My experience of tutoring children for the 11+ over the past 15 years has shown me some start realities about the chances many state school pupils have. Although the exams are based on the Key Stage 2 curriculum, there are some pitfalls that parents of children doing their year 6 in a state school should be aware of:

1. Your school is not directly preparing your child to be ready for this exam. Some schools offer some preparation for the 11 +, most offer little or none.
2. Although your child will learn everything required for the 11+ in school, there is no guarantee that they will learn it all in time for the exams, which occur early in the school year.
3. A focused programme of study geared toward the 11+ may well reveal areas of relative strength that need nevertheless need to be improved. For good or ill, the 11+ test will likely go beyond what your child learns in school in some ways.

Of course, this means that successful 11+ candidates prepare strategically for the challenge of the exams. This can be through self-study, tuition or some combination of the two.