How to prepare for the St George's School 11+ exam

The exam at a glance

For September 2028 entry to Year 7, ElevenReady’s verified directory says St George’s School uses CEM and tests Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. The format note we hold for this school is that families should prepare in a balanced way across all four areas, with steady work on accuracy under standard timed conditions.

St George’s own admissions information confirms that pupils applying for Year 7 sit an 11+ assessment as part of the admissions process. The school also runs an admissions journey around that assessment, including events for registered candidates.

The delivery is listed in our verified school data as mixed. In practical terms, parents should be ready for an assessment process that may include more than one component across the day or across the admissions sequence, rather than assuming a single uninterrupted paper session.

What the day looks like can vary from year to year, but the broad pattern at independent schools is usually straightforward: arrive in good time, register, complete the assessment session or sessions, and then leave the rest of the admissions process to the school. St George’s also advertises a Future Georgian Day for registered 11+ candidates, which suggests the admissions experience is designed to help children get a feel for the school as well as sit the assessment.

Because the school’s own website gives only limited public detail about the internal running order, it is best to use the invitation and joining instructions sent after registration as your guide for timings, arrival points and any materials to bring.

Registration and key dates

St George’s runs its own admissions process. The school’s admissions page links to an online registration form for entry, and the website states that a non-refundable registration fee of £240 is payable when the form is completed.

For the current published cycle on the school website, registrations for 11+ are stated to be received by mid October in the year preceding entry. On the admissions calendar shown on the site, the dated milestones are:

15 October 2026: Future Georgian Day for registered 11+ candidates
16 October 2026: registration deadline stated in ElevenReady’s verified data
21 November 2026: 11+ assessment date shown in ElevenReady’s verified data and reflected by the school’s dated calendar
Mid-February: celebratory tea for successful candidates on the dated calendar

For families targeting September 2028 entry, the school had not yet published a full 2027 assessment calendar at the time of writing. The safest way to plan is to treat the timing above as typical: registration usually needs to be completed by mid October, with the 11+ assessment typically held in late November. Check the school’s admissions page regularly for the live 2027 dates as soon as they appear.

The school’s admissions pages do not publicly set out a detailed document checklist for 11+ registration on the pages reviewed, so complete the online form and follow the school’s instructions carefully. If any supporting documents are needed, the admissions team will normally confirm this during the process.

If you want a quick reminder system, you can also use Free email alerts for this school's key dates: /school-alerts?school=st-georges-school.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

St George’s School is an independent school, so there is no local-authority grammar catchment process to navigate in the way there is for state selective schools. Applications are made directly to the school through its own admissions route.

The school’s website says it offers 11+, 13+ and sixth form entry, with day and boarding places depending on availability. For families considering Year 7 entry, that means places are not described simply as a fixed annual intake on the pages reviewed; availability matters.

The school also states that boys and girls will be welcomed into Year 7 and Year 9 from September 2027, with the sixth form becoming co-educational from September 2028. That is relevant for 2028 entry because the current Year 7 intake for your child’s cohort will be part of the school’s newer co-educational admissions model.

We did not find a published catchment area, priority radius, oversubscription score, pass mark or standardised cut-off on the sources reviewed. Independent schools often do not publish those figures in the way grammar schools do. If St George’s releases more detail for your child’s application round, it should appear on the school’s admissions page or in the registration materials.

Competition can still be strong, especially in the first years of a change in admissions arrangements, so a calm, organised application matters: register on time, prepare steadily, and attend any admissions events the school invites your child to.

A month-by-month preparation plan

For a child aiming to sit the St George’s 11+ in autumn 2027 for Year 7 entry in September 2028, the best approach is steady preparation through Year 5 rather than a last-minute rush. Because the format covers Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, a balanced routine works better than over-focusing on just one area.

January to March of Year 5

Keep it light and consistent: around 1 to 2 hours a week in short sessions is enough to begin with. Start by finding your child’s current level in arithmetic, problem solving, reading comprehension, vocabulary and basic reasoning. At this stage, accuracy matters more than speed.

Read widely and discuss vocabulary every day.
Review core maths facts: times tables, place value, fractions and written methods.
Introduce short Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning tasks as puzzles, not tests.

April to June of Year 5

Increase to around 2 to 3 hours a week. This is a good point to make preparation more structured. Work in all four subjects every week so none becomes unfamiliar.

English: practise comprehension, inference, spelling patterns and precise vocabulary.
Maths: mix arithmetic fluency with multi-step word problems.
Verbal Reasoning: build familiarity with common task types and quick pattern spotting.
Non-Verbal Reasoning: develop confidence with rotations, reflections, sequences and shape rules.

July to August before Year 6

Use the summer sensibly. Around 2 to 4 hours a week is realistic for most families, spread across several short sessions. This is the stage to begin gentle timed work, but not every session needs a clock running.

Complete short mixed exercises rather than very long papers.
Keep reading strong: fiction, nonfiction and rich vocabulary all help.
Review mistakes carefully so your child learns why an answer was wrong.

September of Year 6

Now preparation becomes more exam-focused. Aim for around 3 to 4 hours a week. If the school opens registration for your child’s cycle around this period, complete it promptly and note every deadline.

Start doing timed sections regularly.
Practise switching subjects smoothly, as mixed-format assessments can feel tiring.
Strengthen weak areas without dropping the stronger ones.

October of Year 6

This is usually the key consolidation month, especially if registration closes in mid October as in the school’s current pattern. Keep sessions purposeful: around 4 hours a week is plenty for most children.

Use one timed paper or paper set each week, then spend longer reviewing than marking.
Work on pacing: not getting stuck, making sensible guesses when needed, and staying calm.
If your child attends a school event such as Future Georgian Day, use it to reduce nerves and make the school feel familiar.

November of Year 6

In the final run-up to a late-November test, reduce the temptation to cram. Two good-quality weeks beat one panicky one.

In the first half of the month, complete a final set of timed practice under calm conditions.
In the last week, switch to lighter review, vocabulary recap, arithmetic fluency and early nights.
Stop heavy preparation the day before the exam.

As a rule of thumb, most children benefit from starting timed full sections in the summer before Year 6 and moving to more regular timed work from September. Full mock-style practice is most useful once methods are already secure.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For this school, maths preparation should cover both fluent calculation and clear problem solving. Children should be comfortable with number operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics, measures and multi-step word problems. In timed conditions, many pupils lose marks not because the maths is beyond them, but because they rush a method, misread a number or spend too long on one question.

Practise mental arithmetic and written methods until they feel automatic.
Use short mixed problem sets rather than repeating one topic for too long.
Train your child to underline what a question is asking before starting.
Include time-limited work, but always review errors in detail afterwards.

English

English preparation should be broad. For 11+ work, that usually means reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, spelling and careful interpretation of text. A child who reads accurately but too literally may miss inference marks, while a child with good ideas may still drop marks through sloppy punctuation or weak vocabulary.

Read demanding fiction and nonfiction regularly.
Discuss word meanings in context, not just as isolated definitions.
Practise retrieving evidence from a passage and explaining answers clearly.
Revise spelling rules, sentence control and common grammar points.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning rewards quick thinking with words, patterns and codes. The exact task mix can vary, so children should become comfortable with a wide range of common question types rather than memorising one narrow set. Vocabulary strength is especially valuable here.

Build word knowledge steadily: synonyms, antonyms, roots and prefixes all help.
Practise alphabetical order, code-style tasks, letter patterns and logical word relationships.
Teach your child to recognise the task type quickly before attempting the answer.
Keep sessions short and frequent, because speed improves through familiarity.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning focuses on visual logic. Children need to spot how shapes change, combine or move. The skill is learnable, but only with repeated exposure to standard patterns and enough discussion afterwards to understand the rule.

Practise sequences, rotations, reflections, symmetry and shape analogies.
Encourage your child to describe what has changed before choosing an answer.
Use timed drills once the main pattern types are familiar.
Revisit mistakes after a day or two to check the method has stuck.

Across all four subjects, the key for St George’s is balance. Because the school’s verified format spans Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, one weak area can pull overall performance down even if the others are strong.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are most useful when they are used as a learning tool, not just a score generator. Start with untimed or lightly timed work so your child understands each question type. Move gradually into timed sections, then fuller mock-style practice closer to the exam.

Use one paper to diagnose strengths and weaknesses.
Spend more time reviewing than your child spent sitting the paper.
Keep an error log: question type, reason for mistake, and what to do next time.
Repeat weak question types a week later to make sure the improvement lasts.

Mocks can help with stamina and nerves, especially for mixed-format testing, but they are most helpful when a child already knows the basics. Too many mocks too early can dent confidence. One or two well-timed rehearsals in the autumn before the exam are usually enough for most children.

For school-specific practice, use these ElevenReady resources:

Free St George's School practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers): /schools/st-georges-school-mock-tests
The St George's School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates): /schools/st-georges-school
Free email alerts for this school's key dates: /school-alerts?school=st-georges-school

If you use any commercially available materials as well, choose resources that cover all four tested subjects and avoid overcommitting to one publisher’s style. The aim is adaptable exam skill, not overfamiliarity with a single worksheet format.

On the day

Keep the day calm and ordinary. A child who arrives fed, rested and knowing roughly what to expect is already in a much better position than one who has been over-prepped the night before.

Check the school’s instructions carefully for arrival time, location and anything to bring.
Set out clothes and any permitted equipment the evening before.
Choose a familiar breakfast and leave extra travel time.
Avoid last-minute teaching in the car; light reassurance is better.

Useful reminders for your child are simple: listen carefully, keep an eye on time, leave a difficult question and move on if needed, and refocus quickly after any section that felt hard. Independent-school assessments are designed to stretch candidates, so your child should not expect every question to feel easy.

After the test, try not to conduct a full post-mortem. A short, warm conversation is enough. Dwelling on individual questions rarely helps and can increase anxiety while you wait for the next step in the admissions process.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

At independent schools, the process after the assessment is different from local-authority grammar allocation. There is no National Offer Day place allocation in the same sense. Instead, the school assesses candidates and then communicates outcomes directly to families as part of its own admissions timetable.

For St George’s, the admissions calendar reviewed includes a celebratory tea in mid-February for successful candidates, which gives families a useful indication that decisions are likely to be communicated before or around that stage in the cycle. The school pages reviewed did not publicly state a separate published results date for 11+.

If your child is offered a place, the school will normally explain how to accept it and any deadlines for deposits or further paperwork. If your child is not offered a place, the next step is usually to contact the admissions team politely for clarification about waiting-list arrangements or any further options. Independent schools do not follow the same statutory appeals framework used by state schools, so any review process is governed by the school’s own admissions procedures.

For that reason, it is sensible to keep your wider Year 7 plans moving alongside this application and not rely on one outcome alone.

What has changed recently

The clearest recent change is to the school’s admissions model: St George’s states that boys and girls will be welcomed into Year 7 and Year 9 from September 2027, and that the sixth form becomes co-educational from September 2028. For families applying for September 2028 entry, that means your child’s cohort sits within the school’s early co-educational Year 7 intakes.

We also found current admissions wording on the school site that describes the 11+ assessment as taking place at the end of November or in late November, while the dated calendar shown on the admissions page gives a specific November assessment date for the present cycle. That is not necessarily a contradiction, but it does mean families should always use the live admissions calendar for the exact date for their own year.

Beyond that, we did not find any other clearly announced recent change on the reviewed sources to the published 11+ subjects, a catchment policy, or a published number of Year 7 places.

Frequently asked questions

Does St George's School have an 11+ exam for Year 7 entry?

Yes. The school’s admissions information includes an 11+ assessment for Year 7 applicants as part of its admissions process.

What subjects should my child prepare for at St George's School?

For 2028 entry, ElevenReady’s verified data says to prepare for Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Is St George's School co-educational for Year 7?

Yes for your child’s cohort. The school says boys and girls will be welcomed into Year 7 from September 2027.

When do I need to register for St George's School 11+?

The school’s current admissions wording says registrations should be received by mid October in the year before entry. For the live deadline for your child’s year, check the school’s admissions page.

How much is the St George's School registration fee?

The school states that the registration fee is £240 and is non-refundable.

Does St George's School publish an 11+ pass mark?

We did not find a published pass mark or cut-off score on the sources reviewed. Check the school’s admissions page for any update for your child’s application round.

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Sources

St George's Ascot – Joining St George's Ascot: School runs its own admissions process; 11+, 13+ and sixth form entry; day and boarding places depending on availability; registrations should be received by mid October preceding the required year of entry; 11+ assessment held at the end of November / entrance exams held in late November; boys and

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Written by ElevenReady from the school's published information and reviewed by a person before publishing. Last reviewed 4 October 2026. Exam arrangements change. Check the school's admissions page for the current year.