How many assessment days does Brighton College have?

Two, on separate visits a month or more apart. The Academic Assessment Day falls early in December of the year before joining and covers maths, English, and verbal and non-verbal reasoning. The Interview and Activities Day follows in January, with two short interviews and group activities.

When should we register for Brighton College?

The College recommends registering by the beginning of October, and at least a year before entry. It publishes a recommendation rather than a hard deadline, which is softer than most schools, so it is worth treating as firm.

What is on the Brighton College Academic Assessment Day?

Maths, English, and verbal and non-verbal reasoning. The College does not publish paper durations, so anyone quoting you timings for this assessment is quoting something the College has not said.

Are the Brighton College taster days part of the assessment?

No. Lower School Taster Days run in June, September and November and are visits rather than assessments. The two that count are the Academic Assessment Day in December and the Interview and Activities Day in January.

Does Brighton College publish how many places it offers?

No. It publishes neither places figures nor paper durations nor a hard registration deadline. Where the College says nothing, we say nothing rather than borrowing a number from elsewhere.

All guides

Brighton College

Brighton College admissions guide

Brighton assesses over two separate days, not one morning: academic papers in December, interviews in January. Plus what the College does not publish.

By Richard and Freddie, who joined The Perse in 2019 and left in 2026 after Year 13 to become expert admission tutors.
Last checked 18 August 2026

Most schools do the papers and the interview in one morning. Brighton splits them across two visits a month or more apart, and the second one is the half that cannot be revised for.

This guide covers both days, the registration timing, and the things Brighton does not publish, which is a longer list than at most of the schools we cover.

Two days, not one morning

Day	When	What
Academic Assessment Day	Early December of the year before joining	Maths, English, and verbal and non-verbal reasoning
Interview and Activities Day	January	Two short interviews and group activities

The failure mode here is obvious once you see the shape: prepare hard for December, treat January as a formality, and you have prepared for half the process. The January day is the one with nothing to revise, which is exactly why it gets neglected.

There is a second, smaller confusion worth clearing up. Lower School Taster Days run in June, September and November. Those are visits. They are worth going to and nobody is marking your child. Turning up to one braced for an assessment is an avoidable bad morning.

Reasoning is where the marks are

Of the four things assessed in December, two are taught in every primary school and two are taught in none.

Maths and English your child is already doing. Verbal and non-verbal reasoning appear on no primary curriculum, which means every candidate meets them through preparation or not at all. That makes them the most reliable place to gain ground, and the part families most often discover late.

Non-verbal reasoning in particular tends to look like a puzzle book rather than schoolwork, and children who enjoy it improve quickly. It is the single highest-return thing to start early for this school.

What Brighton does not publish

This matters enough to have its own section, because it changes what you should believe about anything you read on the subject.

Brighton publishes noticeably less than the other schools we cover. Specifically, it does not publish:

paper durations for the Academic Assessment Day
the number of places available at any entry point
a hard registration deadline, as opposed to a recommendation

So if you are given a timing for the Brighton maths paper, or a places figure, or a date presented as a deadline, you are being given something the College has not said. It might be right. It is not sourced, and we would rather tell you that than pass it on.

The College also runs 12+ and 14+ entry, both handled by contacting admissions directly, and publishes no assessment format for either. We do not describe rounds we cannot describe, so those two are not covered here or on our Brighton page.

Registration

The College recommends registering by the beginning of October, and at least a year before entry.

A recommendation is softer than a deadline, and softer dates are the ones families let slide. Treat it as firm. Places at the Academic Assessment Day in December depend on being registered, and there is no upside to being late.

Every entry point we cover

Entry	Sat in	Joins	Notes
11+	Year 6	Year 7	The main route into the Lower School. Two assessment days
13+	Year 6, via the ISEB pre-test	Year 9	Then an Orientation Day in February, with places offered in early March
16+	Year 11	Year 12	The College publishes this round as a separate document each year

Note that 13+ here is screened by the ISEB pre-test in Year 6, like most senior schools, so it is not a later decision in the way the name suggests.

How to prepare

Start verbal and non-verbal reasoning early. They are assessed, they are taught nowhere, and they respond quickly. That combination does not occur often.

Prepare to a realistic range rather than a specific clock. Since the College does not publish paper durations, the useful skill is working accurately under time pressure generally, not pacing to a number somebody has guessed.

Rehearse the January day. Two short interviews plus group activities is a different kind of tiring from a morning of papers, and a child who has practised the shape of it arrives with only the content unfamiliar.

On timing: a shorter run works better here than at most schools, precisely because of the reasoning sections. Four months of focused work on verbal and non-verbal reasoning can move a score meaningfully in a way that four months of extra maths usually cannot.

Our Brighton College page has the shorter version, with both days and the unpublished list on one screen.

Common questions

How many assessment days does Brighton College have?: Two, on separate visits a month or more apart. The Academic Assessment Day falls early in December of the year before joining and covers maths, English, and verbal and non-verbal reasoning. The Interview and Activities Day follows in January, with two short interviews and group activities.
When should we register for Brighton College?: The College recommends registering by the beginning of October, and at least a year before entry. It publishes a recommendation rather than a hard deadline, which is softer than most schools, so it is worth treating as firm.
What is on the Brighton College Academic Assessment Day?: Maths, English, and verbal and non-verbal reasoning. The College does not publish paper durations, so anyone quoting you timings for this assessment is quoting something the College has not said.
Are the Brighton College taster days part of the assessment?: No. Lower School Taster Days run in June, September and November and are visits rather than assessments. The two that count are the Academic Assessment Day in December and the Interview and Activities Day in January.
Does Brighton College publish how many places it offers?: No. It publishes neither places figures nor paper durations nor a hard registration deadline. Where the College says nothing, we say nothing rather than borrowing a number from elsewhere.

Sources

Facts on this page were checked against the following on 18 August 2026. Where a school does not publish a detail, the page says so rather than filling it in from elsewhere.

Where next

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