11+ Maths
Finding perimeter and area of rectangles, compound shapes and related geometry problems in the 11+.
Area and Perimeter appears in 166 of our 571 ready papers (378 tagged questions). It averages 2.3 questions a paper worth about 1.96 marks each. The typical question allows around 1.1 min. It appears in 3 CSSE papers we hold.
Area and perimeter are classic Geometry marks in both grammar and independent papers. Questions range from simple rectangles to compound shapes, missing lengths, and worded contexts such as gardens, frames and borders. The most common confusion is swapping the two ideas — especially when a question gives area and asks for perimeter, or vice versa. Diagrams that are not to scale trip up children who estimate instead of calculate. Practise labelling every length before choosing a formula, and always state units when the paper awards a mark for them. Compound shapes reward splitting into rectangles you can trust, then adding or subtracting carefully. If a length is missing, find it first from the given information rather than inventing a measurement from the picture. Slow diagram work here often saves more marks than rushing the arithmetic.
A real tagged question from our catalogue — method included, not paywalled.
Ranked from our tagged catalogue — open a paper to practise the questions that actually test this topic.
Not sure whether area and perimeter is the problem? Mark any past paper on 11plusSolved and the report tells you which topics are costing marks — and how many.
