CEM 11 Plus Exams

Visuteach sells a CEM English/VR (verbal reasoning) online computer software membership package whichs helps prepare for the CEM 11 plus exams. The tests in our CEM English VR package are online only and cannot be printed out. The tests are short tests that focus on specific question types (e.g. synonyms, antonyms, cloze tests, jumbled sentences (shuffled sentences) and comprehension) rather than tests which combine different question types into longer CEM style verbal reasoning tests. This means you can study for short periods of time and can focus on specific types of question.

For additional comprehension practice, Visuteach sells 20 English comprehension papers. The papers and the answers cannot be printed out, but they can be viewed online for a period of one year. The answer sheets and English comprehension passages can be printed out. All 20 English comprehension papers cost £25 for a period of one year.

  • All 20 English comprehension papers can be bought for £25 and can be viewed online for a period of one year.
  • Each English comprehension paper contains a comprehension passage of approximately 500 words.
  • Each English comprehension paper contains 13 questions and should be completed in 13 minutes.
  • Comprehension passages are taken from classics, humorous tales, adventure stories, historical non-fiction, girls’ school stories and boys’ school stories.
  • Visuteach uses passages by Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, Jerome K. Jerome, E. Nesbit, Mark Twain, John Kendrick Bangs, Talbot Baines Reed, Frank Richard Stockton, Edgar Wallace, Theodora Wilson Wilson, R.M. Ballantyne, Dorothea Moore and Eleanor H. Porter.
  • Questions in our English comprehension test papers cover comprehension, vocabulary (e.g. synonyms, words closest in meaning), identification of parts of speech (e.g. adverbs, adjectives, nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositions) and identification of literary devices (e.g. simile, metaphor, hyperbole, oxymoron, onomatopoeia).

Demos of our CEM online software English VR (verbal reasoning) package and our English comprehension papers are shown further down this web page.

CEM (Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring) 11 plus exams are provided by the University of Durham.

CEM exams are currently used in Bexley, Birmingham, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire (Dame Alice Owen’s School), the South West Herts Schools Consortium, Reading, Slough, Wallsall, Warwickshire, Wirral, Wrekin and Wolverhampton. They are also used at The Henrietta Barnett School in Barnet and at Chelmsford County High School for Girls in Essex.

CEM exams are usually two exams (between 45 to 60 minutes in duration) containing questions on verbal reasoning, reading comprehension and literacy skills, mathematics (numerical reasoning) and non-verbal reasoning. Many of the questions are mutiple-choice, but in some areas of the country, some questions can also be in standard format (i.e. not multiple-choice and requiring a written input).

CEM 11+ exams are said to be ‘untutorable’ and ‘tutor-proof’ and no past papers are available. Analysing sample papers available from schools and local education authorities and analysing information available on internet forums, it is possible to draw the following conclusions about the English/Verbal Reasoning content of the papers:

The verbal reasoning questions are not the usual GL Assessment style verbal reasoning questions with the 21 GL Assessment question types, but are generally questions on English. They often require a good vocabulary and often test for synonyms and antonyms (i.e. words that mean the same – matching words – or words that mean the opposite – opposite words). There are also cloze tests. These tests contain sentences with words missing or letters of words removed, and the words or letters need to be filled in.

The reading comprehension questions are usually multiple-choice comprehension questions on English passages.

CEM English/VR Membership

Membership for 1 Month (30 Days) – Price £13
Membership for 6 Months (180 Days) – Price £30

500 Synonym Questions (250 multiple-choice & 250 words with missing letters)
300 Antonym Questions (words with missing letters)
410 Cloze Vocabulary Questions (150 multiple-choice cloze (i.e. missing word) questions, 100 missing letter cloze questions and 160 cloze questions where missing words are part of a short passage)
130 Word Order (Jumbled Sentence) Questions (rearrange a jumbled up sentence and create a meaningful one)
8 multiple-choice comprehension tests (each test is approximately 350 words in length, contains 8 questions and is similar to the format of the sample Bexley CEM comprehension test)

Questions are online only and cannot be printed out

20 English Comprehension Papers

All 20 English comprehension papers cost £25 for 1 year’s membership

20 papers with passages of approximately 500 words each. Each paper contains 13 questions and should be completed in 13 minutes (which includes the time needed to read the passage).

Passages taken from classics, humorous tales, adventure stories, historical non-fiction, girls’ school stories and boys’ school stories.

Questions cover comprehension, vocabulary (e.g. synonyms, words closest in meaning), identification of parts of speech (e.g. adverbs, adjectives, nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositions) and identification of literary devices (e.g. simile, metaphor, hyperbole, oxymoron, onomatopoeia).

Papers cannot be printed out; they can be viewed online for a period of one year.

Visuteach CEM English/VR Online Software Membership Package Demo

The demo below contains some synonym, antonym, cloze (missing words and missing letters) and jumbled sentence (shuffled sentence) questions.

Demo 1

The demo below contains cloze tests with missing letters in words.

Demo 2

The demo below is a timed comprehension test (with answers at the end of the test).
You can print out the passage or read it online in the demo test software itself.

Passage

Demo 3

Visuteach English Comprehension Paper Demo

Download and print out the answer sheet and the comprehension passage for the question paper by clicking on the links below:

Answer Sheet

Comprehension Passage

The question paper and the answers shown below can be displayed in full screen mode by clicking on the Full Screen icon (which has has four small white diagonal arrows) on the toolbar at the bottom of the paper or the bottom of the answers. To exit from full screen mode, you can click on the Full Screen icon or press the Esc key on your keyboard.

To scroll the paper, you can either use the scroll bars to the right and bottom of the paper, or you can use the up and down arrow icons on the toolbar, or you can just hover anywhere within the paper until you see the hand icon and then just drag the hand up or down.

For mobile users, you can use pinch and zoom to enlarge the text and use your finger to scroll.

Note that when you buy a paper, you cannot print out the paper and the answers shown below. You can only view it online for a period of 1 year.

Question Paper

Question Paper

Answers

Answers

CEM Regions, Schools & Sample Papers