TACHS practice exams
for New York families.
The Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools is sat by eighth graders applying to Catholic high schools across New York, typically in November. We have six full-length practice exams of 200 questions each, written to the same standard as every exam on the platform.
What the TACHS covers.
TACHS is used by Catholic high schools across the Archdiocese of New York and the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Queens and Rockville Centre. It is a different exam from the SHSAT in both content and structure.
- Four areas: Reading, Written Expression, Mathematics and an Ability section
- Sat in the autumn of eighth grade, typically in November
- Results are sent to the Catholic high schools a family designates
- Many students sit both the TACHS and the SHSAT in the same season
- The Ability section has no equivalent on the SHSAT and needs its own preparation
Exam details are summarized from publicly available information from the organization that administers it. Confirm current requirements with your school or the testing organization before registering.
Six complete TACHS practice exams.
Full length, original, and calibrated, the standard we hold every exam on the platform to. No passage or question appears on more than one practice exam, so a student can sit them all without ever meeting a repeat.
Written from scratch
Every question original, reviewed against the published scope for this exam. Nothing licensed or adapted from another publisher.
Full length and properly timed
The real question count and the real clock, in the format students will meet on the day.
Every wrong answer explained
Each incorrect choice carries its own explanation of the mistake behind it.
Reports for parents
Results go to you, with the same care about what a score does and does not mean.
Comparable practice exams
Multiple exams calibrated against each other, so progress across sittings is real.
Accommodations respected
Extra time to match an IEP, 504 or ELL plan, with conditions printed on the report.
Try ten real questions before you pay.
Taken straight out of the exams we sell, not written to be easy. Every wrong answer carries its own explanation naming the mistake behind it. No account, no card.
Sitting the SHSAT as well?
Many students preparing for TACHS sit the SHSAT in the same autumn. Our SHSAT exams are built to the fall 2026 computer-adaptive format.
What TACHS score is competitive?
No Catholic high school publishes a TACHS cutoff, so nobody can honestly hand you a table of scores by school. What we can show is the percentile bands schools actually describe, and what each one means for an application.
How do you read a TACHS score report?
How do I interpret my child’s TACHS scores?
Three different numbers all get called a score. The raw score is simply the number of correct answers. The scaled score converts that onto a common scale, so a slightly harder form does not disadvantage the students who sat it. The percentile rank says how your child compares with others who sat the exam.
Does a percentile of 80 mean 80 percent correct?
No, and this is the single most common misreading of a TACHS report. A percentile of 80 means the student scored higher than about 80 percent of the others who sat it. It says nothing about how many questions they answered correctly.
What TACHS score do schools require?
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.
Is the TACHS the whole admissions decision?
No. Schools receive the results for the students who ranked them alongside grade 7 and grade 8 report cards, and some also interview. This is a real difference from the SHSAT, where the composite score is the only input. A strong TACHS score does not make up for a poor academic record, and a middling one is not fatal.
Is anything deducted for a wrong answer?
No. The raw score is the number of correct answers and nothing is subtracted for a wrong one, so a student should never leave a question blank.
Read before the TACHS
- What is the TACHS?
- The TACHS ability sections, explained
- TACHS or HSPT: which does your child take?
- How the TACHS is scored
- A six-week TACHS preparation plan
- The TACHS exam: a complete guide for New York families
- How to use a TACHS practice test
Free practice questions, answers explained: TACHS.