The exam at a glance
For 2028 entry, Wellington College’s 11+ process includes the ISEB Common Pre-Test, followed by other assessment stages for some children. The school’s 11+ admissions page explains that applicants for Year 7 join Wellington College Prep and that assessment includes an activities-based assessment, the ISEB Common Pre-Test and, for some candidates, further assessment sessions at Wellington College.
The Common Pre-Test is taken online and covers four areas: Mathematics, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. As an adaptive test, it adjusts to a child’s responses, so the experience is not quite the same as working through a fixed paper. Pace matters as well as accuracy: children need to read carefully, think clearly and keep moving.
In practical terms, families should expect the process to happen in stages. The school says the admissions process for 2028 entry begins in the Michaelmas term of Year 6, with pupils taking the Pre-Test in November. The school also says that some candidates are then invited to Wellington College in the Lent term. That means preparation should cover both the online test itself and the possibility of a later in-person assessment.
Because the test is delivered on screen, children should be used to answering questions digitally, including selecting answers accurately and working calmly against the clock. For Wellington specifically, it is sensible to prepare for a mixed process: part online assessment, part broader admissions assessment.
- Board: ISEB Common Pre-Test
- Format: online, adaptive, tightly timed
- Subjects: Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning
- Delivery: mixed admissions process, with online testing and further assessment for some children
- What the day looks like: first an online pre-test stage, then later assessment activity for shortlisted candidates if invited
Registration and key dates
Wellington College runs its own 11+ admissions process through the school’s admissions team rather than through a local authority grammar-school testing system. The school’s 11+ admissions page includes links to register for 11+ entry in 2028.
For children starting Year 7 in September 2028, Wellington says the process begins during the Michaelmas term of Year 6. Pupils then sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test in November, and some may be invited to Wellington College in the Lent term for further assessment. On the school’s prep admissions page, Wellington also says that offers are sent in February.
At the time of writing, we did not find a published 2028 opening date for registration or a confirmed deadline on a page that could be safely cited here. Parents should therefore check the school’s 11+ page directly and sign up for updates. If you want reminders, ElevenReady’s Free email alerts for this school's key dates are useful.
What to do now:
- Read the school’s 11+ admissions page carefully: The Wellington College 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates).
- Use the school’s registration link for 2028 entry when it is live.
- Keep copies of any confirmation emails and note any invitations to assessment days.
- Check whether the school asks for supporting information as part of registration or at a later admissions stage.
Because independent-school processes can change year to year, treat older dates only as a guide and rely on the current admissions page once the 2028 cycle is fully published.
Who can apply: catchment and admissions
Wellington College is an independent, coeducational school and its 11+ entry route is for children joining Wellington College Prep. The school says 11+ entry is available for girls and boys joining Years 7 and 8 as day pupils or flexi-, weekly- or bi-weekly-boarders.
There is no catchment area in the state-school sense. Families can apply from across the UK and beyond, subject to the school’s own admissions process. The school says it looks favourably on children with Wellington connections, such as siblings of current pupils and children of Old Wellingtonians, provided they meet the minimum entry criteria.
We did not find a published number of 11+ places for 2028 entry on the sources reviewed, and independent schools do not always publish a fixed number in the same way grammar schools do. It is best to read the current admissions page and, if numbers matter to your planning, ask the admissions team directly.
What matters most for parents is that Wellington’s 11+ route is selective but not catchment-based. A child therefore needs two things: a strong enough academic profile for the school’s assessment process, and a good fit for the school’s broader expectations at interview or activities-based assessment if invited later in the process.
- Catchment: none published
- Priority: Wellington connections may be viewed favourably if minimum criteria are met
- Entry point: Year 7 at Wellington College Prep
- Who can apply: girls and boys
- Boarding pattern options stated by the school: day, flexi-, weekly- or bi-weekly-boarding
A month-by-month preparation plan
Because Wellington’s 11+ process for 2028 entry begins in the autumn of Year 6 and the Pre-Test is taken in November, most families do best by building gradually through Year 5 and the summer before Year 6. The aim is not to overload your child, but to make online, timed thinking feel normal.
January to March in Year 5
Keep it light and steady: around 1 to 2 hours a week in total is enough for most children at this stage. Focus on secure arithmetic, reading comprehension, vocabulary building and simple reasoning puzzles. If your child is new to admissions preparation, this is the moment to establish routine rather than speed.
April to June in Year 5
Increase gently to around 2 to 3 hours a week. Introduce short, varied practice across all four subjects. For an adaptive test, broad familiarity matters: children should meet different question styles, not just repeat one worksheet type. Start doing some work on screen where possible, especially multiple-choice or quick-response tasks.
July to August before Year 6
This is the key consolidation period. Aim for 3 hours a week, split across several short sessions. Work on stamina, keyboard-and-screen confidence, and timed sections in small doses. Do not turn summer into a boot camp. One or two full practice sessions across the whole holiday are usually enough; the rest should be targeted revision.
September in Year 6
Move up to around 3 to 4 hours a week. Now begin more regular timed work. Review errors carefully: was it a knowledge gap, a vocabulary issue, misreading, or time pressure? This month should be about sharpening technique rather than racing through large quantities.
October in Year 6
Keep to 3 to 4 hours a week, with one timed mixed session most weeks. Practise switching between Maths, English, VR and NVR. Adaptive tests can feel mentally busy, so children benefit from learning how to reset quickly after a hard question and move on without panic.
November in Year 6
In the run-up to the test, reduce volume slightly and protect confidence. A couple of short refreshers each week is usually enough. Avoid cramming. Sleep, routine and calm matter more than squeezing in another paper. If your child may be invited to a later Wellington assessment, continue reading widely and discussing ideas, teamwork and communication in a natural way.
A simple rule helps many families: start untimed, then go timed, then go selective. In other words, first learn the skill, then add time pressure, then focus only on the weaker areas.
Subject by subject: what to practise
Maths
For Wellington’s ISEB Common Pre-Test route, focus on secure Year 5 arithmetic and problem-solving rather than obscure methods. Children should be comfortable with number operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, measures, shape, data handling and multi-step word problems. Because the test is timed and adaptive, mental fluency is important: not every calculation should require long written working.
Good practice includes short arithmetic bursts, mixed problem sets and regular review of mistakes. Encourage your child to estimate before answering, so they notice when an answer is clearly unreasonable.
English
English preparation should cover both comprehension and language skills. On this kind of test, children often need to read quickly, infer meaning, understand vocabulary in context and spot grammar or usage patterns. Strong general reading habits help enormously, especially with more demanding fiction and non-fiction.
Useful practice includes reading a passage and summarising it aloud, finding evidence for an answer, learning precise vocabulary and revising core grammar. If your child reads accurately but slowly, timed comprehension work in short sections is worthwhile.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning typically rewards pattern recognition in language: codes, letter and number relationships, vocabulary-based logic, sequences, analogies and structured thinking. The exact mix can vary, so broad exposure helps. Many children improve quickly once they learn to identify the rule behind the question rather than relying on guesswork.
Practise in short sets and keep an error log. If a question type keeps going wrong, teach the method explicitly, then revisit it a few days later. Vocabulary growth also supports VR, so regular reading still matters here.
Non-Verbal Reasoning
Non-Verbal Reasoning usually involves visual patterns, transformations, shape relationships, symmetry and spatial logic. Children need to notice what changes from one box or figure to the next: rotation, reflection, shading, number of shapes, position and size are common underlying ideas.
To prepare well, teach your child to scan systematically: shape, position, direction, shading, number. NVR often improves when children slow down just enough to apply a checking routine, rather than jumping at the first pattern they think they see.
Across all four subjects, remember the key Wellington point: this is an adaptive online test. That means your child should practise working accurately at pace, staying calm when a question feels hard, and moving on cleanly rather than getting stuck.
Practice papers and mock exams
Practice papers are most useful when they are used as a tool for diagnosis, not as a score-collecting exercise. For Wellington, families should prioritise four things: familiarity with the subject mix, comfort with timed online work, accuracy under pressure and sensible review afterwards.
A good routine looks like this:
- Start with one short untimed task in each subject to identify strengths and gaps.
- Move to timed sections once methods are secure.
- Review every mistake properly: was it content, timing, vocabulary or concentration?
- Redo only the questions or topics that exposed a real weakness.
- Nearer the test, practise mixed sessions so your child gets used to switching subjects.
For subject practice, use ElevenReady’s Free Wellington College practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers). For an overview of admissions and format, see The Wellington College 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates). To avoid missing updates from the school, you can also sign up for Free email alerts for this school's key dates.
If you use mock exams, choose them carefully. The best mock is one that helps your child experience timed pressure in a calm, realistic way and then receive useful feedback. One or two well-timed mocks are generally far more helpful than a long series. For an adaptive test, a mock should build confidence with pace and decision-making, not encourage your child to dwell too long on one difficult item.
Finally, avoid over-testing. Children improve between papers when they review, rest and revisit weak areas. Sitting paper after paper without analysis rarely helps.
On the day
Keep the day simple. Your child does not need a last-minute teaching session; they need calm, familiarity and enough time to settle. The night before, aim for an ordinary evening, a good sleep and no heavy revision.
- Make sure your child knows the plan for the day and where they are going.
- Have a normal breakfast and leave plenty of time.
- Bring any documents or information the school has asked for.
- Remind your child that some questions will feel easy and some will not; that is normal in an adaptive test.
- Encourage them to keep moving if they feel stuck, rather than letting one question shake their confidence.
If your child is later invited back for Wellington’s further assessment stages, present this positively. The school is not only looking at raw test performance; it is also trying to understand how a child engages, communicates and responds in a school setting.
A useful script for children is short: read carefully, choose calmly, keep going. That is often much more helpful than any technical reminder at the door.
After the exam: results, allocation and appeals
For Wellington’s 11+ route, the immediate next step after the November Pre-Test is not the same for every child. The school says that some candidates may be invited to Wellington College in the Lent term for further assessment. The school’s prep admissions page also says that offers are sent in February.
Because this is an independent-school admissions process, it does not follow the local-authority National Offer Day system used for state secondary transfers. In practice, parents should expect communication directly from the school about whether their child is progressing, whether any further assessment is needed and, later, whether an offer is being made.
We did not find a published Wellington 11+ pass mark, qualifying score or cut-off score in the sources reviewed, and parents should be cautious about unofficial figures online. If you need clarity on how outcomes are communicated, check the school’s current admissions page or contact admissions directly.
If your child is not offered a place, the school should explain the next step available within its own admissions process. Independent schools may operate waiting lists and review procedures, but the exact route can vary by school and year, so follow the wording in the offer or decision letter carefully.
What has changed recently
For 2028 entry, Wellington’s published admissions information states that the 11+ route includes the ISEB Common Pre-Test in November, together with an activities-based assessment and, for some candidates, further assessment sessions at Wellington College. In the sources reviewed, we did not find a separately announced recent change to exam board, catchment, number of places or admissions rules beyond the current process described on the school’s admissions pages.
As always, families should check the live 2028 admissions page once the full cycle is published, because independent-school procedures can be updated between entry rounds.
Frequently asked questions
When does Wellington College 11+ registration open for 2028 entry?
We did not find a published opening date for 2028 registration in the sources reviewed. Check the school’s 11+ admissions page directly, as it includes links to register for 2028 entry.
When is the Wellington College 11+ exam for 2028 entry?
The school says the process begins in the Michaelmas term of Year 6 and that pupils take the ISEB Common Pre-Test in November.
What subjects are tested for Wellington College 11+?
For 2028 entry, the ISEB Common Pre-Test covers Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.
Is there a catchment area for Wellington College 11+?
No. Wellington is an independent school and does not operate a state-school catchment area for 11+ entry.
Does Wellington College give priority to siblings?
The school says it looks favourably on children with Wellington connections, including siblings of current pupils and children of Old Wellingtonians, if they meet the minimum entry criteria.
Are there interviews or extra assessments after the Wellington 11+ test?
Yes, for some children. The school says the process includes an activities-based assessment and that some candidates may be invited to Wellington College in the Lent term for further assessment.
When do Wellington College 11+ offers come out?
The school’s prep admissions page says offers are sent in February.
Sources
- Wellington College – Joining at 11: For 2028 entry the process begins during the Michaelmas term of Year 6; pupils take the ISEB Common Pre-Test during November; some may then be invited to Wellington College in the Lent term; the page includes links to register for entry at 11+ in 2028; 11+ assessment includes an activities-based ass
- ISEB – Common Pre-Tests: The Common Pre-Test is an online test used for school admissions and covers Mathematics, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.
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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.