11+ Standardised Scores Explained: What Your Child's Score Really Means

Your child answered 48 questions out of 60 correctly, yet their result says 112. Or their Essex result reads 318. Where do these numbers come from, and is that good?

An 11 plus standardised score is not a percentage, and it is not a mark out of anything. It tells you how your child performed compared with everyone else who sat the same test, often after an adjustment for age. Once you understand that, the numbers become much easier to read. This guide explains the 11+ score in plain terms: how it is calculated, how areas use it and what counts as a good result.

11+ raw score vs standardised score

The raw score is simply the number of marks your child earned. It is useful for practice, but it cannot be compared fairly across different papers or children of different ages.

The standardised score converts that raw mark onto a common scale. CSSE, for example, standardises each paper so that:

• 100 is the average of the children who sat that test, and

• scores spread out above and below it, with a standard deviation of 15, so that most children land within about 15 points either side.

A score of 115 therefore means "clearly above the average of this group", whatever the raw mark was. Because the comparison is with other 11+ candidates, who are often a strong group, a score just above 100 already means your child did better than about half of a well-prepared cohort.

What is age standardisation in the 11+?

A child born in early September can be almost a full year older than a classmate born in late August. At ten years old, that year makes a real difference.

Age standardisation corrects for it. The test provider looks at how candidates of different ages performed and, if younger children score lower on average, adds a small adjustment based on date of birth. The result is that each child is effectively compared with children of the same age.

The Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE) publishes the detail each year. Its standardisation report for 2027 entry explains that raw English and maths marks are standardised to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, then checked for age bias. In 2026 that check was significant for both subjects, so an age adjustment was applied to younger candidates.

A worked example

The figures below are made up to show the idea; they are not from a real test.

Both children earned the same marks, but the younger child receives a slightly higher final score, because the same performance is more impressive at a younger age.

How different areas use standardised scores

Each area builds its own rules on top of the standardised scores, so the same number can mean different things.

Redbridge (Ilford County High and Woodford County High)

• Children receive a total standardised score.

• The minimum threshold to be ranked is 104.

• Children above the threshold are ranked by score within priority groups, such as pupil premium and catchment area.

• Redbridge's published list of total scores for September 2026 entry ranges from 69 up to just under 140.

Essex (CSSE schools)

• Children sit an English paper and a maths paper. Each is standardised, worth 50%, and combined into one total score on a larger scale.

• According to CSSE's standardisation report, a candidate with average marks on both papers ends up with a total of around 300.

• No offers are made below 303. Each school fills its places from the highest scores downwards, so the lowest score that actually receives an offer at a school can be well above 303.

• CSSE publishes the lowest score that secured a place at each school in its historical guidance sheets, split by inside and outside each school's priority area.

What is a good 11 plus score?

It depends entirely on the school. A good score is one that is high enough for the school you want, in your priority group, in that year. There is no universal figure, and anyone who quotes one without naming a school and a year is guessing.

A few practical ways to judge a result:

• Compare with the qualifying score. Below it, your child cannot be considered at that school.

• Compare with past offer scores. Where schools or councils publish them, they give a rough guide. Remember they move every year.

• Look at your priority group. A child inside a catchment or priority area may need a lower score than a child outside it.

Why practice scores do not match the real thing

Parents sometimes see high percentages on practice papers and then a lower-than-expected standardised score on the real test. There are three common reasons:

• Practice papers are marked as raw scores or percentages, not compared with a real cohort.

• The real cohort is a well-prepared group, so a high raw mark may only be around average among them.

• Test-day nerves and unfamiliar questions cost marks.

When you use practice papers, focus on trends and on which question types are costing marks, rather than trying to predict a final number. An 11 plus standardised score is only produced once the whole cohort has sat the real test, so no practice paper can tell you what it will be.

No practice paper can give you a real standardised score, but a teacher can tell you which areas are holding your child back. That is the point of Merit Tutors' free assessment, which includes 11+ options in maths with non-verbal reasoning and English with verbal reasoning. Its small-group 11+ classes run from Year 3 to Year 5.

Frequently asked questions

Is a standardised score of 100 a pass?

Not usually. 100 is the average of the children who sat the test, and grammar schools generally need above-average scores. Redbridge's minimum is 104 just to be ranked.

Can I convert a practice paper score into a standardised score?

Not reliably. Some practice papers include conversion tables, but they are based on a different group of children from the real cohort, so treat them as rough estimates.