CEM Becomes Cambridge Select Insight
The Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) exam has now changed its name to the Cambridge Select Insight exam. This article looks into the history of the exam and how it has changed over time.
In April 2025, the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) changed its name to Cambridge Insight and their selective school exam (which for a year or two before that point has been known as CEM Select) became Cambridge Select Insight.
It is likely that references to the ‘CEM exam’ or ‘CEM 11+’ will linger for a while, despite the name change, and as all the major 11+ practice materials publishers, including Bond, still have CEM-specific offerings, many parents, tutors, and teachers will be asking what Cambridge Select Insight is and what it means for them.
A Brief History of CEM and Its Evolution into Cambridge Select Insight
Starting as a project evaluating the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) in the North East of England, the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) came into being at Newcastle University in 1981, before moving to the University of Durham in 1996. It evolved into a globally respected centre that focussed on progress tracking, baseline tests, and identifying the most important indicators for predicting educational outcomes. Throughout its existence, CEM championed the use of computer technology in testing, in part to relieve pressure from teachers, but also for the potential for adaptive testing. In 2019 CEM was bought by Cambridge University Press and Assessment.
Providing 11+ tests was a natural step for CEM and by 2022 the CEM test accounted for over 40% of state grammar school tests, as well as many independent school entrance exams. Often seen as being more difficult than the main competition (such as GL Assessment), the CEM test had a reputation for being harder to pin down, given that they worked to make each year's test significantly different to the last and didn't publish familiarisation materials, due to a belief that pupils couldn’t and shouldn't be prepped for the test, although this hasn’t stopped most 11+ prep publishers from successfully creating CEM-focussed materials.
In 2022-23 the CEM 11+ exam went online only, with no paper option, and went from being used by over 40% of the 163 UK grammar schools, to almost 0%, due to the computer resources required to run the exam being out of reach for most state schools. The Year 7 entrance exam continues to be used by a number of independent schools and from 2023 was known as 'CEM Select'.
From April 2025, CEM was rebranded as 'Cambridge Insight' and their selective school exam was renamed, 'Cambridge Select Insight'.
Preparing for the Cambridge Select Insight exam? Browse Bond’s range of CEM-specific practice books here.
