What is the ISEB Common Pre-Test?

The Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB) runs the Pre-Tests for many UK independent schools. Here is how they work, from ISEB's own page, and how the schools in our guides use them, from each school's own admissions pages.

How the Pre-Tests work

ISEB describes them as "a series of four online, adaptive and shared entrance assessments". In practice:

• Four subjects: mathematics, English (reading comprehension and grammar), verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning.
• Often taken in Year 6 or Year 7. Schools can use them for entry into Year 7, or for deferred entry into Year 9.
• One sitting, many schools. Your child sits the tests once, and the results are shared with all the senior schools you've applied to and given your child's Applicant ID.
• Flexible timing. The four tests can be taken on the same day or split over several days, at any time between the autumn and spring terms.
• You register, not the school. Parents register through ISEB's Guardian Portal.

Which of our 20 schools use them at 11+

Alleyn's School says plainly that the ISEB Common Pre-test is not part of its 11+ process. For every other school, its guide on Akiru describes the format it uses.

What this means for your family

1. Register with ISEB early. James Allen's Girls' School asks you to register with ISEB before you register with the school.
2. Note each school's deadline, not just ISEB's. For September 2027 entry, Sevenoaks and St Paul's Girls' School set November deadlines.
3. Ask where your child will sit them. ISEB says the tests are taken at an invigilation centre, which could be a current junior or prep school or an approved third-party centre.

Questions parents ask