SEAG Test Day: What to Expect and What to Bring
Two Saturday mornings, a week apart. Paper 1 is on 14 November 2026 and Paper 2 on 21 November 2026, both at the Assessment Centre you chose when you registered, and every child sits both. Most of what makes the day go well is knowing in advance exactly how it runs, so nothing in the room is a surprise.
47 days until Paper 1 (Saturday 14 November 2026, morning). Paper 2 follows on 21 November.
Before you leave the house
Bring the Pupil Card. The photo you uploaded at registration is on it, and it is how the Centre confirms who your child is. It becomes available to download from 9 October, and the Pupil Card guide covers what to check on it.
Leave early. SEAG is blunt about this: pupils cannot be admitted after the assessment has started. Both papers are in the morning, and a Saturday morning drive to a school you have never visited always takes longer than the map says. A practice run in the week before is worth the half hour.
What to bring, and what the Centre gives them
| The Centre provides | Your child may bring |
|---|---|
| Pencils | A highlighter, for the question paper or rough paper only, never the Answer Sheet |
| Erasers | A pencil grip |
| Rough work paper | Their Pupil Card |
That is SEAG's own list, and it is short on purpose. Anything else a child needs in the room for a medical or learning reason should have been requested as an Access Arrangement during registration.
How the hour actually runs
Some Centres use classrooms, some use a hall and some use both. The paper itself runs the same way everywhere.
- A practice section first. Invigilators take the children through 5 English (or Gaeilge) and 5 Maths questions. It is not timed and it does not count. It is there so they can settle and get used to the Answer Sheet.
- Then the main test: 28 English (or Gaeilge) and 28 Maths questions in 60 minutes. The invigilator says when to start.
- Either section can come first. SEAG lets each pupil begin with English or with Maths, whichever they prefer.
- Two time warnings. Invigilators tell pupils when there are about 30 minutes left and again at about 10 minutes.
Children sitting the Gaeilge version are invigilated in Irish, at one of the 12 Centres that offer it.
Their name, date of birth and Unique Pupil Number are already printed on the Answer Sheet, which is how their answers are matched back to them.
If something goes wrong
- Running late. Pupils cannot be let in once the assessment has started, so there is no "just a few minutes" allowance.
- Missing a paper. There is no alternative date for an individual pupil. A child who sits only one paper still has it marked and gets estimated outcomes, shown with an "e", for example Band 3e. Each school decides how it treats an estimate.
- Unwell on the day. This cannot be allowed for in the marking. It is handled later, through Special Circumstances in the post-primary transfer application that the Education Authority runs from around February 2027. Keep any evidence, like a doctor's note, from the day itself.
- Snow, or anything else that stops the whole assessment. SEAG has kept Saturday 28 November 2026 as a contingency date. It is only used if a paper cannot go ahead anywhere in Northern Ireland, never as a make-up date for one child.
After both papers
Outcomes are released online on 23 January 2027, in your SEAG account. If you want a paper re-marked, requests open on 25 January 2027 and close on 3 February 2027. It costs £20 per paper, refunded if the re-mark changes the Total Standardised Age Score. What the numbers mean is covered in the guide to what a good SEAG score is.