11+ Maths in Year 4: How to Start Preparing This Year

For most children, the start of Year 4 is the right time to begin preparing for the 11+. That gives two full years before a September test in Year 6, which is enough time to build the maths properly without rushing, and without turning childhood into a string of practice papers.

If your child is in Year 4 now, this post is the plan. What the year should cover, what can wait, and a weekly routine that fits around school.

What Year 4 is for

Year 4 is a foundations year. The 11+ asks harder questions than school does, but the questions are built from the same skills: place value, the four operations, times tables, fractions and decimals. A child who is quick and accurate with those will find the 11+ topics much easier when they arrive.

At school, Year 4 covers numbers to 10,000, rounding, every times table to 12 × 12, short multiplication, decimals to two places and negative numbers. Your job at home is to make those secure, then start moving through the 11+ topics in order.

What to secure first

Times tables to 12 × 12. Year 4 children sit the multiplication tables check in June, with 6 seconds per question. More importantly, every 11+ topic from fractions to ratio leans on quick tables. Five minutes a day does more than an hour at the weekend.

Place value. Knowing what each digit is worth, reading and writing large numbers, and rounding. This is the first block of the 11+ syllabus for a reason, because decimals, percentages and estimating all depend on it.

Written methods. Column addition and subtraction, grid and column multiplication and short division, done neatly and correctly every time. Speed comes later, once the method is reliable.

Reading. It is not maths, but it matters for the maths paper. Word problems are long, and a child who reads fluently has more time to think.

What can wait until Year 5

Timed practice papers, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, and full mock tests can all wait. In Year 4 they mostly measure how much of the syllabus your child has not met yet, which is not useful information and can knock their confidence.

Reasoning is usually introduced in Year 5, once the English and maths foundations are in place. Practice papers become useful later in Year 5, once most of the maths has been taught. A few areas are moving their test earlier, to July of Year 5, so check the admissions page for the schools you are considering.

A weekly routine

1. Two lessons a week. Each one teaches a single topic from the 11+ syllabus, in order. A lesson holds more questions than one sitting needs, so stop when the method has landed and finish it next time.
2. A short recap after each lesson. The next day, your child tries a few questions on the same topic from their notes, with less help. This is where the method sticks.
3. Five minutes of times tables every day. Out loud in the car, a game on the laptop, or a quick written set, as long as it happens daily.
4. One puzzle or game a week. Logic puzzles build the reasoning the 11+ rewards, and they feel like a treat rather than work.

For the daily tables, our Turbo Times Tables racing game and Learn Times Tables page are both free. For puzzles, try Squared Away or Missing Signs.

Which topics, in which order

The 11+ maths syllabus has 16 topic blocks, from place value to problem solving, and the order matters because each block leans on the ones before it. Our maths learning order tool lays out all 80 lessons in teaching order, with a check question for each, so you can see which lessons your child can skip.

The Complete 11+ Maths Course is those 80 lessons in one place. At two lessons a week it takes about 40 weeks, so a child who starts in September of Year 4 has the whole syllabus taught by the summer, with Year 5 free for reasoning, papers and revisiting weaker topics. One lesson a week works too, and still finishes well before the test.

Where to start this week

Three quick questions will tell you a lot. Ask your child what 7 × 8 is, then what 56 ÷ 7 is. Then ask them to round 4,650 to the nearest hundred. Finally, ask them to work out 236 × 24 on paper.

The answers are 56, 8, 4,700 and 5,664. If the tables are slow, start there before anything else. If rounding or the multiplication go wrong, place value and written methods are the first lessons to do. If all four are right and quick, your child is ready to move straight into the 11+ topics.

The Year 4 maths curriculum page lists everything school covers this year. If you would like a teacher to plan the two years with you, our 11+ maths tutors work with families from Year 4, or book a free consultation to talk it through.

Aadam, SHLC Tutors