CAT4 in Ireland: the test before first year, which level, and why it cannot decide a place

Many secondary schools in Ireland use CAT4GL Assessment's Cognitive Abilities Test, fourth edition: for most ages, eight short timed tests of reasoning with words, numbers and shapes, and of imagining shapes in your head, in three sessions., and some ask children to sit it in 6th class, before they start first year. It is a reasoning test, not an exam on what they learned in primary school. It shows how well your child solves puzzles with words, numbers and shapes.

The test cannot be used to decide whether your child gets a place. When a school decides on an application, the law does not let it consider a child's ability.^{1Education Act 1998, section 62(7)(e)(iii), inserted by the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, section 9, in force from 1 February 2020: the revised Act (Law Reform Commission). A plain summary: Citizens Information, Admissions policies in primary and secondary schools.} Schools use the results to plan first-year classes, and to find children who need extra help or harder work.

CAT4 comes in versions for different ages, called levels. For a child in 6th class, the school usually chooses Level D or Level E. To see what the questions are like, look at our free practice questions for Level D or Level E, with an explanation for each answer.

GL Assessment (GL) makes CAT4, and sells it only to schools. Some Irish schools call it the "entrance assessment" or the "entrance exam". The name can mislead, because it is not a test for getting in.

When the test is held, and what happens on the day

Schools are not allowed to take applications for first year before 1 October of the year before the child starts. Boarding places, where children live at the school, can open earlier. For September 2027, the Department of Education and Youth has asked schools to start taking applications as early as possible in October 2026.

The Department's new online system for applying, called Apply to School, is being tried in some areas.^{2Department of Education and Youth, Apply to School: post-primary pilot: the ten areas in the pilot (Athenry, Celbridge, Clonakilty, Greystones, Kilbeggan, Kilcoole, Maynooth, Oranmore, Rosscarbery and Tullamore/Killina) and the schools taking part in each, for first-year places in 2027-28.} Schools that use it make their offers on 12 November 2026, for places in September 2027. In those areas, a test in January or February comes after the offers. Elsewhere, ask the school when it makes offers.

Test dates differ from school to school. Three examples from schools (the dates change each year):

• St Oliver Post Primary, Oldcastle: Saturday 24 January 2026, from 9 am to 12 noon, for its new first years of 2026-27. The test was only for pupils who "have been offered a place and have accepted it".
• Glanmire Community College, Cork: Saturday 7 February 2026, from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, with two short breaks, for children starting first year.
• St Mary's Diocesan School, Drogheda: in May, for children starting first year.

Other schools test children after they start first year. In a national survey in 2002, over a quarter of schools tested children only after they started, and 18% tested them both before and after.^{3The survey: Smyth, McCoy and Darmody (2004), Moving Up: the experiences of first-year students in post-primary education, ESRI, chapter 2 (567 principals, early 2002). The inspectors: Department of Education and Science, Looking at Irish at Junior Cycle (2007).}

On the day, your child sits eight short tests, each with its own time limit, in three sessions. Depending on the school, your child takes it on a computer or on paper: GL's package for Irish schools offers both. Before each test, your child gets a few practice questions with no time limit, and can do them again. Schools' notices say what to bring, such as a pencil or a snack.

What the questions look like

The eight tests come in pairs, two for each kind of reasoning:

• Words: one test asks which word goes with a group of three. For apple, pear and banana, the answer could be plum, because all four are fruit. The other test gives two linked words, such as bird and nest, and asks which word is linked to a third word, such as bee, in the same way. A nest is a bird's home, so the answer is a bee's home: hive.
• Numbers: one test gives pairs of numbers that follow the same rule. For example, 3 becomes 6 and 5 becomes 10, so 4 becomes 8: the rule is "double it". The other asks for the next number in a row. For example, after 2, 5, 8, 11 comes 14: each number is 3 more than the one before.
• Shapes and patterns: one test asks which shape belongs with a group, for example because all the shapes in the group have the same number of sides. The other asks for the missing shape in a grid, by finding how the shapes change along each row.
• Shapes in space: one test shows a square of paper that is folded, with a hole punched through it. Your child chooses the image that shows the paper opened out. For example, a square folded once, with one hole, has two holes when it is opened. The other test shows a shape, and your child finds which image hides it.

The four tests with shapes use no words or numbers. Our practice test shows every type, each with a worked example.

The law: a test cannot decide a place

Each school has an admission policy: its published rules for deciding who gets a place. The law on these rules is section 62 of the Education Act 1998. Section 62 was added to that Act by the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018.

Since 1 February 2020, every admission policy must say that the school will not consider "a student's academic ability, skills or aptitude" when it decides on an application.^{1Education Act 1998, section 62(7)(e)(iii), inserted by the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, section 9, in force from 1 February 2020: the revised Act (Law Reform Commission). A plain summary: Citizens Information, Admissions policies in primary and secondary schools.} Aptitude means a natural talent for something. A school is not allowed to consider ability when it puts a child on a waiting list either.

So a school is not allowed to use CAT4, or any test of ability, to decide who gets a place. This is true even if a school holds the test before it makes its offers.

The rule covers fee-paying (private) schools too. It has two exceptions for first-year places:

• A special school, or a special class for children with a particular special educational needSpecial educational needs and disabilities: a child who needs extra help or arrangements to learn., may look at a child's ability. It may do so only to check that the child has that need.
• An Irish-language school may give priority to a child who is already fluent in Irish, if the child's Irish would be likely to get weaker in another school.

The rule that a test cannot decide a place is older than this law. In 1993, the Department of Education, as it was then called, and the organisations that run schools agreed that schools "should not use entrance examinations" to give places in order of ability.^{4Department of Education, Circular M51/93, Selection procedures for the enrolment of pupils in second-level schools: the agreed memorandum with the school management bodies, paragraphs 6 and 9.} They also agreed that a school that needs tests to put children in classes can hold them after the place is decided. The Department sent this agreement to all secondary schools in a circular, a letter from the Department.

Each school's admission policy is on its website, or you can ask the school for it. If anything in a school's letter makes you think the test is part of the decision on a place, ask the school.

Which level: D or E, and the school chooses

CAT4 has a version for each age group, called a level and named by a letter. GL Assessment's table gives these levels for Irish classes:^{5GL Assessment, Choosing a test type and level: the table has a column for Ireland, and the exceptions are listed under it.}

The table puts 6th class in two rows. For a test during 6th class, it gives Level D. For a test at the end of 6th class, or in first year, it gives Level E.

GL also says that a school testing children before they move to their next school may use the next level up: Level E for a child in 6th class. And GL's package of tests for Irish secondary schools to use with their new first years includes CAT4 Level E. So if your child's secondary school tests them in 6th class, it may use Level D or Level E. The school chooses, so ask if you want to know. If the school sends you your child's CAT4 report later, the level is at the top, after the word "Level:".

The Irish edition of CAT4 has the same questions as the edition used in the UK. The main difference is who your child is compared with: children in Ireland of the same age, from a large group of schools across Ireland tested in 2012. Only Levels D to G have this Irish comparison.

When you search for CAT4, you may also find Irish schools' pages about a later test, for older pupils. Some schools test pupils in Transition Year, a year that some pupils take after third year. Others test pupils in the last years of secondary school, to help them choose subjects for the Leaving Certificate, the exams at the end of secondary school.

Free practice questions

Our Level D page and our Level E page each have a worked example and a practice question for each of the eight types. Every answer is explained, and the questions can be done on screen or printed as a PDF. Level E has the same eight types of question as Level D, with harder questions. So in our view, either page is good practice, whichever level the school chooses.

What schools use the results for: help, challenge and class groups

Schools use CAT4 results in three ways:

• To find children who need extra help, for example with reading, and to plan it.
• To find children who need harder work.
• To make class groups. Where first-year classes are mixed-ability, each class has children of all abilities, and the results can help the school give each class a fair mix. St Oliver's, for example, uses them to make "4 mixed ability groups".

In a national survey in 2002, principals gave their main reason for testing children at the start of secondary school. It was to find children who might need learning support, which means extra help with learning.^{3The survey: Smyth, McCoy and Darmody (2004), Moving Up: the experiences of first-year students in post-primary education, ESRI, chapter 2 (567 principals, early 2002). The inspectors: Department of Education and Science, Looking at Irish at Junior Cycle (2007).}

The Department advises schools not to rely on the results of one test alone. It also advises them not to use the results to predict how a child will do later.^{6Department of Education, Circular 0001/2023, advice on assessment tests for guidance and for special educational needs in post-primary schools. Its list of approved tests includes CAT4, with scores for Ireland. Section 5 covers parents' consent.} It wants schools to use other information too: the reports from your child's primary school, teachers' own observations, and what you and your child tell them.

CAT4 is not like the tests your child sits in primary school. Those are tests of reading and maths, such as the Drumcondra tests, in 2nd, 4th and 6th class. Primary schools report those results to parents, and often record them as a STen score, a number from 1 to 10. CAT4 tests reasoning, and its Standard Age ScoreThe Standard Age Score is the main CAT4 score, which compares your child with children of the same age in years and months. puts 100 in the middle for your child's age. The 6th class reading and maths tests come in May or June, so they usually come after CAT4.

Will the results put your child in a top or a lower class? Probably not

Probably not, but it depends on the school. In a national survey of school principals in 2002, 70% of schools had mixed-ability first-year classes.^{3The survey: Smyth, McCoy and Darmody (2004), Moving Up: the experiences of first-year students in post-primary education, ESRI, chapter 2 (567 principals, early 2002). The inspectors: Department of Education and Science, Looking at Irish at Junior Cycle (2007).} 14% used streaming: classes by ability, from a top class down. Another 16% used something in between. Children were split into a higher and a lower group of classes, for example two classes in each group, and the classes inside each group were mixed.

Classes grouped by ability had become less common since the mid-1990s, and we have not found newer national figures. Each school decides how to form its first-year classes.^{3The survey: Smyth, McCoy and Darmody (2004), Moving Up: the experiences of first-year students in post-primary education, ESRI, chapter 2 (567 principals, early 2002). The inspectors: Department of Education and Science, Looking at Irish at Junior Cycle (2007).} In 2007, the Department's inspectors recommended mixed-ability classes, at least in first year, because streaming has disadvantages.

Irish research has measured those disadvantages. A study followed 900 students who started secondary school in 2002, and compared their results in the Junior Certificate, the exams at the end of third year.^{7Smyth (2009), Junior cycle education: insights from a longitudinal study of students, ESRI Research Bulletin: a study that followed 900 students in 12 schools through the junior cycle, comparing students of similar ability. On the top stream classes: Smyth (2017), Working at a different level?, Centre for Longitudinal Studies.}

In the Junior Certificate, most subjects had a harder paper (higher level) and an easier one (ordinary level). The researchers gave each child a score from 0 to 10 in each subject, worked out from the grade and from which paper the child took. Children in lower stream classes scored on average 2.5 points lower per subject than children of similar ability in mixed-ability classes. That is a quarter of the 10 points. Fewer of them could take the harder papers, teachers expected less of them, and they expected less of themselves.

Children in lower stream classes were also much more likely to lose interest in school. And children in the top stream classes did no better than children in mixed-ability classes.

Ask the school whether its first-year classes are mixed-ability. If they are not, ask how classes are decided, and whether a child can move class later.

Will you see the results? Not always

Not always: it depends on the school. GL advises schools to let parents know how their child did, and the Department advises schools to tell parents which people will see the results.

For example, St Mary's in Drogheda shares results with pupils and parents when they start in September. St Oliver's puts the report on the school portal, a private part of the school's website, on the pupil's own page, from September. One parent says their child's school never gave out the results; another got them by asking the school.

If you get GL's report for parents, each score is shown as a bar. A bar that ends inside the yellow band is in the average rangeThe yellow band on GL's report for parents. A bar that ends inside it shows a score that is average for your child's age: on the school's report, a score of 89 to 111. for your child's age. Our scores guide shows how to read the whole report.

Dyslexia, other needs and learning English: no extra time, and no one reads the questions aloud

Tell the school before the test day about any need your child has. GL Assessment's advice to schools:^{8GL Assessment, Testing SEND and EAL students: what schools may and may not allow.}

• No extra time. Your child's score is compared with children who all had the same time, so extra time could make the score look higher than it should. GL says the time limits are long enough for most children to reach the last questions.
• No one reads the questions aloud. An adult may read the instructions aloud, but your child reads the questions alone, including the word questions.
• Allowed: an adult may remind your child to keep going, and your child may use a coloured overlay, a sheet of clear coloured plastic laid over the page.
• Larger print might be allowed, but only on the paper version, so ask the school what it can do.

For a child with dyslexia, the school can choose to skip the verbal tests, the ones with word questions. For a child with severe dyslexia, GL says an assessment by an educational psychologist, a specialist in how children learn, may be more suitable than CAT4. CAT4 can also help find children with dyslexia that nobody has noticed yet.

If your child is still learning English, tell the school that too. The tests with shapes do not depend on English, so they help the school see how well your child can reason.

A short look at the questions first

In our view, a short look at each type of question is enough, so that none is new to your child on the day. Do it with your child, and without a clock. GL's own practice questions at the start of each test are there so that children know the style of the questions before the clock starts.^{9GL Assessment, CAT4: information for parents.} Our Level D and Level E pages show the same types earlier, at home: for each type, an example that is already answered and explained, then a question to try.

GL, which makes CAT4 for schools, advises against any kind of practice before the test, and our guide to the test has its advice in its own words. Some Irish schools also tell parents that no preparation is needed, because CAT4 does not test what children have learned. The choice is yours.

Parents' questions about CAT4 in Ireland

Is CAT4 new, and does every school use it? In some schools, yes, it is new. In January 2026, a Meath newspaper reported a change.^{10Meath Chronicle, Schools move to cognitive assessments instead of entrance exams, 20 January 2026.} Schools used to give their own written exams in English, Irish and maths, and the results often placed children in an "A" class (the top class) or a "B" class. Now schools are moving to reasoning tests such as CAT4, and many have mixed-ability classes in first year.

Testing itself is not new: in 2002, about nine in ten schools tested children starting secondary school, before or after they started.^{3The survey: Smyth, McCoy and Darmody (2004), Moving Up: the experiences of first-year students in post-primary education, ESRI, chapter 2 (567 principals, early 2002). The inspectors: Department of Education and Science, Looking at Irish at Junior Cycle (2007).} Not every school uses CAT4, so ask your child's school what it uses. In 2026, GL's website said that two thirds of Irish secondary schools use CAT4 each year.^{11GL Assessment, Post-Primary Assessment Package: GL's page selling CAT4 to Irish schools, read on 11 October 2026.} Oide, the Department's support service for teachers, gives CAT4 as an example of a test that schools may use for children starting first year.

Does my child have to sit it? The school will expect it, but the Department advises schools to ask for your consent first. GL tells schools to test the whole year group, and one school's notice says all pupils with a place "need to complete" the tests. One school's letter about a later CAT4 test asks parents to tell the school if they would prefer their child not to take part. If you have a concern, talk to the school before the test day.

Can my child fail CAT4? No. There is no pass mark. Each score shows how your child did against children of the same age.

What if my child is sick on the test day? Tell the school, and ask about another date. One school's notice, for example, gave pupils who missed their first date a second one.

Does CAT4 predict exam results? Only roughly. GL's sample Irish report for an older pupil has a page of Leaving Certificate grades: for each subject, the most likely grade for children with similar scores. GL says these grades are "not precise".

What does a high or low score mean? On the Standard Age ScoreThe Standard Age Score is the main CAT4 score, which compares your child with children of the same age in years and months., 100 is the middle for children of your child's age, and GL calls 89 to 111 average: roughly half of children score in that range. For example, GL calls 85 below average and 120 above average. A low score may lead the school to offer extra help, and a high score more challenge.

Can I buy CAT4 papers? No. Only schools can buy CAT4 from GL. Our practice questions are our own, made to follow GL's description of each type of question.

All our CAT4 guides

Practice questions for your child's year

Worked examples and questions of each type, every answer explained. Each level page also has a PDF of its questions, with the answers. In Year 7 (Grade 6), we suggest starting with the Level D page, then the 24 questions for more practice.

• Year 7, ·Grade 6, Level D
• 24 free questions, all eight types, Years 6 and 7, ·Grades 5 and 6
• Year 8, ·Grade 7, Level E
• Years 9 and 10, ·Grades 8 and 9, Level F
• Other years have no page yet. Our guide to the CAT4 test shows one example of each type of question. For Years 2 and 3 (Grades 1 and 2), we suggest games, not test papers.

About CAT4

• The CAT4 test, What your child will sit, the test day, and how schools use results
• CAT4 in the UAE, Which grades take it, at which level, and whether it affects admission
• CAT4 in Ireland, 6th class: which level, and why it cannot decide a school place, This page

Your child's scores

• CAT4 scores explained, What a score of 100, 115 or 130 means, and what to ask the school
• CAT4 glossary, SAS, stanine, NPR and the other words on reports and school letters

Notes

1. Education Act 1998, section 62(7)(e)(iii), inserted by the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, section 9, in force from 1 February 2020: the revised Act (Law Reform Commission). A plain summary: Citizens Information, Admissions policies in primary and secondary schools. ↩ ↩²

2. Department of Education and Youth, Apply to School: post-primary pilot: the ten areas in the pilot (Athenry, Celbridge, Clonakilty, Greystones, Kilbeggan, Kilcoole, Maynooth, Oranmore, Rosscarbery and Tullamore/Killina) and the schools taking part in each, for first-year places in 2027-28. ↩

3. The survey: Smyth, McCoy and Darmody (2004), Moving Up: the experiences of first-year students in post-primary education, ESRI, chapter 2 (567 principals, early 2002). The inspectors: Department of Education and Science, Looking at Irish at Junior Cycle (2007). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Department of Education, Circular M51/93, Selection procedures for the enrolment of pupils in second-level schools: the agreed memorandum with the school management bodies, paragraphs 6 and 9. ↩

5. GL Assessment, Choosing a test type and level: the table has a column for Ireland, and the exceptions are listed under it. ↩

6. Department of Education, Circular 0001/2023, advice on assessment tests for guidance and for special educational needs in post-primary schools. Its list of approved tests includes CAT4, with scores for Ireland. Section 5 covers parents' consent. ↩

7. Smyth (2009), Junior cycle education: insights from a longitudinal study of students, ESRI Research Bulletin: a study that followed 900 students in 12 schools through the junior cycle, comparing students of similar ability. On the top stream classes: Smyth (2017), Working at a different level?, Centre for Longitudinal Studies. ↩

8. GL Assessment, Testing SEND and EAL students: what schools may and may not allow. ↩

9. GL Assessment, CAT4: information for parents. ↩

10. Meath Chronicle, Schools move to cognitive assessments instead of entrance exams, 20 January 2026. ↩

11. GL Assessment, Post-Primary Assessment Package: GL's page selling CAT4 to Irish schools, read on 11 October 2026. ↩