11 Plus Maths Tuition Plymouth | Quest Maths Paper, Online

In short

Plymouth City Council says the city has three grammar schools, Devonport High School for Boys, Devonport High School for Girls and Plymouth High School for Girls, admitting by an entrance exam. The schools use Quest Assessments: an English comprehension paper and a maths paper, both multiple choice, with no verbal, non-verbal or spatial reasoning; the boys' school adds a creative writing task. In 2026 the maths paper was 40 minutes and 60 questions, in two sections. For September 2027 entry, registration ran from 27 April to 31 August 2026, English was sat on Saturday 12 September and maths on Saturday 19 September 2026. The schools say no content beyond Year 5 is assessed, and they also run an optional practice exam each July. We teach the maths, live online. A first session is free of charge; ongoing Plymouth pupils pay USD 100 monthly for a place in a small class, or USD 150 monthly for private teaching.

Plymouth starting points

Three courses for a fast maths paper

At about forty seconds a question, secure knowledge matters more than clever tricks. Choose by what slows your child down.

PLYM / 1

Plymouth 11 plus maths

Year 5 content made quick and certain for a sixty-question paper.

Open the syllabus →

PLYM / 2

Rapid recall

Facts that come without counting, so forty seconds is plenty.

Open the syllabus →

Elementary Maths for Grades 1-5 course thumbnail

PLYM / 3

Years 1 to 5, secured

For children who need earlier maths settled before speed.

Open the syllabus →

The Plymouth exam

What the schools and the council publish

Plymouth City Council points families to the schools, which publish the details. Plymouth High School for Girls' pages and Devonport High School for Girls' timeline were our main sources, read on 26 September 2026.

The Plymouth 11 plus for September 2027 entry
Step	Date	As published
Registration	27 April to noon, 31 August 2026	With PHSG or DHSG directly; DHSB has its own registration.
Practice exam (optional)	July 2026	Maths and English together; results by 17 July; not counted.
English	Saturday 12 September 2026	Quest English comprehension, no writing.
Maths	Saturday 19 September 2026	Quest maths paper.
Results	9 October (boys) and 15 October 2026 (girls)	By post for DHSB and by email for the girls' schools, according to the council.

Plymouth High School for Girls states the format plainly: "Our 11 Plus assessment is provided by Quest Assessments. Your child will sit an English paper and Maths paper." Then: "Maths: 40 minutes, 60 questions. Both papers are split into two sections." Its FAQ adds that the papers are multiple choice and that "Verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and spatial reasoning are not tested."

The FAQ also warns that "The number of questions can vary year-on-year". Sixty is the 2026 figure, not a promise for 2027.

The schools run an optional practice exam in July, before the real tests, "to familiarise themselves with the test and exam venues". Its result does not count towards anything. For a child who has never sat a formal paper, that is a genuinely useful rehearsal, and it is the schools' own.

Devonport High School for Boys adds a creative writing task and says it cannot share the Quest maths familiarisation paper. Places are allocated under Plymouth City Council's coordinated scheme and each school's published criteria; we stay out of that.

Sources: Plymouth City Council, 11 Plus and school admissions parent's guide; Plymouth High School for Girls, the 11 Plus examination process, FAQ and timeline; Devonport High School for Girls, the application process; Devonport High School for Boys, 11+ familiarisation. Modern Age Coders has no connection with any Plymouth school, Quest Assessments or the council.

A Saturday for maths

Sixty questions, forty minutes, nothing else that day

Most 11 plus tests fold maths into a paper with other subjects. Plymouth gives it a day of its own, which changes how a child should prepare.

What the numbers imply

Sixty questions in forty minutes is an average of forty seconds a question. Nobody writes a four-step problem for a forty-second slot. The questions must mostly be short and direct: one idea, one calculation, one answer to choose.

That rewards secure recall and quick recognition. A child who has to work out 8 × 7, or count squares to find a reflected point, spends their forty seconds on the mechanics. A child who simply knows does the question in fifteen and banks the rest.

What the schools asked for

The schools' note to tutors asks for "Deep comprehension of Year 5 English and Maths topics", "Confident application of skills in unfamiliar contexts" and "Development of reasoning and problem-solving abilities within the Year 5 framework for mathematics".

We read that as depth within Year 5, not breadth beyond it. So our lessons go deep into each Year 5 topic, and make the common questions on it fast, rather than straying into Year 6.

Because maths sits on its own Saturday, a child's maths is not affected by how the English went a week earlier, for better or worse. We tell children that explicitly: the maths day is a fresh start. Short practice sessions in the week between help keep it warm without adding pressure.

The lesson

Reflection and translation on a grid

The Year 5 curriculum asks children to "identify, describe and represent the position of a shape following a reflection or translation, using the appropriate language, and know that the shape has not changed". These are ideal forty-second questions.

Year 5 position and direction, with questions of our own (first-quadrant grid)
Move	Our question	Answer and the idea
Translation	The point (2, 3) moves 4 right and 1 down. Where is it now?	(6, 2): add 4 across, take 1 up
Reflection, vertical line	Reflect (4, 5) in the line x = 6.	(8, 5): 2 squares left of the line becomes 2 squares right
Reflection, horizontal line	Reflect (4, 1) in the line y = 3.	(4, 5): 2 below the line becomes 2 above
A whole shape	A square with corners (1, 1), (3, 1), (3, 3), (1, 3) moves 5 right. Where are its corners?	(6, 1), (8, 1), (8, 3), (6, 3); same size, same shape
What changes?	After a reflection, which changes: the size, the shape, or the way it faces?	Only the way it faces

The curriculum's guidance keeps Year 5 reflections in lines parallel to the axes, on a first-quadrant grid. That makes every reflection a counting job: how far is the point from the mirror line, and put it the same distance on the other side.

The trap is counting from the wrong place. Reflecting (4, 5) in x = 6, some children count six squares on from the point and write (10, 5); others leave it where it is. Asking "how far from the line?" first fixes both: two squares away, so two squares the other side.

Translations go wrong through direction words. "4 right and 1 down" changes the first coordinate by 4 and the second by 1, in that order. Children who move up instead of down land on (6, 4) instead of (6, 2), a likely wrong option on a multiple-choice paper.

The last row is the idea the curriculum insists on: the shape "has not changed". A translated or reflected shape keeps its size and angles. Knowing that lets a child reject any option where a moved square has become a rectangle.

Source: national curriculum in England, mathematics, Year 5 geometry, position and direction (statutory requirement and guidance). The questions are our own.

Our approach

Quick because secure, not quick because rushed

A forty-second average invites the wrong kind of practice. Here is what we do instead.

Depth first

Each Year 5 topic taught until a child can explain it, as the schools ask, before any speed work.

Then recognition

Short sets of one-idea questions, so a child sees at once what a question needs.

Then the clock

Timed sections that build towards the forty-minute paper, with steady accuracy as the goal.

We do not reproduce Quest material, and DHSB says it cannot share its maths familiarisation paper. Our questions are written for the Year 5 curriculum and the published format: multiple choice, two sections, around sixty questions.

The July practice exam run by the schools is the right rehearsal of the real room and papers. We encourage families to use it.

We do not teach English comprehension or the DHSB creative writing task. Families should prepare those separately.

We also do not comment on how places are allocated between the schools. The council and the schools publish those rules.

Plymouth's three schools

Three grammar schools, taught from home

Plymouth City Council names the three grammar schools. We list them only to show which exam this page covers.

The three selective schools the city council lists, and the papers each asks for
Grammar school	Papers sat
Devonport High School for Boys	Quest papers plus a creative writing task
Devonport High School for Girls	Quest English and maths papers
Plymouth High School for Girls	Quest English and maths papers

Lessons are live on video, so a child in Plympton, Plymstock, Saltash or Ivybridge is taught the same way, in groups of five to ten matched by level.

For coding in the city, see our Plymouth coding page.

The girls' schools ask families not to register at both, and to register directly on one school's website. The boys' school has its own process.

We have no connection with any of these schools, Quest Assessments or Plymouth City Council, and we do not advise on applications or places.

Sources: Plymouth City Council, 11 Plus; PHSG and DHSG timelines for 2027 entry.

Towards September 2027

Four stages to a sixty-question paper

For today's Year 5, registration should open in spring 2027 and the maths Saturday fall in September of Year 6. The schools publish exact dates.

Depth, then recognition, then speed
When	Stage	You will see
Autumn, Year 5	1. Deep number work	Explains why methods work, not just how
Winter, Year 5	2. Geometry and measures	Reflections, translations and conversions done confidently
Spring, Year 5	3. Recognition	Sees what a one-idea question needs within seconds
July practice exam and summer	4. Forty minutes	Sixty-question practice finished calmly and accurately

A later start

Recognition and speed build on depth. If time is short, we secure the most common Year 5 topics first.

At the free lesson we will say honestly what can be done.

After October

Coordinates and transformations run all the way to GCSE. Some pupils continue with maths through coding and program their own reflections.

Children who enjoyed the grids can look for geometry puzzles in the UKMT challenges on our competitions calendar.

Courses

Maths and coding for Plymouth families

Grouped by stage, each linked to its syllabus.

I

For the Plymouth 11+

Years 3 to 5

PLM / A

11 plus maths, Plymouth

Year 5 maths, deep and quick.

Open the syllabus

PLM / B

Speedy mental maths

Recall for forty-second questions.

Open the syllabus

PLM / C

Primary maths basics

Foundations before speed.

Open the syllabus

PLM / D

Abacus number work

For younger siblings.

Open the syllabus

II

Secondary

Year 6 onwards

PLM / E

Years 6 to 8 mathematics

All four quadrants and beyond.

Open the syllabus

PLM / F

GCSE maths course

Transformations to GCSE level.

Open the syllabus

PLM / G

Problem-solving club maths

Harder puzzles for keen pupils.

Open the syllabus

III

Coding

Shapes that move

PLM / H

Maths through coding

Translate and reflect shapes in Python.

Open the syllabus

PLM / I

Scratch sprites and grids

Coordinates in a visual language.

Open the syllabus

PLM / J

Python for primary pupils

The first typed language.

Open the syllabus

IV

Later

Teenagers

PLM / K

Vedic arithmetic

Speed on solid ground.

Open the syllabus

PLM / L

AI for teenagers

Geometry and data at work.

Open the syllabus

Lesson times

Fitted around a Plymouth school week

Our teachers work from India and teach live. Plymouth primary pupils get after-school or weekend-morning lessons at fixed UK times, and we move our own hours when the clocks go forward or back.

Straight after school

Before the evening fills up.

Saturday or Sunday, early

Good practice for a Saturday exam.

Summer holidays

Useful around the July practice exam.

A teacher who knows your child

The same person every week, tracking progress.

Plain-spoken updates

What is secure and what is not, in a few lines.

Classes of five to ten

Matched on level, not postcode.

Questions we write

No Quest material copied.

Individual lessons

For a gap that needs close work.

Our remit: maths

No English or writing coaching; no admissions advice.

Student work

Grids today, projects tomorrow

Our students later build and publish real things; these four started with the same coordinate grids a Year 5 child meets. Browse others on the student labs page.

AI and ML

NutriLife

An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.

by Bhavya · Open it

AI and ML

Misti

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

by Harshit · Open it

AI and ML

GuardianX

An assistant that helps a young person recognise unsafe situations online.

by Vivaan · Open it

Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

by Krish

Fees

Every family outside India pays one monthly price in US dollars. No sign-up cost; stop whenever you want.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

A proper lesson
An honest verdict
No card needed

Book it

Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

Five to ten children at one level
A regular teacher
Work reviewed in class
A certificate at the end

Start here

One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

A teacher for one child
Focused on speed and accuracy
Flexible timing

Enquire

What families say

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

Parents' Google reviews, quoted exactly.

★★★★★

"The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content."

Ria Mukherjee

Parent

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease."

Samriddha Mondal

Student

★★★★★

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

Vansh Agarwal

Student

★★★★★

"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."

Sonam Oswal

Parent of Dhairya

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation."

Sonu Goyal

Parent

★★★★★

"I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding."

Ritu Kedia

Parent

Plymouth questions

What Plymouth families ask us

What is in the Plymouth 11 plus?

Plymouth High School for Girls says children sit an English paper and a maths paper from Quest Assessments, both multiple choice. Verbal, non-verbal and spatial reasoning are not tested. DHSB adds a creative writing task.

How long is the maths paper?

In 2026 it was 40 minutes with 60 questions, in two sections. The school says the number of questions can vary from year to year.

Is maths on a separate day?

Yes. For 2027 entry, English was sat on Saturday 12 September 2026 and maths on Saturday 19 September 2026.

What maths is tested?

The schools say no content beyond Year 5 of the National Curriculum is assessed, and that the focus is on full understanding and application of Year 5 content.

Is there a practice exam?

Yes. The schools run an optional practice exam in July, with maths and English together. Its result does not count towards allocation.

When is the next Plymouth 11 plus?

Dates for 2028 entry had not been published when we checked on 26 September 2026. The PHSG FAQ says registration normally opens in mid or late April and closes at noon on 31 August.

Are there Quest maths practice papers?

DHSB says it is unable to share the Quest familiarisation maths paper. Quest publishes general guidance. We write our own questions.

Do you teach English or the DHSB writing task?

No. The English paper and the boys' school writing task fall outside our lessons, as do questions about applications and places.

Which schools use the test?

Devonport High School for Boys, Devonport High School for Girls and Plymouth High School for Girls.

What do lessons cost?

We do not charge for the trial. Continuing costs USD 100 per month in a group of five to ten, or USD 150 per month taught individually.

Coding in Plymouth, the Torbay test up the coast, and our national page.

Coding classes in Plymouth

Programming for the city's children.

11 plus maths in Torbay

Torbay's grammar schools, a short way along the coast.