The 13+ & Common Entrance
Common Entrance is built on KS3 — so the seven subject tutors already teach what it examines. What the target adds, and what we honestly leave to specialists.
On this page
The useful fact about 13+ Common Entrance is that ISEB's own specifications are built on the KS3 National Curriculum — the same curriculum our seven subject tutors already teach, on the same 700-topic map. A child working steadily through KS3, with mistakes reviewed after every paper, is doing the substance of Common Entrance preparation. What the exam adds is a format and a date.
Like the 11+, the 13+ capability is included in PRO — nothing separate to buy.
Setting a 13+ target
On Exam prep you can set Common Entrance 13+, CASE (the 13+ academic scholarship), or a school's own 13+ entrance or scholarship papers as the target. The tutors, the weekly plan and the countdown all read it.
What the exam examines
With a 13+ target set, your Exam prep page shows a "What the exam examines" map — the same map as your Learning plan, filtered to the examined subjects only. For maths it notes the Common Entrance levels: the Core paper's strands, and what the Additional paper adds on top. It also tells you plainly if an examined subject has no tutoring seat this term, so nothing is silently missed.
The subjects we cover
Our seven tutors cover the compulsory Common Entrance papers and the most-taken options:
| Subject | The CE paper |
|---|---|
| English | Reading & Writing papers |
| Maths | Foundation / Core / Additional |
| Biology · Chemistry · Physics | Science papers |
| History | Evidence question + essay |
| Geography | OS-map paper + enquiry |
What we do not cover: Latin, Classical Greek, modern foreign languages, and Theology, Philosophy & Religion. If your child offers those papers, they need a human specialist, and we would rather send you to one than pretend.
Papers and mocks
Prep schools run Common Entrance mocks, and those mocks are the best fuel this product takes. Your child brings the mistakes to Paper Review — never the paper. We never reproduce ISEB or school papers; the tutors work structurally similar problems we generate ourselves, then your child redoes their own question. Each reviewed paper lands back on your Exam prep page, sorted by what actually went wrong.
One thing to check with your target school
Schools use Common Entrance differently — for some it confirms an offer already made, for others it still gates entry, and practice changes. We track none of your admissions standing and make no claims about it: ask your target school directly what it requires. For the fuller picture of how 13+ entry now works, see the open guide at aitutors.me/13-plus.
How exam prep works · The 11+ · The KS3 curriculum map · Learning plans