Details have been released for the new transfer test, which is due to take place in 2023.
The Schools Entrance Assessment Group (SEAG) was formed to set a single common post-primary transfer test, and it was announced in October 2021 that 56 grammar schools had signed up to join the SEAG.
The new ‘common test’ replaces the current system of two separate tests run by the AQE and the PPTC.
The AQE test is called the Common Entrance Assessment (CEA) and consists of three papers, while the PPTC (also called the GL Assessment) has two assessment papers.
The last of these AQE and PPTC assessments will take place this November, before the SEAG’s single transfer test comes into effect in November 2023.
The November 2023 test will consist of two papers held on two Saturdays, the first on 11th November and the second on 25th November.
The test papers will feature questions on English and Mathematics and will include a mixture of multiple choice and open questions.
Irish language versions of the test will also be provided.
The cost for parents to enter their children for the SEAG common test will be £20 per pupil, while it will be free for pupils who can claim Free School Meals.
The common transfer test will be provided by GL Assessment, which currently produces the exam papers used by PPTC.
The transfer test has remained a controversial issue since the abolishment of the 11+ test in 2008 after 60 years.
The system of transfer to post-primary schools has seen pupils sit up to five test papers if they enter both AQE and PPTC examinations. Academic selection itself has come under criticism and in a paper from Ulster University’s Unesco Education Centre, was described as being “traumatic for many children, creating damage which often endures into adulthood”.
