Raw, scaled, percentile
As on most standardized exams, three numbers get called a score.
The raw score is simply the number of correct answers. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, so a student should never leave a question blank.
The scaled score converts the raw score onto a common scale so results from different forms can be compared fairly. A slightly harder form does not disadvantage the students who sat it.
The percentile rank says how the student compares with others who sat the exam. A percentile of 80 means the student scored higher than about 80 percent of them — not that they answered 80 percent correctly. That confusion is the single most common misreading of a TACHS report.
What schools receive
Schools receive the results for the students who ranked them, alongside grade 7 and grade 8 report cards. Some also interview.
The important point for parents: the TACHS is not the whole decision. This is a real difference from the SHSAT, where the composite score is the only input. A strong TACHS score does not compensate for a poor academic record, and a middling one is not fatal.
There is no passing mark
Schools set their own thresholds, they are not published, and they move from year to year with the applicant pool. Anyone quoting you a required TACHS score is guessing.
What a practice score is worth
Less than the breakdown underneath it. Two students with the same total can have completely different problems — one losing marks across the ability sections, another running out of time in mathematics — and only a section-by-section report tells you which.
Our TACHS practice exams report every section separately and explain each wrong answer individually. ten free questions show the format.
Practice the real thing
Our TACHS exams are full length and written from scratch — every wrong answer carries its own explanation, so a child learns what they got wrong and why. Ten questions are free, with no account and no card. After that it is five credits an exam.