The Essex CSSE 11-Plus Exam: Preparation Advice
The Essex (CSSE) 11+ papers are some of the more traditional entrance exams tests used by grammar schools. In many ways they are similar to 11-plus tests often set in the independent sector. The questions are varied and sometimes challenging: in other words, the admissions process gives children the opportunity to show their skills and to be creative.
If a child prepares well for the Essex 11-plus, they will have consolidated their most important skills and knowledge, and be in a strong position to make a success of their first year at secondary school.
In this post I’ll take you through the most important areas which your child will need to cover for effective CSSE preparation. These are relevant to all 11-plus exams, but with a special Essex focus!
First of all, it might be useful to include some background about the CSSE (The Consortium Of Selective Schools In Essex) and its admissions process.
The CSSE schools are King Edward VI Grammar School, Colchester County High School for Girls, Colchester Royal Grammar School, Southend High School for Girls, Southend High School for Boys, Westcliff High School for Girls, Westcliff High School for Boys, St. Bernard’s High School for Girls, St. Thomas More High School and Shoeburyness High School.
Applications for the CSSE exams need to be received by mid July. You can do this online at www.csse.org.uk.
You also need to apply on your local authority’s secondary school application form. Check with them for the relevant cut-off dates.
Exams are in mid September. There are papers for English and maths. The English paper includes some verbal reasoning (VR).
Results are sent out in October.
I’ll begin by discussing the things to focus on when preparing for the English test, then discuss reasoning and maths.
1. Develop a clear understanding of basic grammar
This probably isn’t the most important item in this list, but it’s one of the easiest to deal with.
The Essex English exam often asks candidates to find adjectives or verbs in a text, for example. Make sure that your child is able to identify nouns (and proper nouns), verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns.
They should also practise the correct use of punctuation: especially full stops, commas, apostrophes, question marks and quotation marks.
2. Learn to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary (and learn some new words)
A distinctive feature of the CSSE English test is that it often includes a difficult text (also see point 3 below), which may include advanced grammatical structures and old-fashioned vocabulary.
Authors in recent years have included Saki and Laurie Lee.
This does not mean that your child needs to know every word in English! Instead, they need to become comfortable when reading words they haven’t seen before, or whose meaning they can’t exactly pin down.
The best way to help them practise this skill is by reading with them and asking them about difficult words as they arise. Without using a dictionary, can they reach a sensible best guess by covering the word and working out what idea best fits in the gap; by breaking the word into parts and looking for clues; by thinking of similar words which they know; and so on?
It’s also a good idea to develop vocabulary actively.
I’m quite sceptical of vocabulary-training books. In my view, the best approach is for your child to write down new words they come across when reading, then practise using them in their own writing.
This way they will really get to know a word and develop a sense of how it might be useful – as well as learning to recognise it.
3. Become a nuanced reader
The Essex/CSSE examiners like to see how children deal with texts including humour, irony, and things which are not quite as they seem.
For example, can your child cope with situations where a character says one thing but means another?
Rather like in point 2, the best way to help your child with this is to talk to them. Can they identify and explain these moments in their own reading? When somebody in real life uses irony or sarcasm, can your child explain what the person really meant and why they spoke in that way?
Finally, they should experiment with these ideas in their own creative and story writing, in order to understand them from a writer’s point of view.
4. Work on comprehension skills and become familiar with different question types
Learning to work out exactly what is intended by an 11+ question is more of a science than an art: it involves a range of techniques which are not obvious, but which most children can learn.
They need to become familiar with breaking a question down into its parts, isolating the relevant information in the passage, interpreting the number of marks available, and writing in a clear, well-evidenced way.
This video shows how you can use my resources to develop these skills. I recommend watching it with the sound on. You can also choose to view it in fullscreen mode.
There’s more information about my resources on the 11 Plus Lifeline page.
5. Learn to write in an interesting and thoughtful way
The CSSE includes a kind of very concise creative writing question which is quite unusual at 11-plus. Children have six or seven sentences to describe or explain a topic in detail, showing originality and descriptive skill.
There are too many skills involved in effective descriptive writing for me to discuss the topic thoroughly in this post.
However, a few skills, such as the use of strong, specific verbs (“ambled” instead of “walked”, for example), and imaginative use of the five senses, can make an enormous difference. This is another area covered in a lot of detail by 11 Plus Lifeline (discussed in point 11) – and also in this article.
It’s also a focus of the free videos mentioned in point 10.
6. Practise verbal reasoning
Verbal reasoning (or ‘applied reasoning’, as the Essex exam calls it) shouldn’t be scary: it’s no more than a formal term for ‘word puzzles’.
The best approach is simply to practise: not in bulk, but steadily, over time. The resources offered here are likely to cover everything, and explain how to complete every kind of question.
The important thing is to think about strategies. The advice in point 2 for dealing with unfamiliar words is important here.
Also, children should be careful not to waste time on a difficult verbal reasoning question. It’s best to put it to one side and come back to it later.
7. Develop a solid understanding of the Key Stage 2 maths syllabus
The CSSE exam doesn’t push the limits of primary school knowledge, as some independent school 11+ tests do. It focuses on the core content of the syllabus.
Make sure that your child is familiar with all the core concepts they have been taught: in particular, they should be confident using (and converting numbers between) fractions, decimals and percentages, and they should be able to interpret a range of graphical formats such as bar charts, pie charts and Venn diagrams.
8. Get used to turning wordy maths questions into clear working
A lot of children find ‘word problems’ confusing.
They need to get used to noticing that “of” means “times” and “out of” means divide; that “8 children in a class of ten” means “eight tenths”; and so on.
Above all else, they need to develop the habit of starting to write working by jotting down what they do know, even when parts of the question are not yet clear to them.
As explained in RSL Educational’s Free 11 Plus Videos (see point 10), there are some simple things which you can do to help them out.
9. Work on exam skills (including timing)
Timing is best practised close to the exam, when everything else is secure.
It’s very hard to learn maths or English and learn to work quickly at the same time.
As with other exam skills, such as learning which questions to leave for later, how to deal with questions which look unfamiliar, and so on, this is best developed by using past papers from a range of schools, or with specifically developed practice papers (see point 11).
10. Find motivating strategies
The biggest obstacle to success is often not any of the points 1-9 above: it’s a lack of confidence.
Parents tell their child that their 11-plus exam is REALLY IMPORTANT, and because of this the child feels overwhelmed: the task simply looks too great, and the risks of failure too terrifying.
What every parent wants is for their child to enjoy studying: to view it as something challenging but achievable, without worrying about it.
Much of my best advice for how to achieve this is included in the (completely free) RSL Educational 11-Plus Video Series (read on for more information). I’ve also written an article with some relevant tips, here.
If you found this post useful or have a question, please leave a comment below! I’d love to have your feedback. (Tick the “Receive email updates” box to receive an email when I reply.)
For the most comprehensive range of resources to help with preparation for the CSSE 11+ exam, you might like to try 11 Plus Lifeline (with a money-back guarantee in the first month). Every practice paper has full example solutions, with a detailed discussion and explanation for every question – like being taught by an excellent private tutor.
According to Tutorful, it’s “the gold standard for independent and grammar school 11-plus preparation”.
If you have a question about the CSSE, exam preparation, or anything else, please ask it here! I’ll help as best I can.
Hi I am diya and I am going to give the CSSE exam and I am confused of collecting evidences from the extract given and also when a question is tricky although you don’t want to miss it,what shall we do?
Hi Diya.
When a question is tricky and you think it might waste a lot of time, the best thing is to leave it and come back to it at the end of the test. This way you can give it your full attention, without worrying about the rest of the exam.
Your question about collecting evidence is a little bit vague. However, have you looked at the advice for finding and using evidence in the solutions to my free papers? This might be a good start. Of course, there is much more along these lines in 11 Plus Lifeline and in my books.
Good luck! Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with.
Very useful tips which we have bullet-pointed and discussed together, thank you.
I’m glad. I hope they help!
Hi Robert plz can u tell me which books I have to use for csse exam
R bond and cgp are also useful for csse exam?
For the CSSE you want to use a range of resources, covering written and multiple-choice style questions and some creative writing. Those books will be fine, but something a bit more challenging might also be useful.
Dare I say it, the range of resources in 11 Plus Lifeline is well matched to the various aspects of the CSSE.
Hi …is there any materials available for applied reasoning to help my child, who will seat CSSE exam this year. Thanks.
There’s lots of reasoning content in 11 Plus Lifeline, for Silver and Platinum members.
Hi,
my daughter studying year 4 now, how can I help help in learning CSSE and prepare her for exam?
That’s a very big question! Beyond what’s in this article, what do you mean?
Hi Robert,
My daughter in year 4 is preparing for 11Plus exam in essex. She needs help especially with creative writing and feedback. Do you offer any such service currently . I have seen the packages in your channel but the one that includes feedback comes in platinum category and includes other things as well .
We are looking only for creative writing resources and feedback please to fit our budget
If you just want the resources, Bronze and Silver 11 Plus Lifeline packages are (I believe) very affordably priced. Personal feedback takes a lot of my time, though, so I’m afraid that costs what it costs.
Hi, is the lifeline package (I’m looking at silver) geared towards the CSSE exam? I can only seem to find GL or CEM resources online for my child, but he will be sitting the CSSE 11+ exam and I’m told this is a slightly different format.
Will your packages be suitable?
There’s lots in it for the CSSE. Indeed, a lot of CSSE candidates use 11 Plus Lifeline, precisely because the exam is wide-ranging, and so is Lifeline.
I have made sure to include some CSSE-specific resources in the service.
Hi Robert,
I found this article about CSSE exam really useful. My daughter will go to year 5 this September and I will be focusing on Chelmsford County High School for Girls and CSSE. Could you also guide me about Chelmsford County High School for Girls its exam pattern, syllabus and how to prepare for that?
I would need to do a fair bit of separate research in order to say more than is readily available via a Google search, I’m afraid!
Hello Rob,
Excellent article! Thank you! My son will be writing his CSSE in September. He is not great in comprehension and struggles with some old classic texts. With very limited amount of time left, do you suggest focusing on practising multiple comprehension papers as opposed to reading books? It is very hard to fit in everything with just two months left. Any suggestions please? Thank you – Shilpa
Hi Shilpa!
Reading in the last couple of months probably won’t have any magical effects on his exam, but it’s good to maintain the idea that reading is a normal part of life, even if other things are competing for one’s attention. Therefore, I would keep encouraging him to read a little each day.
Indeed, it might be a pleasant escape, so long as it doesn’t feel too much like work.
With practice papers, always aim for quality of work over quantity. A small number of papers really well understood, with tricky questions repeated and the text thoroughly discussed, will be much more valuable than a huge number completed with machinegun rapidity.
Likewise, don’t make the mistake of setting all papers in exam conditions. Perhaps one paper in three might be timed. For the rest, let your son take his time to write the best answers that he can. These will tend to stick in his mind, making it much easier to produce similar answers under pressure.
Hello Rob. In your opinion, what is the marking criteria for the continuous writing tasks? Is it totally subjective and dependant on the assessor of the exam? I have been suggested use of advanced vocabulary, with more advanced adjectives/words. Would this be words which are less common? Your input would be most appreciated.
Hi Abdul. For the CSSE’s own opinion about this, see https://www.csse.org.uk/images/simplefilemanager/5a608a61d619c4.92070651/ECW%20Sample%20Mark%20Scheme.pdf !
Hi Rob,
My son is sitting the 11+ this year, Are they given warnings about times left during the English or maths exam? If so how many?
Hi Natalie. I don’t know the answer, but it will depend on the exam. I expect that this will often be the case, though.
do u have CSSE samples paper
Have a look at https://csse.org.uk/practice-material/.
Hi Robert! Thank you for the article. Do you run classes or tutoring? Which material can I buy from you to help my son with his 11+ preparations? Many thanks
Hi Magda. I don’t teach these days, but I have lots of material. 11 Plus Lifeline and my books are likely to offer a good starting point.
Hi Robert,
I looked at CSSE Practice Material English paper. But I feel like verbal reasoning is hard for me and I do not understand it. Can you suggest any good books for verbal reasoning please?
Lots of 11 Plus Publishers offer these books. I’m not sure which are best! There’s also lots of reasoning content in 11 Plus Lifeline, for Silver and Platinum members. Robert