Pathway Eleven or Atom Learning?

Two adaptive platforms that overlap heavily. Six questions separate them.

Atom's pricing page lists three plans for ages seven to eleven plus. English, Maths, Science, described as daily maths, English and science practice personalised to where a child is today. Exam Prep, described as a structured learning plan across all subjects including verbal and non-verbal reasoning. And Exam Prep Plus, described as everything in Exam Prep plus unlimited mock tests and detailed feedback on performance, with online and printable paper tests carrying instant marking.

On its 11 plus page Atom describes a topic library of flashcards, helpsheets and videos, progress reporting that gives a standardised age score with performance by subject and topic, and comparison against data from successful applicants to a target grammar school. It names GL Assessment as a provider used by many grammar schools in England and refers to other providers including CSSE, ISEB and CAT4. Pathway Eleven is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GL Assessment.

Atom's pricing page offers a free trial on each plan and does not state its length on that page, so this comparison does not state one either.

Figures below are transcriptions from Atom's own pricing page and from our own pricing section, both read on 5 September 2026.

The comparison a parent should draw is not simply which number is smaller. It is which plan contains the thing you came for. Reasoning and mock rehearsal are the two things a West Midlands family needs most, because the shared test is half English and verbal reasoning and is sat as timed multiple-choice sections. On the Atom side those sit on the higher tiers; on ours there is one plan and no upgrade to reach for.

Would you rather judge a plan than a pricing table? Start your free week: it opens with the Starting Assessment, and the daily plan that follows is what your child actually meets.

Feature lists read much the same on any two platforms. Questions do not. Leave an address and the pack of practice papers in the West Midlands format comes over, with answer sheets and worked answers, so you can judge ours against anything else your child is working through. An occasional preparation email follows.

Your address is used to send you the practice papers and the occasional preparation email described above, and nothing else. You can unsubscribe from any of them, and the Privacy Notice sets out what is stored and how to have it deleted.

One plan against three. Atom's structure lets a family buy less if they want less, and it also means deciding which tier you need before you know what your child needs. Pathway Eleven has one plan at £49 a month, which is simpler and is not always cheaper: at £39.99 Atom's entry plan costs less than ours, and at £69.99 its top plan costs more.

National breadth against regional depth. Atom covers several assessment providers and publishes school-comparison data across the country. Pathway Eleven is built around the shared West Midlands consortium test, and this site's own school directory carries a page for each of the nineteen partnership schools it lists, alongside the published dates for the current cycle and the published score thresholds, each one sourced. If you are applying in the West Midlands that depth is the difference; if you are applying elsewhere it is not.

A named reviewer. Every question in our bank is reviewed and approved by a qualified teacher, Farah Hussain, and her name appears on every page of this site alongside the writer's. Atom's own 11 plus page carries the label “Designed by teachers”; what it does not do is name an individual, as read on 6 September 2026. Whether that matters to you is a fair question, and it is a difference a parent can check rather than take on trust.

Where the ladder starts. Atom's pricing page lists plans for ages seven to eleven plus. Its 11 plus page states no year-group range for its content, read 6 September 2026, so nothing here is claimed about where Atom's ladder begins: ask Atom what it offers at your child's age. What Pathway Eleven publishes about its own is plain. Year 3 is a normal place to begin, with gentle untimed work at that age. Mock papers follow a year after that, from Year 4.

Yes, and this site is one of them, so take what follows as an interested party setting out its own arrangements next to Atom's published ones. Three things decide it for most families: how mock rehearsals are allocated, how much the thing asks of a child week to week, and what it costs.

How mock rehearsals are allocated. Here there is one plan, so there is no allocation to work out: full mock rehearsals are part of full membership rather than the free trial, they unlock from Year 4, and a parent chooses when each one is sat. Atom sets its own out on its pricing page, read on 6 September 2026, where “Unlimited mock tests” and “Online and printable paper tests with instant marking and feedback” are listed on Exam prep plus, and the mock-tests row on the English, maths, science plan and on Exam prep reads “Not included”. That is Atom's own wording for its own plans, not a judgement on them, and a family that wants mocks simply needs to know which line it is buying.

How much it asks week to week. Our plan gives a child one day's work at a time, chosen from where they actually are, and the family decides when it happens and how long the sitting runs. It can be paused, and the difficulty climbs as the child strengthens rather than opening at exam level, which is why Year 3 is a normal place to start here. Nothing on this site sets a quota a parent has to keep up with.

What it costs to get the whole thing. One price of £49 a month covers all four areas the shared West Midlands test samples, with the first week free and cancellation done in the app. Atom publishes £39.99, £59.99 and £69.99 a month, with annual equivalents of £31.99, £47.99 and £55.99 billed at £383.90, £575.90 and £671.90 yearly, read on its pricing page on 6 September 2026. Its entry plan lists English, maths and science; verbal and non-verbal reasoning appear on the two Exam prep plans. If reasoning and mocks are what you came for, compare our one line against those two, not against the entry price.

There are families for whom Atom is plainly the better buy, and a comparison that pretends otherwise is not worth reading. These are the criteria.

• You are applying outside the West Midlands. Atom covers several assessment providers and publishes school-comparison data across the country; our regional depth is worth nothing to you.
• You want science alongside the entrance-test subjects. Science is listed on all three of Atom's plans. It is not part of the shared West Midlands test and it is not part of our plan.
• You want the national comparison data. Atom publishes a standardised age score set against data from successful applicants to a target school.
• You want to pay yearly for a lower monthly equivalent. Atom publishes annual equivalents of £31.99, £47.99 and £55.99 a month. We have no annual plan.
• You want the cheapest entry point and can do without reasoning. Atom's English, maths and science plan is £39.99 a month, below our £49.

• You are sitting the shared West Midlands test. The plan is built to its format, and this site carries a page for each partnership school it lists, with dates and score thresholds, each one sourced.
• You want reasoning and mock rehearsal on the plan you already pay for. One price, no upgrade to reach for. Mock rehearsals are part of full membership rather than the trial, and they unlock from Year 4.
• You want to know who checked the questions. Every question in the bank is reviewed and approved by a qualified teacher, Farah Hussain, named on every page of this site.
• You are starting in Year 3 or Year 4. One ladder runs to the test, opening gentle and untimed and stepping up as the child strengthens.
• You would rather not pick a tier. There is one plan, so nothing your child needs sits behind a decision you had to make before you knew them.

The most useful thing you can do is try both. Both offer a free trial, both are cancellable, and a fortnight of a child actually using something tells you more than any comparison table, including this one.

Pathway Eleven is an online 11 plus preparation service built as one plan rather than a ladder of them: a personalised daily plan of revision, guided teaching and timed practice, with every question reviewed and approved by a qualified teacher. Full mock rehearsals are part of full membership rather than the trial, and they unlock from Year 4. The single price of £49 a month covers all four areas from Year 3 to the test, the first week costs nothing, and cancelling is done in the app.

Every Atom figure, and the day it was read

Competitor prices and plan contents move without notice, so each entry below records the Atom page a figure came from and the date it was read there. Where this page relies on something Atom does not publish, the check for that absence is dated too.

• Atom Learning, pricing. Three plans for ages seven to eleven plus at £39.99, £59.99 and £69.99 a month, with annual equivalents of £31.99, £47.99 and £55.99 a month billed at £383.90, £575.90 and £671.90 yearly, and unlimited online and printable mock tests listed on Exam Prep Plus. Re-read on 6 September 2026 for the plan structure quoted above: “Unlimited mock tests” and “Online and printable paper tests with instant marking and feedback” on Exam prep plus, a mock-tests row reading “Not included” on the other two plans, and science listed on all three with verbal and non-verbal reasoning on the two Exam prep plans. Checked 6 September 2026.
• Atom Learning, 11 plus. Adaptive questions that adapt as a child learns, a topic library of flashcards, helpsheets and videos, and reporting that gives a standardised age score with performance by subject and topic. The page carries the label “Designed by teachers”. Re-read on 6 September 2026 for two absences this page relies on: it states no year-group range for its content, and it names no individual reviewer. Checked 6 September 2026.
• West Midlands Grammar Schools, The entrance test. The shared regional test, its two papers of individually timed multiple-choice sections, and the published weighting of 50% English and verbal reasoning, 25% non-verbal reasoning and 25% mathematics. Checked 5 September 2026.