Age-standardised scores (SAS) in the 11+, explained simply

If your child scored 78% on a practice paper, is that good? The honest answer is: it depends entirely on their age. Grammar schools don’t rank children on raw marks — they use an age-standardised score, or SAS. Understanding it is the single most useful thing a parent can do during 11+ preparation.

What the SAS actually measures

The SAS adjusts a raw score for a child’s exact age in years and months, then places it on a national scale with an average of 100. Because a child born in September has had nearly a year longer to develop than a child born the following August, the same raw mark is worth a different standardised score.

What counts as a pass

Most selective grammar schools look for an SAS of roughly 111 and above, though the exact threshold varies by school and by how competitive a given year is. A standardised score gives you a far more realistic picture than “70%” ever could.

• Below 100: below the national average for the child’s age
• 100: exactly average
• 111+: commonly in the range targeted by grammar schools
• 130+: among the very strongest nationally

Erudira calculates a standardised score after every mock exam, so you always know where your child genuinely stands — not just how many marks they happened to get.