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Bexley 11 Plus: The Selection Test Explained, and Why Distance Decides More Than Score

📖 11 min read 👪 For parents 📊 Fact-checked, Sep 2026 📅 Updated September 2026

Bexley runs one of the most distinctive selection tests in London: verbal ability counts for half the total score, and the threshold is set after the papers are marked, not before. Then comes the part parents underestimate — once your child has qualified, the thing that most often decides whether an offer arrives is how far you live from the gate.

Short answer: the Bexley Selection Test covers verbal ability and English comprehension, numerical reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, weighted 50% verbal, 25% numerical, 25% non-verbal. Scores are age-standardised around a mean of 200. The Council and the four grammar school heads agree the selective standard each year. Clearing it makes your child eligible — after that, home-to-school distance is the deciding factor for most offers.

Written through four expert lenses. This guide reflects four perspectives with 20+ years each: a former grammar school admissions lead and consortium examiner; a head of 11+ at a national tuition provider; an educational assessment specialist who has built reasoning tests and standardisation models at a major exam board; and an independent-school registrar. Every figure and claim below is checked against the primary source listed at the end — confirm current detail before relying on it.

Quick summary

The schoolsBeths, Bexley Grammar, Chislehurst & Sidcup and Townley Grammar

What's testedVerbal ability & English comprehension, numerical reasoning, non-verbal reasoning

Weighting50% verbal, 25% numerical, 25% non-verbal

Standardised scoringMean total of 200; around two-thirds of candidates score 170–230

Quick take:

Verbal is half the score. Preparation weighted equally across three papers under-prepares the paper that matters most.
There is no fixed pass mark published in advance — the selective standard is agreed each year after marking.
Qualifying is stage one. Distance from the school decides most offers at stage two.

The four schools and the one test

Four grammar schools sit within the London Borough of Bexley: Beths Grammar School, Bexley Grammar School, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School and Townley Grammar School. A single Bexley Selection Test, administered by the Council, provides the score used across them.

Children currently in Year 5, born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016, take the Bexley Test in 2026 for entry in September 2027. Registration opens on 1 March 2026 and closes at midnight on 31 March 2026 — late registrations are not accepted and there is no appeal against a missed deadline. Testing takes place in early September 2026, with results in October 2026, ahead of the Common Application Form deadline of 5pm on 31 October 2026.

The March deadline is the trap. Bexley's registration window closes roughly six months before the test itself, and far earlier than several neighbouring boroughs. Families who move into the area over the summer, or who decide late, routinely discover the door shut. Diarise March of Year 5.

What the test actually measures, and how it is weighted

The Council's own description sets out three components: verbal ability and English comprehension; numerical reasoning, restricted to Year 5 curriculum content; and non-verbal reasoning, assessing pattern recognition and logical deduction.

Component	Weighting
Verbal ability and English comprehension	50%
Numerical reasoning (Year 5 content)	25%
Non-verbal reasoning	25%

What this should do to your prep plan: a child who is strong at maths and weak on vocabulary is in a worse position in Bexley than the same child would be in an area that weights papers evenly. Verbal ability carries as much weight as the other two papers combined. If you are allocating preparation time, the split should reflect that — and vocabulary depth is the slowest thing to build, so it should start earliest.

How the scoring works — and why there is no published pass mark

Raw marks are converted into age-standardised scores, which adjust for how old a child is within the year group. The average total weighted age-standardised score is 200, with approximately two-thirds of candidates scoring between 170 and 230.

The selective standard itself is not fixed in advance: the Council, in conjunction with the four grammar schools, determines the selective score each year. That means the threshold moves with the cohort, and any number you read on a forum is last year's figure at best.

Stage two: why distance decides most offers

This is the part that reframes the whole process. Meeting the selective standard does not allocate a place — it makes your child eligible to be considered by the individual schools, each of which then applies its own oversubscription criteria. In practice, home-to-school distance is the key deciding factor in most cases.

Bexley also operates a tiering arrangement below the threshold. Children scoring one mark below the selective standard are ranked by distance, then those two marks below, before other applicants are considered. The practical effect is that a very close-living child marginally below the standard can still be in contention, while a high-scoring child living far away may not be.

Worth being blunt about: in Bexley, a family two streets from the school and a family six miles away are not running the same race, even with identical scores. If you are applying from distance, look carefully at each school's published criteria and at the previous year's furthest-distance offered, which schools generally publish, before deciding how to rank preferences.

Best tips for parents, students and tutors

👪 For parents

Weight preparation to match the 50/25/25 split. Verbal ability is half the score. If your child's practice time is split evenly across three papers, you are under-investing in the component that carries the most weight.
Start vocabulary early, because it cannot be crammed. Comprehension and verbal reasoning both rest on word knowledge built over months. A child who reads widely from Year 4 has an advantage no six-week course replicates.
Register in March, not September. The window closes at midnight on 31 March 2026 for 2027 entry, with no late entry and no appeal. This is the single most common way Bexley families lose a year.
Check the previous year's furthest distance offered for each of the four schools. It is the most honest indicator of whether your address is realistically in contention, and it should drive the order you rank your preferences.
Do not chase a rumoured pass mark. The selective standard is agreed annually after marking. Aim for a comfortable margin above any figure you have heard, because the figure you have heard is historic.

🎓 For students

Read for vocabulary, not just for pleasure. Half of your Bexley score rests on verbal ability. Keeping a running list of unfamiliar words from whatever you read is the highest-value habit available to you.
Maths questions stay inside Year 5 content. That is genuinely reassuring — you are not being tested on material you have not met. Accuracy and speed on familiar topics beat rushing ahead to harder ones.
Practise non-verbal reasoning little and often. Pattern-spotting improves quickly with short, frequent sessions and barely at all with occasional long ones.
Answer every question. With standardised scoring, blanks at the end of a paper are the most avoidable marks you can lose. If you are stuck, choose and move on.

📚 For tutors

Rebalance your Bexley scheme of work towards verbal. A generic three-way-equal 11+ programme is mis-weighted for this borough. Verbal ability and comprehension deserve roughly half the contact time.
Ask for the postcode and look up last year's furthest distance offered. It changes the advice you should be giving about preference order, and families rarely think to check it themselves.
Explain the tiering system to parents explicitly. The fact that children one or two marks below the standard are then ranked by distance is poorly understood, and it materially affects how a borderline near-the-school candidate should be advised.
Set the March registration reminder into your Year 5 calendar. For Bexley families the registration deadline falls in the spring term, months before most other areas, and tutors are often the only person tracking it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the pass mark for the Bexley 11 plus?

There is no pass mark published in advance. The Council, together with the four Bexley grammar schools, agrees the selective standard each year after the papers have been marked and standardised, so the threshold moves with each cohort. The average total weighted age-standardised score is 200, with around two-thirds of candidates scoring between 170 and 230.

How is the Bexley Selection Test weighted?

The total score combines 50% from the verbal ability and English comprehension score, 25% from the numerical reasoning score and 25% from the non-verbal reasoning score. Verbal ability therefore carries as much weight as the other two components combined.

Does distance matter for Bexley grammar schools?

Yes, considerably. Meeting the selective standard makes a child eligible, but each school then applies its own oversubscription criteria, and home-to-school distance is the key deciding factor in most cases. Bexley also ranks children scoring one mark, then two marks, below the standard using distance criteria before considering other applicants.

When does registration for the Bexley Selection Test close?

For 2027 entry, registration opens on 1 March 2026 and closes at midnight on 31 March 2026. Late registrations are not accepted and there is no appeal process, so a missed deadline means a child cannot sit the test that year.

Which grammar schools use the Bexley Selection Test?

Four grammar schools in the London Borough of Bexley use it: Beths Grammar School, Bexley Grammar School, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, and Townley Grammar School.

Sources

Primary and official sources this guide is checked against — confirm the current detail against these before you rely on it.

Related SharpY Mind resources

Verbal ability is half the Bexley score — build it properly

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