Entrance tests
ISEB Common Pre-Test preparation
Many UK senior schools ask for the ISEB Common Pre-Test as the first step of entry. This page sets out what the test is, from ISEB's own information, and how we prepare your child.
What the test is
- Four tests: English (reading comprehension and grammar), Mathematics (National Curriculum up to the end of Year 5), Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.
- All four are online, adaptive, multiple-choice tests. Questions adjust to the pupil's answers, and pupils cannot go back and change an answer.
- Designed for pupils in Years 6 and 7. Some senior schools use the results for Year 7 entry, others for Year 9 entry. The tests can be taken overseas.
- Taken between the beginning of October and the end of June. A pupil can sit them once per academic year, together or separately.
- Results are shared across senior schools, so a pupil sits the tests once. Schools receive age-standardised scores (average 100) and use them as part of their admissions process.
18 of the schools we have checked list the ISEB Common Pre-Test in their entry process.
Taken from the test provider's own pages. Details change: check with the school or the test provider.
Source: iseb.co.uk · Checked 14 October 2026
How we prepare your child
We prepare your child for the format and the skills the four tests ask for, and we check each school's own entry process so the pre-test is prepared as part of the whole route. Which schools ask for it is shown on the 11+ and 13+ pages.
11+ · 13+ · 16+ · All entrance routes
Some of our tutors
Ms Vionnet
Entrance Exams · IB ToK & Extended Essay · GCSE, IGCSE
Currently studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Durham University; previously an Academic Scholar at Cheltenham Ladies' College with first-hand knowledge of the entrance examination process.
Mr Neil
English & English Literature — HKDSE, GCSE, iGCSE, IB, A-Level
A registered teacher in both Hong Kong and the UK with nearly 28 years of experience teaching literature and language in top-level schools in both places.
Mr Michael
Mathematics & Further Maths — iGCSE, GCSE, A-Level
Teaching for over fourteen years, he was awarded the IMA prize at Cardiff University for the highest-scoring degree average of his year, later completing an MSc in mathematics and PhD research in computational mathematics.