Guide to grammar schools and the Secondary Transfer Test

The booklet contains information about what the test is like. There is also advice about taking on the test and sample questions and answers.

If your child goes to an out of county school, download the familiarisation booklet (PDF, 1.4 MB).

All test centres provide appropriate exam conditions. The aim is to create a fair and equitable environment where children can complete the Transfer Test without external distractions. This includes providing a quiet and organised test room. Invigilators will make staff and pupils in rooms close to the test room aware that a test is in progress, however the normal sounds of a working school are likely to be heard in the background.

Invigilators will ensure the test room is laid out appropriately. They will also ensure test materials are kept secure before and after the test, and that the test is completed in an organised and timely manner.

Children sitting the test are provided with clear instructions and materials to do the test. The audio instructions remind them that they should not make any noises while in the test room, and that they should put up their hand if they need anything. Children are given a short break between the two test papers.

Your child should normally take the practice test before they take the Secondary Transfer Test.

The practice test looks the same as the Secondary Transfer Test and has the same instructions. Your child will sit the two multiple-choice Practice Test papers in test conditions. These are both timed like the Secondary Transfer Test. An audio soundtrack gives the instructions for the test, including the timings.

The practice test will help your child to become familiar with the different sorts of questions and the style of the test. Your child will also get used to using a separate answer sheet. Your child will experience this under test conditions. The Practice Test papers are shorter than the Secondary Transfer Test:

• they take about 40 minutes each
• they are not marked or sent home

The purpose of the Practice Test is not to see how well your child has done. It is to give your child a good opportunity to prepare for the Secondary Transfer Test.

If your child goes to a state funded Buckinghamshire primary or Partner school, they will normally be expected to take the Practice Test before attempting the Secondary Transfer Test except where they have chosen to attend another area’s test session and this clashes with the practice test session. An alternative practice test date will not be offered where the child has chosen to sit a test in another area.

If your child goes to any other school, we will invite them to take the practice test, usually at one of the grammar schools, in September.

We recommended your child takes the practice test before the Secondary Transfer Test but it is not compulsory.

There are several things that parents can do to help their children:

• make sure your child has experience of working quietly on their own. Make sure there are no distractions or interruptions
• make sure your child does any homework that is set
• help your child to read with understanding
• you can ask them what certain words mean and what is happening in the passage or book that they are reading
• you can encourage your child to solve problems or to look up things for themselves.
• your child can work through the Familiarisation booklet

You can also find additional free familiarisation materials from the GL Assessment website.

There are two Secondary Transfer Test papers.

All the questions are multiple-choice. One paper tests verbal skills including comprehension, technical English and verbal reasoning. The other tests mathematics and non-verbal skills including spatial reasoning.

Each paper is about 45 minutes long (60 minutes including the introduction and examples). An audio soundtrack gives the instructions for the test.