The CEM 11 plus

Who uses it

No grammar school areas since 2023. Cambridge still offers an online test that some independent schools use

Subjects

Mixed: English and vocabulary, numerical reasoning and non-verbal reasoning

Format

Short sections, each with its own time limit; you cannot go back to an earlier section

What changed

Most former CEM areas now use GL Assessment

What was CEM?

CEM, the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring, was a research centre that became part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Through the 2010s it wrote the 11+ for many grammar schools and areas. Its tests were designed to be hard to coach for: the format changed from year to year, and the subjects were mixed together rather than set as separate papers.

In 2023 Cambridge stopped supplying paper 11+ tests to grammar schools. The schools and areas that used them have since moved to other providers, mostly GL Assessment. If an older guide or a forum says your school uses CEM, check the school's current admissions page.

Where CEM-style tests are still used

Cambridge still offers an online assessment that some independent schools use for entry at 11+ and later. Because it is on screen, the computer controls the timing: each section has its own time limit, and when the time is up the test moves on.

Many 11+ practice books and online resources are still labelled “CEM”. They remain useful practice for the skills that CEM tested, especially vocabulary and reading speed, even where the real test is now set by someone else.

What CEM-style questions look like

• Cloze passages: a passage with missing words or letters to fill in.
• Shuffled sentences: rearrange the words of a sentence and spot the one word that does not belong.
• Synonyms and antonyms: choose the word closest to, or most opposite in, meaning.
• Numerical reasoning: arithmetic and multi-step word problems, sometimes with a typed or written answer rather than options.
• Data and problems: reading tables and charts to answer questions.
• Non-verbal reasoning: series, grids, odd one out and other shape puzzles.

The sections are short and the time is tight, so pace matters as much as knowledge.

How to prepare for a CEM-style test

• Build vocabulary through wide reading. Vocabulary questions feature in several sections at once.
• Practise short timed sections rather than long papers, so your child gets used to switching between subjects.
• Learn to move on from a hard question: a section's time runs out whether or not every question is answered.
• If the school uses an online test, practise on a screen as well as on paper.

Other 11+ tests

• GL AssessmentMost of EnglandEnglish, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning on paper.
• Quest AssessmentsGrowing; Kent from 2028Paper multiple-choice tests; Kent, Slough and Dorset switch to it for 2028 entry.
• FSCEAbout ten schoolsMaths, English and, at some schools, the wider curriculum and creative writing.
• CSSEEssexWritten maths and English papers, including a writing task.
• SEAGNorthern IrelandThe transfer test: two papers of English and maths in November.
• ISEB Pre-TestIndependent schoolsAn adaptive on-screen test, sat once a year.
• CEMSome independent schoolsShort timed sections. No longer used by grammar schools.

Read the full 11+ guide for parents