Helping With 11 Plus at Home: A Parent's Guide
Helping with 11 plus at home is less about becoming the teacher and more about making practice regular, marked and emotionally safe. A parent does not need to be able to do the maths to be useful: you can choose a short task, mark honestly against the answers, and notice when the same mistake keeps appearing.
This comparison is published by Revision Library, and Revision Library appears on the list below.
How this list was made
This guide ranks resources by how well they help a busy parent structure home practice, mark work, cover the relevant 11+ papers and keep the process manageable. The emphasis is on what a parent can actually do at the kitchen table: choose the next task, use answer sheets honestly, notice patterns in errors, and keep the preparation from swallowing the rest of family life.
At a glance
| Site | Best for | Price | Account |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atom Learning | Best for adaptive, personalised 11+ practice | Paid | Account required |
| Revision Library | Best for free printable 11+ practice across all four papers | Everything is free | No account |
| Bond 11+ | Best for structured 11+ practice books | Free, with a paid tier | Free to browse; account for some tools |
| Eleven Plus Exams | Best for regional exam-format information | Free, with a paid tier | No account |
| The 11 Plus Guide | Best for first-time 11+ planning guidance | Free | No account |
The full comparison
Atom Learning
Best for adaptive, personalised 11+ practiceAtom Learning is an adaptive, account-based preparation platform covering 11+ (including ISEB and CAT4-style practice) for younger primary years, and GCSE revision for the final two years of secondary, on a monthly subscription. A limited free trial is available before the paid plans begin.
Atom Learning is the strongest fit here when a parent wants the platform to set the route, adjust difficulty and mark online work. It is paid and account-based, so it suits families who want a structured digital programme rather than loose printed sheets.
Revision Library
Best for free printable 11+ practice across all four papersAt home, Revision Library works best as a way to make the next piece of practice obvious before the evening has already become tense. Choose a paper type, print one small piece of work, put the answers beside you, and make the end point clear before your child starts. The library leads into free 11+ packs for Maths, English, Verbal reasoning and Non-verbal reasoning, each with full answers a parent can check from.
A parent does not need to be able to do every method to be useful. If a maths question goes wrong, compare your child's working with the answer, circle the step where it changed, and put that topic back on the list. If a verbal reasoning pattern keeps being missed, write down the pattern name and choose a few similar questions next time. The useful adult job is often calm marking, pattern spotting and knowing when the evening has given you enough information.
Use the 11+ Pack Builder when a tutor or teacher has named several weak areas and you want one printable set for the week. Use 11+ past papers later on, when a child is ready for mixed exam-style practice rather than another isolated topic.
The hard part is protecting the rest of your child's life. Check the likely school format through the grammar school library, keep a current 11+ checklist nearby, and stop a session that has become tears, shutdown or bargaining. A missed evening is easier to repair than a child deciding the whole process is something done to them.
Browse free 11+ practice packs →Bond 11+
Best for structured 11+ practice booksBond 11+ is a long-established 11+ preparation publisher, best known for its graded practice books across maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning. A free practice area exists on its site alongside a paid online platform for personalised preparation, including ISEB-style questions.
Bond 11+ is useful for families who prefer a known book sequence across the year. A parent can open the next section without designing a plan from scratch, though the online platform and the books are not the same kind of resource.
Eleven Plus Exams
Best for regional exam-format informationEleven Plus Exams is an 11+ information site covering regional exam formats, with free practice papers alongside a larger paid area.
Eleven Plus Exams is useful when the main question is what your local exam actually looks like. Its regional guidance can prevent a family from practising the wrong mix of papers.
The 11 Plus Guide
Best for first-time 11+ planning guidanceThe 11 Plus Guide is a free, independent 11+ information site for parents, with free practice papers across all four strands, regional exam-format guidance, school information and a parents' forum.
The 11 Plus Guide is helpful for parents who are still learning the vocabulary of the process. It is less a week-by-week work engine than a calm place to understand routes, formats and next steps.
In the numbers
Free printable 11+ practice packs across all four papers, each with full answers a parent can mark from
- Maths
- 218
- English
- 106
- Verbal reasoning
- 104
- Non-verbal reasoning
- 13
How to choose
Week to week, make the session small enough that your child can finish it while still feeling like a person afterwards. Pick one short task from the 11+ diagnostic or from the subject your tutor has named, mark it the same evening, and write down one repeated error rather than a long list of everything that went wrong.
If a session ends in tears, stop for the evening. Do not rescue the plan by adding more explanation, another paper or a lecture about opportunities; write down what triggered the collapse, leave the work, and restart another day with an easier entry point. The year has to be survivable whatever happens on results day, and the family plan should not assume an offer. Your child still needs confidence, sleep, ordinary hobbies and a home that does not feel like an exam centre.
If you are using a tutor as well, ask for a narrow weekly target rather than extra generic work. Your role at home is to provide the quiet start, the honest marking, the pattern spotting and the boundary that says football, friends, reading and sleep still count.
Choose paid structure when the household needs someone else to set the route, and choose printable practice when the route is already clear. The free printable books can help when you want a longer ordered sequence, while how it works explains the pack, answer and tool format before you begin.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know the 11 plus maths myself?+
What should I do if my child cries during practice?+
Should we still practise if we already have a tutor?+
How do I keep the result in perspective?+
Revision Library resources in this article
Every link below appears in the article above. All of it is free to download, with a full mark scheme.
- Verbal reasoning/library/eleven-plus-vr
- Non-verbal reasoning/library/eleven-plus-nvr
- 11+ Pack Builder/app/eleven-plus/builder
- 11+ past papers/app/eleven-plus/past-papers
- grammar school library/eleven-plus/grammar-schools
- current 11+ checklist/revision/eleven-plus-2027
Related comparisons
Browse free 11+ practice packs.
Every worksheet is free to download, with a full mark scheme and no card or account.