Year 7 (ages 11 to 12)
Year 7 is the move to secondary school. Students meet new teachers and subjects, and most schools spend the first term finding out what each child already knows.
What changes
- Work is set by subject teachers, often with more homework than in primary school.
- Maths revisits fractions, percentages, ratio and basic algebra, usually in greater depth.
- English and science introduce more technical vocabulary.
Exams and tests
Most schools give short tests or end-of-year exams rather than national exams. Results are used to set groups.
Topics worth practising in Year 7
- Fractions: Add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions, and give answers in their simplest form.
- Percentages: Find a percentage of an amount, increase and decrease by a percentage, and work backwards to an original price.
- Solving equations: Solve linear equations by undoing each step, including equations with the unknown on both sides and with brackets.
- Sequences: Continue sequences, find the nth term of a linear sequence, and spot geometric and quadratic patterns.
- Averages: Find the mean, median and a missing value, including from a frequency table.
- Homophones: Choose the right word from words that sound alike, such as their, there and they’re, or affect and effect.
- Spelling: Pick the correct spelling from common misspellings, with a tip for remembering each word.
- Word classes: Say whether a word is a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction or determiner in its sentence.
- Cells: Know the parts of animal and plant cells, what each does, and how specialised cells are adapted.
- States of matter: Describe solids, liquids and gases using particles, and name the changes of state.
Tips
- Short, regular practice helps more than a long session before a test.
- Start at level 1 in each topic and let it move up.
- Keep a list of words you have misspelled and check it weekly.
Every school plans its own timetable, so topics and exam dates vary. This is a guide, not a timetable.