Record number of pupils sit the AQE Transfer Test in 2018
Stephen Connolly, joint chief executive of the AQE Examining Board, has been reported in the Belfast Telegraph saying that the 8,700 registrations for 2018 was an “unprecedently high figure.” There are 34 grammar schools that accept the AQE Transfer Test result and between them these schools can provide facilities for 8,100 pupils to sit the test in an AQE school. That leaves 600 pupils having to sit the Transfer Test somewhere else including the South Eastern Regional College in Lisburn.
Sitting the Transfer Test can be daunting enough but having to sit the test in a college and not a school only adds to the pressure. The greatest demand for places to sit the test tends to be in the greater Belfast area. Mr Connolly added that the wish of the AQE board “….is always to place any child in the centre of his or her choice….”
There were additional places required last year and some pupils had to travel long distances to sit the test in a different school.
