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St Declan's College, Dublin



In their own words

We would like to welcome all visitors to our school website and hope that you will experience from it a sense of everyday life among our school community. St Declan’s College is a voluntary secondary school for boys, under the trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust ( ERST ).


At St Declan’s, our mission is to create and nurture a caring school environment for students so that they may reach and fulfil their human potential. We value the pursuit of academic excellence and the development of life-long skills through a focused aim of personal development and growth.


We also place value on involvement in extra-curricular activities by offering and encouraging students to participate in a wide range of sporting and other interests. It is central to the ethos of our school to cherish a holistic education based firmly in the values of the Edmund Rice tradition. We live out the five key elements of the ERST charter on a daily basis which will ensure that your son will receive the very best education in a safe and caring environment.



Entrance is assessed via CAT4 cognitive assessment, from GL.


CAT4 is one of, if not the most unique school assessment in circulation. Most children will not have encountered either the CAT4 question types or the format, previously. The good news is that the very specific nature of the exam, means that with effort and perseverance it is possible to achieve confident preparation for your CAT4 entrance exam.


CAT4 is broken into 4 broad categories:


  • Quantitative Reasoning

  • Verbal Reasoning

  • Non-Verbal Reasoning

  • Spatial Reasoning


We have partnered with the test experts at Ready Steady Pass, to bring you the most accurate and best value CAT4 practise material for children between 6 and 13 years of age. The tests are prepared by specialist CAT4 writers and audited by AQA and EdExcel exam markers, and ISI independent school inspectors. Tests are taken online, include unlimited resits and emailed results including answer sheets to share with tutors and parents.



Click below to access our CAT4 page for more information



What questions can I expect?


Each of the 4 questions categories in CAT4 (which GL call "batteries") has two different question types, creating 8 mini exams.


Quantitative Reasoning assess numerical questions, with a focus on patterns and relationships:

  • Number Series questions involve identifying the missing number in a sequence.

  • Number Analogies questions are to do with spotting the relationships between pairs of numbers.


Verbal Reasoning asses the relationship between words:


  • The Verbal Classification battery focuses on word classes and word types.

  • Verbal Analogies questions identify the relationship between pairs of words.


Non-Verbal Reasoning looks at the relationship between shapes:


  • Figure Classification asks you to spot the relationship between a series of images and select the image that matches them.

  • Figure Matrices shows a pattern of shapes presented in a square, challenging us to choose the missing shape.


Spatial Reasoning is a particular kind of non-verbal reasoning:


  • Figure Recognition questions challenge us to find a hidden shape within an image.

  • Figure Analysis questions, sometimes called Folding questions, present the challenges of recognising unfolded paper that has been hole punched at a certain fold.



Click below to browse our CAT4 collection







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