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Academy11+

Free printable PDF · Christmas

12 days of 11+

A free Christmas pack to keep 11+ skills ticking over in the holidays without taking over Christmas. One page a day for twelve days: a maths challenge, a verbal reasoning or English question, a word of the day, and a festive puzzle or a short story to write. Answers for parents at the back.

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Print your pack

Choose your child’s school year. The questions and words get harder from Year 4 to Year 6.

School year

Exam-style questions and richer words, for children taking the 11+ next September.

Download the Year 5 pack (PDF)

Free: you'll be asked to make a free account (or sign in) first.

What’s in the pack

  • 12 one-page days, 20 to 30 minutes each, with a bauble to colour in for every page finished.
  • A maths challenge and a verbal reasoning or English question every day, from our checked 11+ question bank.
  • A word of the day with its meaning and an example, to use in a sentence of their own.
  • Festive puzzles and short story-writing tasks on alternate days.
  • Answers for parents at the back, with a short explanation for each question. Prints fine in black and white.

Try Day 1 now

This is the first page of the Year 5 pack, as it looks on paper.

12 days of 11+ · Year 5

Day 1

Maths challenge

Work out 13.4 - 12.85.

  1. A 26.25
  2. B 0.65
  3. C 0.55
  4. D 12.115
  5. E 0.45

Verbal reasoning

Choose one word from each group that together make a new word. The word from the first group always comes first. (match ear car) (ice box brow)

  1. A match + box
  2. B match + brow
  3. C car + brow
  4. D ear + box
  5. E ear + brow

Word of the day

flicker (verb)

to shine or burn unsteadily, getting brighter and dimmer quickly

“The candles on Lily's birthday cake flickered as everyone sang to her.”

Now use “flicker” in a sentence of your own.

Story starter: The snow globe

Gran's old snow globe starts to glow. When you give it a shake, you find yourself standing inside it, in the middle of the tiny snowy village. Write the opening of the story.

  • Start with something happening, or a sound.
  • Use your senses: what can you see, hear and feel?
  • End your opening with a question the reader wants answered.

When to do it

Start on 13 December and the last page lands on Christmas Eve. Or keep it for the twelve days after Christmas, when everyone has had enough of the telly. A page takes 20 to 30 minutes, so it fits round the festivities.

Getting the most from it

  • Take the answer pages out before you hand the pack over.
  • Mark each page together the same day, and talk through anything that went wrong.
  • Want more words? Print our free 11+ vocabulary flashcards too.