Best 11 Plus Maths Revision Guide UK 2026: Top 7 Expert Picks

The 11+ exam is not just a test. For thousands of families across England, it is the gateway — to grammar schools, to independent school scholarships, to an academic path that can shape a child’s entire future. And maths, more than almost any other subject, has a habit of being the thing that trips bright children up. Not because they’re not clever. But because they simply haven’t seen the right material, in the right format, at the right time.

Choosing the right 11 plus maths revision guide might sound straightforward. It is not. The market is flooded with options — some genuinely excellent, others rather padded out and not especially useful — and the stakes feel very high when you’re a parent trying to give your child the best possible chance. The big complication? The 11+ exam format itself varies considerably depending on your region and target school. GL Assessment and CEM (administered by Durham University) set papers with meaningfully different styles, and a book calibrated for one may not prepare a child well for the other.

In this guide, we’ve reviewed the seven best 11 plus maths revision guides available on Amazon.co.uk in 2026 — proper books, from publishers with track records, with honest commentary about who each one suits and who it doesn’t. Whether your child is starting out at Year 4, fine-tuning in Year 5, or in intensive preparation in Year 6, there is something here for every stage of the journey.

Quick Comparison: Best 11 Plus Maths Revision Guides at a Glance

The table above reveals something important at a glance: no single book does everything. CGP dominates for breadth and clarity, but Bond wins on realistic paper-style practice. Galore Park sits in a different lane entirely — it’s the one for children targeting independent schools with the ISEB pre-test, where the maths goes considerably further than a standard GL paper. Budget-conscious families should note that spending £20–£30 on two complementary books (a revision guide and a practice paper book) tends to produce better results than spending the same amount on one lavishly illustrated but content-thin workbook.

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Top 7 11 Plus Maths Revision Guides: Expert Analysis

1. CGP GL Maths Complete Revision and Practice – Ages 10–11 (with Online Edition)

CGP is, frankly, the go-to publisher for most UK parents navigating the 11+, and this GL maths title is probably the first book you should consider if your child is sitting a GL Assessment paper. The format is clean and efficient: crystal-clear study notes broken into topic units, worked examples showing method step-by-step, and a solid bank of practice questions at the end of each section. There’s also a free Online Edition included — useful for revision sessions that don’t involve lugging a book around.

What makes this stand out beyond the specification is the pacing. The book doesn’t assume too much prior knowledge, and topics build logically, which means it works equally well as a teaching tool for parents without a maths background. The two full practice papers at the back mirror the format of real GL maths papers surprisingly faithfully — much closer than many competitors. One UK parent reviewer noted her daughter found the layout “easy to digest,” and that the end-of-section questions cemented skills effectively before moving on. That matches our experience: the gradual difficulty ramp-up is well judged.

Who is it for? Children in Year 5 to early Year 6 who are targeting GL Assessment grammar schools across most of England — particularly in areas like Kent, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Lincolnshire. If your child has solid KS2 foundations and needs structured revision with practice built in, this is an excellent starting point.

✅ Structured topic-by-topic layout with worked examples

✅ Free Online Edition for screen-based revision

✅ Two realistic full practice papers included

❌ Less suitable for CEM-format exams

❌ Extension challenge material is limited for very able pupils

Price range: around £10–£14 on Amazon.co.uk. Exceptional value.

2. CGP CEM Maths Complete Revision and Practice – Ages 10–11 (with Online Edition)

The CEM exam — set by Durham University and used by many grammar schools in areas including Birmingham, Shropshire, Wiltshire, and parts of Yorkshire — is a different beast to the GL paper. It places higher emphasis on speed, mixed-topic application, and a degree of unpredictability in question style. Children who revise only from GL-focused books and then sit a CEM paper often find themselves wrong-footed, not because the maths is harder, but because the delivery is different.

CGP’s CEM-specific edition addresses this directly. The study notes and examples are calibrated to CEM question styles, with a greater emphasis on applying multiple skills to a single problem. The mixed-topic tests scattered throughout the book are particularly valuable — they break children out of the habit of practising one topic at a time (which is fine for learning, but not how CEM presents questions in reality). The practice papers included at the back are realistic enough to be genuinely useful for timed run-throughs.

This book is best paired with a mental arithmetic resource — CEM maths rewards quick calculation under pressure, and fluency in mental maths is something no revision guide fully builds on its own. Think of CGP CEM as the framework, with something like Schofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic filling the gaps.

✅ Specifically calibrated for CEM-style mixed question formats

✅ Online Edition included

✅ Mixed-topic tests break single-subject revision habits

❌ Less useful if sitting a GL-format exam

❌ Some children find the pace demanding early on

Price range: around £10–£14 on Amazon.co.uk.

3. Collins 11+ Maths Complete Revision, Practice & Assessment for GL

Collins has earned a loyal following in the 11+ preparation world, partly because the Collins books do something the CGP range doesn’t quite do as elegantly: they integrate assessment checkpoints throughout the content, rather than saving all formal testing for the end. This matters practically. It means a child (or a parent) gets regular signals about whether a topic has actually landed before moving on — rather than discovering three weeks later, during a practice paper, that they never really understood percentages.

The layout is slightly more colourful and visually varied than CGP’s famously no-nonsense style, which suits some children better. Explanations are accessible without being condescending. The GL-specific focus means all content is aligned with what GL Assessment actually tests — a note worth emphasising, because the GL maths syllabus, while largely rooted in KS2, includes a handful of topics (like basic algebra and ratio) that some children simply haven’t encountered in school yet.

Where Collins slightly falls short compared to CGP is in the depth of the practice paper section; the volume of questions available is slightly thinner. That said, the built-in assessment structure arguably makes the questions that are there work harder. For self-directed learners — children who can identify their own weaknesses and work on them with minimal parental oversight — this is arguably the better choice.

✅ Integrated assessment checkpoints throughout

✅ Clear, accessible explanations

✅ Strong GL alignment

❌ Fewer full practice papers than CGP

❌ Less suited to CEM-format exams

Price range: around £9–£13 on Amazon.co.uk. Prime-eligible with next-day delivery widely available.

4. Bond 11+ Maths Assessment Practice Papers 10–11 Years (for GL Assessment)

Bond occupies a very specific niche — and it fills it brilliantly. Published by Oxford University Press, Bond is the self-described number-one provider of 11+ practice, and while that claim is marketing copy, it isn’t entirely without basis: millions of children have sat these papers over the decades. The Bond assessment papers are not revision guides in the traditional sense. There is no teaching content, no explanation of how to approach a new concept. What you get instead is a substantial bank of carefully graded, realistic exam-style practice questions, structured to build from manageable to genuinely challenging.

This is precisely the book’s strength and its limitation. For a child who has already covered the content — either through school, a tutor, or a revision guide like CGP — Bond papers provide exactly the kind of repeated, timed practice that builds exam confidence and surface area recall. They’re also excellent for identifying very specific weak spots. The newer editions include answer explanations in the pull-out centre section, which is a significant improvement over earlier versions that gave answers but no method.

Where Bond falls short is as a standalone resource. A child who hasn’t yet mastered, say, long division or fraction equivalence won’t learn it from a Bond paper; they’ll simply get questions wrong and feel confused. Use Bond alongside a content-rich revision guide, not instead of one.

✅ Realistic, graded exam-style practice questions

✅ Answer explanations included in newer editions

✅ Backed by Oxford University Press’s research and exam tracking

❌ No teaching content — not a standalone resource

❌ Less tailored to CEM format

Price range: around £7–£10 on Amazon.co.uk — excellent value as a supplementary resource.

5. Galore Park 11+ Maths Revision Guide (2nd Edition) by Louise Martine

Most of the books in this list are aimed squarely at the grammar school exam market — GL and CEM. Galore Park occupies a different world: independent schools, ISEB pre-tests, and the kind of selective institutions that set their own papers with their own style. If your child is applying to a competitive independent school — think the kind with a Latin prize and a remarkably specific entrance exam — this is the book you need and the others might not prepare you for.

The maths in this guide is stretching. It covers the full ISEB 11+ syllabus, which ventures into territory beyond the standard KS2 curriculum, including introductory algebra, negative numbers in context, and more demanding data interpretation. Crucially, the book includes timed, levelled exam-style questions that genuinely replicate the experience of sitting a challenging independent school paper. The worked examples are clear, and the exam tips throughout reflect genuine knowledge of how these schools set and mark their papers.

As the ISEB pre-test is now used by over 100 independent schools in England, this guide has become increasingly relevant beyond its original audience. Worth noting: Galore Park books are sometimes slightly harder to track down on Amazon.co.uk, but they are consistently in stock and Prime-eligible. UK parents who’ve bought through tutoring communities rate this highly for academic rigour.

✅ Covers ISEB 11+ syllabus comprehensively

✅ Timed, levelled exam-style questions throughout

✅ Genuinely stretching content for very able children

❌ Overkill for standard GL grammar school applications

❌ No online edition

Price range: around £12–£16 on Amazon.co.uk. Worthwhile investment for independent school applicants.

6. Schofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic Books 5–6 (Ages 9–11)

Nobody builds mental arithmetic fluency quite like Schofield & Sims. These slim workbooks — and they are genuinely slim, which is partly the point — have been trusted by primary school teachers across the UK for well over a century. The Mental Arithmetic series is structured by ability rather than age, meaning a Year 5 child who is mathematically ahead of their peers should be working from Book 5 or 6 rather than Book 3 or 4. Getting that calibration right matters enormously for 11+ preparation.

The format is deceptively simple: short, daily practice sessions covering number, measurement, geometry, and statistics in a rotating pattern. There’s no colour, no cartoons, no gamification. Just questions, answers, and a steady accumulation of speed and confidence. Headteacher testimonials consistently note that children using these books regularly double their scores on mental maths assessments within a term. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the effect of deliberate, repeated practice.

For 11+ purposes, these books are indispensable as a supplement rather than a primary revision guide. Both CEM and GL maths papers reward quick mental calculation — the ability to work out 15% of 240 without reaching for a written method, or to spot that 36 ÷ 0.6 is just 60 without breaking a sweat. That kind of fluency doesn’t come from a revision guide. It comes from doing ten minutes of Schofield & Sims every morning for six months.

✅ Proven track record across UK primary schools

✅ Structured by ability level — correctly calibrated for 11+ prep

✅ Builds genuine mental fluency, not just exam technique

❌ No teaching content or explanation of methods

❌ Slim format may feel insufficient as a standalone resource

Price range: around £5–£8 per book on Amazon.co.uk — outstanding value.

7. CGP GL Maths Practice Book & Assessment Tests – Ages 10–11 (with Online Edition)

Where the CGP Complete Revision & Practice title (Book 1 in this list) blends teaching and testing, this companion volume tilts the balance firmly toward testing. The CGP GL Maths Practice Book & Assessment Tests is built around topic-focused practice questions followed by full assessment papers — the ratio of testing to teaching is roughly the inverse of the revision guide. This makes it an ideal second book for children who have already worked through the Complete Revision guide and need to consolidate what they’ve learned under more exam-like conditions.

The topic-based questions are carefully graded and cover the full GL maths syllabus. The included assessment tests — which are more frequent and varied than in the standard revision guide — provide something particularly useful: multiple opportunities to identify specific gaps. Most practice paper books tell you how many marks you scored. This book helps you work out which topics cost you those marks, which is a much more actionable insight. The Online Edition is again included, which makes this a flexible resource for children who prefer digital revision or who’ve lost the physical book behind a radiator somewhere.

One thing to note: the assessment tests in this book are generally slightly more straightforward than real GL papers. They function better as confidence-builders and diagnostic tools than as a final “dress rehearsal.” For that, Bond or full past papers are the better choice.

✅ Strong topic-focused question banks for targeted practice

✅ Multiple assessment tests for ongoing diagnostic use

✅ Online Edition included

❌ Assessment tests slightly easier than real GL papers

❌ Less useful as a first book — best as a follow-up

Price range: around £10–£14 on Amazon.co.uk.

How to Build Your Child’s 11+ Maths Revision Plan: A Practical Guide

Here’s the thing no book will tell you: buying the right resources and actually using them effectively are two rather different challenges. The 11+ is sat by children aged ten and eleven — which means motivation, consistency, and emotional management matter just as much as the maths itself.

Start earlier than you think you need to. Most tutors and 11+ specialists recommend beginning structured maths revision at least 12 to 18 months before the exam. That might sound excessive, but the maths on an 11+ paper — particularly for competitive grammar schools — can reach and exceed what some children won’t see in school until Year 7. Starting in Year 4 or early Year 5 allows for a gradual approach that doesn’t feel like panic.

Don’t try to do everything at once. A common mistake is buying four books simultaneously and attempting to work through all of them in parallel. This spreads a child’s attention too thin and makes it genuinely difficult to track progress. A more effective structure: start with a content-rich revision guide (CGP or Collins), work through it topic by topic over several months, then introduce timed practice papers (Bond, full past papers) in the final eight to twelve weeks.

Identify the exam format your child will sit. This is non-negotiable. GL Assessment and CEM exams test similar mathematical content but present it differently. Using a GL-focused book to prepare for a CEM exam — or vice versa — wastes revision time. Check with the specific grammar school or local authority (many provide guidance on their websites) about which test format they use.

Use short, daily sessions rather than long, occasional ones. Cognitive science research consistently shows that spaced practice — short sessions spread across days — produces better long-term retention than marathon revision weekends. Fifteen to twenty minutes of focused maths per day, six days a week, beats two hours on a Saturday.

Don’t neglect mental arithmetic. It is the silent differentiator. Children who can calculate quickly and accurately under pressure will always outperform equally knowledgeable but slower peers on a timed 11+ maths paper.

Real Families, Real Situations: Who Should Use Which Book?

Different children come to 11+ preparation from very different starting points. Here are three scenarios that might sound familiar.

Scenario 1: The Solid-But-Not-Exceptional Maths Pupil in a GL Area Amara is in Year 5 in Hertfordshire, sitting the GL Assessment grammar school paper. She’s confident with number but struggles with fractions and geometry. Her parents have about 14 months before the exam. The right combination: CGP GL Complete Revision & Practice as the backbone (working through it topic by topic), supplemented by Schofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic Book 5 for daily ten-minute sessions. In the final twelve weeks, add Bond 11+ Maths Assessment Papers for timed practice. Budget: around £25–£35 for all three books.

Scenario 2: The Mathematically Able Child Targeting an Independent School James is exceptionally strong at maths and applying to a selective London independent school using the ISEB pre-test. The standard GL prep books will feel unchallenging and may actually leave him underprepared for the harder question types on independent school papers. His primary resource should be the Galore Park 11+ Maths Revision Guide, supplemented by ISEB-style practice papers. Budget: around £30–£45 for a comprehensive independent school prep pack.

Scenario 3: The Late Starter in a CEM Area Sofia is in mid-Year 6 in Birmingham, sitting a CEM-format exam in four months. Time is tight. The priority here is targeted, efficient revision rather than comprehensive coverage. CGP CEM Complete Revision & Practice is the right primary resource, worked through at speed, focusing on topics where Sophie is weakest. Schofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic for daily fluency building. Fewer books, used intensively, will serve her better than buying a wide range and covering nothing in depth.

Common Mistakes Parents Make When Buying 11+ Maths Resources

Buying the Wrong Format for the Wrong Exam

This is the single most common error, and it’s entirely avoidable. Every year, families in CEM areas spend months working from GL-focused books, then discover in the actual exam that the question style is quite different from what they practised. Before buying anything, confirm whether your target school uses GL Assessment, CEM, or sets its own papers. Many local authorities and grammar schools list this information explicitly on their websites.

Overloading on Practice Papers Too Early

Practice papers serve a specific purpose: testing what a child has already learned under exam conditions. Using them before the content is secure is a confidence-destroying exercise that teaches children to expect failure. It is the revision equivalent of trying to run a marathon before you’ve done any training. Practice papers belong in the final phase of preparation, not the first.

Confusing “Lots of Books” with “Good Preparation”

More resources don’t mean better outcomes. Three well-chosen books used consistently and thoroughly will outperform a shelf of nine books that get dipped into sporadically. Depth over breadth — always.

Ignoring the Mental Arithmetic Gap

The spec sheets on any 11+ revision guide will mention arithmetic. What they won’t tell you is how crucial speed of calculation becomes under timed conditions. A child who can get the right answer but takes twice as long as the time allows is still going to struggle. Mental arithmetic practice — specifically the Schofield & Sims series — is the investment that most consistently differentiates prepared from underprepared children in our experience.

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GL vs CEM 11+ Maths: What’s Actually Different?

The analysis here matters: GL Assessment papers are generally more predictable in structure, which means thorough topic-by-topic revision transfers well to the exam. CEM papers, by contrast, are deliberately designed to make it harder to “game” through narrow preparation — the questions jump between topics, the time pressure is higher, and children who’ve only ever practised in topic silos often find them disorienting. If you’re in a CEM area, the revision strategy needs to include regular mixed-practice sessions, not just topic-by-topic work.

Features That Actually Matter (and Those That Don’t)

The marketing around 11+ revision books can be rather enthusiastic. Here’s an honest filter for what’s actually worth paying attention to.

Worth caring about: Whether the book matches your child’s exam format (GL vs CEM); whether difficulty progresses logically; whether practice questions are genuinely similar to real exam questions; whether explanations are clear without being patronising; whether an Online Edition is included for flexible use.

Less important than publishers suggest: Full-colour layouts (the quality of the maths content matters, not the number of colours on the page — CGP’s notably plain style has never held anyone back); “fun” cartoon characters (children doing 11+ revision don’t need a mascot, they need clear explanations); long lists of “tips” that restate obvious advice about reading questions carefully.

Genuinely overrated: Books that claim to cover both GL and CEM in one volume. The overlap in maths content is substantial, but the exam technique and question style differ enough that a dedicated format-specific book almost always prepares a child more effectively. “Covers both formats” is often a polite way of saying “not quite fully optimised for either.”

Long-Term Value: What Does Good 11+ Maths Prep Actually Cost?

Understanding the total cost of a solid preparation library helps families budget sensibly rather than panic-buying at premium prices in the final weeks before the exam.

Total for a typical GL grammar school preparation: around £30–£45 in books across the whole preparation period. That’s less than a single hour with a private tutor in most parts of England — and for many families, good books used consistently are more effective than irregular tutoring sessions.

Worth noting: UK prices on Amazon.co.uk include 20% VAT, unlike US Amazon prices which display tax-exclusive. All prices in this guide are GBP inclusive of VAT. Free delivery applies for orders over £25, and Prime members get next-day delivery across most UK postcodes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The right 11 plus maths revision guide won’t do the work — but it will make the work far more effective. For most families targeting GL Assessment grammar schools, CGP GL Complete Revision & Practice is the strongest all-round starting point, supplemented by Schofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic for daily fluency building and Bond Assessment Papers for final-stage timed practice. Children in CEM areas should switch to the CGP CEM edition as their primary guide. Independent school applicants should look to Galore Park.

What unites all the best preparation, regardless of which books you use? Consistency. Fifteen focused minutes per day, six days a week, for twelve months, using the right materials — that is what moves children from “might scrape through” to “comfortably prepared.” The books are tools. How regularly and thoughtfully they’re used is what actually determines outcomes.

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