This CSSE Essex 11+ resource has been compiled to provide guidance and information about the Essex 11+.
On this page, you will find information relating to details of the selective test (including key dates), practice material, guidance on how to prepare for the Essex 11+, and answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the 2018 Entry exam for selective schools in Essex.
‘CSSE’ stands for the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex.
Any child who wishes to apply to a selective school in Essex, will need to undergo this exam. The consortium consists of 10 schools.
By undergoing this assessment, this allows parents to apply for more than one selective school, without their child having to sit multiple assessments.
The exam consists of two tests – an English paper, and a Maths paper.
Further down in this CSSE Essex 11+ resource, I have provided you with practice material for both the English and Maths testing papers. Hopefully, this will give you some indication as to what is expected from the exam, specifically focussing on the types of questions that will appear during each part of the assessment.
For entry into one of the ten selective schools in the CSSE Essex 11+ Consortium, this test must be taken, and passed!
Below I have outlined the 10 schools that require your child to undergo this assessment:
• Colchester County High School for Girls
• Colchester Royal Grammar School
• King Edward VI Grammar School
• Shoeburyness High School
• Southend High School for Boys
• Southend High School for Girls
• St. Bernard’s High School for Girls
• St. Thomas More High School for Boys
• Westcliff High School for Boys
• Westcliff High School for Girls
Below is a table outlining all the important dates that you and your child should be aware of regarding CSSE and the Essex 11+.
As shown in the table above, test results will be sent out via first class post on the 16th October 2017.
Alongside the test results, pupils will also be sent a guidance sheet which will outline the ‘likely’ 11+ scores that need to be obtained for each selective school. This will give you a clearer indication as to whether your child will be accepted to the chosen school/s of your choice.
I have provided some sample questions to allow you to become familiarised with the types of questions that will appear in the Essex 11+ examination.
For more practice resources, you can check out the offical CSSE website for more advice and practice questions.
Questions 1 to 4 have been taken from the English paper.
ENGLISH PAPER
Read the passage carefully, and answer the following questions.
QUESTION 1
Write down, using evidence from the extract, what each character wants to ask the great Oz.
Dorothy
Scarecrow
Lion
Tin Woodman
QUESTION 2
List all of the words or phrases you can find in the above extract to convey the Lion’s unhappiness.
QUESTION 3
The author uses the words “company” and “comrade” to emphasise a particular point. What reasons could the author have for describing the group using military language?
QUESTION 4
Which of the characters in the extract do you sympathise with the most? Use evidence from the passage in order to strengthen your reasoning.
Questions 5 to 8 have been taken from the Maths paper.
MATHS PAPER
QUESTION 5
Write the following measurements in order, starting with the shortest.
QUESTION 6
Below is a Venn diagram. Using the numbers in the boxes, place these in the correct position in the Venn diagram.
QUESTION 7
Find 15y – 9x, if y = 6, and x = 4.
QUESTION 8
Write these ratios in their simplest form.
QUESTION 1
• Dorothy = “And I am going to ask him to send Toto and me back to Kansas”.
• Scarecrow = “And I am going to the great Oz to ask him to give me some (brains)…for my head is stuffed with straw”.
• Lion = “Do you think Oz could give me courage?”
• Tin Woodman = “And I am going to ask him to give me a heart”.
QUESTION 2
Awfully scared, wiping a tear from his eye, sorrow, unhappy
QUESTION 3
The use of the words “company” and “comrade” are used to emphasise a bond between the characters. This bond demonstrates that the group are like a military in the sense that they show strength, motivation, loyalty to each other and teamwork.
QUESTION 4
*This question relies on personal response. You can choose any character so long as you support your reasons with evidence from the passage.*
(For example, you could argue that the Lion is the character you sympathise with most because the passage talks a lot about his feelings and unhappiness about not being brave. You could support your answer with phrases such as, “wiping a tear from his eye”, “it is my great sorrow” and “as long as I know myself to be a coward I shall be unhappy”).
QUESTION 5
0.565m, 57cm, 527cm, 5.6m, 50.65m
QUESTION 6
QUESTION 7
54
• 15 x 6 = 90
• 9 x 4 = 36
• 90 – 36 = 54
QUESTION 8
• 9 : 10
• 3 : 4
• 1 : 2
