Common Entrance vs ISEB Pre-Tests: What’s the Difference?

It’s no wonder these two ISEB tests get muddled up. The names sound almost identical, and most parents just call them ‘the entrance exam.’ But they’re not two options to pick from. They’re two steps, taken at different times, on the same path into Year 9 at an independent school.

The real difference is when your child takes each one, and what each is actually for:

• ISEB Common Pre-Test: An online, adaptive screening test sat early on in Year 6 or 7. Senior schools use it to decide whether to offer a child a conditional place.
• Common Entrance (CE): Traditional written subject exams taken later in Year 8. This step confirms an offer that has usually already been made.

How the Two Tests Stack Up, Side by Side

Here’s how they compare, so you can see where each one fits in:

First up: the ISEB Common Pre-Test (Year 6 or 7)

This is an online screening test, used by most selective independent senior schools in the UK.

It adapts as your child goes along, so the questions get harder or easier depending on how they’re doing. Scores are adjusted for age, so a summer birthday doesn’t put anyone at a disadvantage. 100 is always the average, no matter when your child was born.

• It’s a shared assessment. Your child only sits it once, and the results go to every senior school you’ve applied to. No need to repeat the test for each school.
• Scores are age-standardised, so a summer-born child isn’t compared unfairly against an older classmate. Everyone gets a Standardised Age Score (SAS), where 100 is average and 142 is the maximum.
• Parents don’t see the raw result. Scores go straight to the schools, not to families.
• Around 75 to 80 senior schools use it, including some of the most selective in the country.
• Parents register directly through ISEB’s Guardian Portal, rather than the current school doing it automatically.

Schools use Pre-Test results in different ways. Some decide based on this test alone, sometimes with an interview as well. Others use it as a first filter, and only invite some children to sit more written papers later. Either way, this is the stage where a place might be offered, or not.

Next comes Common Entrance at 13+ (Year 8)

Common Entrance (CE) is the more traditional exam, set by ISEB since 1904. These days, most children take it at 13+, in Year 8. Everyone sits English, Maths and Science. Some schools ask for extra papers in subjects like languages, classics, geography, history or religious studies.

• Every child sits papers in English, Maths, and Science. That’s Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.
• Some schools also include extra subjects, like French, Spanish, German, History, Geography, Religious Studies, or even Latin and Greek.
• The senior school marks the papers your child hopes to join, using its own pass marks.

The Key Difference

Most schools that use Common Entrance don’t use it to decide whether to offer a place. That decision is usually made back in Year 6, based on the Pre-Test, interviews, and a headteacher’s reference. By the time your child sits CE in Year 8, they’ll usually already have a conditional offer. CE is the step that confirms it.

A Quick Side-by-Side Look

How it all fits together: a typical 13+ path

The whole 13+ process usually takes about three school years. Here’s what it looks like for most independent senior schools:

Preparing for the Right Stage

Because these two exams test different things, it helps to match your child’s preparation to where they are in the process:

• For the Pre-Test (Years 5–6): Focus on mental maths speed, building vocabulary, and getting used to on-screen, multiple-choice questions. It’s also worth practising Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning, as these don’t usually come up in the standard curriculum.
• For Common Entrance (Years 7–8): Focus on building strong subject knowledge, practising longer essays, and working through past papers that match the syllabus of the school you’re aiming for.

Once you know the difference, it all feels a bit less confusing. The Pre-Test opens the door. Common Entrance confirms your child can walk through it. When you know which one is next and what it’s really testing, it’s much easier to focus on what matters.