What happened to the CEM 11 plus, and what replaced it
If you have found CEM on a workbook, in a tutor's advert or in a forum thread and wondered whether it still matters, the short answer is that it almost certainly does not. Here is what CEM was, why the name is still everywhere, and how preparation changes for the areas that moved to GL Assessment.
The short version
For most of the last twenty years, two names dominated the 11 plus in England: GL Assessment and CEM. CEM has now gone from the paper-based 11 plus. The last CEM paper tests were sat in the 2023 admissions round, and the areas that used them have moved to other providers, most of them to GL Assessment. If you are seeing “CEM” on a workbook, a tutor’s flyer or a forum thread, you are almost certainly looking at something that no longer applies to your area.
The rest of this post is the detail: what CEM was, which areas can be said for certain to have moved, and what the change means for how you help your child prepare.
What CEM was
CEM stands for the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring. It began as a research centre at Durham University and later moved to Cambridge. Alongside the assessments it produced for schools, it supplied 11+ entrance tests to a number of grammar school areas, and for a long stretch the eleven plus in England was effectively split between “GL areas” and “CEM areas”.
Its pitch to admissions authorities was that it was hard to coach. Where GL papers use recognisable question families that a child can learn, CEM papers deliberately avoided a fixed format. A typical CEM test was two mixed papers rather than four subject papers, each divided into short timed sections covering comprehension, vocabulary, numeracy, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, in an order that could change from one year to the next. The vocabulary demand was high and the sections were quick.
The idea was to measure underlying ability rather than rehearsed technique. In practice, a large market of CEM-specific books and tutoring grew up anyway, and “CEM” became shorthand for a particular style of preparation: cloze passages, fast-paced mixed sections and a heavy vocabulary list.
Why CEM withdrew from the 11 plus
CEM decided to stop providing paper-based 11+ tests. The areas that used them had to choose a replacement for the following round, and the last CEM paper tests were sat in the 2023 admissions round. We are not going to speculate about the reasons, because the ones offered online are guesses, and the reason does not change what you need to do.
CEM itself has not disappeared. It still produces assessments for schools, and it offers a computer-based entrance test, CEM Select, that some schools, mostly independent, use. That is a different product from the old paper 11+. If a school you are applying to names CEM Select, follow that school’s guidance.
Which areas moved from CEM to GL Assessment
The areas we are confident about are Birmingham, where the King Edward VI consortium of grammar schools shares one entrance test, together with Warwickshire, Walsall and Wolverhampton. All four now use GL Assessment. If your child is sitting the test in one of those areas, prepare for a GL-style test and set CEM material aside.
We have listed only the areas we are sure of. Other former CEM areas have also moved, some to GL Assessment and some to other providers or to tests of their own, and we would rather not guess at the list. If you remember your area being a CEM area, confirm the current arrangements with the admissions authority. Its 11+ pages should name the provider.
What this means for old workbooks and forum threads
Most of the big workbook publishers had a CEM range, and those books are still on shelves, in second-hand listings and in the cupboards of older siblings. Many forum threads that rank well in search were written when CEM was current. None of that is wrong, exactly. It is just out of date, and a parent starting from scratch has no easy way to tell.
- Check the date. Advice or a workbook edition from the CEM years is describing a test your child will not sit. The specific advice about mixed timed sections and cloze passages was right for its time and is no longer the target in the areas that switched.
- The skills still transfer; the format does not. The vocabulary, maths and reasoning inside a CEM book are still relevant, because the underlying knowledge has not changed. If you already own CEM books, use them for general skill work if you like, but not as a rehearsal for the paper.
- Do not buy CEM material for a GL area. New purchases should be GL-style. Our guide to the GL Assessment 11 plus explains what that means and what the four GL papers contain.
The practical difference for preparation
The move from CEM to GL is, on balance, good news for a parent preparing a child at home, because GL is the more learnable of the two. The two tests asked for different kinds of practice.
| CEM paper tests | GL Assessment | |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Two mixed papers in short timed sections | Separate papers, one subject at a time |
| Formats | Deliberately varied from year to year | Established question families that recur |
| Best approach | Broad skills, fast switching, a lot of vocabulary | Practice by question type, then pace |
| Non-Verbal Reasoning | Folded into a mixed paper | Usually its own paper where tested |
Three things follow for a family in an area that has switched.
- Practise by question type. Because GL papers are built from recognisable families, a child can learn each one properly: name it, learn the routine, build accuracy, then speed. This was never reliable for CEM and is the single biggest change. Our guide to GL Verbal Reasoning question types shows what those families look like.
- Give Non-Verbal Reasoning its own time. In many GL areas it is a paper in its own right rather than a section, and it behaves differently from the other subjects for most children.
- Vocabulary still matters. GL Verbal Reasoning and GL English both lean on it. The CEM-era advice to read widely and learn words in context was good advice, and it stays good.
Pace works differently too. A GL paper runs on one clock, so the skill is to keep moving and not get stuck, rather than to sprint through a string of short sections. Full practice papers under time, roughly monthly from the spring of Year 5 and more often in the last few weeks, are enough to build that.
What has not changed
In most GL areas the test is sat in September of Year 6, registration happens in the summer term of Year 5, and results arrive in October ahead of the national application deadline. Scores are still standardised for age, qualifying is still not the same as an offer, and Year 5 is still the preparation year. Confirm the current arrangements with the admissions authority, because dates and rules are local and change.
If you are starting from the beginning, our plain guide to what the 11 plus is covers the whole picture, and how much 11 plus practice a child needs each day sets a sensible pace.
Where 11+ Daily fits
11+ Daily makes no CEM claim, because there is no paper CEM test left to prepare for. Its questions are written in the styles GL sets, across English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, and they are organised by skill, so the practise-by-question-type approach above is what the Today screen does by default: one subject and one skill per seven-to-ten-minute session, chosen for what your child needs next. A parents area shows what has been covered. It works on laptop, tablet or phone, and the 14-day free trial needs no card.
The honest summary
CEM stopped supplying paper 11+ tests after the 2023 round. Birmingham, Warwickshire, Walsall and Wolverhampton moved to GL Assessment; other former CEM areas moved too, and you should check yours. Old CEM books and threads describe a test your child will not sit, though the skills inside them still count. Prepare for GL the way GL rewards: one question family at a time, vocabulary throughout, pace last.
Questions parents ask
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Try 11+ Daily with your child.
Daily 11+ practice that knows what to revise next. English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning on laptop, tablet or phone. Real progress parents can see.