If you are starting 11+ preparations for your child, you may have come across the acronym CEM. CEM is an abbreviation of ‘Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring’, a leading provider of the 11+ assessment across the country for over 30 years.

CEM pride themselves on “ensuring a fair school admissions process”, enabling children to demonstrate their natural academic potential. For this reason, CEM do not publish practice papers or past papers.

Which regions use CEM 11+?

Whether a child sits the CEM exam or the GL Assessment (second leading 11+ exam provider) depends entirely on the region of the grammar school. As of 2019, regions using the CEM exam format include:

Subjects in the CEM 11+

Past CEM exams have consisted of two papers lasting around 50 minutes each. Each paper is divided into individually timed sections covering Maths, English, Verbal Skills and Non-Verbal Reasoning; although schools can choose any combination of these to best suit their selection policy. Therefore, although the topics of the CEM 11+ tend to remain the same across regions, the questions can differ.

Format of the CEM 11+

The CEM test is very fast-paced and this is accentuated by subdividing the papers into individual sections with a varying number of multiple-choice questions and timings. Once the time in each section has elapsed, children will not get the opportunity to re-visit a section. We recommend children familiarise themselves with the multiple-choice style layout, however problem solving is the only section that will require written answers. All answers are marked on a separate answer sheet.