"11-plus examination" means an examination, now mostly phased out, taken at age 11, to select the type of secondary education – either a grammar school or a secondary modern school. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.
11-plus examination
(British) An examination, now mostly phased out, taken at age 11, to select the type of secondary education – either a grammar school or a secondary modern school.
Etymology timeline
Born ~1944 · no dated citations yet20th centurySee decade cohort →
Definitions
UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
(British) An examination, now mostly phased out, taken at age 11, to select the type of secondary education – either a grammar school or a secondary modern school.
For parents
"11-plus examination" means an examination, now mostly phased out, taken at age 11, to select the type of secondary education – either a grammar school or a secondary modern school. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.
For ESL learners
"11-plus examination" is informal English meaning an examination, now mostly phased out, taken at age 11, to select the type of secondary education – either a grammar school or a secondary modern school. It is mainly heard in British English (and Irish English). A more formal or neutral equivalent would be something like "an examination" expressed in standard vocabulary. A common mistake is to assume "11-plus examination" can replace its standard equivalent in every register; keep it for spoken or casual situations and use the formal form in writing.
Heard in the wild
“They say this is because richer parents pay for tutoring to get their children through the 11-plus examination.”
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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UK
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Semantically related
- eleven plus77%
(UK) An examination formerly administered to all students in their final year of primary education, now used only in a few counties of England and Northern Ireland.
- secondary modern68%
(schools, British) In the UK, from 1944 to the 1970s, a secondary school for children who had failed the eleven plus examination.
- secondary modern school67%
(British, somewhat, _, dated) a type of school, for pupils who had failed the 11-plus examination, that concentrated on practical and vocational rather than academic subjects.
- grammar school67%
(chiefly, _, UK) A secondary school that stresses academic over practical or vocational education, until recent times open to those pupils who had passed the 11-plus examination.
- A-level63%
A non-compulsory examination taken in the final two years of secondary education in England and Wales as a requisite for university or other tertiary education; the qualification obtained by passing such an exam.