Queen Elizabeth's School in Barnet is one of the highest-performing state schools in England and consistently ranked among the very best grammar schools in the country. Competition for places is fierce. Around 3,000 boys sit the entrance exam each year, with just 180 places available — roughly 1 in 17 applicants are successful. A combined standardised score of around 220–235 across both papers is typically needed for an offer.

 

Let's take a closer look at what the exam involves.

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Overview

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The QE Boys exam is produced by GL Assessment and consists of two papers — English and Mathematics — sat in a single session. Each paper lasts approximately 50 minutes and is entirely multiple choice. There is no verbal reasoning, no non-verbal reasoning, and no creative writing. Every answer is recorded on a separate multiple choice answer sheet and the papers are computer marked.

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While the exam uses the GL Assessment format, make no mistake — the QE papers are significantly more demanding than a standard GL 11 Plus. The question count is higher, the time pressure is tighter, and the content is pitched at the very top of the KS2 curriculum. Preparation with generic GL papers alone is not recommended.

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The English paper

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The QE Boys English paper contains 65 multiple choice questions to be completed in around 50 minutes. That works out to roughly 46 seconds per question — an extremely fast pace that rewards confident, decisive reading.

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The paper is divided into five sections:
 

• Comprehension 1 (Q1-18)
  The pupil reads a passage and answers 18 questions about it. Questions test vocabulary in context, inference, information retrieval and understanding of literary techniques. The passages are typically drawn from classic or older literature, so familiarity with 19th-century prose is helpful.

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• Comprehension 2 (Q19–35)
  A second passage with 17 questions. The text type varies — it could be non-fiction, poetry, drama, or modern fiction. The same question skills apply, but with a different style of writing to navigate.
  
   

• Spelling (Q36–45)
  A continuous passage is broken into lines, with each line split into four word groups (A, B, C, D). Each line either contains one spelling error or is completely correct. The pupil marks which group contains the error, or selects N if the line is error-free. There are 10 questions.
  
   

• Punctuation (Q46–55)
  The same format as spelling, but testing punctuation — missing commas, apostrophe errors, incorrect speech marks, and so on. Another 10 questions.
  
   

• Sentence Completion (Q56–65)
  A short story passage with 10 blanks. For each blank, the pupil chooses the correct word from five options (A–E). This section tests grammar, tense, prepositions, conjunctions and vocabulary precision.

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The SPaG sections (spelling, punctuation and sentence completion) may look straightforward, but they move fast. Children who haven't practised the format often lose marks here simply through unfamiliarity with the answer grid.

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Make sure to use the multiple choice answer sheet when practising — our answer sheets replicate the format used in the real exam.

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The Mathematics paper

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The Mathematics paper contains 55 multiple choice questions to be completed in around 50 minutes. That gives roughly 55 seconds per question — slightly more generous than English, but still demanding.
 

Unlike the English paper, Mathematics has no separate sections. Questions run continuously from Q1 to Q55 and broadly increase in difficulty, starting with accessible place value and arithmetic questions and building through to multi-step reasoning, compound area problems and reverse-engineering puzzles.
 

All content is drawn from the KS2 curriculum, but the QE paper pushes to the very top of what Year 5 and 6 pupils are expected to know. Topics include fractions, decimals and percentages; perimeter, area and volume; negative numbers; coordinates and transformations; angles in shapes and at a point; ratio and proportion; bar charts, pie charts, pictograms and data tables; sequences; Roman numerals; and multi-step word problems.

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Many questions include diagrams — bar charts, pie charts, coordinate grids, tally charts, number lines and 3D shapes all appear regularly. Children need to be comfortable reading information from visual sources under time pressure.

The key challenge is pace. With 55 questions in 50 minutes, there is no time to get stuck. Children who can recognise a question type quickly, apply the right method, and move on will do best. Our papers are designed to build exactly this kind of exam fluency.
 

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