CSSE score calculator
Turn English and maths marks out of 60 into a CSSE total score, with CSSE's own formula for 2024, 2025 or 2026 entry.
CSSE 2026 entry · English and maths, each out of 60
Enter both marks and a birth month
We use CSSE's own published formula for that year, so the answer is what those marks scored then. 303 is the lowest score any CSSE school offers a place to.
- Published score
- Your score, across the birth month
A past year’s conversion, not an official result. Each year CSSE sets new averages from that year’s papers and candidates. It does not tell you whether a school will offer a place.
CSSE 2026-entry standardisation report and published score list
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How we estimate
Scope, source, method, uncertainty, dates and what the answer can and cannot tell you.
How we estimate
Scope, source, method, uncertainty, dates and what the answer can and cannot tell you.
What it covers
The Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE) 11+: one English and one maths paper, each marked out of 60. Conversions use the formula CSSE published for 2024, 2025 and 2026 entry. Ranks compare with every score CSSE published for that year (4,981, 5,295 and 5,115 children).
Sources
- CSSE: 2024 Entry Standardisation Report (October 2023), Mean, standard deviation and age coefficient for each paper. Official.
- CSSE: 2025 Entry Standardisation Report, Mean, standard deviation and age coefficient for each paper. Official.
- CSSE: 2026 Entry Standardisation Report, Mean, standard deviation and age coefficient for each paper. Official.
- CSSE: Standardised scores from 2019 entry to 2024 entry, 2024 sheet. Official.
- CSSE: Standardised scores for 2025 entry, every candidate row. Official.
- CSSE: Standardised scores for 2026 entry, every candidate row; the file's own header says 2025Entry, but its name and the September 2025 test identify 2026 entry. Official.
- CSSE: Historical guidance sheet for 2026 entry (scores of last selective place offered, 1 March 2025), Footnote: no offer is made below a total standardised score of 303. Official.
- CSSE: Historical guidance sheet for 2025 entry, Footnote: no offer is made below a total standardised score of 303. Official.
- CSSE: CSSE information guide for 2027 entry, Page 5: key dates. Official.
- CSSE: Total number of CSSE 11+ examination candidates, 2010 to 2025 entry. Official.
Method
- Each year CSSE publishes a standardisation report with the average and spread of marks on each paper and an age allowance per day.
- Score = 1.5 x (200 + 15 x (English - average) / spread + 15 x (maths - average) / spread + days younger than 1 September x age allowance). For 2026 entry, English 40 and maths 40 for a child born on 15 May 2015 gives 346.48.
- We ask only for the birth month, so we work out the score on its first and last day. For May 2015 that is 345.95 to 347.10.
- The rank counts how many of that year's published scores were lower. 5,295 children sat for 2025 entry; a score of 330.33 had 3,896 below it and 3 level with it, so 73.58% to 73.64% scored lower.
Uncertainty and limits
- The range is only the day of birth within the month. It is not a margin of error.
- Each year's averages come from that year's papers and children, so the same marks can score several points differently from one year to the next. The tool shows all three years side by side for that reason.
- CSSE publishes the raw marks and the scores as separate lists, not matched child by child. Checked against the published lists, the formula fits the 2024 and 2025 score spreads at all 27 points tested in each year. For 2026 the check does not pass: the raw list has more children than the score list, so the two cannot be the same group, and for girls 8 of 9 points fit.
- The reports' own candidate counts differ slightly from the score lists (2024: 4,983 and 4,981; 2026: 5,113 and 5,115). Ranks use the score lists.
Dates and versions
- CSSE standardisation formula and published scores, 2024 to 2026 entry: data version 2026-09-26.1, checked 26 September 2026 (historical).
- Page last changed 26 September 2026.
What the answer means
The answer is the total those marks would have scored on a past year's CSSE papers, and how that total ranked among that year's candidates. It cannot give your child's official score for a test they have sat: the new year's averages are set from the new papers. It is not a pass mark or a chance of a place.
CSSE’s published conversion, year by year
Each year’s standardisation report gives the average and spread of marks on each paper and the age allowance per day. The score lists give every child’s total.
| Entry year | English average | English spread | Maths average | Maths spread | Points per day younger | Children | Middle score | Top 10% from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 34.99 | 7.61 | 27.30 | 13.08 | 0.0383 | 5,115 | 309.8 | 355.5 |
| 2025 | 34.36 | 7.76 | 27.49 | 11.77 | 0.0243 | 5,295 | 305.8 | 354.2 |
| 2024 | 31.46 | 7.74 | 28.34 | 11.18 | 0.0277 | 4,981 | 304.8 | 356.5 |
Questions people ask
What is a good CSSE score?
303 is the lowest total any CSSE school offers a place to. Beyond that it depends on the school and where you live: for 2025 entry the last places at King Edward VI Grammar School went at 355 inside its priority area and 372 outside, and at Southend High School for Girls at 303 inside and 321 outside. The cut-off tool shows every school and year.
How does CSSE work out the standardised score?
Each paper's mark is turned into a score where the average child scores 100 and most children are within 15 either side, an age allowance is added, and the total of the two is multiplied by 1.5. A child of average marks born on 1 September scores exactly 300.
Does a younger child get extra points?
Yes. For 2026 entry each day younger than 1 September added 0.038 points, so a child born on 31 August got about 14 more points than one born on 1 September with the same marks. For 2025 entry it was about 9 points, because the maths paper had no age allowance that year.
Can this tell me my child's score from the September 2026 test?
Not exactly. The 2027-entry conversion is set from the September 2026 papers and children, and CSSE releases results after close of business on 12 October 2026. Past years show the range the same marks have scored.
How many children sit the CSSE 11+?
CSSE published 5,295 scores for 2025 entry and 5,115 for 2026 entry. Its candidate count has risen from 3,572 for 2010 entry.
Sources
- CSSE: 2024 Entry Standardisation Report (October 2023)OfficialMean, standard deviation and age coefficient for each paper. Published 2023-10. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: 2025 Entry Standardisation ReportOfficialMean, standard deviation and age coefficient for each paper. Published 2024-10. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: 2026 Entry Standardisation ReportOfficialMean, standard deviation and age coefficient for each paper. Published 2025-10. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: Standardised scores from 2019 entry to 2024 entryOfficial2024 sheet. Published 2025-10. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: Standardised scores for 2025 entryOfficialevery candidate row. Published 2025-04. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: Standardised scores for 2026 entryOfficialevery candidate row; the file's own header says 2025Entry, but its name and the September 2025 test identify 2026 entry. Published 2026-04. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: Historical guidance sheet for 2026 entry (scores of last selective place offered, 1 March 2025)OfficialFootnote: no offer is made below a total standardised score of 303. Published 2025-10. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: Historical guidance sheet for 2025 entryOfficialFootnote: no offer is made below a total standardised score of 303. Published 2024-10. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: CSSE information guide for 2027 entryOfficialPage 5: key dates. Published 2026-03. Checked 26 September 2026.
- CSSE: Total number of CSSE 11+ examination candidates, 2010 to 2025 entryOfficialPublished 2025-04. Checked 26 September 2026.
CSSE standardisation formula and published scores, 2024 to 2026 entry: version 2026-09-26.1, First transcription from the 11+ research data, 26 September 2026.