The four FSCE papers are Adventure (multiple choice), Beacon (short written answers), Compass (multiple choice) and Discovery (a handwritten creative response). Reading School's 2027 guide names all four. Lancaster, Skipton Girls', Clitheroe and Ermysted's use only two: Adventure and Beacon, both on English and Maths. Looking for practice material? See FSCE past papers and free alternatives.
This page explains what each paper is, how your child answers it, how it is marked, and what the test makers haven't told us. Every fact comes from the official FSCE guides and school documents, and we say clearly where nothing is published.
If your child is in Year 5 now, they sit FSCE in 2027 for September 2028 entry, and Year 4 children sit in 2028. The guides below are the latest official ones, for 2027 entry, and FSCE says the format can change each year.
- Four-paper version: Adventure, Beacon, Compass and Discovery. The first three can each cover any of 11 primary subjects.
- Two-paper version: Adventure and Beacon only, on English and Maths.
- Adventure and Compass are both multiple choice. Beacon is short written answers, one digit or capital letter per box.
- Discovery is a handwritten creative task, and it is only judged if your child reaches the qualifying standard on the other papers.
- Not published: question counts for any paper, and timings for Reading and Chelmsford.
What are the FSCE papers called, and what does each one do?
FSCE names its papers after how your child answers. Subject doesn't come into it. Adventure and Compass are multiple choice, Beacon is short written answers, and Discovery is a creative response. This table comes from Reading School's 2027 familiarisation guide and the shared guide for the two-paper schools.
| Paper | How your child answers | Subjects | Used in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adventure | Multiple choice. Shade one oval. | Four-paper: any of 11 subjects. Two-paper: English and Maths. | Both versions |
| Beacon | Short written answers. One digit or one capital letter per box. | Four-paper: any of 11 subjects. Two-paper: English and Maths. | Both versions |
| Compass | Multiple choice. Shade one oval. | Any of 11 subjects. | Four-paper only |
| Discovery | A creative response, written by hand on a special answer sheet. | Creativity task, not a school subject. | Four-paper only |
The 11 subjects are Art & Design, Computing, Design & Technology, English, Geography, History, Languages, Maths, Music, Physical Education and Science. The guide says nothing on them should go beyond what children have been taught up to the end of Year 5.
What is the Adventure paper?
The Adventure paper is a multiple choice paper. Your child reads a question and shades one oval on a separate answer sheet. There is only one correct answer for each question.
- Four-paper version: questions can come from any of the 11 subjects.
- Two-paper version: questions are on English and Maths only.
- Options: the official samples mostly give four options, A to D. One English sample section gives five, A to E.
The oval must be fully shaded. A horizontal or vertical line does not count. To change an answer, put a cross through the wrong oval and shade the right one. To go back to the first answer, cross out the wrong one and write the correct letter to the right of the letters.
What is the Beacon paper?
The Beacon paper is short written answers. Instead of choosing from options, your child writes the answer into boxes on the answer sheet. It appears in both the four-paper and the two-paper versions.
- Number answers: write only one digit in each box.
- Letter answers: write only one letter in each box, clearly, in capital letters.
- Changing an answer: cross out the wrong answer and write the right one above the box.
The official samples show what this looks like. The English samples are missing-letter words, where each blank is one box. The Maths samples are all number answers from short real-life problems. The guide for Lancaster and its partner schools says marks are for answers, so working is not marked.
What is the Compass paper, and how is it different from Adventure?
The Compass paper is a second multiple choice paper, answered exactly like Adventure. FSCE's guide gives it the same description as Adventure: any of the 11 subjects, with multiple choice answer options.
The guide doesn't say how the two differ. It doesn't say which subjects sit in which paper, or whether they differ in length or difficulty. Some tutor sites describe differences, but none cites a source, so we don't repeat them. The sensible way to prepare is to treat Adventure and Compass as one skill: pick the best answer from a short set, across many subjects.
What is the Discovery paper?
The Discovery paper is the creative paper. It asks for a creative response, which your child writes by hand on a special answer sheet. FSCE calls the task Creativity.
- Planning: there is a short time to plan in the question booklet, but only the answer sheet is marked.
- What it looks for: Chelmsford County High School describes creativity as the ability to think of new and imaginative ideas, or to solve problems in original and unique ways.
- Who it is judged for: only children who reach the qualifying standard in the computer-marked papers have it judged.
- How it is judged: trained school staff compare two responses at a time and decide which is better overall. This is called comparative judgement.
- Re-marks: Chelmsford says nobody can re-mark the Creativity paper.
The length, the time allowed and the style of prompt are not published. For more, read our guide to the FSCE creativity paper and try the timed prompts in our FSCE practice questions and writing prompts.
How is the two-paper version different from the four-paper version?
The two-paper version drops Compass and Discovery and limits the subjects to English and Maths. It is used by Lancaster Girls' Grammar, Skipton Girls' High School, Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and Ermysted's Grammar School, who share one FAQ and one guide.
| Four-paper version | Two-paper version | |
|---|---|---|
| Schools | Reading School. Chelmsford County High School for Girls uses the same subjects-plus-Creativity design. | Lancaster Girls', Skipton Girls', Clitheroe Royal Grammar, Ermysted's |
| Papers | Adventure, Beacon, Compass, Discovery | Adventure, Beacon |
| Subjects | Any of 11 primary subjects | English and Maths |
| Creative task | Yes (Discovery or Creativity) | None listed in the guide |
| Order | "Might be sat in any order" | "Might be sat in any order" |
| Published timing | None for each paper | Each paper typically 45 to 60 minutes |
One point about names. Reading School's guide is the one that names all four papers. Chelmsford's admissions policy and "Why FSCE" sheet describe the same design, KS2 subjects up to Year 5 plus Creativity, but the Chelmsford documents we read don't use the paper names. Some other sites say Chelmsford sits the four named papers. We haven't seen that in a Chelmsford document, so check its familiarisation guide.
Other schools use other mixes. The Gloucestershire grammars join FSCE for 2028 entry with three papers on Saturday 3 July 2027: Adventure and Beacon on English and maths, and Compass on one school subject, with no Discovery paper listed (The Crypt School, 2028 entry information).
For the full list of schools, see which schools use FSCE.
Practising for an FSCE school? Pip gives your child adaptive English and maths practice, pitched to what they can already do.
What has FSCE published about question numbers and timings?
FSCE hasn't published how many questions are on any paper. The only published timing is for the two-paper schools. Anything else you read is a guess.
| Detail | Published? | What we know |
|---|---|---|
| Paper names and answer formats | Yes | Reading School's 2027 guide and the two-paper schools' guide |
| Subjects that may appear | Yes | 11 subjects, up to the end of Year 5 |
| Number of questions per paper | No | The sample questions are a taster, not the real length |
| Length of each paper, two-paper schools | Yes | Typically 45 to 60 minutes per paper |
| Length of each paper, Reading and Chelmsford | No | The audio recording gives the time allowed for each section on the day |
| Discovery length and prompt style | No | Short planning time, then handwritten response |
| Past or practice papers | No | FSCE says none are authorised. The school guides are the only genuine resource |
| Pass mark | No | Set by each school after the test. See pass marks and scores |
You may see "Paper 1: 45 minutes, Paper 2: 35 minutes, writing: 20 minutes" on a tutor site. We could not match that to any FSCE or school document, so we don't use it. FSCE also says the questions, subjects and content change from year to year, so even a published count would not be a promise for next year.
How are the FSCE papers marked?
Every paper except Discovery is scanned and marked by computer, then age-standardised. Discovery is judged by trained staff, and only for children who reach the qualifying standard.
- Scanning: answer sheets are read by optical mark recognition. Chelmsford says papers are double scanned and checked on different readers by different staff.
- Humans check problems: the two-paper schools' FAQ says people verify inconsistencies, amended answers and questionable responses.
- No penalty for wrong answers: the guide tells children to try every question, because marks are not lost for incorrect answers.
- Standardised scores: the scoring scale is not published. Chelmsford's eligible score for 2027 entry, the latest published, was 92 or above plus the standard in Creativity. Each school sets its own cut-off.
Because the answer sheet is scanned, neatness is part of the skill. Smudged ovals, stray lines and lower-case letters in a capital-letter box can cost marks. Our FSCE answer sheet guide goes through the sheets box by box.
What are the rules that apply to every paper?
The same test-day rules apply to every FSCE paper. A recording gives the instructions, and adult supervisors cannot read any words aloud or say whether an answer is right.
- Audio: a voice recording tells children when to open the booklet, the page and section, how to answer, an example question, the time allowed, when to start, and warnings near the end.
- Pens: black biro or ballpoint only. Frixion pens are allowed. No pencils.
- Not allowed: calculators, rulers, protractors, dictionaries, scrap paper, stopwatches and phones.
- Going back: children can recheck within the same section only.
- Breaks: there are breaks between papers where appropriate.
For the full day, see our FSCE test day guide.
- Practise the sheet, not just the questions. Print the free school guide and fill in its answer sheets with a black pen. Shading ovals fully and writing one capital per box should feel boring by test day.
- Always give an answer. There is no penalty, so a guess can only help. Do it before time runs out in each section, because your child cannot go back to an earlier section.
- Frankly, don't buy "Compass practice". The guide describes Compass exactly like Adventure, so any claim of a hidden Compass trick is a guess. Spend the time on breadth: a short fact from science, a map, a timeline.
- Speak the question out loud. The instructions arrive by audio, so practise following spoken steps. Play a timer or a short recording and ask your child to start only when told.
How can my child prepare for each paper?
The best preparation is steady, wide learning plus familiarity with the answer formats. FSCE says its test is not about tutoring, and that the school guides are the only genuine resource.
- Adventure and Compass: practise choosing the best answer from a short set across subjects. Ask your child to say why the other options are wrong.
- Beacon: practise short, exact answers: a number with the right units, or a word with every letter in the right box.
- Discovery: practise a short plan, then a finished piece of writing in a set time, by hand.
Start with the guide on your school's admissions page. Then use our free FSCE style practice papers, which are original questions and not official FSCE papers. For the big picture, read FSCE 11+ explained and the FSCE subjects guide. Pip is not affiliated with FSCE.
English and maths practice
Pip sets English and maths questions at your child's level, and every wrong answer comes with a short explanation, so the method sticks.
Frequently asked questions
What are the four FSCE papers?+
Adventure (multiple choice), Beacon (short written answers), Compass (multiple choice) and Discovery (a handwritten creative response). Reading School's 2027 guide says the first three can each cover any of 11 primary subjects, and that the papers might be sat in any order.
What is the difference between the Adventure and Compass papers?+
Both are multiple choice, both can cover any of the 11 listed subjects, and both are answered by shading one oval. FSCE's guide gives no other difference, and it doesn't say which subjects sit in which paper. Treat them as the same answer format.
Which schools use only two FSCE papers?+
Lancaster Girls' Grammar, Skipton Girls' High School, Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and Ermysted's Grammar School share a two-paper version: Adventure (English and Maths, multiple choice) and Beacon (English and Maths, short written answers). The FAQ they share says each paper typically lasts 45 to 60 minutes.
How many questions are on each FSCE paper?+
FSCE doesn't publish question counts for any paper. The sample questions in the official guides are a taster, not the real length, and the guides say the real test changes from year to year.
How long is each FSCE paper?+
The only published timing is for Lancaster, Skipton Girls', Clitheroe and Ermysted's: two papers, each typically 45 to 60 minutes. Reading School and Chelmsford County High School don't publish paper timings. Section times are given by the audio recording on the day.
Is there a penalty for wrong answers on the FSCE test?+
No. The official guide says children will not lose marks for incorrect answers, so they should try every question. They can go back to questions only within the same section.
Is the Discovery paper marked for every child?+
No. At Chelmsford County High School, the Creativity paper is only judged for children who reach the qualifying standard in the computer-marked papers. Trained school staff judge it using comparative judgement, and it can't be re-marked.
Does the two-paper version have a creative writing task?+
The guide for Lancaster, Skipton Girls', Clitheroe and Ermysted's lists only Adventure and Beacon, both English and Maths. No creativity or Discovery paper is listed. Check your school's own admissions page to be sure.
Sources: FSCE Familiarisation Guide for Children, Reading School (2027 entry); FSCE Familiarisation Guide for Children (Lancaster, Skipton Girls', Clitheroe, Ermysted's); FSCE FAQs for those schools; Chelmsford County High School admissions policy for 2027 entry, "Why FSCE?" sheet and results FAQs. Checked 15 October 2026. Always confirm details with your school.
The Pip team builds Pip, the 11+ and KS2 practice app for children in years three to six. We write these guides from real exam formats and past papers.