Bucks vs Herts 11+: what’s actually different?

Today I was asked by long time customers of mine, and a family I’ve known for close to ten years, about exactly this. They’re at the border and looking at schools in both Herts and Bucks, so I thought it was worth writing up properly for anyone else in the same boat.

On paper the two tests look similar. In practice, they ask quite different things of your child, so here’s the honest breakdown.

The systems are different

Buckinghamshire has county-wide grammar schools, thirteen of them, with one test, the Secondary Transfer Test. If your child qualifies, they’re eligible for any of them.

Hertfordshire doesn’t have county-wide grammar schools. Instead there’s the South West Herts Schools Consortium: six partially selective schools (Watford Grammar Boys and Girls, Parmiter’s, Rickmansworth, St Clement Danes and Queens’). Partially selective means only a slice of each school’s places go to top test scorers. There are also separate music and sports routes, which catches some families by surprise, in a good way, if your child plays an instrument.

Neither approach is better or worse, they’re just built differently, and it’s worth understanding both if you’re weighing schools across the border.

What’s actually on the papers

Bucks: two papers of about 45 minutes each. Paper 1 is English and verbal reasoning, Paper 2 is maths and non-verbal reasoning, including spatial. Four disciplines, so preparation is broad.

Herts: two papers, maths and verbal reasoning. That’s it. No English comprehension paper, no non-verbal reasoning. The consortium itself says it isn’t a traditional 11+ for exactly this reason. Preparation is narrower, but you need to go deeper, because of the next difference.

Pass mark vs no pass mark

This is the big one. In Bucks, 121 is the qualifying score, roughly the top third of children who sit it. Hit 121 and you’ve qualified, every qualifier is treated the same.

In Herts there’s no pass mark. Children are ranked, and the cut-off depends on how everyone else does that year and which school you’re applying to. Recent entry scores have ranged from about 186 to 245 depending on the school. So there’s no “safe” score to aim for: the goal is simply to score as high as possible.

Registration: don’t get caught out

In Bucks, children at Bucks state primaries are entered automatically. But if you’re here in Milton Keynes, you must opt in, I bang this drum every year.

For Herts, everyone must actively register, the window runs roughly April to early June, and the consortium accepts no late registrations. None. Miss it and your child cannot sit the test that year.

What this means for prep

For Bucks: cover all four areas, including spatial reasoning, and don’t neglect English comprehension.

For Herts: skip NVR and comprehension papers entirely. Pour that time into verbal reasoning, especially vocabulary, which underpins most GL question types, and get maths to genuine mastery with plenty of timed work. Wide reading matters too; the consortium itself points parents towards it, since VR isn’t taught in schools.

Either way, the verbal reasoning section of my free Practice Hub is live now at practice.tomsandersontutoring.com, and it’s useful for both tests. And if you’re weighing up which route suits your child, get in touch, happy to talk it through.

Sources

• Buckinghamshire Council: Grammar schools and Secondary Transfer Testing
• Buckinghamshire Council: Marking the Secondary Transfer Test
• South West Herts Schools Consortium: official site
• South West Herts Schools Consortium: FAQ
• South West Herts Schools Consortium: Academic Ability Test