How many children pass the 11 Plus? Understanding pass rates

There is no single percentage on this page that describes every child’s chance of passing the 11 Plus. Different tests, qualification rules and applicant populations make a headline national rate a poor guide to an individual school. First decide whether “pass” means meeting the academic standard or receiving a place.

Qualification rate is different from offer rate

A qualification rate counts children who meet an academic requirement within a defined tested group. An offer rate counts offers within a specified applicant group. The denominators may differ: not everyone who sits a test applies to the school, and not every qualified child can be offered a place.

These are invented round numbers solely to explain the arithmetic, not statistics for any school. The two percentages cannot be compared as if they measure the same thing.

Why local figures differ

• Which children register and actually sit the assessment.
• Whether figures include out-of-area candidates.
• The local qualification rules and any review outcomes.
• How many eligible families apply to each school.
• The number of places and the school’s priority criteria.
• Whether data refer to first offers, waiting-list offers or final admissions.

Where to find reliable evidence

Start with official council or consortium results and the school’s admissions information. For example, Kent publishes annual score reports. Check the report’s year, definitions and coverage before calculating a percentage. Do not count a file you have not read as evidence for a claimed national pass rate.

How to check a statistic

• Find the original publication, not only a tutor’s quotation of it.
• Identify exactly who is counted in the numerator and denominator.
• Confirm the test year and school-entry year.
• Check whether multiple tests could count the same child more than once.
• Ask whether the figure describes qualification, offers or children who enrolled.
• Keep the source URL beside the number.

Do tutor success rates predict my child’s chances?

Not on their own. Ask how a provider defines success, which pupils are included, whether all pupils are counted and which admissions cycles the figure covers. A rate for a selected group of pupils is not a controlled estimate of what tuition would do for a different child. We do not publish a promised improvement or pass probability here.

Can last year’s rate guide preparation for 2027?

It can provide local context when accurately defined, but it cannot tell you the future paper difficulty, the next applicant group or your child’s outcome. Prioritise relevant subject skills and current official familiarisation. Keep realistic school options open rather than planning around an unsupported national percentage.

Questions to ask instead

What are the academic requirements? Which oversubscription category would apply? Does the school publish historic allocation information for that category? Which skills does my child need to improve? These questions lead to practical decisions without pretending that a general statistic is a personal forecast.

Related guidance

Read pass marks explained for score thresholds and grammar-school place requirements for allocation. Reviewed 7 October 2026. Unsupported national candidate totals and pass-rate estimates have been removed.