Of all the 13+ papers, Latin is the one that most reliably worries parents — and it worries most the families it affects least. If your child is at a prep school that has taught Latin since Year 5, the paper is simply another subject on the timetable. If your child is at a state primary and you are looking at 13+ entry for the first time, the word "Latin" on a senior school's curriculum page can read like a closed door.

It almost never is. This article sets out who actually takes which language papers, how they are structured, and — the part that matters most to state-primary families — what genuinely happens when a child arrives with no Latin at all.

The first thing to know: the pre-test has no languages

Most senior schools now select at 13+ using the ISEB Common Pre-Test or their own equivalent, sat in Year 6 or Year 7. Those tests cover English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. There is no Latin paper, no French paper, no language component of any kind.

That means the selection decision — the one that produces the conditional offer — is usually made before any language paper is ever sat. Common Entrance, where the language papers live, comes later, in Year 8, and for most children functions as confirmation of an offer already held rather than as fresh selection. Some schools have dropped CE altogether and replaced it with their own assessments; where that has happened, the language question shrinks further still.

So the honest framing is this: languages matter for 13+ preparation, but they are rarely where entry is won or lost.

Who takes Latin, really

Latin at 13+ is essentially a prep-school subject. Children at traditional prep schools typically begin it around Year 5 or Year 6, take it through to Year 8, and sit it at Common Entrance as one paper among many. ISEB sets CE Latin at more than one level, so a child who started later or finds it harder sits an easier paper than a child who has done four years of it — the system is built to accommodate different starting points even among prep-school pupils.

Children coming from state primaries almost never study Latin, and the senior schools know this perfectly well. Admissions offices read every application alongside the school it comes from; nobody expects a Year 6 pupil at a state primary to have declined Latin nouns. Most senior schools run beginners' Latin in Year 9 — some make it compulsory for a year, some optional — precisely because their intake arrives with such varied backgrounds.

Where Latin does carry real weight is the academic scholarship route. Scholarship papers at many senior schools include Latin, sometimes Greek, and there a strong classical background is a genuine advantage. But scholarship exams are a separate, optional path taken by a small minority of candidates — we cover them properly in our guide to 13+ scholarships. Do not let the scholarship syllabus frighten you about ordinary entry.

The French paper, and its cousins

French is the default modern language of the 13+ world. At Common Entrance it is examined across the four skills — listening, speaking, reading and writing — at a level a well-taught prep-school pupil reaches comfortably by Year 8. It is closer in spirit to a gentle foretaste of GCSE than to anything exotic.

Some prep schools offer Spanish or German instead of or alongside French, and CE accommodates this. As with Latin, the paper a child sits reflects what their school teaches; no child is examined in a language they have not studied.

For a state-primary child, the French question is milder than the Latin one but real: primary MFL provision varies enormously, and a child may arrive at 13+ preparation with little formal French. The same logic applies. The pre-test does not test it, the receiving school will know the child's background, and senior school language sets in Year 9 are usually arranged by experience. If your child will sit CE French through a prep school they join late, talk to that school — preps are practised at catching children up, because they do it every year.

What to do if a language paper is genuinely in your child's path

For most families the honest answer to "what should we do about Latin?" is nothing dramatic. But there are cases where a language paper is genuinely coming — a child joining a prep in Year 7, say, whose new school sits everyone for CE Latin at the lowest level. Then:

  • Ask the school which level and which language. The gap between CE Latin levels is large; preparation for the wrong one wastes months.
  • Little and often beats a weekly slog. Ten minutes of vocabulary most days does more for a beginner than an hour on Sundays. This is true of every subject, but languages punish cramming hardest.
  • Let the school lead. Prep schools teach to these exact papers all day long. A parent's job is mostly to protect the routine, not to supplement the syllabus.
  • Keep perspective. No senior school's ordinary 13+ decision hinges on a beginner's Latin paper. English, maths and science carry the weight — and worry spent on Latin is usually better spent understanding the papers that actually decide things.

Where we stand, honestly

A disclosure that matters for this article in particular: aitutors.me does not have a Latin tutor, and does not have a French or modern-languages tutor. Our tutors cover the KS3 core — maths, English, biology, chemistry, physics, history and geography — which maps onto the papers that carry most weight at 13+, but a family looking for help with CE Latin or French needs a human tutor or, better, their prep school's own teaching. We would rather say that plainly than imply a capability we do not have.

If the language papers are the part of 13+ that worries you, the right conversations are with your child's current school and the admissions office of the target school. Both will be more reassuring than the curriculum page was.

FAQ

Is Latin compulsory for 13+ entry to senior schools?

No. Latin is not part of the ISEB Common Pre-Test, and most senior schools do not require it for ordinary 13+ entry. It appears at Common Entrance only for children who study it, and at more than one level. Some academic scholarship papers include it, but that is a separate, optional route.

My child has never studied Latin — will that hurt their 13+ application?

For ordinary entry, almost never. Senior schools know exactly which feeder schools teach Latin and which do not, and they read applications in that light. Most run beginners' Latin sets in Year 9 for exactly this reason. If a specific target school expects prior Latin, its admissions office will say so plainly when you ask.

Which language do most children take at Common Entrance?

French is by far the most common modern language at CE, tested across listening, speaking, reading and writing. Some prep schools offer Spanish or German instead. Latin and Greek are the classical options, and are taken only by children whose schools teach them.

Should we get a Latin tutor before senior school?

Only if a specific target school has told you prior Latin is expected, which is rare for ordinary entry. Time is usually better spent on the core papers — English, maths and science — where every school looks first. A term of panicked Latin rarely changes an outcome; solid core papers regularly do.

Duke Harewood runs aitutors.me and has a daughter in Year 8. Updated 1 September 2026.