How much effort the 10+, 11+ and independent entry routes ask of families

The short answer

Published guidance suggests families who prepare for selective entry start in Year 4 or Year 5 and build from about one to three hours a week up to several hours a week over the summer before the exam. A family that attempts the 10+, the grammar 11+ and independent school exams can be preparing across roughly two school years. All of the guidance on hours comes from tutoring companies. None of it cites research on how many hours work best, and the sources disagree with each other.

What tutoring companies advise on weekly hours

Two published guides give year-by-year figures. They do not agree.

Point in time	Afterschool Clubs (2025)	Leading Tuition (2026a)
Year 4	0 to 1 hour of formal tutoring a week	2 to 3 hours a week, if beginning early
Year 5, autumn to spring	1 to 1.5 hours a week	3 to 5 structured hours a week
Year 5, summer term	1.5 to 2 hours a week	3 to 5 structured hours a week
Summer before the exam	About 2 hours a week	6 to 10 hours a week for competitive schools

The two guides may not count hours the same way, since one refers to formal tutoring and the other to structured hours. Leading Tuition (2026a) presents its figures as its own professional opinion, and Afterschool Clubs (2025) cites no external data.

The guides also describe when families begin. Afterschool Clubs (2025) names three patterns: early starters in Year 3 or 4, standard starters in Year 4 or 5 (the most common), and late starters in mid to late Year 5 who need two or more hours a week. Atom Learning (2026a) says most families use weekly tutoring for about twelve months, from Year 5 to the exam in September of Year 6. A worked budget from Leading Tuition (2026b) assumes a two-year window from Year 4 to Year 6, with 60 to 70 hours of tutoring in total and seven to eleven mock exam sittings.

Does more preparation help?

We found no published study that relates hours of preparation to 11+ results. The closest evidence is general. The Education Endowment Foundation (2021) rates one-to-one tuition as adding about five months of progress on average, based on 123 studies and moderate-strength evidence. It finds that short, regular sessions of about 30 minutes, three to five times a week, over a set period of up to ten weeks work best. That evidence covers tuition in general, not entrance exams.

Leading Tuition (2026a) makes the same point, that daily sessions of 20 to 30 minutes work better than one long weekly session, and says the quality of hours matters more than the quantity. It refers to the science of learning in general terms and cites no studies.

Where the preparation overlaps

Placing the exam windows from our timeline article beside these start points shows where the work stacks up for a family that tries every route. The pattern below is an inference from the published ranges, not a figure from one source.

1. Year 4 to early Year 5: early and standard starters begin building foundations (Afterschool Clubs, 2025).
2. Year 5, up to November or January: preparation for the 10+ for families that use it, with exams between November and January (Leading Tuition, 2026c).
3. Spring and summer of Year 5: grammar 11+ practice and registration. Most local authorities close registration in late June or early July (Cognito, 2026a).
4. Year 6, September to early October: grammar tests (Cognito, 2026a).
5. Year 6, September to January: independent exams and interviews, and for many schools the ISEB Common Pre-Test between September and December (Cognito, 2026b; 11 Plus London, 2026).

For a child who starts at the standard point, preparation for the 10+ and the 11+ would run into each other, and preparation for independent exams would begin while the grammar test is fresh or its result is still awaited.

Different tests ask for different things

Grammar tests are set locally and their format varies by area (Cognito, 2026a). The ISEB Common Pre-Test is an online adaptive multiple-choice test covering English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning in about two hours and ten minutes (Cognito, 2026b). The ISEB 11+ Common Entrance uses written papers in English reading, English writing, maths and science (ISEB, 2026). Some independent schools add interviews (11 Plus London, 2026).

A child preparing for several routes may therefore need to cover more than one format. Checking each school\'s content and style before deciding how to spend practice time avoids work that does not carry over.

What the time displaces

We found no published study that measures how much sport, music, language study, religious education or free play gives way to entrance exam preparation. The nearest evidence is small and qualitative. A study in three Kent primary schools found psychological and financial burdens on the whole family (Hajar, 2019). As summarised by Comprehensive Future (n.d.), a campaign group that opposes academic selection, children in that study said families gave up the summer holiday for test preparation. The same study reported benefits, including improved confidence, involvement and social interactive skills (Hajar, 2019).

Studies of this size cannot show how common these patterns are. They show that the effort reaches beyond the child and beyond the exam timetable.

For education professionals

Teachers in the Kent study had limited awareness of how many pupils were being tutored (Hajar, 2019). A short conversation with Year 5 and Year 6 families about which routes they are preparing for, and when each exam falls, helps staff see the workload a pupil carries beside schoolwork.

Questions to ask before committing hours

1. Which routes is the child applying to, and which exams does each one require?
2. What format does each test use, and what does it cover?
3. What is the child\'s current level in the tested skills?
4. What does the weekly timetable look like once school, homework and existing activities are counted?
5. When is the next registration deadline?

Check every figure

The hours and timings in this article come from commercial guides and describe England. They are guidance, not research findings, and schools set their own requirements. Confirm each school\'s expectations and dates directly.

Sources

11 Plus London (2026) What are the 11 Plus exams in London? A parent\'s guide for 2026. Available at: https://11pluslondon.co.uk/what-are-the-11-plus-exams-in-london-a-parents-guide-for-2026/ (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Afterschool Clubs (2025) 11+ tutoring in the UK: when to start, what it costs and how many hours your child actually needs. Published 10 December 2025. Available at: https://afterschoolclubs.co.uk/blogs/11-tutoring-in-the-uk-when-to-start-what-it-costs-and-how-many-hours-your-child-actually-needs (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Atom Learning (2026a) How much does 11+ tutoring cost in 2026? The honest breakdown. Published 27 August 2026. Available at: https://www.atomlearning.com/blog/11-plus-tutoring-cost (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Cognito (2026a) What is the 11+? A parent\'s guide to subjects, format and 2026 dates. Available at: https://cognito.org/blog/what-is-the-11-plus (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Cognito (2026b) ISEB Common Pre-Test explained: format, scoring and what schools see. Published 15 May 2026. Available at: https://cognito.org/blog/iseb-common-pre-test-guide (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Comprehensive Future (n.d.) Children\'s attitudes to 11 plus tuition. Available at: https://comprehensivefuture.org.uk/childrens-attitudes-11-plus-tuition/ (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Education Endowment Foundation (2021) One to one tuition. Teaching and Learning Toolkit, last updated July 2021. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/one-to-one-tuition (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Hajar, A. (2019) \'The association between private tutoring and access to grammar schools: voices of Year 6 pupils and teachers in south-east England\', British Educational Research Journal. doi: 10.1002/berj.3587. Available at: https://research.nu.edu.kz/en/publications/the-association-between-private-tutoring-and-access-to-grammar-sc/ (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Independent Schools Examinations Board (2026) CE 11+ examination timetable. Available at: https://www.iseb.co.uk/ce-case-exam-dates/ce-11-exam-timetable/ (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Leading Tuition (2026a) How many hours a week should you study for the 11+? Published May 2026. Available at: https://www.leadingtuition.co.uk/blog/how-many-hours-a-week-should-you-study-for-11-plus (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Leading Tuition (2026b) What 11+ preparation actually costs end to end: a worked two-year budget. Published July 2026. Available at: https://www.leadingtuition.co.uk/blog/what-11-preparation-actually-costs-end-to-end (Accessed: 6 October 2026).

Leading Tuition (2026c) The 10+ entrance exam: Year 6 entry explained for 2027. Published August 2026. Available at: https://www.leadingtuition.co.uk/blog/10-entrance-exams-year-5-entry (Accessed: 6 October 2026).