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Spelling is a crucial part of the CSSE 11+ English paper. Although there is no separate spelling test in the CSSE exam, your spelling is assessed throughout the English paper — in both your comprehension answers and your creative writing. Accurate spelling creates a strong impression and prevents you from losing marks unnecessarily. This lesson covers the most important spelling rules and patterns you need to know.
The most famous spelling rule: "i before e, except after c" — but only when the sound is ee (as in "see").
| i before e (ee sound) | except after c |
|---|---|
| believe | receive |
| achieve | conceive |
| piece | deceive |
| niece | perceive |
Exceptions to remember: weird, seize, protein, species, neither, either. These are commonly tested, so learn them by heart!
When you add a suffix that begins with a vowel (like -ing, -ed, -er, -ous, -able) to a word ending in silent e, you usually drop the e.
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