Example 1 · level 1 — a gentle start
A bus leaves Oakfield at 20:25. When does it reach Highgate?
| Oakfield | 20:25 |
|---|---|
| Brookend | 20:35 |
| Highgate | 20:45 |
- 21:45
- 20:40
- 20:45
- 20:50
Answer: 20:45 — Read along the row to the stop you want, then count on in minutes.
11+ timetables questions
Timetables comes up in the maths paper of every major 11+ format. Here is what the questions look like, the method that works under time pressure, and five worked examples with the full reasoning, from a gentle start to a hard paper.
Maths · examined by GL and CEM · 5 worked examples
What your child needs to know
- Find the row for your stop, then read along it to the column you want.
- To find a journey time, count on in whole hours first, then the minutes.
Where marks get lost: Never subtract times like ordinary numbers: 10:10 minus 09:50 is 20 minutes, not 60.
Worked examples
Every question below is generated by the same engine your child practises on, and every answer is derived by our checker rather than written by hand — which is why we can put them on a public page at all.
Example 2 · level 2 — typical of early practice
How long does the bus take from Oakfield to Brookend?
| Oakfield | 07:15 |
|---|---|
| Brookend | 07:45 |
| Highgate | 07:50 |
| Marsh Lane | 08:00 |
- 25 minutes
- 90 minutes
- 35 minutes
- 30 minutes
Answer: 30 minutes — Read along the row to the stop you want, then count on in minutes.
Example 3 · level 3 — standard paper difficulty
A bus leaves Oakfield at 16:30. When does it reach Marsh Lane?
| Oakfield | 16:30 |
|---|---|
| Brookend | 17:10 |
| Highgate | 17:40 |
| Marsh Lane | 17:50 |
- 17:50
- 18:50
- 17:55
- 17:45
Answer: 17:50 — Read along the row to the stop you want, then count on in minutes.
Example 4 · level 4 — a harder paper
A bus leaves Oakfield at 12:40. When does it reach Highgate?
| Oakfield | 12:40 |
|---|---|
| Brookend | 13:15 |
| Highgate | 14:00 |
| Marsh Lane | 14:50 |
| Central | 15:25 |
- 15:00
- 13:55
- 14:05
- 14:00
Answer: 14:00 — Read along the row to the stop you want, then count on in minutes.
Example 5 · level 5 — the level that separates candidates
How long does the bus take from Brookend to Highgate?
| Oakfield | 14:05 |
|---|---|
| Brookend | 14:25 |
| Highgate | 15:25 |
| Marsh Lane | 15:55 |
| Central | 16:15 |
- 120 minutes
- 55 minutes
- 65 minutes
- 60 minutes
Answer: 60 minutes — Read along the row to the stop you want, then count on in minutes.
How to practise this at home
- Work in short, frequent sessions. Ten minutes daily beats an hour at the weekend, because the recall gap is what builds memory.
- Insist on written working, even for questions your child can do in their head — under exam pressure the method is what survives.
- When an answer is wrong, ask them to explain their reasoning before you correct it. The error is almost always in one step, not the whole approach.
Practise timetables with a tutor that explains
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