What the score means
What transfer test score is needed for a Belfast grammar school?
There is no single answer, and SEAG does not publish one. Each school's Board of Governors decides whether its criteria use the total score, the band, both, or another method, and publishes those criteria during the 2026 to 2027 school year, before the application window opens.
SEAG's words leave no room for doubt: it provides the test and the Statement of Outcomes, but "it has no role or involvement in decisions as to how each SEAG school uses those Outcomes." The choice of "whether to use Total Standardised Age Score, Band, a combination of both or by some other method" is "entirely a matter for the Board of Governors of each SEAG school". Any figure a parent hears at the school gate about a required score is, at best, about one school in one year.
The SEAG outcomes most likely to be used in admissions (SEAG FAQs, 2026 Entrance Assessment)| Outcome | How SEAG defines it |
|---|
| Total Standardised Age Score (TSAS) | English (or Gaeilge) SAS plus Maths SAS, across both papers; range 138 to 282, mean 200 |
| Band 1 | Cohort percentile 60 and above, so the highest-scoring two fifths of the year's cohort |
| Band 2 | Cohort percentile 50 to 59 |
| Band 3 | Cohort percentile 40 to 49 |
| Band 4 | Cohort percentile 30 to 39 |
| Band 5 | Cohort percentile 20 to 29 |
| Band 6 | Cohort percentile below 20 |
Two consequences follow for maths. First, the Maths SAS is half of the total, on a scale from 69 to 141 with a mean of 100, so the maths section carries exactly the same weight as the English. Second, the bands are relative: SEAG says "Bands 2-5 will each contain 10% of the total cohort", and the cohort is around 13,000 children a year. A band describes where a child stands among those who sat that year's test, not a fixed standard of maths.
Reading a school's criteria
Look for which outcome is used (TSAS, band or both), how ties are broken, and whether criteria such as siblings or feeder primaries come before or after the score.
SEAG's own advice: "It is up to the Parent/Guardian to read and familiarise themselves with the Year 8 Post Primary Schools Admissions Criteria for any schools which they are considering for their child."
Special circumstances
If a child is unwell on a test day, SEAG cannot change the marking. Instead, schools' criteria usually include "Special Circumstances", claimed with evidence during the transfer application, which SEAG says begins around February 2027 and is run by the Education Authority.
In SEAG's words, "This process is completely outside the remit of SEAG."
Source: SEAG, FAQs, read on 31 October 2026. We could not read the Education Authority's admissions pages for this build (the site refused automated access), so the page quotes only what SEAG says about the EA process.
