Thousands of children sit first 2025 transfer test

More than 60 post-primary schools across Northern Ireland use the results

Over 13,000 children in primary seven sat the first transfer test of 2025 on Saturday.

The test is run by a body called the Schools Entrance Assessment Group (SEAG), which set up the common transfer test.

Pupils taking the test will sit a second paper on Saturday 22 November, and results come out in January.

More than 60 post-primary schools, mainly grammars, across Northern Ireland use the results to decide which pupils to admit into year eight.

The majority of Northern Ireland's 190 post-primaries, do not use the tests to decide which pupils to admit.

They use other criteria like how close a pupil lives to the school or whether they already have a sibling there.

Pupils have one hour to do the test paper

Theresa, a mum from County Antrim, spoke to BBC News NI after her 11-year-old son Thomas, sat the exam this morning.

Although she said her son thinks the transfer test largely went well, she said the revision he had to do leading up to it put him under unnecessary stress.

"We really feel that his anxiety was very high for the last few weeks. The whole thing really affected his sleep a lot and he was almost having panic attacks," she said.

"We shouldn't be affecting our children's mental health in this way. There has to be a better way of structuring the system."

What is in the test?

Both test papers have questions on maths and English, or Irish if a child chooses to sit the test in Irish.

Most of the questions, which cover topics like spelling, grammar, punctuation and maths are in multiple choice format.

But pupils will also do a comprehension test by answering questions on a passage in English or Irish.

In each test, pupils have an hour to answer over 50 questions.

Most families pay £20 for their child to sit the test, but pupils entitled to free school meals are exempt.

Why are transfer tests controversial?

Before 2008, there had been a state-run 11-plus test for around 60 years used by grammar schools to select pupils.

The then Education Minister Caitriona Ruane scrapped the state-run test, calling it "outdated and unequal."

But schools subsequently set up their own separate tests.

The AQE test was used mainly by controlled and voluntary grammar schools while the GL assessments were used mostly by Catholic-maintained grammar schools.

That system came to an end in 2023, when a common test began, run by SEAG on behalf of all schools which used academic selection.

But academic selection has proved controversial and prompted criticism.

Some experts have argued that it favours pupils from better-off backgrounds while disadvantaging the less well-off.

The cost of out-of-school tuition for the tests has been identified as particularly difficult for low-income families to afford.

When do pupils get their test results?

The test results will be delivered to pupils on 24 January 2026, ahead of the opening of the admissions process for post-primary schools.