11+ maths topics: everything your child needs to know

11+ maths covers a wide span of primary-level topics, often applied in multi-step word problems rather than tested in isolation. Here is a complete breakdown of what typically comes up, organised so you know what to practise next.

Number and arithmetic

• The four operations with whole numbers, including long multiplication and division
• Negative numbers and ordering
• Factors, multiples, prime numbers and prime factorisation
• Rounding and estimation

Fractions, decimals and percentages

• Simplifying and comparing fractions
• Converting between fractions, decimals and percentages
• Adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions
• Percentage increase and decrease, and finding percentages of amounts

Ratio and proportion

Ratio questions often disguise themselves inside word problems — sharing an amount in a given ratio, scaling recipes, or comparing quantities. These are consistently one of the trickiest areas for children moving from primary-school arithmetic to 11+-style reasoning.

Algebra basics

• Simple equations and solving for an unknown
• Sequences and finding the nth term informally
• Substituting values into simple formulae

Measurement and geometry

• Area and perimeter of rectangles, triangles and compound shapes
• Angles, including angles on a straight line and in triangles
• Units of measurement and converting between them
• Time problems, including the 24-hour clock and duration calculations

Data handling

• Reading and interpreting tables, bar charts and pie charts
• Mean, median, mode and range
• Probability basics

Word problems and multi-step reasoning

The real difficulty in 11+ maths is rarely a single topic — it's combining two or three of the above inside one worded question, under time pressure. This is exactly why worked answers matter so much in practice: seeing the reasoning laid out step by step teaches children how to break a multi-step problem down, not just what the final number is.

Prepare for Grammar's maths practice is organised by topic and graded across five difficulty levels, from standard 11+ level up to harder than the real exam, with a worked answer and tutor's tip on every question.