'Horrendous', 'terrifying' and 'rotten' are among the words Northern parentsuse to describe the stress on children doing the 11-plus,writes Roisin Ingle.
Many Northern parents are on the side of the Minister of Education, Mr McGuinness, who was a pupil at St Eugene's primary school in Derry when he failed the exam he now wants to abolish.
"This year, for the first time, a good number of parents chose not to put their children through it, some because they felt it was too much pressure or because their other children had such good experiences attending the local secondary schools," said St Eugene's principal, Mary Cassidy.
Ms Sharon Ryan's daughter, Michelle, failed the exam five years ago. A bright child, Michelle was expected to make the grade but "went to pieces" on the day and got a D.
"I will never forget it. She didn't want to go back to school. She kept insisting she was stupid. It was a nightmare," her mother said.
Instead of the grammar school, Michelle, now 16, went to a local secondary where she is in the top class in her year achieving better marks than a friend who got a respectable B1 in the 11-plus. Her younger sister was due to take the exam last November but decided, like 22 out of 58 pupils that year, not to. "She remembered what her sister went through, and we thought why should she have to be branded a failure when we know she is not and her teachers know she is not," said Ms Ryan.
Mr Joe Doherty also has a child at St Eugene's. His son got the coveted A grade awarded to only 25 per cent of pupils, allowing him entry into the elite grammar school system. While pleased for his son, Mr Doherty is critical of the exam.
"It is too young in a child's life we were terrified for him if he failed it because there is such stigma involved," he said. "If they change the system to something better that is great but this is the way it is at the moment. It is a rotten time, I feel for parents who have to go through it."
In Belfast, where demand for places at the grammar schools is intense, those from lower economic backgrounds have statistically far lower chances of success than their peers whose parents can afford after-hours tuition.
One middle-class mother from the Malone Road area of Belfast promised herself she would resist the temptation of paying for extra coaching for her daughter who will sit the 11 plus next November. "But I caved in," she said.
As a Catholic, she is appalled by the Catholic-maintained grammar schools.
"The ethos is supposed to be to provide education for all but one of the top Catholic schools will only take pupils who get an A in the 11-plus. With an attitude like that they could push parents like me towards Protestant schools."
"I know the statistics well," said Ms Dawn Purvis, a mother from a Protestant working class area in South Belfast. At the moment only 8 per cent of pupils in grammar schools are from low-income families while in the Shankill area, fewer than 2 per cent of pupils achieve a place at grammar school.
"My son was one of the lucky ones, he got an A and now, unlike many others, he has a choice," she said. The success didn't come without a price. "It is a terrible ordeal for children at that age. For a whole year all their school work is geared towards sitting an exam, nothing else. On the first day of the test, Ernest said his ears felt funny, he could hear everything much louder, I told him it was nerves. We didn't talk about it again until the results came through, but he had to go into another room to open the envelope."