What is the SEAG transfer test?

Who runs it

SEAG is a not-for-profit company. Its members are the 63 post-primary schools in Northern Ireland that use academic selection for all or part of their Year 8 intake. It isn't part of the Department of Education or the Education Authority.

Each school's Board of Governors decides how it uses the results in its own admissions criteria, so two schools can use the same result in different ways.

Who sits it

Children in their final year of primary school (P7) who are moving to a post-primary school in Northern Ireland the following year. Sitting it isn't automatic: a parent or guardian has to register their child with SEAG.

What's in it

• Two papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2. Both have the same format and are set at the same level of difficulty.
• Each paper starts with a short practice section (5 English and 5 maths questions). It isn't timed and doesn't count.
• Then the main test: 28 English and 28 maths questions in 60 minutes.
• The English part can be taken in Irish (Gaeilge) instead.

The English, in more detail

In each paper, the 28 English questions usually run in this order:

• Questions 1 to 5: spotting punctuation mistakes.
• Questions 6 to 10: grammar, choosing the right word for the sentence.
• Questions 11 to 15: spotting spelling mistakes.
• Questions 16 to 28: questions on a reading passage of one to two pages.

The maths questions can be any type, or a mix of types, from SEAG's list of maths content.

When it is

For children in P7 now, SEAG's dates are:

• Paper 1: Saturday 14 November 2026
• Paper 2: Saturday 21 November 2026

SEAG also keeps Saturday 28 November 2026 as a back-up date, used only if a test day is postponed across the whole of Northern Ireland.

What you get back

A Statement of Outcomes, which you view and download online. SEAG plans to release it on Saturday 23 January 2027. It gives an English (or Irish) score, a maths score, the total of the two, and a band from 1 to 6. What a band means, and when results come out.