No. None of the nineteen West Midlands grammar schools release past papers, and they never have. Every practice paper you can buy is a reconstruction, however established the name on the cover.
That is not a criticism of the publishers. It is the position everyone is in, and knowing it changes how you choose material.
Why there are none
The test is set for the partnership by GL Assessment and the papers are not published afterwards. the partnership entrance test page offers familiarisation questions showing the style of question and, importantly, how answers must be recorded, but that is a demonstration rather than a paper.
The schools also state that the examination papers are working documents which remain confidential to the school. So there is no archive anywhere, official or otherwise.
What is actually on the market
The big revision publishers all produce 11+ material, and a lot of it is good. What none of them have is the real thing, so each is working from the published format, the familiarisation questions, and what parents report afterwards.
That means the sensible question is not "is this the real paper" but "does this match the format":
| Does it have... | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The right question types | Verbal, non-verbal and spatial, English, maths |
| Individually timed sections | The real test will not let a child go back |
| Multiple choice throughout | Every question in the real test is |
| A separate answer sheet | It is the only thing marked on the day |
| The right scale | Median 200, not a national mean of 100 |
Material built on the national model will mislead you on scoring even where the questions are fine. See our guide to the standardised score.
What a printed paper cannot do
A PDF or a printed book gives you questions and an answer key. That is genuinely useful, and it leaves three things undone.
- Timing discipline. The real pressure comes from individually timed sections a child cannot revisit. A paper on the kitchen table rarely reproduces that.
- Honest marking. Marking at home is slow, and parents mark generously without meaning to.
- Diagnosis. A total out of fifty tells you how it went. It does not tell you which topics to work on next week.
That third one is the real gap. A score is a verdict. What a family needs in Year 5 is a list.
What we built instead
Our free mock test runs in the browser to the format above: the right question types, sections timed individually, multiple choice.
It marks instantly, gives the score and the percentage, and breaks the result down by topic so you can see which areas are weakest rather than just how many were wrong. That is the information a parent can actually act on in the week that follows.
It is free, and it is a reasonable way to find the gaps before you spend anything on books or tutoring.
See where your child stands today
Timed sections in the GL Assessment format, marked instantly, with a topic-by-topic breakdown. No sign-up to start.
Everyone is guessing at the format. The question is what else you get
There are many, many resources available, but in terms of past papers the West Midlands 11+ has a genuinely secretive nature. The famous brands are always trying to mimic the level of competency and the exact format of the test. Because the real style of examination is unique and unavailable, everyone is working from an educated guess about the format. That is just the reality of it, and no publisher is exempt.
What we decided to do differently was not to produce another guess at the questions, but to change what a parent gets back. Most of what is out there is a PDF with limited answers and explanations. A child does the paper, somebody marks it, and you have a number.
Ours runs as a live mock at home under timed conditions, marks instantly, and tells you the score and the weaknesses and strengths in the specific topics they need to work on. That is the valuable information, because it lets a parent make quick decisions about what to improve next rather than just knowing how it went.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
Are there past papers for the West Midlands 11+?
No. None of the 19 partnership schools release past papers, and the schools state that examination papers are working documents which remain confidential. Every practice paper on the market is a reconstruction based on the published format rather than the real thing.
What practice material should I use for the West Midlands 11+?
Material that matches the format: the right question types across verbal, non-verbal and spatial reasoning, English and maths; individually timed sections a child cannot revisit; multiple choice throughout; a separate answer sheet; and the local scale of a median of 200 rather than a national mean of 100.
Are CGP and Bond papers the real 11+ test?
No, and no publisher's are. They are reconstructions built from the published format and the official familiarisation questions, which is the position every publisher is in. Judge them on how closely they match the format rather than on any claim to authenticity.
What can an official familiarisation guide tell me?
It shows the style of question that appears and, more usefully, exactly how answers must be recorded on the separate answer sheet. It is a demonstration rather than a paper, but the answer sheet format alone is worth practising.
What is the point of a mock if no real papers exist?
Timing and diagnosis. A printed paper gives questions and an answer key, but the pressure in the real test comes from individually timed sections that cannot be revisited, and what a family needs afterwards is a list of weak topics rather than a total out of fifty.