The 11+ is marked in two stages. First your child gets a raw score, which is simply the number of questions answered correctly. That raw score is then converted into a standardised score that adjusts for your child's age, so younger and older children in the same year are compared fairly. Schools use the standardised score, not the raw mark, to decide who gets a place. Most papers carry no negative marking, so every question is worth a try.
- Your child gets a raw score, the number of questions answered correctly.
- That raw score is converted into a standardised score that adjusts for age.
- Most 11+ papers have no negative marking, so every question is worth attempting.
- Schools use the standardised score, not the raw mark, to compare children.
What is a raw score?
A raw score is the count of questions your child gets right. If a paper has 50 questions and your child answers 40 correctly, the raw score is 40.
On its own a raw score does not tell you much, because papers differ in length and difficulty. A 40 out of 50 and a 40 out of 80 are not the same achievement, which is exactly why the marks are processed further before any school looks at them. The length itself varies, as our guide to how long the 11+ exam is explains.
From raw score to standardised score
The raw score is converted into a standardised score, a single number on a common scale that lets schools compare every child fairly. The conversion does two important jobs.
It adjusts for your child's exact age within the school year, so a summer-born child is not penalised against an autumn-born classmate. It also places the score on a shared scale, typically running from about 69 to 141, where 100 is average. This is the heart of the system, and it is worth understanding how a standardised score works in full.
Because most 11+ papers have no negative marking, a wrong answer costs nothing more than a blank one. Teach your child to make a sensible guess on anything they cannot finish, rather than leaving it empty.
Is there negative marking?
In most 11+ exams, no. Wrong answers do not subtract marks, so leaving a question blank only throws away a chance to score.
The practical takeaway is simple: your child should attempt everything, even if the last few answers are educated guesses. Because every mark counts, timed practice that trains children to keep moving and come back to hard questions pays off. Short daily sets, like the ones Pip builds into a five-minute habit, make that pace feel natural by exam day.
Are subject scores added together?
That depends on the school. Some combine the standardised scores from each subject into one total, while others weight subjects differently, giving more importance to maths or English, for example.
The mix of papers also varies, so it is worth knowing which subjects are tested and how your chosen board packages them. The two main boards, GL and CEM, structure their papers in different ways, which can affect how a final score is built.
What schools do with the score
Once a child has a standardised score, the school compares it against its own standard. Some apply a qualifying threshold, while super-selective schools rank children and offer places from the highest scores down.
This is why the 11+ pass mark is never a fixed national number, and why a strong score still has to clear oversubscription rules before it turns into an offer.