There is no single figure. Practice paper bundles run from about £16 to £43 one-off, online platforms charge roughly £40 to £125 for a full year, and tutors and tuition centres rarely publish rates at all — they quote individually. What drives the difference is how much marking and teaching somebody else does for you.
What are the main ways to prepare?
| Approach | Practice books | Private tutor | Tuition centre | Online platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How it is priced | Per book | Per hour | Per month or term | Per month, season or year |
| Fresh unseen papers | Limited to what is in the book | Depends on the tutor | Varies | Varies by provider |
| Feedback by topic | Marked by a parent | From the tutor | From staff | Automatic, varies by provider |
| Flexibility | Any time | Scheduled | Scheduled | Any time |
Which suits your child depends less on budget than on what is actually going wrong. A tutor is the right answer for a child who needs a method explained aloud by a person, and a tutor shapes each session around what that child got wrong last time. It is also the option you schedule your week around.
Practice books suit a family happy to mark papers at home and talk through the mistakes. The marking is the work: a completed paper nobody goes through teaches very little, and that part falls to you.
A tuition centre buys structure and someone else's attention for a fixed slot each week. An online platform suits short, regular practice that fits around the week rather than setting it — with the trade-off that nobody is sitting beside your child to notice when they have quietly misunderstood something.
What does each option cost?
Ranges checked across providers' own websites on 2 October 2026. Prices change — always confirm with the provider before buying.
| Option | Typical published cost | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| Practice paper books | About £16 to £43 for a bundle; single papers from about £3 | A set number of papers, yours to keep. You mark them. |
| Online platform — one full year | About £40 to £125 | Practice questions and mock papers, marked automatically. |
| Online platform — monthly | £7.99 to £12.99 a month | The same, paid as you go. |
| Private tutor | Rarely published; quoted individually | One-to-one teaching, scheduled. |
| Tuition centre | Rarely published; quoted individually | Group sessions at a fixed weekly slot. |
| TransferNI | £7.99 a month, or £49.99 for the full 2027 season | Unlimited quizzes, a new mock paper weekly, sub-topic progress. |
We have put our own price in the same table rather than alongside it. We are not the cheapest option in this category, and a comparison that only ever flattered us would not be worth reading.
How do the online platforms compare on features?
Taken from what each provider publishes about itself. A feature a provider does not mention may still exist — this compares what is stated, not what is built, so read it as a guide to what to ask rather than a scorecard.
| Feature | The three platforms we checked | TransferNI |
|---|---|---|
| Practice questions stated | 2,500 to 4,000 (one publishes a count of topics instead) | Over 2,700 |
| Full mock papers stated | 10 to 20 | A new one published every week |
| Mock format | Timed, SEAG-style | SEAG-style, 56 questions, 60 minutes |
| Marking | Automatic, on all three | Automatic |
| Progress reporting | Topic level, where stated | Sub-topic — over 100 tracked |
| Free trial or sample | A 7-day trial, or a free sample paper | 15-day free trial |
We publish fewer questions than some. We think a bank you have already worked through matters less than whether new papers keep arriving, which is why the weekly paper is the number we would judge us on — but it is your child, so judge on whichever you like.
What is included with TransferNI
This section is about TransferNI only. It makes no claim about anybody else — every provider above is worth judging on what they publish about themselves.
| What | How it works |
|---|---|
| Intelligent diagnostics | “Pick for me” builds a quiz from your child's own weak sub-topics — they choose a subject and a length, and the questions are selected for them. Nothing about the choice is explained to the child. |
| Detailed analytics | Drill down from subject to topic to sub-topic, with over 100 sub-topics tracked — so “English is weak” becomes “apostrophes are weak”. Weak areas are surfaced automatically, and a week-on-week trend filters by subject, topic, sub-topic and period. |
| Weekly mock tests | A new SEAG-style paper every week — 56 questions in 60 minutes, sat under exam conditions, with a readiness score and a trend across papers. |
| Scoring and feedback | Marked instantly, with a worked explanation on every question. Multiple-choice and type-in answers, plus comprehension passages with linked questions. |
| Gamification | Points and daily streaks, badges for milestones and consistency, and avatars unlocked with points earned from practice. An optional leaderboard shows only your child's own percentile band — never another child's name or score. |
| For parents | A parent area behind a PIN, with weekly targets, a printable progress report, and control over what your child sees — encouragement and the leaderboard are both off until you turn them on. |
| Supervisor access | A tutor, teacher or grandparent can have their own account and follow a child's progress — only after the parent approves the request, and read-only. |
| More than one year | A separate pass covers the 2027 season, for a child in P6 now or a younger sibling coming through. |
What to look for, whatever you choose
- How many full mock papers, and are new ones added. A set that does not grow runs out. Once a child has sat them all, you are measuring memory rather than maths, so ask whether the set grows. TransferNI publishes a new SEAG-style paper every week — 56 questions, 60 minutes.
- Whether progress is reported by topic or by sub-topic. “English is weak” is not something you can act on. “Apostrophes are weak” is. Ask how far the reporting breaks down. TransferNI tracks over 100 sub-topics.
- Alignment to the Northern Ireland Curriculum. The SEAG assessment follows the Northern Ireland Curriculum. General 11+ material written for England covers different ground, and some of it does not apply here.
- Cost per month of preparation, not per item. Divide whatever you pay by the months you will actually use it. A book bought in September and a season pass are not comparable until you do.
- What you can try before paying. Most providers offer a free sample paper or a trial. Use them. A fortnight with the actual product tells you more than any comparison, including this one.
Common questions
How much do families typically spend on Transfer Test preparation?
There is no typical figure, and anyone quoting one is guessing. Across the providers we checked, a single practice paper starts around £3, a bundle of books runs to about £43, and a full year of an online platform costs roughly £40 to £125. Tutors and tuition centres quote individually, so those depend entirely on how many sessions you book.
Is a tutor necessary for the SEAG Transfer Test?
Often not. A tutor helps most when a child needs a method explained aloud by a person, or when confidence rather than knowledge is the problem. Plenty of children prepare perfectly well with practice papers marked at home, or an online platform, provided somebody goes through the mistakes rather than just recording the score.
Are free practice papers enough?
They are a good start and worth using before you pay for anything. The limit is supply: free papers are few, so a child soon re-sits ones they remember, which measures recall rather than ability. Most providers offer a free sample or trial, which is a sensible way to judge before committing.
Read next
- How to pinpoint where your child is struggling in Maths
- P5, P6 or P7: when to start preparing
- Preparing for the SEAG Transfer Test without burnout
Dates, scoring and assessment details are set by SEAG and can change — always confirm the current position on the official SEAG website. Our key dates page lists the 2026–27 milestones.