Preparation
Bexley Selection Test Scores Explained: What the Age-Standardised Score Means
There is no fixed pass mark for the Bexley Selection Test. Every child who sits it receives a total weighted age-standardised score, where 200 is the average and around two-thirds of children score between 170 and 230. Bexley Council and the four grammar schools then set a selective score for that year: children who reach it are deemed selective and can be considered for one of the 800 grammar school places. In 2025, 5,866 children sat the test and 2,070 were deemed selective.
How the score is built
The two test papers are marked externally, and the total score combines three areas with fixed weights: 50% verbal ability (vocabulary, English comprehension and verbal reasoning), 25% numerical reasoning (maths problems no harder than the end of Year 5) and 25% non-verbal reasoning (patterns, relationships and logical deduction). The score is age-standardised, so a child born in August is not disadvantaged against a child born in September of the same school year. The average total weighted score is set at 200, and roughly two-thirds of candidates fall between 170 and 230. One thing parents often ask for is the raw scores: Bexley Council does not hold them and cannot release them, even under a Freedom of Information request or a Subject Access Request.
The 2025 numbers
5,866 children sat the test; 2,070 were deemed selective, approximately 30% of candidates; 800 places were available across the four Bexley grammar schools (Beths, Bexley Grammar, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar, Townley); the top 180 scorers were placed in one of the highest priority groups for their preferred school. More children are deemed selective than there are places, because some selective children are offered places at schools they listed as a higher preference.
What deemed selective does and does not mean
Reaching the selective score makes your child eligible for consideration. It does not guarantee a place unless your child is among the top 180 scorers. Most places are allocated on each school’s oversubscription criteria, and home-to-school distance is the key deciding factor in most cases. If grammar school places remain unfilled after the main allocation, they go first to children who scored one mark below the selective score, then two marks below, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria. A selective result in the Kent Test, or any other area’s selection test, is not accepted for Bexley grammar schools: only the Bexley Selection Test counts.
Results day and what comes after
For the September 2026 test, results were emailed from 4pm on Friday 2 October 2026 to the address used at registration (check the junk folder). Results are shared with Bexley primary school headteachers, but not automatically with out-of-borough schools, so parents need to tell those schools themselves. If your child is not deemed selective and you believe there are grounds for a review, still include the grammar school as a preference on your secondary school application and discuss with the headteacher whether a review request should be submitted. The Headteacher Review process runs after results are published and after the secondary application deadline. The Independent Review Panel only changes selective decisions in exceptional circumstances, and its decision is final. A child can sit the test only once in Year 6. Testing in Years 7, 8 or 9 is available for children attending an all-ability secondary school; contact your preferred grammar school for details.
Where preparation fits
The score weights tell you where the marks are: half of the total comes from verbal ability, so vocabulary and comprehension carry the most weight, with numerical and non-verbal reasoning worth a quarter each. Preparation that mirrors the real test format, timed multiple-choice practice across all four assessed areas, is what moves a borderline score.
Read how the test itself works, explore our 11+ exam preparation guide and try our 11+ mock exam course.
Sources
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