ArielleOrganic Search & Marketing @ PipUpdated June 2026
9 min read
You can get a long way preparing for the 11+ without spending a penny, if you know which free resources are genuinely useful and which are just a sampler for a subscription. Here are the seven worth your time, ranked, with exactly what each one gives you for free and where the catch is. Checked June 2026.
The short version
Best free daily practice: Pip, unlimited adaptive questions in all four subjects, plus free printable papers and tools, no ads, no sign-up.
Best free exam-authentic papers: GL Assessment's official familiarisation materials, the only free papers from the exam board itself.
Best free community: Eleven Plus Exams, free papers plus the UK's largest 11+ parent forum.
We are Pip, so we are not neutral about our own free tier, and we have listed it first because it is genuinely the most generous on this page. Everything else is ranked and described on the merits, with the catches stated plainly. Details checked June 2026 and may change, always confirm on the provider's own site.
What "free" really means in 11+ prep
Most "free 11+ resources" fall into three honest buckets. Genuinely free tools you can rely on for real practice (the exam board's familiarisation papers, BBC Bitesize, Pip's daily app). Free samplers, a small taste designed to sell a paid plan (Bond's Try It, CGP's free tests, parts of the bigger platforms). And free PDFs, real papers you download but have to mark yourself, with no feedback loop.
All three are useful if you know which is which. The trick is to build a free stack: an exam-authentic paper source, a daily-practice engine that keeps questions coming, and a curriculum back-up for any wobbly foundations, then add a paid tool only where the free options genuinely run out. The seven below cover all of that.
At a glance
Every resource here is free to start with no payment. The last column is the honest catch.
Resource
What's free
Subjects
Format
The catch
Pip: 11+ Practice
Unlimited adaptive daily practice + printable papers + tools
All four
App + web
Mocks & Word Quest are optional Pro
GL Assessment familiarisation papers
Official familiarisation papers (~10 hours)
All four
PDF
Few papers; full booklets are paid
Eleven Plus Exams
Free paper library + forum + guides
All four
Web + PDF
Best mocks are paid
CGP free 11+ tests & papers
Free 10-minute online tests + papers
All four
Web + PDF
Taster for £60/yr; not adaptive
Bond Online ‘Try It’
Sample quizzes + one free mock
All four
Web
Small; sampler for £65/yr
PiAcademy free past papers
Free past papers with worked answers
Maths & English led
PDF
Static; premium packs upsold
BBC Bitesize KS2
Everything (KS2 curriculum)
Maths & English only
Web + app
No reasoning; teaches curriculum, not the test
1 Pip: 11+ Practice
Best free tier overallInside Pip: the Non-Verbal Reasoning skill tree with the 3D Lab (Pro), a 3D nets-and-cubes question, and the Number codes game.
What's freeUnlimited adaptive daily practice across Maths, English, VR and NVR, five question formats, instant explanations, streaks, leagues and multiple child profiles, with no ads, no sign-up and zero data collection. The Non-Verbal Reasoning is machine-verified so every figure has exactly one defensible answer, including the 3D and spatial types other free tools skip.
Also free on this sitePrintable practice papers in all four subjects with worked answer keys, Year 4 to 6 vocabulary flashcards, the grammar-school catchment checker, and the whole 11+ Info Hub of parent guides. No email wall on any of it.
If you ever want morePip Pro (optional, £59 a year, about £4.92 a month) adds full timed mock papers with marking and topic breakdowns, the Word Quest vocabulary booster, and 3D and spatial NVR. Everyday practice stays free forever.
FormatiOS and Android, plus free practice and printables in any browser
Most "free" 11+ tools are a sampler for a paid plan: a handful of questions, then a wall. Pip inverts that. The everyday engine, unlimited adaptive questions in all four subjects, is the free product, and it is built for Google Play's Designed for Families programme with no ads and nothing collected from your child. Start with a printable paper below to see the quality, then let the app carry the daily reps. It is the rare case where the free tier is genuinely the headline, not the bait.
The only free papers from the exam board itselfGL Assessment, the exam board, publishes free familiarisation papers in all four subjects.
What's freeOfficial familiarisation papers in Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, English and Maths, plus around 10 hours of free familiarisation material. These are the only practice materials written by the exam board most grammar schools actually use.
Also worth knowingFamiliarisation papers are free PDF downloads for home printing; the fuller practice-paper booklets are a separate paid product. Nothing is marked for you.
SubjectsAll four 11+ subjects, GL format
FormatPDF downloads
If your child is sitting a GL exam (most grammar regions now do), start here before paying anyone: these are the only free materials written by the exam board itself, so the question style is the real thing rather than an approximation. Print a set, sit it calmly, and you instantly learn how your child reacts to the multiple-choice layout. The catch is simply that there are not many of them, and there is no marking or feedback, so pair the familiarisation papers with a daily-practice tool that keeps the questions coming.
Best free papers plus the biggest parent communityEleven Plus Exams hosts free practice papers, regional guides and the UK's largest 11+ parent forum.
What's freeA free library of downloadable practice papers, detailed region-by-region exam guides, and the UK's largest 11+ parent forum, where families compare notes on every school and board.
Also worth knowingHolds a 5/5 Trustpilot from 260+ reviews for its shop and mock exams; the free layer is generous but the realistic mocks and bundles are paid.
SubjectsAll four, board-agnostic
FormatWeb + PDF downloads
Eleven Plus Exams is the closest thing the 11+ has to a town square. Beyond its free papers, the forum is where parents work out which schools are realistic, what last year's pass marks were, and whether their region uses GL or a consortium test, the context that turns scattered practice into a plan. Treat the free papers as a starting bank and the forum as your research library; just remember that the slickest mock exams sit behind the shop.
This is the Number codes game, one of dozens of free skills inside Pip: crack which digit stands for which letter, then earn XP for speed. Word Quest does the same for vocabulary, the biggest single lever in verbal reasoning, and every printable paper on this site is free with a worked answer key. No email, no trial countdown, no catch.
Best free online quick-testsCGP offers free online 10-minute tests and free downloadable papers alongside its famous book range.
What's freeFree online 10-minute tests and free downloadable practice papers in all four subjects, no subscription needed, from the publisher behind the best-known 11+ book range.
Also worth knowingThe free layer is a taster for the full CGP 11+ Online subscription (£60 a year); it is honest drilling, not adaptive, and there is no mock-exam service.
SubjectsAll four, GL-focused
FormatWeb + PDF
CGP's free 10-minute tests are perfect for the in-between moments, a quick burst before tea that still feels like proper practice, and the free downloadable papers cover all four subjects without a sign-up. It pairs naturally with the CGP books most families already own. What the free tier does not give you is adaptivity, marking analytics or mocks, so use it as honest short-form drilling rather than a coach that tells you what to work on next.
Best free taste of a structured platformBond's free Try It page offers sample quizzes and a free online mock, from Oxford University Press.
What's freeFree sample quizzes and a free online mock on the Try It page, from the Oxford University Press range that has anchored 11+ prep since 1964.
Also worth knowingIt is a sampler for the full Bond Online subscription (£65 a year). Useful for seeing the platform style before committing; the free portion is small.
SubjectsAll four, GL style
FormatWeb
If you want to feel what a structured, paid platform is like without spending anything, Bond's Try It page is the cleanest free sample on this list: a few quizzes and a free online mock from a name parents trust. It will not sustain weeks of practice on its own, but it answers a useful question cheaply, does my child get on with this kind of online drilling, before you decide whether Bond's full subscription is worth £65 a year.
Best free papers with worked answersPiAcademy publishes a large free hub of past papers, many with step-by-step worked solutions.
What's freeA large free hub of 11+ past papers, with many including the step-by-step worked solutions that make them useful for learning the method, not just testing it.
Also worth knowingStatic PDFs with no marking or adaptivity, and the headline premium packs are heavily upsold with perpetual was-prices, so read what is genuinely free carefully.
SubjectsMaths and English led, board-agnostic
FormatPDF downloads
For families who learn best by working through a paper with the solution beside them, PiAcademy's free past-paper hub is a quiet gem: the worked answers explain how to reach each result, which teaches the method far better than a bare mark scheme. Sit one at the kitchen table together and talk through the steps. Just keep your wits about you on pricing, the free papers are genuinely free, but the surrounding packs lean hard on discount framing.
Best free curriculum foundationBBC Bitesize offers completely free, curriculum-aligned KS2 Maths and English, the foundation the 11+ builds on.
What's freeEverything. Free KS2 Maths and English lessons, videos, activities and quizzes from the BBC, covering the school curriculum the 11+ Maths and English papers are built on top of.
Also worth knowingIt teaches the curriculum, not the exam, so there is no verbal or non-verbal reasoning here, and no 11+ multiple-choice technique. It shores up foundations rather than rehearsing test format.
SubjectsKS2 Maths & English
FormatWeb (and app)
Half of the 11+ is school Maths and English under time pressure, and if those foundations wobble, no amount of reasoning practice will fix the score. BBC Bitesize is the best free way to firm them up: properly made, totally free, and aligned to the KS2 curriculum the exam assumes. Just be clear about its limits, it does not touch verbal or non-verbal reasoning, and it teaches the topic rather than the test, so it is a foundation layer underneath your 11+ practice, not a replacement for it.
Pip generates fresh adaptive questions every day, free, with no ads and no account.
Free 11+ resources FAQ
Can you prepare for the 11+ for free?+
Largely, yes. Pair GL Assessment's free familiarisation papers (the only free materials from the exam board) with Pip's free app for unlimited daily adaptive practice and its printable papers, add Eleven Plus Exams' free library and forum, CGP's free online tests, and BBC Bitesize for the curriculum foundation. Paid tools mainly add adaptive coaching, marked mocks and school-specific data; the free stack is genuinely enough to start.
What is the best free 11+ resource?+
For daily practice, Pip's free tier is the most generous: unlimited adaptive questions in all four subjects, no ads, no sign-up, plus free printable papers and tools. For exam-authentic papers, GL Assessment's free familiarisation materials are unbeatable because they come from the exam board itself. Most families use both.
Are GL Assessment familiarisation papers free?+
Yes. GL provides around 10 hours of free familiarisation materials in PDF across all four subjects, free to download and print. The fuller practice-paper booklets are a separate paid product, but the familiarisation papers are genuinely free and straight from the exam board.
Is BBC Bitesize good for the 11+?+
It is excellent for the curriculum foundation but it is not 11+ practice. Bitesize teaches the KS2 Maths and English the exam builds on, free, but does not cover verbal or non-verbal reasoning or multiple-choice technique. Use it to firm up foundations alongside dedicated 11+ practice, not instead of it.
Do free 11+ resources have a catch?+
Often, yes: many free tiers are a small sampler designed to sell a subscription, and free PDFs are not marked or adaptive. The exceptions are Pip, whose unlimited daily practice is the free product rather than the bait, and BBC Bitesize, which is wholly free. Read each one for what it actually gives you.
