| eleven-plus | |
noun | |
| (formerly in Britain) an examination taken by 11 and 12 year old students to select suitable candidates for grammar school |
eleven-plus
in England, competitive examination given between primary and secondary school at about age 11. It evolved after 1944 as a means of determining in which of the three types of secondary school-grammar, technical, or modern-a child should continue his education. Originally the eleven-plus excluded unsuccessful contenders from grammar school, which would prepare them for university entrance. After the emergence in some areas of unselective comprehensive schools during the 1950s and '60s, the importance of the eleven-plus in determining who could eventually enter universities declined. Provision was also made for pupils to transfer from secondary modern to grammar schools at the age of 13, if their progress merited such a change, or to take a further two-year course in preparation for the university matriculation examinations
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