CEM Select Practice Tests (Cambridge Select Insight)

CEM Select is an admissions assessment used by selective UK independent schools to compare applicants on a single, consistent measure. Unlike a subject exam, it is not designed to test what a child has been taught. It targets underlying reasoning ability; vocabulary, comprehension, mental arithmetic and pattern recognition on the basis that these predict how a child will cope with an academically demanding secondary curriculum.

Because the test is delivered on screen and marked automatically, schools receive results within about 72 hours. That speed is one reason it has spread among independent schools running tight admissions timetables.

Yes , they are the same assessment. The test was created by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) at Durham University. Following CEM's closure, the assessment moved to Cambridge University Press & Assessment and was rebranded Cambridge Select Insight in April 2025.
For parents this raises one practical question: is older material still valid? It is. The rebrand changed the name and the administering organisation, not the format, the skills assessed or the question styles. Preparation built around CEM Select remains entirely appropriate for Cambridge Select Insight.
In practice you will see all three terms used interchangeably; "CEM 11+", "CEM Select" and "Cambridge Select Insight". Schools, tutors and forums have not converged on one, so when you read guidance from a school, check which name they use and assume it refers to this test.

Most candidates sit Cambridge Select Insightin Year 6, for 11+ entry into Year 7. Schools also use it at other entry points:

• 11+ entry into Year 7, the most common use
• 12+ and 13+ entry into Years 8 and 9, often as a pre-test taken a year or two before the place is taken up
• Late transfer used by some grammar school consortia for children applying outside the standard round

Sittings usually fall in the autumn term of the year before entry. Some schools invite candidates to sit the test on their own premises; others allow it to be taken at the child's current school under supervision. 

The invitation letter from the school will confirm which, along with the date and what your child should bring.

Taken one at a time, Cambridge Select Insight questions are not unusually hard. Most sit comfortably within the Key Stage 2 curriculum. The difficulty comes entirely from volume against the clock, and the test is designed that way: it separates candidates by how quickly and accurately they work, not by how much they know.

Two consequences follow, and both should shape how your child prepares:

• Children are not expected to finish. Reaching the end of every section is not the goal, and a child who assumes it is will rush and make avoidable errors. Working accurately through as many questions as possible is the winning strategy.
• There is no negative marking, so never leave a blank. A wrong answer scores exactly the same as no answer. Teach your child to make an informed guess and move on, and to spend the final ten seconds of each section filling in anything left empty.

The assessment draws from a pool of question styles across three skill areas. Not every style appears in every sitting, so preparation should cover the full range rather than a favourite few.

There is no published national pass mark for Cambridge Select Insight, and no school publishes its own threshold. Each school sets its own standard, and that standard moves every year depending on how many places are available and how strong the applicant field is. Any specific figure you find quoted online is an estimate, not official data.

What is known about how the test is scored:

• Scores are age-standardised. A child's raw score is adjusted for their age in years and months at the time of testing, so a September-born child is not advantaged over a July-born one in the same year group.
• There is no negative marking. Wrong answers are not penalised, so guessing is always better than leaving a blank.
• The test is not adaptive. Unlike the ISEB Pre-Test, questions do not get harder or easier in response to your child's answers. Everyone sees the same questions in the same order.
• Results reach schools in about 72 hours and are not released to parents. You will not see a score,  only the school's decision.
• The score is one input among several. Most schools weigh it alongside a school report, an interview and sometimes written papers, so it is rarely decisive on its own.

The practical implication is that there is no target number to aim at. The goal is to score as highly as your child comfortably can, which in a test built around speed means working accurately at pace rather than mastering harder content.

Cambridge states that the assessment is designed to be taken without coaching. That is true of the content as there is no syllabus to revise. But familiarity with the format, the interface and above all the pace is a genuine and legitimate advantage, and it is what preparation should focus on.

• Practise on a computer, not on paper.
• Train pace before content.
• Read widely, and start early.
• Build mental arithmetic fluency.
• Teach guessing as a skill.
• Use full-length timed simulations.