and the familiarisation questions. Checked 6 September 2026.
- Warwickshire County Council, the 11 plus test, the around-sixty-minutes figure and the standardising and weighting of raw data. Checked 6 September 2026.
- Queen Mary's Grammar School, September 2027 entry, the fifty-minute paper. Checked 6 September 2026.
- Newport Girls' High School, entrance test, two papers, the fifty-minute figure and the separate answer sheets. Checked 6 September 2026.
- Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls, Year 7 admissions, the forty-five minute papers. Checked 6 September 2026.
- GL Assessment, a guide to standardised tests, the average score of 100 and the age adjustment in years and months. Checked 6 September 2026.
- GL Assessment, free 11 plus materials, the free familiarisation papers and the printed practice booklets. Checked 6 September 2026.
- GL Assessment, 11 plus frequently asked questions, the ten hours of familiarisation material and what a practice book contains. Checked 6 September 2026.