October 2025 update: As the majority of parents are already likely aware, Reading School launched a completely new format for its entrance exams, beginning with the September 2025 set of exams. We held a focus group in early October 2025, inviting 14 boys to provide us with their first hand feedback, having sat the new format exams in September 2025. Our specialist examination team, which includes examiners, alongside current and ex grammar school teachers, have created five brand new sets of mock papers, numbered 'RS1' to 'RS5'. All students sitting a mock exam with us will be sitting papers which match the new format (Adventure Paper, Beacon Paper, Compass Paper and Discovery Paper).

• Adventure paper (multiple choice)

• Compass paper (multiple choice)

• Beacon paper (free response)

• Discovery paper (creativity)

Welcome to the Reading School mock entrance exam days by Brainbox Learning. With only 138 day places available each year, competition levels are naturally high - our mock exam days aim to equip boys with the confidence, resilience and knowledge needed to reach their full potential.

Our mock exam days provide boys with:

• the experience of sitting an entrance exam under timed conditions and managing their nerves, in an exam hall filled with unfamiliar faces from other schools

• a realistic opportunity to track and measure their progress and level, and increase their confidence

• fully individualised, detailed, question-by-question feedback reports, with question walkthroughs, teacher comments and links to further practice resources

We replicate as closely as possible the conditions boys will experience on the day of the real exam, from the moment they are dropped off, all the way through to pickup time. Our papers are carefully created from scratch by a team of expert 11+ teachers, with many years of experience teaching in schools, privately, and writing, marking and moderating real school exams. For each mock exam sat with us, parents will receive a fully comprehensive feedback report and presentation to look through with their child.

Please book early to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the mock exams sat by students with us are not available to buy commercially. These are bespoke papers created by the expert team at Brainbox Learning, in the style of the Reading School exams created by Future Stories. The papers are not endorsed by either Reading School or Future Stories (FSCE), who provide no official mock papers for students. Our papers are numbered ‘R1’ to ‘R5’, and our five brand new papers, starting from the May 2025 mock exam series are numbered ‘RS1’ to ‘RS5’.

National Curriculum subjects in addition to Maths and English, which will appear, include:

• History

• Science

• PE

• Geography

• Languages

• Art & Design

• Music

• Computing

• Design & Technology