Families targeting Boston Grammar School ask the same first question: what exactly should we practise? The honest answer is that good preparation is never generic — it fits the way this particular school selects. Boston Grammar admits through the Lincolnshire 11+, a GL Assessment test sat in mid-September, and everything below is built around that single fact so your child spends their time on the skills that actually decide the outcome.
About Boston Grammar School
Boston Grammar is one of England's oldest schools, founded in 1555, and today it is an academy grammar in the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire. It admits boys into the main school with a mixed sixth form, and selection is by the Lincolnshire 11+. As a long-established selective school it draws applicants from across the town and the surrounding villages, so a place is competitive and a well-prepared candidate has a real advantage.
- Location: Boston, Lincolnshire
- Intake: Boys (Mixed Sixth Form)
- Founded: 1555
- Type: Academy Grammar
- Admissions test: Lincolnshire 11+ (GL Assessment)
For registration deadlines, open-evening dates and the current year's admissions policy, always treat the school's own website as the authority: bostongrammarschool.co.uk. You can also see our full school profile for a quick-reference summary, and browse neighbouring selective schools in our grammar school directory.
How selection works at Boston Grammar School
Lincolnshire is quietly one of the larger selective areas in England, with fifteen state grammars, and most of them — Boston Grammar included — use GL Assessment papers sat in mid-September of Year 6. GL is the most learnable of the exam boards precisely because it is the most predictable: the question types are published, stable from year to year, and drawn from a fixed syllabus. The papers are multiple-choice, answered on a separate sheet, tightly timed at roughly a minute a question, and sat with no calculator.
The Lincolnshire 11+ typically assesses the four familiar skill areas: English (comprehension and spelling, punctuation and grammar), Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Scores are age-standardised, which means younger, summer-born boys receive an uplift so that no child is disadvantaged by being months younger than a classmate sitting the same paper. Exact qualifying scores vary by year and are set against the whole cohort, so we will not quote a cut-off — confirm the current standard directly with the school and the local authority rather than trusting any figure floating around online.
What to practise for this test
Because the format is GL, the winning strategy is systematic, type-by-type drilling followed by full timed papers. Work through each of the roughly twenty-one verbal-reasoning question types — codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter and number series among them — until each one is automatic. Then do the same for the non-verbal patterns: series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations and spatial folding.
- Verbal Reasoning and vocabulary: the single best predictor of both VR and comprehension marks. Build word knowledge daily and drill the question types with our free worksheet library.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning: pattern-spotting and spatial work that sits outside the normal school curriculum, so it needs deliberate practice.
- Maths: secure Key Stage 2 number, fractions, tables to 12×12 and multi-step word problems, all under time pressure.
- English: comprehension technique — reading the question first, finding evidence in the passage — plus spelling and grammar accuracy.
Start with our GL Assessment practice papers, all free, then use a first timed mock paper to expose the weakest subject and pour extra practice there. When you are close to the exam, switch to centre-specific mocks that match the real format.
A realistic preparation timeline
Preparation works best as a gentle build-up over two years rather than a last-minute sprint. Nothing here relies on invented dates — always cross-check the real registration window with the school.
- Year 4 into the summer: daily reading for pleasure and times tables to 12×12. No formal papers yet — the goal is a strong, curious reader.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice using our free worksheets, introducing one reasoning type at a time.
- Year 5 spring — register: registration for Lincolnshire opens well before the September test; check our key dates page and the school's website, and do not miss the deadline.
- Year 5 summer: one full timed mock a week, reviewing errors far more carefully than the raw score.
- Final weeks before mid-September: move to centre-specific papers, sharpen pace, and taper the workload so your child arrives fresh rather than exhausted.
On the day and after
By test morning the real work is done; the job now is to keep your son calm. A good night's sleep, a proper breakfast and arriving in good time matter more than any last cram. Remind him of the simple mechanics he has practised: answer the easy questions first, mark the answer sheet carefully in line with the question number, never leave a multiple-choice blank when time is short, and move on rather than freezing on one hard item. A child who has sat ten timed mocks at the kitchen table treats the real hall as the eleventh. Afterwards, resist the urge to interrogate him question by question — results come later, appeals and head-teacher assessment routes exist if needed, and one paper never defines a child.
Frequently asked questions
Which exam board does Boston Grammar School use?
Boston Grammar selects through the Lincolnshire 11+, which uses GL Assessment papers. GL tests are multiple-choice, tightly timed and drawn from a predictable, published set of question types.
When is the Lincolnshire 11+ sat?
The Lincolnshire test is sat in mid-September of Year 6, with registration opening months earlier. Confirm the exact dates on the school's official website, as deadlines are strict.
What subjects are tested?
Expect English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, with age-standardised scoring so summer-born boys are not disadvantaged. Practise all four, and give the reasoning papers extra attention since they fall outside normal school lessons.