11 Plus Maths Practice: 5 High-Yield Topics for Success
When it comes to the Medway and Kent Tests, 11 Plus Maths practice can often feel overwhelming. The curriculum covers a vast range of Primary Key Stage 2 material, but under the pressure of a timed exam, even the brightest students can stumble on the basics.
To make your revision more effective, you shouldn’t just practice everything—you should prioritise the “Heavy Hitters.” These are the topics that consistently appear year after year. Mastering these five areas will give your child the strongest possible foundation for a passing score.
1. Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages (The “Big Three”)
In almost every 11 Plus Maths practice paper, you will find questions that require converting between these three formats.
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The Challenge: Can your child quickly identify that $0.75$ is the same as $3/4$ or $75\%$?
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The Strategy: Practice “equivalent” drills. The faster a child can switch between these, the more time they save for the harder word problems at the end of the paper.
2. Multi-Step Word Problems
GL Assessment (the board for Medway) loves “real-world” scenarios. These questions aren’t just about calculation; they are about comprehension.
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The Challenge: A question might ask: “If apples cost 40p and Sarah has £5, how many can she buy and how much change will she have?” * The Strategy: Teach your child to underline the “command” words. They need to solve the division first, then the subtraction. Missing the second step is a common way to lose easy marks.
3. Properties of Shapes and Angles
Geometry is a staple of the 11+. Your child must be confident with the properties of quadrilaterals, triangles, and angles on a straight line.
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The Challenge: Finding a missing angle in a complex diagram.
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The Strategy: Memorize the “must-know” numbers: $180^{\circ}$ (straight line/triangle) and $360^{\circ}$ (full turn/quadrilateral).
4. Area, Perimeter, and Volume
These topics test a child’s ability to apply formulas correctly.
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The Challenge: Often, the exam will provide a “compound shape” (two rectangles joined together) and ask for the perimeter. Many students forget to calculate the “hidden” side lengths before adding them up.
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The Strategy: Always “fill in the blanks” on the diagram before starting the calculation.
5. Ratio and Probability
While these are “higher-level” KS2 topics, they appear frequently in the Medway Test to differentiate the top-scoring candidates.
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The Challenge: Scaling a recipe or calculating the chance of picking a specific coloured marble from a bag.
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The Strategy: Use visual aids like bar models. Seeing the ratio as “parts” of a whole makes the abstract math much easier to visualise.
How to Structure Your 11 Plus Maths Practice
Accuracy is important, but speed is the final boss of the 11+. Many students can get every question right if given two hours, but they only have 50 minutes.
At Tuition Academy Medway, we use a “timed-topic” approach. We don’t just sit a full paper every week. We spend time mastering one specific area—like long division or ratios—until the child can perform the calculation instinctively. This “fluency” is what allows them to breeze through the first half of the exam, leaving plenty of time for the complex questions at the end.
Expert Support at Tuition Academy Medway
Our qualified teachers specialise in identifying exactly where a child’s mathematical “gaps” are. Whether it’s a struggle with decimals or a lack of confidence in geometry, we provide the targeted support needed to turn weaknesses into strengths.
Is your child’s 11 Plus Maths practice hitting a wall? Book a session with Tuition Academy Medway today and let our expert tutors show them the shortcuts to success.
