CEM to GL: What Changed for Birmingham's 11+ Exam

CEM to GL: What Changed for Birmingham's 11+ Exam

If you sat the 11+ (or prepped an older child for it) before 2023, the exam your younger child now faces isn’t the same one. CEM stopped producing 11+ entrance exam papers in 2023, and Birmingham’s grammar schools — the King Edward VI Foundation and its partner schools — moved to GL Assessment for 2023 entry onward. If you’re prepping from an older sibling’s experience, materials, or a tutor who hasn’t updated their approach, this is the gap worth closing first.

What hasn’t changed

  • The subjects tested: English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning.
  • The multiple-choice, separate-answer-sheet format.
  • Which schools are involved.

What has changed

  • The test provider and question style. GL Assessment’s question types differ from CEM’s — CEM was known for dense vocabulary and fast-paced mixed-format questions; GL’s Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning papers lean more on classic pattern/code-type questions (letter codes representing shape, shading, size, direction).
  • Non-Verbal Reasoning now explicitly includes Spatial Reasoning as part of the same paper — a distinguishing feature of this region’s test.
  • Scoring weighting: 50% English & Verbal Reasoning, 25% Non-Verbal Reasoning, 25% Maths — worth knowing if your child is strong in one area, since it isn’t an even split across four subjects.
  • Timing: two papers, each roughly 50–60 minutes.

Key dates for 2027 entry

  • Registration closes: 4pm, Friday 26 June 2026
  • Session allocation confirmed: by end of July 2026
  • Test date: Saturday 12 September 2026

Which schools does this affect?

Every King Edward VI Foundation grammar school in Birmingham, plus their wider West Midlands partner schools, all now sit this same GL test:

Birmingham: Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, King Edward VI Aston School, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, King Edward VI Five Ways School, King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls, Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls

Warwickshire & Shropshire/Wolverhampton/Walsall consortia: Alcester Grammar School, Ashlawn School, King Edward VI School (Stratford-upon-Avon), Lawrence Sheriff School, Rugby High School, Stratford Girls’ Grammar School, Haberdashers’ Adams, Newport Girls’ High School, Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Queen Mary’s High School, Wolverhampton Girls’ High School

How we’ve adapted our teaching

Since the switch, we’ve rewritten our curriculum from the ground up to match the new GL format, updated our online learning platform to reflect these changes, and rebuilt our mock exams entirely in the new GL style — so every child preparing with us is training on the actual test they’ll sit, not the old CEM one.

Sources: King Edward VI Foundation — The Test, West Midlands Grammar Schools — Schools, ExamPapersPlus — Birmingham switches to GL Assessment.

Want realistic practice under the same conditions as the real thing? See our GL 11+ Mock Exams.

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