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Catholic High School Entrance Test


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This one may vary from archdiocese to archdiocese. Our family isn't Catholic, but we enrolled our three girls in a Catholic school at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. The school did not require an entrance exam, and the guidance counselor was extremely helpful.

 

What I did do was provide the school with a transcript which I worked on at home, plus copies of all the standardized achievement tests which they had taken (either the Stanford Achievement Test or the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, depending on which test was available that particular year). Also, my oldest had taken both the PSAT and ACT as a sophomore, and I provided the school with those scores as well. In addition, although the school didn't require it, I typed up a document of coursework and books we had covered in the seven years that we homeschooled. This ended up to be about a 15-page document for each girl! The school didn't require it, but I felt like it might be a good idea to have that information on hand.

 

My recommendation would be to contact the local Catholic school or the archdiocese in which the school is located and ask them for more information about the exam, because the requirement for such an entrance exam may vary from one archdiocese to another. I know that we didn't have to take the exam, but I did make sure that I supplied the school with ample documentation of what we had done at home.

 

Hope this helps!

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In NYC 8th-graders take the TACHS (they used to be called the CO-OPS)as the Catholic high school entrance exam. Based on that score and 6th, 7th, and the first part of 8th-grade marks, they get accepted to up to three high school choices they put on their application form. The tests are given at various test sites in November. It's only given to eighth-grade students and there is a $49 fee. Here's what's on it:

 

CONTENT OF THE TACHS EXAMINATION

 

 

The Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools contains subtests measuring both achievement

and ability. The tests, with brief descriptions, are as follows:

 

 

READING

 

 

The Vocabulary test presents each word in the context of a short phrase or sentence. You are to

choose the answer that most nearly means the same as that word. Approximately equal numbers

of nouns, verbs, and modifiers are tested.

The Reading Comprehension test consists of passages that vary in length from a few

paragraphs to a full page. The passages may be drawn from fiction, fables, tales, poetry, interviews,

diaries, biographical sketches, science and social studies materials, and other nonfiction. Many

of the passages are excerpts from previously published works. Approximately two-thirds of the

questions require you to construct either inferential or evaluative meaning.

 

 

LANGUAGE

 

 

Each Spelling test question presents four words, one of which may be misspelled, and a fifth

option, “No mistakes,†for use when all four words are spelled correctly. This format permits the

testing of four spelling words for each test question. Errors in the tested words are based on

common substitutions, reversals, omissions, or unnecessary additions.

The questions in the Capitalization test require you to identify errors—undercapitalization or

overcapitalization—presented in brief written contexts. If you find an error, mark the line of text

containing an error. If there is no error, choose the line that says—“No mistakes.†Capitalization

of names and titles, dates and holidays, places, organizations and groups, and other words may

be tested.

In the Punctuation test, look for errors in both underpunctuation and overpunctuation. You

should identify the line of writing in which an error occurs, or you may mark the fourth response—

“No mistakesâ€â€”if no error is present. Questions may relate to the use of terminal punctuation,

commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, colons, and semicolons.

In the Usage test, questions contain one or two sentences that are arranged in three lines. You

must identify the line containing a usage error or select “No mistakes†if you believe no error is

present. Errors in the use of verbs, personal pronouns, modifiers, or in word choice are included.

In the Expression test, you should choose the best or most appropriate way of expressing an

idea in a sentence or paragraph. Choices involve issues of conciseness, clarity, appropriateness of

expression, and the organization of sentence and paragraph elements.

 

 

MATH

 

 

The Math test covers the broad skills of concepts, estimation, problem solving, and data

interpretation. It tests your math knowledge and ability to solve math problems using information

from stories, graphs, and tables. You are asked to estimate answers to math problems as well as

to compute answers.

 

 

ABILITY

 

 

This test assesses general abstract reasoning ability. The items present novel tasks to you and

offer an excellent appraisal of your ability to generalize a principle and apply it to a new situation.

 

 

28

 

 

Thus, the items appraise how well you use your general reasoning skills to solve problems you

 

 

have not been directly taught.

 

There are TACHS prep books in bookstores and online. HTH!

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  • 4 months later...

Locally the schools use the High School Placement Test, with no optional extensions. The test prep books were very helpful, as the material was presented differently than DD has encountered before.

 

I put together a binder of application materials--a transcript, letter about my homeschooling philosophy, a long cover letter, standardized test scores, TOC's for curricula used during the 7th and 8th grades, descriptions of other, non-curricular work, writing samples in literature, history, science, and creative writing, and lists of literature studied, books read, and field trips. This may have been overkill, but I really was concerned about just sending in a transcript and calling it good, especially since we are not Catholic so are a lower priority family.

 

Dd was accepted into one school and waitlisted for the other. I'm very pleased with this result--it's really everything I could reasonably have hoped for.

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