Paper 1
About 60 minutes
Buckinghamshire does not publish a section-by-section breakdown of which paper carries which strand. Between them the two papers cover verbal, non-verbal and mathematical skills.
The Buckinghamshire 11+ (Secondary Transfer Test) explained
Two papers, three weighted strands, and one qualifying number.
Buckinghamshire calls its 11+ the Secondary Transfer Test. It measures verbal, non-verbal and mathematical skills across two papers of about an hour each, with a break between them.
There is a shorter practice test as well, usually sat a couple of days before the real thing, so children know what to expect on the day.
Children at a Buckinghamshire state primary or Partner school sit it in school during the school day. Everyone else is invited to a grammar school or another central venue.
Starting Year 5? The 2027 test
- Buckinghamshire has already published its timeline for September 2028 entry: children born between 1 September 2016 and 31 August 2017, who are in Year 5 now.
- Registration: May to June 2027. Children at a state-funded Buckinghamshire primary school are entered automatically; everyone else, including children at school in Milton Keynes, must register.
- The Practice Test and the Transfer Test: early September 2027. Results: mid-October 2027. Secondary school applications close on 31 October 2027.
The reading and vocabulary habits worth starting now are in why vocabulary is the one thing you can’t cram, and our free 11+ word list has over 1,100 words with their meanings.
Source: Buckinghamshire Council — Timeline for 2028 entry, checked on 28 October 2026.
After results day (2026)
- Results are released on Friday 9 October 2026, by email after 4pm.
- A standardised score of at least 121 means your child is qualified: eligible to be considered for a Buckinghamshire grammar school.
- A child who doesn't qualify may still be considered through a successful Selection Review or Admission Appeal, or if they are entitled to Pupil Premium funding. The council's page explains how each works.
- The deadline for secondary school applications is 31 October 2026.
We don’t interpret individual results. Everything above is from Buckinghamshire Council — Grammar schools and Secondary Transfer Testing, checked on 6 October 2026.
What is in the Secondary Transfer Test
Papers set by Buckinghamshire Council, with papers from GL Assessment.
Paper 2
About 60 minutes, after a break
The remainder of the verbal, non-verbal and mathematical content.
Practice test
Shorter, usually two days before
Familiarisation only — it is not part of the score.
- Papers are marked by GL Assessment. Each score is standardised for the child's age, then weighted across the verbal, mathematical and non-verbal sections.
- A standardised score of at least 121 makes a child eligible to be considered for a Buckinghamshire grammar school. Buckinghamshire calls these children qualified.
- A child who does not qualify may still be considered through a successful Selection Review or Admission Appeal, or if they are entitled to Pupil Premium funding.
How the 2026 round ran
These are the dates for the tests sat in September 2026, for children starting secondary school in September 2027. They are here so you can see the shape of the year — roughly when registration opens, how long the window is, and how soon results follow.
- Registration opened
- 10am, Friday 1 May 2026
- Registration closed
- 3pm, Tuesday 2 June 2026
- Test dates
- 8 and 10 September 2026
- Results by email
- After 4pm on Friday 9 October 2026
Do not plan from this table.
Next year’s dates had not been published when we wrote this, and registration windows are short and unforgiving — Buckinghamshire closes registration months before the test, and late entries are not generally accepted. Always take the live dates from Buckinghamshire Council — Grammar schools and Secondary Transfer Testing.
Where vocabulary actually counts
The verbal strand is one of three that are weighted into the final standardised score. It is the one that rests entirely on words a child already knows.
Because the score is weighted across verbal, mathematical and non-verbal skills, a weak verbal strand is not something strong maths quietly covers up — it pulls on the number that decides qualification.
Scores are standardised for age, so a child born in the summer is not penalised for it. Vocabulary is not adjusted for anything: a word is either known or it is not.
Nothing in the test is labelled vocabulary, which is why it is the strand most often left to look after itself.
No selective test in England has a paper called vocabulary. That is precisely why it is the thing that gets left to look after itself — and why it is the one part of 11+ preparation that genuinely cannot be crammed.
We have written about that at more length in why vocabulary is the one thing you can’t cram, and our list of over 1,100 words with meanings is free to browse, with nothing to sign up for.
Where this came from
Every fact on this page was taken from Buckinghamshire Council — Grammar schools and Secondary Transfer Testing, checked on 28 October 2026. We have not repeated figures from other preparation sites, because we found them disagreeing with the council’s own pages. If you spot something out of date here, the council is right and we are wrong.