The West Midlands grammar schools sit the test provided by GL Assessment, on paper, with answers on a separate sheet. The cem.org address, as at September 2026, presents a digital assessment called Cambridge Select Insight, used mainly by independent and partially selective schools. Practice material written for one is the wrong preparation for the other.
Which test does the West Midlands use?
The one provided by GL Assessment, and there is a published sentence saying so. The King Edward VI Foundation, which runs the Birmingham grammar schools, states: “the test is provided by GL Assessment”. Source: King Edward VI Foundation, entrance test information, checked 6 September 2026.
That one test covers a wide area. Warwickshire County 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: Warwickshire County Council, the 11 plus test, checked 6 September 2026.
So for a family in this region the practical answer is short: prepare for a paper-based, multiple-choice test with a separate answer sheet, and ignore anything written for the other one. Pathway Eleven is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GL Assessment.
Is the CEM 11 plus still running, and what is CEM now?
A digital assessment with a different name. The organisation's own entrance-assessments page presents its product as Cambridge Select Insight, describes the format as digital, gives an average duration of sixty minutes, and lists the content as “numerical, verbal and non-verbal ability”. Source: Cambridge Select Insight, entrance assessments, checked 6 September 2026.
The same page sets out who uses it: “selective independent schools, partially selective state schools, Grammar Schools and schools with fair banding admissions”, and says it is suitable for entry at eleven and thirteen, for late transfer and for fair banding, and for entry into Years 7, 8, 9 and 10.
It is worth naming what parents have read about, because the mental model arrives before the page does. A great deal of 11 plus advice online was written for a paper other than the one your child will sit, and we cannot find a published description of that older format at an address we could cite, so this page does not print one. What the table above compares is what each body publishes today, and material written for another test is the wrong material for a West Midlands child, which is the whole argument of this page.
What is not on that page is the paper-based CEM eleven plus that older forum threads describe. We are reporting what the site lists today rather than dating a change we cannot source, and if your child's school still sets a paper under that name, its own admissions page is the authority, not ours.
What is the practical difference for a child?
Mechanics, mostly, and mechanics are worth more preparation than families expect.
| The shared West Midlands test | Cambridge Select Insight | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is sat | What your child sitsOn paper, at an allocated centre. Answers on a separate sheet. | Not your child's testDigital, on a computer. |
| Length | Two papers, “each approximately 50-60 minutes long”, as West Midlands Grammar Schools publishes it. | “Avg Duration: 60 minutes.” |
| What it covers | What your child sits“English Comprehension, Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics, Non-Verbal/Spatial Reasoning.” | Not your child's test“Numerical, Verbal and Non-verbal ability.” |
| Who uses it | What your child sitsThe Warwickshire, Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire grammar schools. | Not your child's testSelective independent schools, partially selective state schools, grammar schools and fair banding schools. |
| Practice material | Free familiarisation questions from the consortium and the Foundation; familiarisation and practice papers from the publisher. | Check the individual school, which sets its own arrangements. |
The mechanical gap is the part worth preparing for. A child who has only ever answered on a screen has never practised keeping their place on a separate grid, and losing your place there costs a run of marks rather than a single one. The reverse is true too: a paper-trained child meeting a digital adaptive assessment for the first time loses time to the interface.
Preparing for the paper-based one? Start a free week of Pathway Eleven and the plan works the four areas the consortium names, in the format it publishes.
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Why does the distinction matter when you buy practice material?
Because most of what is sold online does not say which test it is for, and the two are not interchangeable. A pack written around a digital, adaptive assessment covers different ground, in a different order, without the one mechanical skill this region's paper demands.
Three checks before you buy anything. Does it name the arrangement it is written for? Does it come with a separate answer sheet? And does it cover English comprehension as a named section, rather than only reasoning, since comprehension is one of the four areas the consortium lists here?
If a listing cannot answer those three, it is not written for your child's test. That is also true of anything advertised as a past paper, since none is published for this arrangement at all. Our page on 11 plus past papers covers what does exist, and the GL Assessment page sets out each published description of the paper side by side.
What if you are not in the West Midlands?
Then check your own admissions authority, because arrangements are set locally and change. Essex has its own consortium, CSSE, which administers the eleven plus examination on behalf of its member schools and publishes free familiarisation papers of its own. Source: CSSE, checked 6 September 2026. Many independent schools use the ISEB Common Pre-Tests, described by ISEB as “a series of four online, adaptive and shared entrance assessments used as part of the admissions process to many of the UK's leading independent schools”. Source: ISEB, Common Pre-Tests, checked 6 September 2026.
The rule that survives every region is the same one: read the admissions page of the schools you are actually applying to, and prepare for what it describes. Nothing else is authoritative, including this page.
Questions about the two tests
Does Birmingham use GL Assessment or CEM?+
GL Assessment. The King Edward VI Foundation states that the test is provided by GL Assessment, and Warwickshire County Council publishes that the same papers are shared between the Warwickshire, Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire grammar schools.
Is the CEM 11 plus still running?+
The organisation's own entrance-assessments page today presents Cambridge Select Insight, a digital assessment of numerical, verbal and non-verbal ability with an average duration of sixty minutes. The paper-based test older threads describe is not among the assessments listed there. If a school you are applying to sets something under that name, its admissions page is the authority.
Can we practise with CEM material for a West Midlands test?+
It is not the right rehearsal. The content overlaps in reasoning, but the West Midlands paper includes English comprehension as a named area and is answered on a separate paper answer sheet, and neither of those is practised on a screen.
How do I find out which test my child will sit?+
From the admissions page of the schools you are applying to, and from your local authority. Arrangements are set locally and they change, so a published page from this year beats any general guide, including this one.
Is Pathway Eleven a GL Assessment product?+
No. Our papers and mocks are written in house to rehearse the published format, and every question in the bank is reviewed and approved by a qualified teacher before release. We have no connection to any test publisher.
Where to go next
- GL Assessment and the 11 plus test, every published description of the paper, quoted.
- 11 plus past papers, what exists and what to use instead.
- The West Midlands 11 plus entrance test, the shared test and its schools.
- What is the 11 plus?, the exam and the admissions route around it.
- 11 plus mock tests online, rehearsing the paper format properly.
- A free paper written for the format this region sits, sent to your email with a short sample paper alongside it.
- What Pathway Eleven costs, one plan, every subject.
The daily plan works the four areas this region's paper names, and the format it rehearses is the one this region publishes.
Both publishers, quoted at their own addresses
Every quotation on this page was read at its own published address on 6 September 2026.
- King Edward VI Foundation, entrance test information, that the test is provided by GL Assessment, and the multiple-choice answer sheet. Checked 6 September 2026.
- Warwickshire County Council, the 11 plus test, the shared test between the five areas and the same test papers across them. Checked 6 September 2026.
- West Midlands Grammar Schools, the entrance test, the four areas and the published timing range. Checked 6 September 2026.
- Cambridge Select Insight, entrance assessments, the digital format, the sixty-minute average duration, the three ability areas and the schools it serves. Checked 6 September 2026.
- CSSE, the Essex examination and its free familiarisation papers. Checked 6 September 2026.
- ISEB, Common Pre-Tests, the four online adaptive assessments. Checked 6 September 2026.