11+ Maths Explained: The Topics, the Traps and the Time Pressure

What's on the paper

The 11+ maths syllabus is the Key Stage 2 curriculum — but tested up to a year ahead of when schools teach it, and worded to make children think:

• •Number: place value, the four operations, negative numbers, factors/multiples/primes
• •Fractions, decimals and percentages — the single most tested area, including conversions between all three
• •Ratio, proportion and scaling
• •Algebra: missing numbers, simple equations, sequences and nth-term patterns
• •Geometry: angles, area, perimeter, volume, symmetry, coordinates, nets of 3D shapes
• •Data: tables, bar charts, pie charts, line graphs and averages (mean, median, mode, range)
• •Multi-step word problems — where most marks are won and lost

Why children who are 'good at maths' still lose marks

Three reasons dominate. First, timing: papers allow roughly a minute per question, so slow-but-accurate children run out of time with questions unanswered. Second, wording: 11+ questions hide simple maths in wordy scenarios — the skill being tested is often extracting the sum, not doing it. Third, the classic traps: answering in the wrong units, giving the value the question didn't ask for ('how many are LEFT?'), and misreading charts.

The fix for all three is the same: regular timed practice with proper review of every error — not more topic teaching.

Building speed the right way

Speed comes from automaticity, not rushing: times tables and number bonds recalled instantly free up working memory for the actual problem. Then practise in short timed bursts (10 questions, 10 minutes) rather than long untimed sets. Teach the two-pass strategy early: sweep through the paper answering everything quick and certain, then return to the hard ones — never let one stubborn question eat five minutes.