13+ Common Entrance: a straight-talking guide for parents

I'm Anmol. I tutor Maths and reasoning one-to-one online, mostly for the 11+, and every so often I take on a 13+ Common Entrance pupil alongside that work. Parents often come to me a little confused about how this exam fits together, especially when their child already holds an offer from a school. So here's the honest version, without the sales gloss.

What is the 13+ Common Entrance exam?

Common Entrance at 13+ is a long-standing route into many independent senior schools. Children sit it in Year 8 and, if all goes well, move up to Year 9 the following September.

The papers are written and set centrally by the Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB). What surprises a lot of parents is that ISEB doesn't mark them. The scripts go to the senior school the child is heading to, and that school marks them against its own standard. Two children could sit the identical paper and be judged very differently, depending on where they've applied.

There are three sittings each year: one in November, one in January, and the big one in May or June. For standard admissions, the summer sitting is by far the most common. The autumn and spring windows tend to be for scholarship candidates, occasional entry, or children on a slightly different timeline.

Why the 13+ matters

Here's the part that trips people up. In most cases, a child has already been offered a place a year or two earlier, usually through a pre-test taken in Year 6 or Year 7. That offer is conditional. Common Entrance is what confirms it.

So the pre-test gets your child the offer; Common Entrance turns it into a firm place. That changes how you should think about the exam. It isn't a lottery where everyone's fighting for a handful of seats. For most families it's a threshold to clear, and the school has usually told you, in broad terms, what it expects. That should take some of the heat out of it — though I'd never tell a child to coast. A confirmed place can, in theory, be lost.

A smaller group of children sit Common Entrance as a genuine competitive entry point, without a prior offer. For them the stakes feel more familiar: do well, get in.

Who the 13+ is for

The 13+ is mainly for children moving from a prep school into an independent senior school at 13, which is the traditional entry point for a good number of the older public schools.

If your child is at a state primary or a prep that ends at 11, you've probably already gone down the 11+ road instead, and Common Entrance may never come up. It's worth asking your target senior schools directly which route they use, because some now take most of their intake at 11 and run Common Entrance only for a specific cohort. Others still lean on it heavily at 13. The exam your child sits should be driven by the schools you're actually applying to, not by a general rule.

What subjects does the 13+ cover?

Every child sits three core subjects: English, Maths and Science.

• Maths is examined across more than one paper, sat at different levels depending on ability. One paper allows a calculator and one does not, and there's a separate mental arithmetic test that every candidate takes. That non-calculator paper is where I see the most marks quietly slip away, because it rewards clean written method and quick number sense rather than button-pressing.
• English splits between reading comprehension and a piece of writing, so your child needs both a careful reading eye and something to say on the page.
• Science covers biology, chemistry and physics, usually across separate sections or papers.

Beyond the core three, many schools also examine humanities and languages: history, geography, religious studies, French, and sometimes Latin or Greek. The exact combination depends entirely on the senior school, so check its requirements early. You don't want to discover a Latin paper in the spring of Year 8.

How I help with the 13+

My main work is 11+ Maths and Non-Verbal Reasoning, and that's where most of my week goes. But the maths thinking that underpins the 11+ carries straight into Common Entrance, so I do take the occasional 13+ pupil, and I focus on what I'm genuinely good at: the maths, and the reasoning habits that hold a young mathematician steady under exam pressure.

In practice that means tightening up written method for the non-calculator paper, drilling mental arithmetic until it's quick and calm, and working through the wordier problem-solving questions where a child knows the maths but loses the plot halfway through. I keep lessons one-to-one and online, so the whole hour is aimed at your child.

If English, Science or a language is where the worry lies, I'll say so and point you towards someone better placed than me. I'd rather be honest about my patch than stretch myself thin. The first lesson is free — a proper session, not a sales pitch — so we can both see whether we click before you commit to anything.

Common questions

Is the 13+ harder than the 11+?

It's pitched at older children, so the content goes further, but the pressure often feels lower because most candidates already hold a conditional offer. The 11+ is usually the more competitive squeeze.

When should we start preparing?

For the summer sitting in Year 8, steady work through Year 7 and into Year 8 is plenty for most children. There's rarely any need to start years out. Consistency beats cramming.

Can my child fail Common Entrance if they already have an offer?

In principle, yes, since the offer is conditional. In practice, schools set an expectation they believe the child can reach, and few children who've prepared sensibly fall short. It's a threshold, not a trap.

Does every senior school use Common Entrance?

No. Some take most pupils at 11, some at 13, and the subject mix varies. Always confirm with your specific schools rather than assuming — the Independent Schools Council has a useful overview.