Summer is just around the corner! It’s time to talk about transfer test summer revision! Transfer test summer revision is super important if your child is transitioning from Primary 6 to Primary 7. It’s a great time to focus on those topics that your child finds challenging or a bit tricky. By planning your child’s summer revision, you can make sure they are going into Primary 7 confident and with a solid understanding of all of those topics covered in P6. They will be ready to take on P7 from day one!
Before we get started on some summer SEAG revision tips, I wanted to share with you my summer SEAG transfer test mock days! I am running SEAG mock test days in July and August! Each test centre and date has a different SEAG-style paper, so you can book your child for as many test days as you wish. Use these mock days as part of your child’s SEAG summer preparation. Book your child’s spot now as spaces are very limited!
Why is it important to keep revising for the transfer test over the summer?
When you think back to being in school, the anticipation of being off school for two whole months was almost too much excitement to take! Summer meant no homework, late nights, sleep-ins in the morning, fun summer schemes, and sleepovers with friends. So much fun lies ahead! However, if your child is in Primary 6, it is a great idea to continue their revision over the summer months. They can still have lots of fun this summer, but it is important to keep everything that they have learned throughout P6 fresh in their minds.
Once your child goes back to school in September, they will hit the ground running and be straight back into practice papers and homework. There’s no time to settle back in slowly and steadily like other year groups. If your child doesn’t continue their transfer test preparation over summer, this will be a huge shock to their system. But if they keep studying over July and August, they won’t feel as traumatised in September!
7 ways to enhance your child’s summer transfer test revision
To help your child get the most out of this summer, I have put together a list of 7 ways to enhance your child’s transfer test summer revision. Your child should feel more refreshed as they aren’t in school all day and coming home to do work. An hour or so of transfer test revision is enough to keep their brains in ‘transfer test mode.’
Check out that school report!
The end of the school year brings with it the dreaded school report! For some parents, the thought of getting that school report fills them with nerves. For others, they will be super excited to see how their child has done that school year. You know your child better than anyone, so you probably have an idea of what’s to come! Whatever comments your child’s teacher puts in their school report, whether they talk too much (That was literally on mine every year!), they are a great class helper, or they are a bit of a messer, there will also be some topics or concepts that your child needs to revise over.
This is a great place to start with your child’s summer transfer test revision. Summer is a great time to focus on the topics that your child struggled with in P6. If your child can really grasp those topics that they found tricky, they will go into P7 feeling confident and ready to take on what’s next!
Create revision cards
A great summer activity is creating revision cards, which your child can use throughout the rest of their transfer test preparation. You can use the SEAG transfer test NI syllabus and use it as a checklist. Grab some cards or a notebook and get your child to make some revision notes. They can get as creative as they like with this one. Use stickers, glitter, felt tips, whatever they like! When your child is making these revision cards, they will be learning, they just won’t realise it! They don’t need to be super detailed. Just little snippets of information that your child can look back on if they need a wee reminder of a particular concept or topic. Choose a few SEAG transfer test topics per day and get creative!
Transfer Test Practice Papers
Some schools will send your child home with a HUGE stack of practice papers for this summer. And some won’t send your child home with any practice papers. You can buy some online or get a transfer test sample online. My opinion on practice papers over the summer is that they are a good thing. I do recommend continuing to complete practice papers over July and August. The reason for this is that it will keep your child’s brain in ‘testing mode.’ You don’t need to go crazy and complete a paper every single day. But one or two papers a week is realistic and just enough to keep your child’s test skills in check.
If your child has been struggling with the timing of the tests and not getting finished on time, summer is a great time to focus on this. If your child is sitting a practice paper at home, mirror test conditions that your child usually has at school. This means a nice quiet environment, sitting at the table and setting the timer for one hour. After your child has completed the test paper, do something fun! Depending on your child, you can either correct it and go over it that same day. Or if they need a complete break for the rest of the day, that’s fine. Just go back to it the next day.
SEAG Transfer Test Mock Test Days
An exceptional way to enhance your child’s transfer test preparation this summer is to book them in for a SEAG transfer test mock test. Mock test days are incredible for giving your child the real test experience. There are so many benefits of students sitting mock tests. You can read more about them here in my blog post, ‘The powerful benefits of your child sitting mock transfer tests.’
Mock tests are a brilliant way to take your child out of their comfort zone and keep the momentum going with their transfer test preparation. I will be running summer SEAG mock days in July and August. These mock days will mirror the real transfer test days from start to finish. Your child will be sitting the test in a different setting with different students from other schools around them, and they will even have a replica pupil card, just like the real day! You can book your child in for my summer SEAG mock days here!
Complete SEAG-style English activities
While there are a lot of maths topics on the transfer test, and these are important to revise over the summer, the English section of the SEAG transfer test follows a specific format. We have the spelling, grammar and punctuation sections of the test, which students do need to practice. In these sections of the test, students are required to identify spelling and punctuation errors and also make sentences grammatically correct. These error-spotting skills can take a while to get right. Up until now, your child has been trying their best not to make spelling and punctuation errors. Now they need to be able to spot deliberate mistakes.
The best way to prepare for this section of the test is to complete activities that mirror the SEAG activities. I created an English SEAG revision workbook, which has small activities that can appear in the transfer test. This is perfect for summer as it will help your child revise the different English concepts and also help them prepare for the SEAG spelling, punctuation and grammar sections. You can check my blog post, ‘SEAG Tests: How to prepare for the spelling, grammar and punctuation sections’ for more tips on preparing for these sections of the test.
Keep those reading and writing skills going
Some students will be delighted with this tip and others will ragin about it! And that’s keeping up with reading and writing this summer. Reading is super important for all students, not just transfer test students. Make sure your child reads a chapter or two a day during the summer. This can be in the morning or before bed or both! Keeping your child in a good reading routine will help them relax and unwind after those busy summer days. Whilst also enhancing their vocabulary and communication skills!
An activity that I recommend for writing is keeping a summer journal. Your child doesn’t need to write pages upon pages, unless they want to! But keeping a summer journal is a fun, creative way to develop your child’s writing skills. They can note down any activities, holidays or day trips they take this summer. It will allow them to write in their style and explore creative writing. Plus, it will be a lovely momento to look back on in years to come!
Have fun, relax and unwind
This tip is probably one of the most important for enhancing your child’s transfer test summer revision. And that’s to have fun, relax and unwind. Up until the end of the school term, your child has probably been going a million miles an hour. They’ve been doing practice papers galore, learning new topics, probably preparing for end-of-year shows and sports day. And they are probably tired and a bit fed up. I know this tip is a given, but plan time for fun and relaxation for your child. Plan some fun activities, let your child play their favourite game or go out with their friends once they have finished their revision, get out in nature, go for walks in the park or at the beach, bake some cakes, or go for a picnic. Whatever it is that your child likes to do. This will help your child’s SEAG revision as they will be sitting at that table or in their mock test, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world.
More information on transfer test summer revision
How can you keep your child motivated with 11+ revision during the summer holidays?
Revise and Relax: Balancing fun and academics in the summer break
7 Tips for Summer Learning: Transform your child into a confident learner this summer
Summer Revision: Planning to Maintain Skills Learned
I hope you find these 7 ways to enhance your child’s transfer test summer revision helpful! The summer between P6 and P7 is probably the only one that they will have to study. But it is so important to keep their brains ticking over in July and August. Once your child has completed their daily revision, give lots of praise and do fun things. It won’t be as bad as they think, and they might even enjoy the structure! Don’t forget to book your child onto one of my summer SEAG mock days to really take their transfer test summer revision to the next level!
