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What does your child's SEAG result mean?
Type the numbers from the Statement of Outcomes. The page does the rest.
The two scores are on the Statement, one under the other. The total fills itself in. If you only have the total, type that.
224 Band 1
Higher than about 80 in every 100 children who sat.
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The shaded strip is the six bands, drawn to the same scale as the curve. Band 1 and Band 6 are wide; in recent years Bands 2 to 5 have been only about 7 or 8 points each, which is why a few marks can move a child a whole band.
The lowest score each school took last year
Some schools go by score and some by band first, so check each school's criteria on the Education Authority's Search Admissions Criteria page. Below is the lowest score each school admitted for September 2026, from the school's own statement published by the Education Authority or, for five schools, from the school direct, with the two earlier years underneath so you can see how much it moves. It moves every year with who applies, so read it as a guide, not a promise.
The top number is the lowest score the school took for September 2026; the two beneath are 2025 and 2024. Green: at or above the 2026 figure. Amber: within a few points, or inside the school's "pool" — places the school fills on siblings, feeder school and the like rather than on score. Grey: below. "Not published" means the school did not give a number in its statement. Some schools fill by band rather than by score; those say "by band". The 2026 figures were read from the statements themselves; the 2025 and 2024 figures are those statements as recorded at the time by schoolchoiceni.co.uk, since the Education Authority takes the old ones down each year. Larne, Limavady, Ballyclare, Cambridge House and Royal School Dungannon did not print a number in their statement; their 2026 figures were given by the school in answer to a Freedom of Information request, as recorded by schoolchoiceni.co.uk.
Help make this page better
I use real results, with no names, to check how closely practice papers track the real test. The numbers you typed are filled in below. Add the percentile and band from the Statement, and your child's month of birth, and press send. Nothing that identifies your child.
This opens an email on your phone with the numbers filled in. You press send.
The questions parents ask
What are the three numbers?
Two scores, one for English and one for Maths, and the total. The average child gets 100 in each, so 200 in total. Higher is better. The total is the one the schools look at.
More detail
Your child sat two papers. Each had 28 English and 28 Maths questions. All 56 English questions are marked together and turned into one English SAS (Standardised Age Score); all 56 Maths questions into one Maths SAS. Most children land between 85 and 115 in each. The highest possible is 141, the lowest 69.
The TSAS (Total Standardised Age Score) is the two added together. Average 200. Range 138 to 282. The cohort percentile says how many children in every 100 your child scored higher than. The band is a label put on that percentile.
What is a band, and is Band 1 good?
Band 1 means the top four children in every ten. Band 2 the next one in ten, and so on down to Band 6. Band 1 is good, but it is big: four in ten get it. Some schools go by score and some by band first, so check each school's criteria.
More detail
SEAG puts every child into one of six bands by where their TSAS sits among all the children who sat that year. Band 1 is the top 40%. Bands 2, 3, 4 and 5 are the next 10% each. Band 6 is the bottom 20%. The percentages are fixed. SEAG says the TSAS each band needs may vary slightly from year to year. In recent years, from Statements parents have shared, it has been about 207 for Band 1, 200 for Band 2, 193 for Band 3, 185 for Band 4 and 175 for Band 5.
In 2026, Bangor Grammar filled all 135 places by score. The lowest score taken was 186, and 4 children tied on the last place, decided by a draw. In 2026, Sullivan Upper took its first 120 places by score, down to 217. The last 30 places went to children between 201 and 216 who met its other criteria (free school meals, prep, siblings, feeder schools).
Schools use the result in different ways. Take two made-up schools. School A lines every applicant up by TSAS, highest first, and offers places down the list until it's full: if its last place went to 205, a child on 204 misses out. School B takes everyone in Band 1 first, then Band 2, and so on. Inside a band it uses its other rules, such as a brother or sister at the school or being the eldest child, with a random draw at the very end, so at School B a child on 230 and a child on 208, both in Band 1, are treated the same. Each school's own criteria say which way it works: you'll find them on the Education Authority's Search Admissions Criteria page.
How is the score worked out from the marks?
The number of right answers is turned into a score that says where your child stands among everyone who sat. That is why the same number of right answers can mean a different score in a different year: it depends how hard the paper was.
More detail
Three things go in: how many questions your child got right, how hard that year's paper was, and your child's age. The Statement shows the raw marks too but calls them "not standardised" for this reason.
Here's what that means in practice. Picture two children of the same ability: one sat the test in November 2024, the other in November 2025. The 2025 papers were harder, so both of them, and everyone else that year, got fewer questions right. From Statements parents have shared with me, about 94 right answers out of 112 reached Band 1 in 2024, and about 83 in 2025. Same band, eleven marks apart.
These are rough figures from those Statements, not SEAG's: SEAG doesn't publish how many right answers each band needs. But the idea is SEAG's own. The score depends on how hard that year's paper was, so "how many did she get right?" is the wrong question, and the standardised score is the right one.
Why does age come into it?
Some children in a class are nearly a year younger than others. SEAG takes your child's age into account when it works out the score, so a younger child isn't at a disadvantage against an older classmate. It's built in, so there's nothing to apply for.
More detail
SEAG says the scores are standardised to take account of your child's age when they sat the test, as well as how many questions they got right and how hard the paper was. SEAG doesn't publish exactly how it allows for age, or how big the difference is.
Should I ask for a re-mark?
Only if the total sits one or two points under a line that matters to you. SEAG says most re-marks change nothing: around 99 in 100, from GL Assessment's past experience. The 44 multiple-choice answers on each paper are read by machine, and the 12 written answers are marked by two people, with a third if they disagree.
More detail
Every question is marked again by hand. It costs £20 per paper, refunded if the TSAS changes.
Re-mark applications open the Monday after results and close about nine days later.
What happens next?
You list your school choices on the Education Authority's form in late January and upload the Statement. Each school applies its own rules to everyone who listed it. You hear in May.
More detail
Results come out on a Saturday in late January. The transfer application opens the following week and closes in early March (12 noon, Wednesday 3 March 2027). Each school's admissions criteria, and a short statement of where its line fell last year, are on the Education Authority website and usually on the school's own. Places are announced in May, with appeals later that month.
What if my child only sat one paper?
There is no second date. The one paper is marked and the Statement shows an estimate with an "e" after it. Each school decides how it treats an estimate, so ask the schools you are applying to.
More detail
The outcomes are shown as, for example, "TSAS 196e, Band 3e". Check the criteria of each school, and ask about the Special Provisions form.
Where the facts on this page come from
The band percentages, the scales and the dates are from SEAG's own guidance at seagni.co.uk. The school figures are from each school's "Statement on Year 8 oversubscription 2026-2027", published by the Education Authority at eani.org.uk and by the schools themselves. The band scores and the right-answer figures are from Statements of Outcomes parents have shared with me, so read them as a guide: SEAG says the lines may vary slightly from year to year. If you spot something wrong, tell me.
Sam Stirling
Stirling Tuition · stirlingtuition.com