GL 2022 Exam

Statement from PPTC in relation to the 2022-23 Entrance Assessment
Background
Prior to the 2021-22 Entrance Assessment, PPTC engaged with parents, primary school principals, its
own members, its test provider GL Assessment and other stakeholders to help shape and finalise plans
for that Assessment.
Parents and primary school principals were very strongly of the view that the Entrance Assessment
should:
be held after the Halloween break and before Christmas
include a contingency plan – in the event that the Assessment could not take place on the
planned date;
be based on English and Mathematics as in all previous years;
include mitigations to take account of the disruption to formal schooling experienced by pupils
who will sit the Assessment.
Those discussions, coupled with an evaluation of the 2021-22 Entrance Assessment and the fact that
pupils who will sit the 2022-23 Entrance Assessment have also had their formal education disrupted
has led PPTC to make a number of Key Decisions, in relation to the 2022-23 Entrance Assessment:
Key Decisions in relation to the 2022-23 Entrance Assessment
ï‚· The Entrance Assessment will be held on Saturday 12th November 2022.
ï‚· In the event that it is not possible to hold the Assessment on 12th November, a contingency
date of 10th December 2022 will be used.
The Assessment will be based on English and Mathematics with Gaeilge versions available as in
all past years.
Both the English and the Mathematics papers will be significantly modified, in the same ways
as they were for 2021-22, to take account of the disruption to formal education experienced by
pupils and the desire of parents and teachers that the Assessment be held in November rather
than later in the school year.
To ensure that all pupils have the same experience, the Entrance Assessment will be held in
PPTC Centres, with all appropriate safeguards in place.
The registration period for the Entrance Assessment will open on Wednesday 4th May 2022
and run until Friday 23rd September 2022 (2.00pm).
Specification guides will be available in the week beginning 14th March 2022. For English these
will set out specific steps that have been taken to reduce the overall demand of the
Assessment - for example, by reducing the number of comprehension passages from 3 to 2. For
Mathematics the specification will show that the overall demand of the Assessment has also
been reduced – for example, by limiting the topic areas which will be assessed and the content
within some of these topic areas.
A full practice English paper and a full practice Mathematics paper (+ Gaeilge versions) will be
available, at no cost, from Wednesday 4th May 2022.