7 Plus Curriculum
English
Reading
- I can read a wide variety of age appropriate texts (silently and aloud) quickly, accurately and fluently, automatically decoding words using phonics and other reading strategies
- I can read age appropriate unfamiliar words, including exception words, accurately and without undue hesitation
- I can use a dictionary to check the meaning of unfamiliar words
- I can explain the meaning of words in context
- I can skim and scan to identify ideas in a text and explain these using my own words
- I can make simple inferences, such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying my inferences with evidence
- I can predict what might happen next in a narrative
- I can recognise and demonstrate understanding of figurative language
- I can use age-appropriate, academic vocabulary: simile, metaphor, alliteration, adjective, adverb, verb, noun etc
Speaking and listening
Writing
Grammar
Language
- I can use subordination (using when, if, that, before, after, while, so, because, although) and coordination (using or, and, but) in my sentences
- I can vary my sentence starters, including starting sentences with adverbs (first, then, next, suddenly)
- I can use figurative language in my writing
- I can use expanded noun phrases to describe (for example, the blue butterfly, plain flour, the man in the moon)
- In narratives, I can describe settings and characters using a variety of vocabulary
Planning and Editing
Punctuation
Spelling and Handwriting
Structure
Interpersonal skills
Expected 18 months prior to the exam
Expected 12 months prior to the exam
Expected six months prior to the exam
Maths
Addition and Subtraction
Fractions
Measurement
- I can record and compare time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours; use vocabulary such as o’clock, am/pm, morning, afternoon, noon and midnight
- I know the number of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour, hours in a day and days in each month, year and leap year (1 resources)
- I can compare and order lengths, mass, volume/capacity and record the results using >, < and =
- I can measure the perimeter of simple 2-D shapes (1 resources)
- I can recognise and use symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p)
- I can find different combinations of coins that equal the same amounts of money
- I can solve problems in a practical context involving addition and subtraction of money in both £ and p, including giving change (1 resources)
- I can tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including using Roman numerals from I to XII, and from a 12-hour digital clock (1 resources)
- I can choose and use appropriate standard units to estimate and measure length/height in any direction (m/cm); mass (kg/g); temperature (°C); capacity (litres/ml) to the nearest appropriate unit, using rulers, scales, thermometers and measuring vessels
Multiplication and Division
Number and Place Value
Properties of Shapes
Statistics
Download the Owl Tutors 7 Plus Curriculum Tracker here:

The 7 plus is a heterogeneous collection of admission tests to various independent schools for entry into year 3 in the United Kingdom. As these tests are not standardised and every school is free to set their own exam, defining a curriculum to cover the entire 7 plus is challenging. Having said this, given the age of the applicants, the relative subject knowledge and skills that can be expected from children of this age, one can make a well-educated guess as to what a 7 plus exam will cover. This is what we have done here to assist tutors and parents that are preparing their students for the 7 plus test.
After having consistently prepared students for 7 plus exams since their rapid increase in popularity in the late noughties, feedback from our tutors, students and clients have suggested that 7 plus exams to competitive schools expect students to be operating approximately one year ahead of national averages at the time they take the exam (November to January). As such, we have distilled the expectations in English, Maths and Interpersonal skills from the United Kingdom’s National Curriculum that students are expected to be achieving by the end of year 3 to create what successful 7 plus students should be able to complete half way through year 2. We then cross-referenced this list of learning objectives with various 7 plus sample exams published on independent school websites in order to refine the list of objectives.
As a result of this exercise, the list of learning objectives below represent what we currently feel students should be able to perform in order to be successful at 7 plus. We would like to emphasise however that even by being able to demonstrate aptitude in all of these learning objectives will not provide a guarantee of success in these competitive school entrance exams. Please also note that a student may not need to show aptitude in all of these learning objectives upon sitting the test and that the learning objectives laid out below are exceptionally high expectations for a student to achieve in year 2!