Expert1:1PreparationforEton

It is the online test boys sit at Eton at Stage 2 of 13+ admissions, alongside an individual interview, in the spring or summer of Year 6. Eton itself never uses the name: its admissions pages call it "an online predictive test of academic ability and potential on a computer". "the Eton List Test" is what the sector and parents have always called the same assessment. Eton publishes nothing about its length, format or content, and there are no past papers.

Registration for 13+ entry closes on 31 August at the end of Year 5, the academic year in which a boy turns 10. For entry in September 2029 that deadline is Monday 31 August 2026. Eton moved this from 30 June, so older guides give a date that no longer applies. It is a hard deadline: the only exceptions are boys applying specifically for a King's Scholarship or a Music Award, who can apply in Year 8 up to the age of 13.

In October or November of Year 6, every boy sits the ISEB Common Pre-Tests, either at his own school or at an agreed centre. They are multiple choice, cover verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics, and take about two and a half hours. Scores are standardised and age-adapted, so a boy is not penalised for a summer birthday. Eton also requests a report from the boy's head teacher covering his academic strengths, interests and character. Outcomes of Stage 1 are communicated in December.

It depends on his birthday, and on whether you are applying for significant financial aid. Eton assesses in four windows through the spring and summer of Year 6: boys for whom significant financial aid is requested in mid-january, eldest boys in late january or early february, middle band in late february or early march, youngest boys in late april or early may. Results follow in March for the first two groups, May for the third and July for the youngest, so a September-born boy hears four months before an August-born one going through the same process.

Not quite. Boys who are successful at Stage 2 are offered a Conditional Place, not a place. It is confirmed in Year 8 by passing the King's Scholarship, Common Entrance or Eton's own Entrance examinations. Common Entrance is set for boys at prep schools; boys applying from state schools sit Eton's own papers instead, so no candidate is shut out by not having access to Common Entrance. The Acceptance Fee is due by the end of March in Year 7, and house meetings happen across the first two terms of that year.

Not automatically. Eton states that King's Scholarships "do not carry any automatic fee remission". Help with fees comes from the separate, means-tested bursary process, which a scholar applies for like anyone else. About 14 are awarded a year, usually tenable for five years, and around 140 scholars are at the school at any one time. The examinations are sat in late April or early May of Year 8.

Five compulsory papers (English A, English B, Mathematics A, Science, General I), plus at least three optional papers chosen from French, Latin, Greek, Mathematics B, General II, and History, Geography and Divinity. Candidates take at least three of the optional papers, and are assessed on the compulsory papers plus their best three optional ones. A boy who already holds a Conditional Place confirms it by doing well; a boy without one who does not win a scholarship does not receive an offer, so it is a route in as well as an award.

Fees for 2026/27 are £21,891 per Half including VAT, which is about £65,673 a year across the three Halves Eton bills. Extras usually add £500 to £1,500 per Half. On financial aid, Eton budgeted £9.7 million for 2024/25, and in 2023/24 it gave 247 boys a fee reduction, of whom 99 paid no fees at all. The average award was 71% of fees, with awards running from 5% to 100%. There is no published income threshold; each application is assessed individually.

The minimum qualifying standard is six GCSEs at grade 7 or the overseas equivalent, and Eton adds that the level in practice is "likely to be significantly higher". There are only about 20 fee-paying places. Registration for 2027 entry closes on 4 October 2026, with an online cognitive test, subject-specific tests and an online interview in November and results in early December. There is no bursary support on the fee-paying route, but the Orwell Award takes up to 14 boys a year from UK state schools, and from independent schools without a sixth form where a boy is on substantial financial aid.

Earlier than for almost any other school, because the registration deadline falls at the end of Year 5 and Stage 1 follows barely a year later. Most families we work with start in Year 5, which leaves room to build the underlying English and maths before the ISEB pre-tests in the autumn of Year 6, then to work on the Stage 2 test and interview through that year. Because Eton publishes no past papers for Stage 2, preparation there is about underlying reasoning fluency and being comfortable working at speed on screen, rather than drilling a format.

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