FREE SKILLS CHECK · VERBAL REASONING
Free 11+ Verbal Reasoning skills check
A free, untimed online Verbal Reasoning check for children preparing for the 11+. Your child answers 45 multiple-choice questions, split into 2parts, and you get a short report showing which areas look secure and where to practise. There is no sign-up, no card, and we do not ask for your child's name.
What the Verbal Reasoning check covers
The questions are spread across five areas, in the style of the GL Assessment 11+ papers.
- Vocabulary. Words with the same or the opposite meaning, odd one out and two odd ones out, words that complete a group, word pairs (analogies) and words with two meanings.
- Word construction. Anagrams, compound words, the missing middle word, moving a letter from one word to another, word ladders, hidden words, finishing a word and spotting a spelling mistake.
- Letter patterns. Letter sequences, counting places in the alphabet, the middle letter, the opposite alphabet, letter codes and pairs of letters that change together.
- Number codes. Number sequences, letters worth numbers, codes with symbols or words, missing numbers in a sum and finding the rule that links two numbers.
- Logic. Alphabetical order, words that sound the same, family relationships, ranking people and working out who owns or sits where from a set of clues.
Two parts, so the questions suit your child's year
- Part 1: Year 4 topics and early Year 5. 23 questions, about 20 to 25 minutes. Synonyms and opposites, odd one out, anagrams and compound words, simple letter and number patterns, alphabetical order and family puzzles.
- Part 2: Later Year 5, Year 6 and 11+ stretch. 22 questions, about 20 to 25 minutes. Double meanings, hidden words, letter and number codes with more than one step, and longer logic puzzles. Some of these are hard on purpose.
Which to try first:
- Year 4: Part 1 is the one to try. Part 2 can wait.
- Year 5: start with Part 1, then try Part 2 when your child is ready. They can be done on different days.
- Year 6: Part 2 is the closer match to the 11+, and Part 1 is a useful check of the basics.
You can do just one part and still get a report. If you do both, you can see the two together.
A sample question
An example of the style. It is not one of the questions in the check.
In a code, every letter moves forward 1 place, so CAT is written DBU. How is DOG written?
- CNF
- DPH
- EPG
- EPH
Show the answer
EPH. Move each letter forward 1 place: D to E, O to P and G to H, which gives EPH. CNF moves every letter back instead, DPH leaves the first letter alone, and EPG slips on the last letter.
What the report looks like
Each area is shown as looks secure, developing, practise first, or not learned yet, with free lessons for the weaker areas. You may also see up to three things to look at, such as stopping one step early. These are possibilities from a short check, not conclusions.
An invented example, not a real child's result.
You see the report on screen straight after the last question, and you can print it or save it as a PDF.
Questions parents ask
Is it really free, and do I need an account?
Yes, it is free and you do not need an account. You do not enter your child's name either. An account is only needed if you later want to see which questions were missed, with an explanation of each.
How long does it take?
About 20 to 25 minutes for each part. There is no timer, and your child can stop and carry on later on the same device.
Which part should my child do?
Part 1 covers Year 4 topics and early Year 5. Part 2 covers later Year 5, Year 6 and 11+ stretch topics. Year 4: start with Part 1. Year 5: Part 1, then Part 2 when ready. Year 6: Part 2 is the closer match to the 11+. You can do just one part and still get a report.
What if my child has not met this kind of question before?
Many Verbal Reasoning question types are not taught at school, so this is common. Every question has a button, "I haven't learned this yet". It is not marked wrong and does not lower their result. The report lists those question types separately so you know what is new rather than what is weak.
Does my child need to have learned a lot of vocabulary?
A wide vocabulary helps with some questions, but the check also covers codes, letter patterns and logic, which depend on practice with the question types more than on word knowledge. The report shows each area separately, so you can see which kind of help is needed.
Is this like the real 11+?
The questions are written in the style of the GL Assessment 11+ Verbal Reasoning papers, but this is a short check, not a mock paper or an official test. It does not predict an 11+ score or a school place, and Onze+ is not affiliated with GL Assessment. Not every school or area uses Verbal Reasoning, so check what your target schools test.
Can my child take it more than once?
The questions never change, so a second attempt mostly shows what your child remembers, not what they have learned. Treat the first attempt as the result. To see progress over time, use fresh practice and mock papers in the Onze+ app, which use new questions each time.
What happens to my child's answers?
They are used to work out the report. Unless you opt out, we also add them to anonymous totals, with no name, email or device details, so we can improve the questions. Read the "Free Skills Checks" section of our privacy policy for the detail.
Ready when you are
Pick a quiet time when your child is not tired, sit beside them, and let them work it out. Rough paper is fine; calculators are not.
New to the 11+? Browse the Verbal Reasoning syllabus, try a free lesson, or see what your target schools test with the school finder. Read the full parent guide to the skills checks and how we make and check our questions.