There are 21 different questions type in the Gloucestershire 11+ Test. It is unlikely that all 21 types would be featured but important that your child feeling confident with tackling each of the question types. As with all parts of the Gloucestershire 11+ Test, the answers will be given as multiple choice so even if there could be multiple answers, your child will be asked to pick the only correct answer available from the choices given. We have listed each question "type" below with an example and tips to support your child with these question types.
1. Insert a Letter
The same letter must be used to begin and end each pair of letters.
Example: (for now) (win ale) Answer: k (fork, know) (wink, kale)
Tips:
If you do not see the answer immediately:
· Run through the alphabet in your head rather than picking random letters
· The second bracketed set might be easier to work out than the first
· Consider which letters may be blends
· Which letters never go next to one another in a word
· Many letters can have more than one sound, so beware of sound changes
2. Two Odd Ones Out
Example: Kid kitten horse lamb goat
Answers: horse goat
Tips:
General Knowledge: Finding the odd one out may be easier for your child if they have a good general knowledge. It will help to know what each word means and to group words together have something in common. For example, if there is a list of 5 words, your child may find that four of them are flowers or animals, or items of furniture. The other word would not be in the same category so would be the correct answer. Other categories could include looking to see if the words are verbs, adverbs, nouns, homographs, and homophones.
Capital Letters: Capital letters may help. For example, if the category is capital cities or countries then each word in that category will start with a capital letter because they are proper nouns. The odd-one-out may not have a capital letter. If all of the words have capital letters then your child will need to use their general knowledge to help them!
Narrowing it down: Sometimes your child might be able to narrow it down to one or two options. Even if they are then resorting to guessing, their chances are far better than picking at random.
There may also be two odd ones out in a selections of words. If this is the case then your child will need to find a group of 3 not 4.
Example:
Oak Forest Elm Retreat Park
Answer: Oak and Elm. The other three words are places.
3. Related Words
These questions require using an alphabet and taking steps along it. There are a variety of ways to approach these question types.
Example:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
If SQZN is the code for TRAM, what is the code for LINE?
Answer: MJOF
The questions can sometimes be written in different ways. Restructuring the word order can make these types of questions easier to answer. For example, your child may come across:
· If “Word” is to “Code” then use “Code” to find a “word”
If this is the case, your child might find it more helpful to restructure to:
· If “Word” is to “Code” then “Word” is to what “code”
Example:
PART is SDUW, what is the word for the code FRXY?
(WORD) (CODE) (CODE) (WORD?)
This can be written as:
SDUW is PART as FRXY is what word?
(CODE) (WORD) (CODE) (WORD)
Now, using the alphabet:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
If you come to the end or beginning of alphabet when counting, you simply wrap around so ‘A’ follows ‘Z’ or ‘Z’ follows ‘A’.
S to P = back 3 spaces F back 3 spaces = C
D to A = back 3 spaces R back 3 spaces = O
U to X = forward 3 spaces X forward 3 spaces = A
W to Q =back 5 spaces Y back 3 spaces = T Answer: COAT
Sometimes the letters are instead an equal distance from the middle of the alphabet:
ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
It is useful to draw a line between M and N
Example: If BOAT is YLZG, what is the code for CARS?
Answer: XZIH
4. Closest in Meaning (Synonyms)
Find the words one from each group, that are closest in meaning
Example: (habitat live save) (storm shelter arrive) Answers: habitat shelter
The key with these types of questions are for your child to know what synonyms and antonyms are! It can be easy for your child to forget which type of question they are answering so encourage them to double check the question before working out the answer!
Sometimes, there will be words that seem to go together (e.g. bucket and space) but are not synonyms or antonyms of each other. There are also words that may seem like synonyms but aren’t (e.g. design and building). A way of knowing if words are synonyms are to try substituting one word for another into a sentence (e.g. I walked through the door of a “design”).
When your child is given a list of words, it can help to start by trying to identify each kind of word (e.g. is it a noun, verb, adjective, adverb etc.). Knowing the type of word can help to identify synonyms and antonyms. It can also help to think about positive words and negative words.
For example, “courageous” is a positive word (and an adjective). If your child needed to choose a word from the list “victim, valiant, demolish, conqueror”, there are two positive words here and only one is an adjective (valiant).
Be careful! Encourage your child to think carefully about homographs (words spelt the same with different meaning such as refuse – rubbish or to decline to do something) and homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings).
5. Hidden Word
Find a four letter word hidden between two of the other words in the sentence.
Example: The big old cat was hungry Answer: gold
If your child can’t see the answer easily, they can cover with their fingers (or pencil), three, then two then one, of the letters from the first word for each of the possible answers. Looking at the multiple choice answer sheet can help.
6. Missing Word (a type of cloze question)
The word in capitals has had 3 consecutive letters removed. Complete the sentence by finding the three letter missing word
Example: The tennis player f _ d her opponent with confidence.
Answer: ACE
A key part of the missing word questions are to check spelling! It’s really important to know how to spell words with cloze questions, especially if there are double letter words like embarrass or unnecessary.
When trying to find the missing letter, it’s helpful to know letters which often go together. For example “spr”, “ing”, “oul”, “sh” and “ch” are common groupings but no words have “fb” or “cd” together.
It’s also important to remember that some letters are silent. For example, the missing letter in k_ow is no obvious unless we remember that the k is silence, giving “know” as the answer.
Your child will be able to write on the question sheet so encourage them to use the blank space to try out possible answers. Often it’s easier to see if something looks right when it’s written down.
Games such as Hangman can be really helpful for practicing these types of questions!
7. Letters for Numbers
Each letter stands for a number. Find the correct answer and the matching letter.
Example: a = 6 b = 2 c = 8 d = 10 e = 9
What is c x b – a = ?
Answer: d
These require quick recall of the arithmetic four operations. BODMAS (an acronym used in Maths to represent Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction) is NOT a part of this verbal reasoning test.
8. Move a Letter
Example: HORSE ACES
Answer: R.
For these questions, your child will be asked to move a letter to create a new word. In this example, the word could be either HOSE, RACES OR ACRES. Remember that in the 11+ test the question will be presented in a multiple choice format so your child just needs to pick the best letter out of the options provided.
9. Letter Series
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Find the pair of letters that completes the series
Example: AZ BY CX DW EV ? ANSWER: FU
In this example, the paired letters represent the position in the alphabet (e.g. 1,26; 2,25; 3,24 etc.)
10. Word Analogies – (Sometimes Named “Word Connections”)
Find the two words, one from each group of words, that best completes the sentence
Example: sparrow is to (nest feather bird) as badger is to (nocturnal river sett)
Answer: nest sett
An analogy compares two things in a particular way to show similarities. For example, we could use Cat : Kitten as a pair of words and then start a second pair with the word Fox : (cub). In this example the analogy is a baby animal.
These questions rely upon a strong vocabulary to be able to match the analogies. Your child will need to look at the first pair of words, work out the relationship between them and then match the second pair of words in the same way. It is useful to learn categories such as types of bird, flower, tree, profession, building etc
11. Number Series
Find the number that comes next in the series of numbers
Example: 3 6 9 12 ? Answer: 15
For number sequences, your child will need to work out the number pattern to find the answer. In this example, the numbers are increasing by 3, giving the answer of 15. For these we would recommend lots of practice and familiarising your child with the below “hint sheet”:
1) Always check for square numbers and cube numbers
2) Be ready to use four operations one or more times
3) Lines with larger numbers that are not primes can be a great help (i.e. 144, 132, 81)
4) Work the line from right to left if that makes it easier to “manage”
5) Seeing a “skip” is quicker than following one long pattern for some questions
6) Encourage your child to write on the paper! They can write anything above or between the numbers to help them work out the pattern
7) If the answer isn’t apparent, have they looked for prime or triangular numbers?
8) Fibonacci can be popular in these questions. It may also be Fibonacci and another operation at the same time.
Short sequences are not necessarily easier and negative numbers may be used!
12. Compound Words
Take one word from each set of words to create a new word
(early book read) (shelf skim king) Answer: bookshelf
Although these are described as compound words, sometimes the separation of words is less obvious. For example, the word ‘theme’ could become ‘the’ and ‘me’. It is useful to use the answer sheet and also be prepared for letter sounds to change as the words do. i.e. bathe = bat and he
13. Make a New Word (Using two Pairs of Words)
By looking at the letters of each word, complete the second part in the same way as the first part is completed.
Example: host (stop) pill lame ( ) note Answer: mean
These questions can become quite confusing, especially when a letter is used multiple times. In these cases, it might be worth numbering the letters as shown below.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C O R E ( R A C E) A C R E M I C E ( ? ) L U R E
RACE is 3 or 7, 5, 1 or 6, 4 or 7/8
Therefore our missing word is using the letters C or R, L, M or U, E
Answer: CLUE
14. Letter Combinations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Find the two letters that will complete the sentence correctly.
PX is to QW as TV is to ? Answer: U U
In this case match the first letter of each pair of letters followed by the second pair.
P moves forward one space to Q, therefore T should move one space to U
X moves backward one space to W, therefore V should move back one space to U
15. Applying Logic to Written Information
Blue, Pearl, Huxley, Rex and Teddy are five dogs taking part in a dog show.
Blue does 5 tricks
Pearl does 2 fewer tricks than Teddy
Teddy does one more trick than Blue
Rex does the fewest number of tricks
Huxley does 3 more tricks than Pearl.
Who does the most number of tricks in the show?
It can be useful to write out a quick table for these questions:
Huxley 7
Teddy 6
Blue 5
Pearl 4
Rex lowest number
Answer: Huxley
16. Opposite Meaning (Antonyms)
Find one word from each group to find two opposite words
X red S dull
Y bright T rust
Z calm U cyan
Answer: Y S
As with question type 4, the key with these types of questions is for your child to know what synonymns and antonyms are! It can be easy for your child to forget which type of question they are answering so encourage them to double check the question before working out the answer!
Sometimes, there will be words that seem to go together (e.g. bucket and space) but are not synonyms or antonyms of each other. When your child is given a list of words, it can help to start by trying to identify each kind of word (e.g. is it a noun, verb, adjective, adverb etc.). Knowing the type of word can help to identify synonymns and antonyms. It can also help to think about positive words and negative words.
17. Find the Sum
Example: 31 – 11 = 15 + ? Answer: 5
18. Matching Number Sets
Match the third set of numbers in the same way as the first two sets are matched
Example: (3 (12) 4) (5 (30) 6) (7 ( ? ) 9) Answer: 63
Be ready to use all four number operations – add, subtract, multiply and divide, sometimes more than once.
Tips:
· Look for relationships between the numbers
· Perhaps a number on one side of a set must be reused?
· Consider square numbers
· You may need to use a number that is not originally stated but as long as you use the operations and numbers in the same way for both sets of numbers and it works, you are correct.
Examples:
5 (14) 4 3(14 ) 8 2 ( ) 6
Add the outer numbers (5 + 4), then add the number on the left of the set. Does this work for the second set? (3+8) then add 3.
Therefore: (2+6) + 2 = 10
Example:
16 (3) 10 24 (5) 14 12 ( ) 6
(16 – 10 = 6) divide by 2 = 3
(24 – 14 = 10) divide by 2 = 5
(12 – 6 = 2) divided by 2 = 1
19. Word/Number Codes
Three of the words on the second line are codes for three of the four words on the top line. Match these codes in order to complete the questions.
Example: MICE MITE NOTE MOAN 8613 7913 7943
Find the word that matches the code 1683
Answer: TONE
Start by focusing on any numbers/letters that appear more than once. Look at the position of this number in the number codes. That number may appear as a matching letter in two or more codes.
Once your child has found a number that matches a letter, write it above or below the letter on the question paper. Your child can then continue with other numbers until they can see that only one word can possibly match each number code. This type of code may take a little longer to work out than the answers to other questions, but once you have worked out the coded words, you can probably get three of the next questions easily.
20. Complete the Word (Using three pairs of words)
Find the word that completes the third pair in the same way as the first two pairs are completed
Example: chant (cat) train (tan) ferry ( ? )
Answer: FRY
Add: In the first two cases the 1st, 3rd and 5th letters have been used.
21. Same Meaning
One word from each pair of words will go equally well with the options a – e
Example: (distance extensive) (wish desire)
a. width b. far c. dream d. long e. promise
Answer: long (d)
It is very useful to become familiar with many words with multiple meanings during preparation.
Some are below:
Chest Pupil Refuse
Express Staff Case
Charge Pine Loom
Coach Habit Pride
Cricket Bear Palm
There are many more.
[include some resources here – how about one free download, signposting to 11plus book and others we recommend?] Additional Verbal Reasoning Practice Pages from 11+ Secrets: P10, 14 and 22

Verbal Reasoning
In the Gloucestershire GL 11+ Test, Verbal Reasoning tests breadth of vocabulary, skills in verbal thinking and even a little Maths! It includes testing your child’s knowledge of analogies and logic. They will also need to be able to find patterns in letters and numbers