11+ mock exams: how many your child really needs, when to sit them, and how to use the results

I'm Anmol, and I teach Maths and Non-Verbal Reasoning one-to-one online to children preparing for the 11+. Mock exams are one of the things parents ask me about most, often with a slightly anxious edge — how many should we book, when do we start, and what do we do with the score when it comes back? A good mock is one of the most useful tools you have, and a badly used one just frightens everybody for no reason. So here's how I actually use them.

Why mocks matter

A mock exam does something ordinary practice at the kitchen table can't. It puts your child in a room, against the clock, with an unfamiliar paper and no one to nudge them along. That combination — timing, unfamiliarity, and a little bit of pressure — is exactly what the real day feels like, and it's what a lot of otherwise well-prepared children haven't rehearsed.

Here's what a good mock actually reveals:

• Timing under pressure — whether your child can pace a full paper, or whether they spend nine minutes on one stubborn question and never reach the last page.
• Stamina — sitting still and concentrating for the length of a real exam is a skill in itself, and one children rarely practise at home.
• Nerves — some children who are excellent in a relaxed lesson go to pieces the first time it "counts". Far better to discover that in June than in September.
• The real gaps — a mock shows you which topics wobble when your child can't ask for help.

Grammar-school 11+ exams are usually sat right at the start of Year 6, most commonly in early September, so mocks are really a rehearsal for a day that arrives sooner than most families expect. If you'd like the full year mapped out, I've written a month-by-month 11+ timeline that puts mocks in context.

How many is enough — quality over quantity

This is where I gently talk parents down. There's a belief floating around that more mocks equals more marks, and it simply isn't true. I've seen children sit a mock every weekend from Easter onwards and, by August, they were exhausted and no better at the actual questions.

For most children, three to six full mocks across Year 5 and early Year 6 is plenty. The reason is simple: a mock is a measuring instrument, not the training itself. You don't get fitter by weighing yourself every day. The value is in what happens between the mocks — the targeted practice on the weak spots the last one exposed.

So I'd rather a family did four mocks and reviewed each one properly than twelve skimmed over and forgotten. If your child is already scoring comfortably, a few is genuinely enough. If they're struggling, the answer still isn't more mocks — it's more teaching, then a mock to check it landed.

When to sit them

My rough rhythm looks like this:

• Summer of Year 5 — one gentle, low-stakes mock, or even just timed sections. The goal here isn't the score; it's simply to let your child feel what a timed paper is like, with no pressure attached.
• Autumn and spring of Year 5 — the odd mock to check progress, but this is mainly a teaching phase. Content first, exam conditions second.
• Summer holidays before Year 6 — this is the sweet spot. A mock every few weeks lets you sharpen timing and nerves while there's still time to fix what shows up.
• Late August / early September — one final mock as a dress rehearsal, close to the real thing, then stop. Cramming a mock in the last week rarely helps and often just rattles a child on the run-up.

Whether your area uses GL Assessment papers or a bespoke local provider, the principle is the same — spread mocks out so each one has room to teach you something. For what those formats actually contain, my honest 11+ exam guide for parents breaks it down.

Mock conditions at home

You don't need to pay for a formal sitting to get most of the benefit. A well-run mock at the kitchen table does the job for a lot of families, as long as you keep it honest:

• Pick a quiet room, clear the table, and put phones out of sight.
• Set a timer for the real length of the paper and don't pause it — not for a drink, not for a tricky question, not for anything.
• Read out the instructions once, then step back. No hints, no "are you sure?", no hovering.
• Use a paper your child hasn't seen before, so it genuinely tests recall rather than memory.
• Mark it afterwards, together and calmly — the marking is the most valuable part, so don't skip it.

A formal mock centre has its place, mainly for a child who needs to practise sitting among strangers in a hall. But for most, an honest home mock plus a proper review is where the learning is.

How to review results

This is the part families most often get wrong, so I'll be blunt: the number at the top of the page is the least useful thing on it. When a mock comes back, I go through it looking for the why behind each lost mark, because the fix is completely different depending on the answer:

• Ran out of time? That's a pacing problem, not a knowledge one. The fix is a strategy for moving on and coming back, not more content.
• Careless slips? Misread the question, dropped a minus sign, rushed the easy ones. Usually a checking habit fixes these, and they're the cheapest marks to win back.
• Genuinely didn't know it? That's a teaching gap, and it's the most useful thing a mock can find. Note the topic and go and teach it properly.
• Same type of question, wrong every time? That's a pattern worth its weight in gold — one focused session can lift a whole cluster of marks.

A score tells you where your child is today. The breakdown of mistakes tells you what to do next week — and that's the whole point. I keep a running list of these for each child I teach, so we're always working on the two or three things that will move the needle most.

Mistakes parents make

None of these come from anywhere but love and worry, so please read them in that spirit:

• Chasing the number. Reacting to the raw score — elation or panic — instead of the mistakes underneath it. An early low mock is information, not a verdict.
• Too many, too soon. Mock after mock with no teaching in between just measures the same gaps over and over.
• Reusing seen papers. If a child has done the paper before, a high score means nothing except that their memory works.
• Comparing children. Every provider marks differently, and a friend's score on a different paper tells you nothing about yours.
• Skipping the review. Sitting the mock and never going through it is the biggest waste — you've paid the price and thrown away the reward.
• Leaving nerves out of it. If your child crumbles under timing, that's very fixable with gentle, repeated exposure.

Common questions

How many 11+ mock exams should my child do?

For most children, three to six full mocks across Year 5 and early Year 6 is about right. The exact number matters less than what you do between them — a few well-reviewed mocks beat a dozen rushed ones every time.

When should we start doing mocks?

A gentle first mock in the summer of Year 5 is plenty to start with. The main run happens over the summer holidays before Year 6, with one last dress rehearsal shortly before the exam, which for grammar schools is usually early September.

Are mocks at home as good as a mock centre?

For most families, yes — provided you keep them honest with strict timing, an unseen paper, and a proper review afterwards. A centre mainly helps a child who needs to practise concentrating in a hall full of strangers.

My child scored badly on a mock. Should I worry?

Not if there's still time on the clock. An early low score is exactly what a mock is for — it hands you a to-do list. Look at why the marks were lost, fix the biggest cause first, and re-check with the next one.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes on your child's mocks, that's a lot of what I do. Book a free first lesson and we can look at where the marks are going and build a sensible mock plan around your child's timeline.