Have you been asking the question, ‘What is the SEAG Transfer Tests?’ Have you also been wondering how to prepare your child for it? One of my mum’s favourite lines when I was growing up was, “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!” She said this no matter the occasion, studying for tests, practising for my driving test and even packing for my summer holidays! (To this day I still bring tea bags with me everywhere!) Please note, if you do not prepare your child for the transfer test, they will not fail! Your child may just feel a little more worried or anxious on the test days. Let’s get started! I am going to share my mum’s advice with you and help you to prepare your child as best you can for the new SEAG Transfer Test.
Before we get into all the bits and pieces about the transfer test, if you are brand new to the transfer test or you need some new resources I’ve got just the thing for you! Click here to sign up and get my FREE SEAG Test Paper and Teaching Guide! This resource includes a step-by-step teaching guide for parents and also includes a learning tracker, a student evaluation and a topic list! Are you ready to take action and help empower your child to become a happy, confident learner?
Why is it important to prepare for the SEAG Transfer Test Northern Ireland?
With the transfer test season just around the corner for students who are going into Primary 7 and just beginning for students who are going into Primary 6, it’s time to get prepared. If your child is in Primary 6, you can take things at a slower pace. If your child is in Primary 7, stay calm and relax, there’s still time to prepare.
Put it in your diary…
The SEAG Transfer Test dates for 2023 are Saturday the 11th of November and Saturday the 25th of November 2023. There’s a two-week gap between both papers. This is great for your child to relax and get some extra preparation before the second paper. The results are scheduled to be out on Saturday the 27th of January 2024.
Question Time!
I have been tutoring for seven years. Every year around the transfer test season I get asked the same questions from parents.
- “What extra activities can we be doing at home as practice?”
- “How many practice papers should our child be doing at home?”
- “How do we explain certain topics to our child?”
- “How many books do you think they should be reading?”
- “What is the transfer test marking system?”
- “How do we plan our time to complete revision, test papers, and homework while still doing other activities?”
If you are reading this and thinking, “Hmm I was just wondering the same thing…” Don’t worry you are not alone and I will help you out with your questions!
Help your child become a transfer test rockstar!
It is important to get your child as prepared as possible for several reasons. First and foremost, you want them to feel empowered and confident going into the tests. You don’t want your child feeling stressed or upset because they “can’t do it.” Follow the tips I have provided to help your child become a transfer test rockstar! Let’s get started!
My 5 favourite ways to prepare your child for the SEAG Transfer Tests
Read, read and then read some more!
“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn.
Ooooh, I know as I write this, some of your children are not going to like this one! But yes you’ve guessed it! My first tip to prepare your child for the transfer test is to read books…lots of books! Reading is an excellent way to develop your child’s language and writing skills. It introduces them to new vocabulary, new ideas and a new way of thinking. Fiction books are a fantastic way to prepare for the transfer test because the comprehension questions used in the test usually come from fiction books. Your child will find answers to questions based on the text, find words with similar meanings and look for specific words and phrases from the text. If your child reads book on a regular basis, they will be familiar with different vocabulary. This section of the test may not be as daunting for them.
In the past, some of the comprehension texts were taken from classic novels such as Black Beauty, The Railway Children and The Secret Garden. However, because the SEAG test is new, I’m not 100% sure which type of text they will use for the comprehension section. My advice would be to get your child to read a few older books just in case they make an appearance. This will give them the chance to become familiar with ‘older’ words and phrases.
Practice Makes Perfect!
You will find them everywhere…on top of your kitchen counters, under the bed, scrunched up in the back seat of the car. The dreaded words…practise papers! Your child will be sick to the back teeth of doing practice papers. But as the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect,” and they really will help your child prepare for the real thing. Speaking of practice papers, if you would like to grab a FREE SEAG Style Practice Paper sign up here! It will be sent straight to your inbox alongside a step-by-step teaching guide for parents!
My students are initially stressed and worried when they start doing practice papers in school. They don’t think they will be able to do it. I say the same thing every time, “Wait until you see, in a few months, you’ll be able to do them in your sleep!” And it’s true, they really will! It will get to a point where they could be doing 2-4 papers per week. The more your child practises completing the papers, the more the anxiety and worry will melt away.
Ordering SEAG Transfer Tests Practise Papers
If you are ordering some SEAG transfer test papers for your child to work on at home, make sure you communicate with your child’s school to see which papers they aren’t using. There’s no point in your child doing the paper at home and then doing it in school and getting 100%. (Although this does happen so if your child is worrying because so and so always gets 100%, chances are they may have already done the paper!) If you have some older AQE or GL papers lying around, you can use these as well as the question styles are similar and some of the topics are the same. The main big difference is the answer recording sheet.
The main reasons for completing practise papers are to prepare your child for the real test experience and to identify areas where your child needs some extra revision. Make sure you note down any topics that your child needs to go over.
Also, a little note to say, don’t focus too much on your child’s SEAG transfer test scores. At this stage, focus on the topics that they just can’t get their head around. Help them to build on their skills and learn those topics they find difficult.
Check out my online shop for my new SEAG Transfer Test Papers! There is a step-by-step teaching guide included with each test paper as well as answer sheets, learning trackers for your child, student evaluations on each paper and also topic lists!
Review those tricky topics…
Once you’ve made a note of any recurring topics that your child is struggling with from the SEAG transfer tests practice papers, it’s time to do some revision. Watching YouTube videos on the topics is an excellent visual tool for learning. Another way to revise tricky topics is by playing online games. Online games are a great way to revise as your child won’t think of it as learning! Once your child engages with the tricky topic in a fun way, it is easier for them to complete the same concept in a worksheet format. You can also ask your child’s teacher for some extra work on those topics.
Make sure you persevere, it may take time but your child will get there. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, students can’t understand a certain topic for months and months and then one day it all just clicks into place. Just give them time, patience and lots of praise, love and support. (I find a little extra sweet or chocolate treat usually helps as well!)
“Life is more fun if you play games.” – Roald Dahl
You will be a very popular parent or guardian if you ditch the worksheets and get the games out! I’m not saying get rid of the worksheets completely. However, playing games with your child will help them understand and learn certain topics and also retain the information. Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I’ll learn.”
You will take a bit of the stress away for both you and your child by getting your child involved with fun activities and games. You can laugh and have fun while still learning. For example, one of my favourite activities to complete is creating fraction pizzas. Although when I am tutoring I can’t use real pizzas. This is a great game for allowing your child to visually see the fractions and create fractions themselves. (It also means dinner is sorted for that night!) When your child is completing a fraction worksheet, they will be able to relate the worksheet with the physical activity they completed.
Take a break…
You are probably reading this last tip and thinking, “Really Kerry, you’re telling us to take a break?” Please believe me, this is one of the most important tips. If you get burnt out, you or your child will be no use to anyone. Here comes another phrase from my mum, “You can’t burn the candle at both ends.” Nearly 30 years later I completely agree with her, although as a teenager I never listened to that one! If you are stressing about transfer test preparation, your child will pick up on your stress. Then you will both have bellies full of anxiety.
If things are getting too much, take a break. Go for a walk, go swimming, go to the park or even take a full weekend off! You will both feel so much better, rested and chilled. The information your child learns and retains is dependent on their level of stress or worry. Get out into the fresh air, watch a movie, and order a takeaway. Do something that’s good for the soul and then start fresh the next day.
More Transfer Test Preparation Tips
The Northern Ireland Transfer Test: Common Entrance Assessment (CEA)
The SEAG Northern Ireland Transfer Test
I have loved sharing my tips for transfer test preparation with you. Stay tuned for some more transfer test-related blog posts coming your way! If you don’t want to miss out, follow me on Facebook and Instagram where I shall be sharing more tutoring and SEAG transfer tests goodness!
