Buckinghamshire · Secondary Transfer Test maths · Live online, small groups or one to one

11 plus maths tuition in Buckinghamshire

The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test tells families something unusually precise about its maths: it is a quarter of the score. The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools, the company the county's thirteen grammar schools set up to run the test, publish the weightings in plain figures, say that every correct answer earns one raw mark, and say that the weightings reflect how much of the test each skill takes up. The maths also arrives in a particular way: inside the second paper, alongside non-verbal and spatial questions, worked strictly in order while an audio file keeps time. That is a narrower and more teachable target than "the 11 plus", and this page is about exactly that target.

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Maths only · We do not teach verbal or non-verbal reasoning · No connection with TBGS or any school

In short

In Buckinghamshire every child at a state-funded primary is entered for the Secondary Transfer Test automatically; others register. The test is two multiple-choice papers of about 45 minutes each, and The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools (TBGS) say the second one holds "non-verbal, spatial reasoning and maths skills questions". The Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS) adds three age-standardised section scores with fixed weights, verbal 50%, mathematical 25% and non-verbal 25%, and a child qualifies at 121 or above. TBGS also say the maths "does not go beyond what the national curriculum expects children to know and be able to do by the end of Year 5". For children now in Year 5, the council's timeline puts registration in May to June 2027 and the test in early September 2027. We teach that Year 5 maths, live online. A first lesson is free; groups are USD 100 a month and one to one USD 150.

Where a Bucks child begins

Three courses for the maths quarter

Pick by what happens when your child meets a sum they cannot do in their head, not by the calendar.

11 Plus Maths Prep course thumbnail

BUCKS / A

11 plus maths preparation

Year 5 number, fractions, percentages and measures, practised until they are quick and dependable.

Open the syllabus →
Mental Maths for Kids course thumbnail

BUCKS / B

Mental maths, number sense first

When a section runs to an audio clock, arithmetic done in the head is the time a child keeps for thinking.

Open the syllabus →
Elementary Maths for Grades 1-5 course thumbnail

BUCKS / C

Primary maths, Years 1 to 5

For the Year 4 child whose place value or tables are not yet solid enough to build speed on.

Open the syllabus →

The test, as published

What TBGS and the council say about the Transfer Test

Two organisations publish the facts. TBGS commissions the test on behalf of the thirteen schools; Buckinghamshire Council administers it under contract. Both were read on 26 September 2026.

The Secondary Transfer Test for September 2027 entry (sat in September 2026), from Buckinghamshire Council and TBGS
StepDateAs published
Registration1 May to 2 June 2026, 3pmOnly for children not at a state-funded Buckinghamshire primary or partner school; everyone else is entered automatically.
Practice testTuesday 8 September 2026Two short papers, not marked, giving children the test conditions and the audio instructions in advance.
Transfer TestThursday 10 September 2026Both papers on the same day, with a short gap between them.
ResultsFriday 9 October 2026The date TBGS lists for results.
The council's timeline for September 2028 entry, the cohort now in Year 5
StepWhenWho it covers
RegistrationMay to June 2027Children born 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017 who are not entered automatically.
Transfer TestEarly September 2027The first days of Year 6. The council has not yet published the exact date.
ResultsMid-October 2027Exact date to follow from the council and TBGS.

The shape of the test does not change from year to year. According to the TBGS FAQs, one paper covers comprehension, technical English and verbal reasoning; the other covers non-verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning and maths. "This is the same each year, although the questions will be different." Every question is multiple choice, and answers go on a separate answer sheet.

Timing is published two ways, and they agree once you read them together. TBGS say each paper "takes about 45 minutes", and that with the introduction and practice examples each one is administered in about an hour. The council's page rounds that to "each about 60 minutes long, with a break between".

Families near the county line should read one council sentence carefully: "Milton Keynes is not in Buckinghamshire". A child at school in Milton Keynes who is to sit the Buckinghamshire test must be registered, and the same applies to children at independent schools and schools outside the county.

Admissions are a separate matter and not ours. Which schools to name, and how each school's own admissions policy works, belong to the schools and the council. This page deals with one part of one paper: the maths.

Sources: Buckinghamshire Council, grammar schools and transfer testing, including its Secondary Transfer Test page and its timeline for 2028 entry; The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools, FAQs and The Secondary Transfer Test page. Modern Age Coders has no connection with TBGS, GL Assessment, Buckinghamshire Council or any Buckinghamshire school.

The weighting, as Year 5 maths

Twenty-five per cent, read the way a Year 5 child would read it

TBGS publish the arithmetic of the score. It happens to be the percentages topic on the Year 5 curriculum, so it doubles as a lesson.

One raw mark each

TBGS: "every correct answer will gain one raw mark". A hard maths question and an easy one are worth the same. That matters for pacing, as the next section shows.

Weights as fractions

50% is 50 parts per 100, a half. 25% is a quarter. The three weights, a half and two quarters, make one whole, which is why the STTS lands on the same kind of scale as the section scores.

Weights as share of the test

TBGS say the weightings "indicate the proportion of the test devoted to that skill". So maths is roughly a quarter of what a child answers, not a quarter squeezed into a small corner.

How a weighted total adds up: invented section scores, to show the arithmetic only
SectionWeightIllustrative section scoreContribution
Verbal50%, a half116Half of 116 = 58
Mathematical25%, a quarter130A quarter of 130 = 32.5
Non-verbal25%, a quarter122A quarter of 122 = 30.5
TotalOne whole58 + 32.5 + 30.5 = 121

The numbers in that table are ours and are there only to show how a weighted total behaves. TBGS publish the weights and the qualifying score of 121; they do not publish how raw marks become section scores, and nobody outside the test can predict a child's section scores. Read the table as a worked example, never as a target.

What the arithmetic does show is honest and useful. Each extra point on the maths section score is worth a quarter of a point on the total; each point on the verbal section is worth half. A family whose child is a natural reader and an uncertain calculator should not conclude that maths "only counts for a quarter" and can be left alone. A quarter of the test is still roughly one question in four.

We use this very calculation in lessons, with different numbers each time, because it is a clean piece of Year 5 content. The national curriculum asks Year 5 pupils to "recognise the per cent symbol (%) and understand that per cent relates to 'number of parts per 100'", and to write percentages as fractions with denominator 100 and as decimals. Half of a number, a quarter of a number, and adding the results is exactly that.

Children tend to enjoy it more than a page of percentage exercises, because the numbers are about something they have heard adults talking about. The one rule we hold to: the example is about arithmetic, and the conversation never turns into guessing a score.

Sources: TBGS FAQs on the weightings, raw marks and the STTS; the national curriculum in England, mathematics programmes of study, Year 5 fractions (including decimals and percentages). The illustrative section scores are invented.

The part families rarely hear

Worked in order, with an audio file keeping time

The Buckinghamshire paper is not a booklet a child can roam around. TBGS spell out how it runs, and it changes what practice should feel like.

What TBGS say

Asked whether children can answer in any order, TBGS answer: "No, children must work through questions in the order they appear in the test booklet following the instructions given in the audio file and in the question booklet." A child who cannot do a question is told to carry on and to go back to it "if they have time at the end of the section".

Put that together with the paper's contents and the maths looks like this: a timed section of maths questions within a paper that also asks for non-verbal and spatial reasoning, started and stopped by recorded instructions. The unmarked practice test, two papers of 25 to 30 minutes, exists partly so that children have heard the audio before the day that counts.

What that means for teaching

With one raw mark per question, a question a child is stuck on costs the same as one they could have answered in twenty seconds. The habit worth building is to notice being stuck early, move on inside the section, and come back only if the section clock allows. That is a skill, and it can be practised on ordinary Year 5 maths.

The second habit is switching. A child who has just spent several minutes on non-verbal patterns has to become a calculator again the moment the maths section starts. We run short mixed practice in which the maths begins cold, so that the first question of a section is not the one where a child wakes up.

Neither habit needs a Buckinghamshire paper, which is fortunate, because we do not have any. The skills are ordinary ones practised under a clock: read the question once, decide whether this is a now question or a later question, answer or mark it and go on. We say more about papers below.

The content ceiling

Year 5 maths, and nothing beyond it

TBGS: the maths and English content "does not go beyond what the national curriculum expects children to know and be able to do by the end of Year 5". That sentence is a syllabus.

Year 5 national curriculum content we teach for the Transfer Test, with the kind of question we write for it
Year 5 strandWhat the curriculum asksA question in our own style
Place valueRound any number up to 1,000,000 to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000Which of five numbers rounds to 250,000 to the nearest 10,000?
Primes and factorsEstablish whether a number up to 100 is prime and recall prime numbers up to 19How many numbers between 40 and 60 are prime?
MultiplicationLong multiplication for two-digit numbersA hall has 38 rows of 46 chairs. How many chairs?
PercentagesPer cent as parts per 100; percentages as fractions and decimalsWhich is larger: 35% of 80 or two fifths of 75?
MeasuresConvert between metric units; area of rectangles in cm² and m²A 3.2 m by 150 cm rug: what area in square metres?
StatisticsComplete, read and interpret information in tables, including timetablesA bus leaves at 07:48 and takes 37 minutes. When does it arrive?

Everything in the left-hand column is Year 5 in the national curriculum for England, which is what the TBGS sentence refers to. A child who has these firmly, and quickly, has the content the maths section can draw on.

The right-hand column is ours. None of it is taken from a Transfer Test paper or from the familiarisation materials, and we would not reproduce them. They are the kind of question we set: short, with one step that needs thinking about.

A Year 5 ceiling also tells families what not to buy. Year 6 algebra, formal long division and ratio as a named topic lie beyond it. Time spent on them before September of Year 6 is time not spent making Year 5 content quick.

Speed matters here because the paper is multiple choice and every mark is one mark. A child who has to work out 7 × 8 each time will reach fewer questions than a child who simply knows it, whatever else they know.

Sources: TBGS FAQs; national curriculum in England, mathematics, Year 5 programme of study (statutory requirements). Example questions are written by Modern Age Coders.

Said plainly

TBGS do not endorse tutoring. Here is where we stand.

A tuition page that left this out would be hiding the most relevant sentence the test's own organisers have published.

On their FAQ page, asked whether tutoring and coaching are required, TBGS answer no: the test "is designed to enable all children to demonstrate their academic potential without the need for coaching or excessive preparation". They add: "TBGS does not endorse tutoring for the test," and "Tutors do not see our test papers or associated materials."

We agree with the part about papers. We have never seen a Buckinghamshire paper and do not claim any knowledge of its contents beyond what TBGS and the council publish. Anyone who says otherwise deserves a sceptical question.

What we offer is narrower and, we think, defensible: a teacher who makes sure a child has the Year 5 maths the test says it is built on, is quick at it, and is calm working in order against a clock. That is ordinary good maths teaching with a deadline attached.

TBGS also suggest things families can do at home, including working through the familiarisation materials released in the summer term of Year 5, which show what the booklets and answer sheets look like. Use those. They come from the people who make the test.

The county

Thirteen schools, one test, taught from anywhere

TBGS list the thirteen member schools with a label for each. We reproduce the list only so families know which test this page is about.

The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools' member list
SchoolAs TBGS describe it
Aylesbury Grammar SchoolBoys
Aylesbury High SchoolGirls
Beaconsfield High SchoolGirls
Burnham Grammar SchoolCo-educational
Chesham Grammar SchoolCo-educational
Dr Challoner's Grammar SchoolBoys
Dr Challoner's High SchoolGirls
John Hampden Grammar SchoolBoys
Royal Grammar SchoolBoys
Royal Latin SchoolCo-educational
Sir Henry Floyd Grammar SchoolCo-educational
Sir William Borlase Grammar SchoolCo-educational
Wycombe High SchoolGirls

Every school on that list uses the same Transfer Test, so a child in Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Amersham, Marlow or Buckingham is preparing for the same maths. What differs between the schools is admissions, which each school publishes for itself.

Our lessons are live on video, so the length of the A413 does not come into it. A Tuesday evening lesson is the same lesson in Burnham as in Buckingham.

Groups are formed by level. A Buckinghamshire child learns alongside children elsewhere in the United Kingdom who are at the same stage in Year 5 maths, which is what keeps the groups small and well matched.

We have no connection with any of the thirteen schools, with TBGS or with the council, and we say so here so nobody reads the list as an endorsement.

Source: The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools, TBGS Schools, read 26 September 2026.

A year of preparation

Four stages between now and early September 2027

For a child in Year 5 this school year, the test falls in the first days of Year 6. Build from the bottom.

From dependable facts to a timed section worked in order
WhenStageHow you know it is done
Autumn of Year 51. FactsMultiplication facts to 12 × 12 and the common fraction, decimal and percentage pairs come instantly
Spring of Year 52. Year 5 methodsLong multiplication, rounding and conversions are right first time, even with awkward numbers
Summer term of Year 53. One mark eachMoves on from a stuck question without fuss, and comes back if time allows
Summer holiday4. Cold startsAnswers the first maths question of a section as accurately as the tenth

Arriving late

Starting in the summer term still helps, provided the order holds. Timed sections on shaky facts produce confident wrong answers, and those are hard to undo in a few weeks.

If the foundations are genuinely weak, the free lesson is where we will say so.

After October

The maths keeps its value whatever the result. Many children move on to maths through coding, where the percentages they practised turn into programs.

Children who liked the puzzles more than the test often try the Primary Maths Challenge and the UKMT challenges, listed on our competitions calendar.

All the courses

Maths and coding for Buckinghamshire families

Grouped by where a child is, each card leading to the full syllabus.

I

Towards the Transfer Test

Years 3 to 5

BK / 1.1

11 plus maths preparation

The Year 5 curriculum, practised for speed and accuracy.

Open the syllabus

BK / 1.2

Mental maths for kids

Facts and strategies that save seconds on every question.

Open the syllabus

BK / 1.3

Primary maths, Years 1 to 5

Place value, tables and fractions made solid first.

Open the syllabus

BK / 1.4

Abacus and mental maths

A visual route into fast calculation for younger children.

Open the syllabus
II

Into secondary

Year 6 onwards

BK / 2.1

Middle school maths mastery

Algebra and geometry for the start of Key Stage 3.

Open the syllabus

BK / 2.2

GCSE maths, foundation and higher

Taught to AQA, Edexcel and OCR specifications.

Open the syllabus

BK / 2.3

Olympiad and competition maths

Problems with no routine method, for keen mathematicians.

Open the syllabus
III

Maths meets code

Numbers you can program

BK / 3.1

Maths through coding

Percentages, primes and patterns, written as Python.

Open the syllabus

BK / 3.2

Scratch coding for kids

Block coding that trains careful, step-by-step thinking.

Open the syllabus

BK / 3.3

Python and AI for kids

A first typed language for confident primary pupils.

Open the syllabus
IV

Further on

Beyond the test year

BK / 4.1

Vedic maths and speed calculation

Shortcuts that make sense once the basics are secure.

Open the syllabus

BK / 4.2

AI and machine learning for teens

Weighted sums reappear here as the heart of a neural network.

Open the syllabus

The lessons

Short, live and early in the evening

Our teachers are in India, which is five and a half hours ahead of the UK in winter and four and a half in summer. For children of nine and ten we schedule early evenings and weekend mornings in UK time, never late at night.

After school, early evening

Before tiredness sets in, and before tea.

Saturday or Sunday morning

For families with busy weekday evenings.

Half term and holidays

Extra short sessions while school is out.

The same teacher

Week after week, so the particular slips a child makes are noticed and fixed.

A note home

What went well, what did not, and what to practise, in two or three honest sentences.

Groups of five to ten

Matched by level, so every child is stretched and nobody is lost.

Questions we write

All practice is our own. No Transfer Test or familiarisation material is copied.

One to one if needed

For a stubborn gap, or a child who works better alone.

Maths only

We do not teach verbal or non-verbal reasoning, and admissions questions go to the schools and the council.

Student work

What our students build later on

Four published projects from students at our school, all of whom were once doing Year 5 maths. There are more on the student labs page.

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A chatbot that answers mathematics and programming questions, built and deployed by a student.

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Fees

Fees

Monthly, in US dollars, as for every family outside India. No joining fee and no term contract.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

  • A real lesson, not a sales call
  • An honest view of the maths so far
  • No card needed
Book it

Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

  • Five to ten children, one level
  • One regular teacher
  • Work checked and discussed
  • Certificate on completion
Start here

One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

  • One child and one teacher
  • Planned around the child's gaps
  • Useful in the summer of Year 5
Enquire

What families say

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"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."

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"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative."

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Buckinghamshire questions

What Buckinghamshire parents ask us

Is there a separate maths paper in the Buckinghamshire test?

No. TBGS say there are two papers: one for comprehension, technical English and verbal reasoning, and one for non-verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning and maths. The maths is a section of the second paper, and all questions are multiple choice.

How much of the Secondary Transfer Test Score is maths?

A quarter. TBGS publish the weightings as verbal 50%, mathematical 25% and non-verbal 25%, and say they indicate the proportion of the test devoted to each skill. Every correct answer earns one raw mark.

What maths is on the Transfer Test?

TBGS say the maths content does not go beyond what the national curriculum expects by the end of Year 5. That means Year 5 number and place value, the four operations including long multiplication, fractions, decimals and percentages, measures, geometry and reading tables.

Can my child skip hard questions and come back?

Only within a section. TBGS say children must work through the questions in order, following the audio file, and may go back to a question they could not do if there is time at the end of the section.

When is the test for September 2028 entry?

Buckinghamshire Council's timeline for children born between 1 September 2016 and 31 August 2017 gives registration in May to June 2027, the test in early September 2027 and results in mid-October 2027. Exact dates are published by the council and TBGS.

Does my child need to be registered?

Children at a state-funded Buckinghamshire primary school are entered automatically, according to the council. Children at other schools, including schools in Milton Keynes, which the council notes is not in Buckinghamshire, must be registered in the window.

Does TBGS recommend tutoring?

No. TBGS say the test is designed so children can show their potential without coaching, that they do not endorse tutoring, and that tutors do not see their papers. We teach Year 5 maths and make no claim to know anything about the papers themselves.

Do you teach verbal or non-verbal reasoning?

No, only the maths. For the other sections, TBGS's own familiarisation materials, released in the summer term of Year 5, show the format.

What score does my child need?

TBGS publish the qualifying score as an STTS of 121 or above. We will not predict whether a child will reach it, and we do not advise on school applications.

What do lessons cost?

The first lesson is free. After that it is USD 100 a month in a group or USD 150 a month one to one, with no joining fee and no fixed term.

Also useful

More pages for Buckinghamshire families

The national 11 plus page, other selective areas, and what a keen mathematician can do next.

11 plus maths tuition

Our national page on 11 plus maths, wherever the test is set.

11 plus maths in Kent

A neighbouring county with a very different test.

UK competitions calendar

Maths challenges from primary school upwards, month by month.

Coding for UK children

The order a primary child learns programming in.

All our UK pages

Every nation, city and borough we have written about.

Choosing an online class

Questions to put to any provider, including us.

Start here

Book a free maths lesson

Tell us your child's school year and how maths is going. We teach a proper lesson, then tell you plainly what we saw and what we would do next.

Prefer to read first? Every course has its full syllabus on its course page, our method is on how we teach, and the roadmap shows what leads to what.

WhatsApp us · +91 91233 66161 · contact@modernagecoders.com

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