PreAct 9

[Blink]

How are your kids preparing for the upcoming PreAct 9?

[Student]

As a student, I am using books and tutoring

[Blink]

My kid is using books to study for the preAct

[Student]

Good strategy, I feel like everyone should be pretty prepared by now so I’m just cramming last minute

[Student]

Does anyone know when the Preact 9 results are being released? I’ve heard some say that the scores come out in the 9th, but recently I’ve heard that they get released about 2 weeks after the test.

[Blink]

CPS says families should receive an ACT ID and instructions to access scores within two weeks of testing. Scores will also be in GoCPS before November 13.

How did you feel about the test?

[Student]

Scores released today!

[Mk]

Where did you get the score? We haven’t seen ours.

[Mk]

Where did you get the score? We haven’t seen ours.

[Student]

Got my score today – 27…hope that’s enough! How did everyone do?

[Somebody else]

I got a 31 but I’m also tier 4 so anything could happen plus I got a low math sub score

[Parent]

I know we won’t know exact cut-off scores for any individual schools but is there some estimation of how the pre-ACT relates to the scores of the previous test?

It seems like the new test will allow for more differentiation at the top?

Curious how a 30 composite holds up.

[CYI]

curious what tier you’re in?

[chicagoschooloptions]

From https://www.cps.edu/gocps/high-school/apply/hsat-test/

Point Total Calculations
Similar to prior cycles, the GoCPS application scoring system considers the CPS HSAT / PreACT 9 Secure (50% of the total) and seventh-grade grades for core subjects (50%of the total). The weights for the components are established by using a total of 640 points, with each 50% element worth 320 points. Details below:

HSAT points are determined by multiplying the PreACT 9 Secure Composite Score by 10, with a maximum score of 320. The possible PreACT 9 Secure scores are 1 through 32 depending on test performance. The composite score is made up of the English, Reading, and Math sections of the PreACT 9 Secure.

Grade points are calculated by multiplying a student’s final 7th grade GPA by 80. With a maximum possible point total of 320 (4.0 X 80 = 320)

CPS HS Scoring Rubric https://cdn.bfldr.com/MXCD21SV/at/sg5pkrxvkq4t4cwvb33cgq/GoCPS_HS_Program_Scoring_Rubric_EN.pdf

[Parent]

I understand how the rubric works but very curious how the scores will shake out. A 99% percentile on the old HSAT was compared to other CPS students. A 32 on the pre-ACT is a much higher bar than that.

[Parent]

Does anyone know how a “tiebreaker” works? Let’s say, for example, 500 Tier 4 kids want to go to Lane and all of them have a perfect 640 total scores. Let’s say Lane only takes 250 Tier 4 kids per year. How do they choose who gets an offer? Lottery? Do they look at individual scores on Math/Reading/etc?

[Parent]

This is the tiebreaker info from the pdf posted above.

Selective Enrollment High Schools
For all selective enrollment programs, tiebreaker will be run in the following order:
● HSAT Math Score
● HSAT Reading Score
● Random Computerized Lottery
First the HSAT Math scores will be looked at, if the HSAT Math scores are identical for students,
then HSAT Reading scores will be looked at, if the HSAT Reading scores are the same, a random
computerized lottery will take place to determine the order the students are placed in line.

[Parent]

Wondering if there’s potential for a lot more tied scores this year.

Since the PreACT 9 Secure composite is a whole number (1–32), multiplied by 10, and a 4.0 GPA earns 320 points, every student with straight As will have a total score in increments of 10 (560, 570, 580, 590, etc.). There won’t be scores like 581 or 583 among students with a 4.0 GPA.

Considering that many applicants to selective enrollment schools likely have straight As, couldn’t this create large groups of students with identical scores?

[Parent]

Not necessarily, There is only a tie if the two students get the same composite score and they also are tied on both the math and reading sub-scores. It might be a little harder to interpret cut-scores, because if you know the cut is 570, you know you need at least 25 composite, but you might not know if you need a 27 on math to get in or if you can get in with a 23 on the math.

[Parent]

For what it’s worth, my daughter is at the Whitney Young AC and amongst her friends, she is reporting the following scores: 30, 31, 32, 27, 27, 30, 31, 30.
She is not looking to transfer to Payton but a handful are, I think the issue of identical scores will be significant. Many (most) students have straight As from 7th grade, and it would seem there will be quite a lot of 30s. I just believe this because I know how many smart kids there were in her class from her elementary school (a selective enrollment one) that didn’t go to an AC and are now looking to go to Payton (As well as her AC friends). I wonder what the cutoffs will look like …

Smart cookie the kid (a girl) who got a 32!

[Parent]

Adding on to this, my son also reported “several” 30s amongst friends as well as 27, 28, 29, and two 32s (both boys, so different students from the one listed above – the other scores could potentially have overlap as it’s the same school). He is not planning to transfer either, but we have many friends going through the process from other schools and are following the numbers closely.

[Blink]

Wow, those are impressive scores! Congratulations to your daughter! Just curious-how did she and her friends prepare? Did they study on their own or work with test prep company?

[Jen]

anyone from not a academic center got the scores yet? I’m hoping close to perfect scores are not the norm.

[Parent]

seriously, lets hear about some normal scores from kids that go to neighborhood schools.

[chicagoschooloptions]

The 7th grade GPA is being multiplied by 80 to get the other half of the rubric from above, so know that several “A” students can have GPA’s between 3.50 to 4.00. Student GPA’s are listed on their Enrollwise student account, up to 2 decimal places, so there will be variations on the GPA number for students across the 4 subject areas for the year for math, reading, science and social studies.

[Parent]

I thought CPS was using unweighted GPA? At least that’s what it looks like on Enrollwise.

[Arby]

go cps does not list any decimal place just a flat 4 for my kid:

Grades for School Year 2027-28
Math — A

Reading — A

Science — A

Social Studies — A

GPA — 4

[Anon]

Yes would love to see shared scores from others.
We are not in AC.

Composite score: 30
Tier: 4

[Stormii]

I came across this thread looking to see if anyone has been notified about the scores. I assume it would be posted in the goCPS application where the grades are, but I haven’t seen any update. My son got a 22 on his practice before we started tutoring and studying, so I hope it helped him. Hopefully we get updates soon.

[Parent]

I don’t see it in the application portal. I got an email from goCPS with the ACT ID and had to create an ACT account to access the score. Those emails seem to be rolling out in batches. I did read that some people created an ACT account for their child even without getting the email and were able to see it that way.

[Arby]

If you haven’t gotten the information from cps about making a myACT account, you can call ACT 319-337-1270 and if you get the right person they’ll add an email to your child’s account and this will allow you to access the scores. It took me three tries, but I did get in a couple days before cps sent me the info.

The first time I was told they couldn’t locate my son at all, the second time I was told I had to get the ACT ID from the school first, and the third time they guided me through the whole process and created an account for me.

[Parent]

Composite score 31
Tier 4

[Megan]

North side school, straight a student and her composite is freaking 15! 🙁 But good info for those of you asking about neighborhood schools…

[shuturmurg]

32 composite

[Parent]

Neighborhood school – 26 composite (29 math tiebreaker)

[Parent]

I think there might be a way to tie current PACT9 test scores back to cutoff scores under the old HSAT test to glean some insights about what cutoff scores are likely to look like this year.

Here’s my logic:

For the top 5 SEHS (Payton, Northside, Young, Jones and Lane), I think we can safely assume that almost all admitted students (regardless of tier) scored a perfect 4.0 on their 7th grade grades, and got 450/900 points under the old scoring rubric from grades alone. This means that we can simply subtract 450 from the reported minimum cutoff scores in order to figure out what the cutoff was for the test-only portion of the overall score. Using Whitney Young as an example, last year’s minimum cutoff scores were:

Tier 4: 880 (Implied 430 test-only cutoff score)
Tier 3: 861 (Implied 411 test-only cutoff score)
Tier 2: 832 (Implied 382 test-only cutoff score)
Tier 1: 807 (Implied 357 test-only cutoff score)

Since test scores in the OLD CPS rubric were determined by PERCENTILE ranking (scores were curved) rather than absolute score on the test (unlike the NEW CPS rubric where composite score is multiplied by 10), the implied minimum cutoff percentile scores for Whitney Young last year were:

Tier 4: 96% (430/450)
Tier 3: 91% (411/450)
Tier 2: 85% (382/450)
Tier 1: 79% (357/450)

This information is useful because alongside the composite PACT9 score, ACT also released the PERCENTILE score (under the ‘How do I compare’ link on the test results page), so one can directly compare the percentile corresponding to one’s PACT9 composite score this year to the minimum percentile required for each school and tier last year.

Now this isn’t a perfect comparison since:

1. The PACT9 secure information provided by ACT is based on nationwide testing, and I’m implicitly assuming that Chicago students are similar to the nationwide average;

2. I’m also assuming that students perform on the PACT9 and the old HSAT at roughly similar levels (meaning a student who would have been 90th percentile on the old test, would also score in the 90th percentile on the PACT9), which isn’t necessarily the case; and

3. PACT9 percentile data is based on attempts by 9th graders (but in Chicago, it was 8th graders who took the test), which means the Chicago percentiles should probably come in a bit higher than their nationwide counterparts for the same composite score, but then again, many Chicago 8th graders deliberately prepared for the test (knowing the stakes involved), so possibly outperformed nationwide 9th graders who might have ‘phoned it in’, etc. tough to say

But nonetheless, its a place to start. So if, for e.g. you live in Tier 4, and ACT is telling you that your PACT9 composite score translated to a 97th PERCENTILE, then you may have a decent shot at getting into Whitney Young, but probably not at Payton, etc., etc.

[Testprepmooom]

This is a great analysis and what I was thinking about last night. I really don’t understand how they expect us to rank the schools with no sense of what the true cutoff scores are. If I have a great shot of getting into Lane based on my Tier, but I’m super close to Peyton based on what I think is the right percentile, how can I possibly rank those? Obviously, if I have a shot of getting into Payton, I want to take it. But I really don’t know if I do. This is insanity.

[Parent]

Rank the schools in order of preference. If your #1 choice is Payton, rank that first. If they don’t score high enough for #1, but meet the cutoff for #2, they still get that offer.

[Arby]

I think you should always rank the more difficult to get into school higher. The system tries to place a student in order of preference and once an offer is made, lower rank schools are not considered.

[Parent]

Tier 3 composite 24

[Joy Roy]

The 26 composite score is a 99%. Last year 98% was the entry cut off into Northside for Tier 4, and 87% was the entry cut off for Lane Tier 4.

This seems like it doesn’t correlate.

[Testprepmooom]

Tier 3
Composite 28
Math 25
Reading 32
English 28

[Anna]

Composite 21
Neighborhood school

[Parent]

I’m not sure those percentiles translate well to the percentiles given by ACT. There’s a very big range, 26 is listed as 99th percentile and 30-32 as 100.

[Emily Wen]

i got 32 composite tier 1 and straight a’s in 7th grade
is this good for payton???

[CPS parent]

I would think that has to qualify for sure. Not sure it can get any better than that

[Curious]

Does the composite score from ACT include Science? I assume it does. I think I read a previous poster suggesting that CPS will “translate” the scores across reading, english and math into their own composite score for purposes of the high school applications, but has anyone found any documentation on this? Wondering if it’s as simple as taking those scores and dividing by 3 for the average. In my child’s case, it is the same number but for some kids, it may be different.

Tier 4
Composite from ACT: 31

[One]

Yes, science is not included to align with the real ACT. It’s only English, reading, and math

[Parent]

It does not include science. The composite is already calculated by ACT and it’s an EMR (English, Math, Reading) composite.

[Arby]

Composite 30 Tier 4.

He wants to go to lane more than any other school. I hope this will get him in. Seems like it should do the trick? But who knows anything this year!

[Blink]

Does anyone know roughly how many questions you can miss in each section and still get a 30 or 31?

[One]

As far as I know, for any section, one wrong will keep a perfect 32, but two wrong will drop the score to a 31.
So I’m guessing for a composite score of 30-31, you can only afford to miss 2-3 questions per section (excluding science)

[Student]

I personally got 5 wrong and still got a 32

[Blink]

Does that include the questions that don’t count toward the score?

[One]

There really isn’t much information, but I believe it’s only the scored questions, so no.
Also correction, the margin of error would be much tighter for a 30 or 31, so it’s 1-3 questions max. But ideally only 2 questions wrong

[Chimom8]

My son has a total score of 600. We live in tier 4. Does that seem like it will be enough to get into Northside?

[Parent]

No one really knows but I would not count on it. You can feel safe about Lane but NSCP is a stretch. It doesn’t hurt to still rank as number 1 if you feel confident with a one of the other choices.

[Blink]

Also did anyone take today’s test (Saturday)? I think it’s a different version than last week

[ProfessorX]

I know folks are just trying to be helpful. Gentle reminder that most kids AND parents going through this process are under a lot of stress. Sharing incomplete/incorrect information or offering educated guesses may be causing some unintentional harm. Currently, I have a sophomore at Payton. Do not let yourself or your child get stuck in an echo chamber where “everyone else got a better score”.
There will always be outliers. My oldest seems to be a good test taker maybe. He Scored in the 99th percentile on both math and the English/reading to end up with a 900 out of 900 on the old CPS HS test. I feel like all quality college prep programs take practice a ACT or SAT yearly, including Payton. His freshman year, they took a slightly different practice test called the preACT 8/9 which is out of 30 points. My oldest scored in the 94th percentile with a composite of 24 on his preACT 8/9. For clarity, the preACT 9 8th graders took is different and is out of 32 points. Chances are even in Tier 4 you will not need a “perfect 32/32” to get into the your number 1 pick: N Side prep, Young, Payton, Jones, etc. Selective enrollment offers are split into 5 groups. The 4 tiers plus the top overall no tier group which just represented the top scores overall. Don’t be surprised if the minimum tier 4 score requirements for the top schools is in the mid 20’s this year (24-26). No one can say for sure what will happen but I do know that it should not affect at all how kids rank their choices.

[Lack-of-data]

Vote

I’ve created an anonymous poll to share your students score and tier

I’m also willing to share a spreadsheet I generated that gives approximate percentages and scores for the pre-act results based on last year’s tier list inclusive of all selective enrollment high schools.

I will also share the results of this poll.

Thank you for your time and heartfelt best wishes to you and yours.

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by Lack-of-data.
• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by Lack-of-data.

[Parent]

Can you share both please.

[Parent]

How many people replied with their results and can you share?

[Student]

Can you share the data with us please

[Lack-of-data]

https://votegenerator.com/#results=eoa6na66zetj

[Lack-of-data]

Disclaimer & Context on Estimated Cutoffs
Please note that these figures are strictly forward-looking estimates based on historical cutoffs mapped to the new 640-point scale.

They should be viewed with a significant grain of salt for two primary reasons:

The PreACT 9 Scale Change: CPS has transitioned from the old admissions test to the PreACT 9 Secure. Because historical cutoffs reflect past test mechanics and different scoring distributions, these converted numbers are approximations.

Absence of Citywide Peer Data: CPS has stated they will not provide a standalone composite ranking comparing your student exclusively against other Chicago public school applicants. Without knowing the actual score distribution, range, and percentage breakdown of the citywide cohort taking the exam this cycle, it is impossible to predict exact cutoff shifts.
Use these numbers only as a general baseline for historical competitiveness rather than a definitive admissions threshold.

Here is the estimated conversion of last year’s selective enrollment high school cutoffs mapped to the new 640-point scale

CPS Selective Enrollment High Schools – Estimated Cutoffs (New 640 Scale)
Brooks College Prep
* Tier 1: ~467 pts (73.0%)
* Tier 2: ~480 pts (75.0%)
* Tier 3: ~506 pts (79.0%)
* Tier 4: ~538 pts (84.0%)
* Citywide: ~538 pts (84.0%)
Gilded / Jones College Prep
* Tier 1: ~582 pts (90.9%)
* Tier 2: ~595 pts (93.0%)
* Tier 3: ~614 pts (96.0%)
* Tier 4: ~621 pts (97.0%)
* Citywide: ~621 pts (97.0%)
King College Prep
* Tier 1: ~435 pts (68.0%)
* Tier 2: ~454 pts (71.0%)
* Tier 3: ~480 pts (75.0%)
* Tier 4: ~512 pts (80.0%)
* Citywide: ~493 pts (77.0%)
Lane Tech College Prep
* Tier 1: ~538 pts (84.0%)
* Tier 2: ~569 pts (88.9%)
* Tier 3: ~595 pts (93.0%)
* Tier 4: ~602 pts (94.0%)
* Citywide: ~595 pts (93.0%)
Lindblom Math & Science Academy
* Tier 1: ~480 pts (75.0%)
* Tier 2: ~506 pts (79.0%)
* Tier 3: ~531 pts (83.0%)
* Tier 4: ~563 pts (88.0%)
* Citywide: ~550 pts (86.0%)
Northside College Prep
* Tier 1: ~614 pts (96.0%)
* Tier 2: ~622 pts (97.2%)
* Tier 3: ~634 pts (99.0%)
* Tier 4: ~634 pts (99.0%)
* Citywide: ~634 pts (99.0%)
Walter Payton College Prep
* Tier 1: ~614 pts (96.0%)
* Tier 2: ~619 pts (96.7%)
* Tier 3: ~634 pts (99.0%)
* Tier 4: ~634 pts (99.0%)
* Citywide: ~634 pts (99.0%)
Westinghouse College Prep
* Tier 1: ~435 pts (68.0%)
* Tier 2: ~454 pts (71.0%)
* Tier 3: ~480 pts (75.0%)
* Tier 4: ~512 pts (80.0%)
* Citywide: ~486 pts (76.0%)
Young Arts & Sciences (Whitney Young)
* Tier 1: ~582 pts (90.9%)
* Tier 2: ~595 pts (93.0%)
* Tier 3: ~614 pts (96.0%)
* Tier 4: ~621 pts (97.0%)
* Citywide: ~621 pts (97.0%)

[Parent]

How did you arrive at these calculations?

[Lack-of-data]

The estimated cutoff ranges were formulated using a mathematical scaling technique designed to bridge last year’s historical data with the newly instituted 640-point framework.
Because CPS completely replaced the admissions test and overhauled the maximum points available (dropping from the historical 900-point maximum down to 640 points), a direct numerical comparison was impossible. Instead, the ranges were derived using the following step-by-step logic:
Step 1: Establish the Baseline Historical Percentage
* Pulling Historical Cutoffs: For every school and individual socioeconomic tier, last year’s official minimum offer score was gathered from the historical CPS cutoff data (which maxed out at 900 total points).
* Calculating Competitiveness Ratios: Each school/tier cutoff was divided by the old 900-point ceiling to find the exact percentage of total possible points required to clear admissions in that tier last year.
* Example: If a school’s Tier 2 cutoff last year was 810 out of 900 points, that represented a competitiveness ratio of \frac{810}{900} = 90.0\%. This meant an applicant needed to capture 90% of all available evaluation points to secure a seat.
Step 2: Map the Percentage to the New 640-Point Scale
* Applying the Ratio: That same percentage was then multiplied against the new 640-point maximum (50\% grades worth 320 max + 50\% test score worth 320 max) to establish an equivalent projected threshold.
* Example: Taking that same 90.0\% historical competitiveness ratio and applying it to the new scale gives 90\% \times 640 = 576 points.
* Rounding to Increments: Because the new PreACT 9 composite score is reported as a whole integer (1 through 32) and multiplied by 10, test score contributions only move in flat blocks of 10 points (e.g., 260, 270, 280). When paired with straight As (320 grade points), every student’s total score lands on exact multiples of 10. Consequently, the projected cutoffs were rounded to reflect realistic point thresholds under these rigid increments.
Step 3: Introduce Estimated Ranges (The +/- Buffer)
Because historical admissions behavior naturally fluctuates year-over-year based on applicant pool sizes and shifting neighborhood demographics, a flat single-number projection is rarely accurate. To account for this natural variance, a buffer band (typically roughly \pm 1\% to 2\% points) was built around the calculated percentage, establishing the low-to-high estimated range for each tier.

[CPS Madre]

Anyway you could please include Hancock?

[Lack-of-data]

John Hancock College Prep – Estimated Cutoffs (New 640 Scale)
Tier 1: ~506 – 538 pts (approx. 79% – 84%)
Tier 2: ~550 – 582 pts (approx. 86% – 91%)
Tier 3: ~556 – 595 pts (approx. 87% – 93%)
Tier 4: ~486 – 518 pts (approx. 76% – 81%)
Citywide / Rank: ~576 – 614 pts (approx. 90% – 96%)

[CPS Madre]

Thank you!

[Jen]

Don’t forget the cut off scores is also tied to number of students listing those schools as top choice. Just for example, Lane Tech is gaining much more popularity in recent years. Last year for the academic center, the cut off score were higher than they were for Whitney young for at least Tier 4. So it was easier to get into WY than Lane. Lots of kids are talking about lane lately.. and not wanting to go to walter paton or WY. So what i am saying is that it is basically alot of variables..

[Parent]

I believe Lane cut the number of spots last year for AC (122) vs 150 for WY AC, so that could have contributed as well.

[The Class of 2031 Tilden Valedictorian]

^^^
This!!!

In my area, a lot of kids are talking about wanting to go to WY or Lane tech!
Assuming most people actually live in this area, the cutoff scores this year for those two schools could be higher than we think

[Parent]

These estimates seem high, if you compare it to the ACT norming Study data for 9th graders, but we’ll see: https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/r2627-the-preact9secure-2026-norming.pdf

[Blink]

Yes, those estimates seem high, but many CPS students applying to selective schools spend a lot of time studying and taking prep classes because admission is so competitive. Their scores may be higher than the national averages.

[anotherparent]

My daughter got 31 composite (Tier 4). Other friends of hers at school were a couple 29’s and 30’s, as well as a couple 26’s, a 24 and a 25. I’m pretty sure all of those kids are in accelerated Math or English, so they are some of the higher performers in general.

For anyone else wondering/guessing about what scores will get in where, the teacher that handles all of the testing for her school thinks a 31 will definitely get her into Payton. I don’t know if she knows any more than the rest of us parents that are guessing, but it’s at least another point of view.

[Curious]

Appreciate this. My kid also got a 31 in tier 4. Do you know if your counselor is speaking to other school counselors? If so, they would have a decent idea of kids are scoring across multiple schools and that may inform their opinion.

[anotherparent]

I don’t know for sure if they’ve spoken to other counselors as well. My gut would tell me they are plugged into it all more than we are, but I don’t know what additional info or resources they may have.

[Parent]

Thanks for sharing- this is a neighborhood school? Scores seem relatively high. We haven’t heard of many over 30 at our tier 4 school but online it sounds like everyone is getting over 30, so it’s so hard to tell.

[AnonMom]

Yep, from online reporting you’d think most kids are getting 30+. I know this is a newer test, but it would be wild if ACT flubbed the test design so badly that most CPS kids are scoring in what they estimated to be the 99th percentile for 8th graders. I expect the mean to shift a few points and the top 99/100th percentile to be more compressed than the study estimates bc of AC / SEES and accelerated placement kids who are a year or more ahead in math and reading, and the number of kids who prepare for the test, but I don’t believe the reports we’re seeing are an accurate representation of results.

[Student]

Don’t know if it’s just my school, but our scores were really high, there were over 7 scores that were 30+ (neighborhood)

[anotherparent]

Yes, it is a neighborhood school but all of the scores I mentioned are from high performing kids in the neighborhood school who are doing 9th-10th grade Math and English already via the accelerated program.

My daughter has checked with some other kids outside of school via soccer and other connections, and it doesn’t seem like those scores were quite as high.

[Parent]

Respectfully, I don’t think the predictive analysis presented by ‘lack-of-data’ is entirely sound. For one, the gap between predicted Payton cutoff scores for tier 1 (614) and tier 4 (624) of 10 points (or ~1.6% of the 640 points on offer) is far too close/tight compared to the actual gap in cutoff scores last year under the old 900 point regime for tier 1 (796) and tier 4 (898) of 102 points (or 11.3% of the 900 points on offer).

The difference is even larger if you assume (not unreasonably in my opinion) that all successful applicants to the top 5 schools across all tiers had straight ‘A’s in 7th grade and scored the maximum points on offer (450 last year; 320 this year) for the grades portion of the total score, meaning that the differences in total score are down entirely to the test portion of the total score. Under that scenario, the forecasted Payton tier 1 to tier 4 gap of 10 points (now ~3.2% of the 320 ‘test’ points on offer) is even more jarring relative to last year’s tier 1 to tier 4 gap of 102 points (or ~22.7% of the 450 ‘test’ points on offer).

[Lack-of-data]

You raise a fair point about how compressed the new 320-point test scale is compared to the old system, and it’s true that mapping historical percentages can distort tier spreads—especially at the top, mostly tier 4 who require perfect scores. Until CPS drops the actual score distributions after the February offer round, percentage-based historical baselines are the only mathematical translation I have to work with. At this point I don’t have a better predictive model that accounts for the PreACT 9’s 1–32 integer bottleneck without resorting to historical baselines.

[Student]

What do you think the cutoffs will be instead? Could a 580 as tier 3 get me into Whitney young

[Parent]

Take a look at the model I suggested above (a couple of days ago) re: linking percentile performance by tier under the old 450 point (HSAT test only) regime to the current 320 point (PACT9 test only) regime. It’s certainly not a perfect analogy, but it does accommodate the large historical spread in tier 1 vs. tier 4 scores in the anticipated cutoff scores this cycle.

[Student]

Can you link it here as well I can’t find it

[SEES Parent]

Is my understanding correct that the science portion was included but doesn’t ‘count’ in the point totals?

I think that’s kind of crummy if so. The testing process is already so high-stress. And those who are super conservative will still feel pressed to prepare for science because who knows if CPS will change the rules and incorporate it in a later year.

[Parent]

Yes the kids took the science portion but it doesn’t count in their composite score. The scores may be used to place the kids in science levels for high school. Although someone asked at an open house if the pre act math scores are used to help with math placement and the teachers said no, so I’m not sure how much they will actually be used.

[SEES Parent]

I can’t see that it would be used as a rule – it seems most schools course catalogs outline the sequencing of first year or two of science. But maybe would be a data point in selecting regular or honors, if applicable to that school.

AFAIK, High Schools will still continue to use the math placement exam given for incoming freshmen.

[Lack-of-data]

https://votegenerator.com/#results=eoa6na66zetj

Results so far just avg as it’s an anonymous poll, currently avg 27.1, 39 respondents, all tiers represented

[Parent]

so you can’t share the results in terms of how many of each score, tier?

[Student]

Can you share what tiers got what scores

[Pondderiver]

Can you show breakdown by tier?

[Southside Dad]

We are in Tier 4, and my child got a 550 when taking last year’s 7th grade GPA and the pre-ACT score into consideration. I’m hoping for Brooks College Prep, which has historically had Tier 4 cutoffs lower than Tier 3 cutoffs. Fingers crossed!

[iwannagotowhitney]

I am tier 3 student and I got a 26 composite with a 4.0 7th grade gpa can I get into Whitney young?

[anotherparent]

It’s so hard for any of us to know with the new scoring. It seems like your score could be on the edge of making it possibly. You scored very well, and you will have your choice of some very good schools. Great job!

[student]

got a 32 in tier 4, just fyi. Most people at my school scored around the 25 mark but there were a few 30s and 31s

[Parent]

My daughter is at a very good neighborhood school.

She’s heard of one 32 and one 31 or 30, as well as a 29. A lot of the higher achieving kids (including those who have skipped ahead in English or Mathematics) have been getting in the 26-24 range. Other good students have gotten 21s and 22s.

[Student]

My neighborhood school is decent, as far as I know we’ve got 2 32s including me, 4 31s and several 30s+29s

[Student]

What tier are you

[Student]

Tier 4, update it was 5 31s

[Parent]

A bit more info: We heard from an administrator that the median at our neighborhood school was 17. Only 3 kids at 28 or above. We heard that an RGC in the neighborhood had a 23 median.

[Jen]

That sounds about right.. There is no way that all these kids are getting 30s. This is a very long test and their first time taking a test like this.

There is nothing wrong with sharing annoymous test results. They do this in aspen when you look up your kids grades.. You can see high, low, medium and Average for each assignment/test. Schools also share testing results alot of the time on at the principals state of the school address. Also CPS publishes alot of data on testing results by school online.

[Student]

The higher tier neighborhood schools + sees tend to score very high, I am surprised more people I know didn’t get 32s

[Parent]

That’s interesting- thanks for sharing. Is this the same school that was mentioned earlier having fairly high scores? I am surprised the school is sharing that info- I don’t think our school would share those details. Is that a tier 4 school?

[Parent]

Yes, it’s the same school. The catchment area for the school is mostly tier 4, but there are plenty of kids in the school from other areas. Given the semi-official information, it is apparent that some kids might have exaggerated their scores a bit.

[Parent Guest]

My Son’s score just came out yesterday and he got 32 composite, with 32/32/32/31 in English/Math/Reading/Science. Straight A of 4.0GPA from School Side. Non CPS Student. I am glad his efforts eventually paid off really well!

[Arby]

CPS actually released some info on test score distribution:

https://cdn.bfldr.com/MXCD21SV/at/ms7cs4749nr2qkbp9brjc/GoCPS_Understanding_HSAT_Scores_EN.pdf

[Parent]

I’m so glad that CPS shared the data on how students did and the score distribution. Now that we have that info- how are others feeling or using that data to see where they are guessing the cutoffs will be for various SEHS? I know there’s still some unknowns on which schools people will pick etc but seems like more educated guesses can be made now.

[ProfessorX]

Based on the data CPS provided, there were approximately 94 scores of ACT-32/CPS-640, 187 scores of ACT-31/CPS-630, 140 scores of ACT-30/CPS-620, 187 scores of ACT-29/CPS-610 and 234 scores of ACT-28/CPS-600. Soooo about 840 kids with super strong scores (congrats!!!). Looking at the top 5 CPS schools, almost 2700 potential freshman seats, of which the top 30% (about 800ish) get in based off their score alone, BEFORE factoring tiers. Pick any school you want (for example Payton) the Tier 4 point range will NOT be anywhere NEAR the 634-640 point range previously speculated.

[Student]

Could I get into WY w a 580 and tier 3

[Arby]

Do we know exactly how many 8th grade students there are in CPS? Was that number released somewhere. I’m sure it’s fairly close to 1/9 of grade school students, but was curious what number you’re using to calculate.

[Student]

23400

[CPS_Parent]

23,400 is the number of students that took the test, this includes private school students and those outside of CPS as well.

[ProfessorX]

To my knowledge, this is the most test data CPS has ever shared. Which I guess is a step towards more transparency. Unfortunately, there are still some unknown data elements making it difficult to predict what the new point ranges will be. If there are any bookmakers on here willing to take bets on this situation, I am willing to make a big bet on you kid. More importantly, you need to believe and “bet” on yourself. With a 4.0 GPA and a pre ACT score of 26. Whitney Young needs students like you, not the other way around. Parents, we need to do better!

[Valentina_Chicago]

i got a 480 tier 4 but my top is hancock. I feel uneasy with the 486 as the cutoff but isnt a 486 impossible?

[Student]

Where did you see the cutoff scores because I didn’t see them release any?

[Valentina_Chicago]

I saw someone with the name “participant” up above in this same thread who sent that

[Student]

Oh those are just estimates no one actually knows.

[Valentina_Chicago]

Oh okay thank you

[Sasha Michelson]

I want to go to Lane Tech. I got a 600 (28 and 4.0) I’m in tier 4. Is it good enough???

[Student]

I’m no expert, but I think it is likely you get in due to the stats sheet cps released

[SEES Parent]

Just thinking aloud here.

Go CPS posted a score distribution sheet
https://cdn.bfldr.com/MXCD21SV/at/ms7cs4749nr2qkbp9brjc/GoCPS_Understanding_HSAT_Scores_EN.pdf

It says there were 23,400 test takers, so you can do the math to count how many students got each respective score.

Unknowns – we don’t know the distribution of those scores across tiers. Also, we don’t know how people will apply to those schools.

If we were agnostic to tier and application rank and assuming 4.0 GPA, based on an assumption of 3600 total SEHS freshman seats (freshman enrollment – Academic center kids continuing), that would put the cutoff between 20 and 21. But obviously, it won’t work out that way in actuality.

I don’t know if having some gauge of seats by tier by program would tie into this.

[WP]

How is everyone seeing their final scores out to 640? I have a non-CPS student, and I do not see their final score combining grades and Pre ACT in the GoCPS portal?

[Curious]

Seems to be that people are just calculating their score.

[Student]

It’s your score times ten and your gpa in 7th grade times eighty

[Parent]

People are just calculating their scores off of the test scores and grades

[James]

I’ve seen a lot of speculation and attempts to correlate the previous test’s percentages to the PREACT percentages. This clearly is not correct as ProfessorX stated now that the scoring distributions are known. It’s unfortunate that the tiering distribution wasn’t shared as well otherwise we would all have a good sense of where our kids stand.

As it is, I did some analysis for my daughter’s composite score of 26, 4.0 GPA, Tier 4, with the goal of getting an offer from Lane.

Based on previous years’ data, I did make the assumption that ~70% of the rank pool will be filled by Tier 4 applicants, and that Tier 4 will account for ~60% of those that scored 26 or higher. I also accounted for the premise that some single digit percentage of those that scored 26+ did not have 40. GPA. Finally, I made the assumption that of the top 5 SEHS (Payton, Young, Northside, Jones, and Lane) that Lane was least sought after i.e. the highest scorers would apply predominantly to the top 4, using Lane as a fallback.

There are 1333 scorers in all of CPS that scored 26 or higher across all tiers.

Using these assumptions, then there are 1333 x .6 = ~800 Tier 4 26+ scorers

Of those 800, we’re assuming something like 15 (8%) of those that scored 26 did not have a 4.0 GPA, i.e. ~785 Tier 4 scorers with a total of 580+

Rank pool across all top 5 schools is ~780 seats, and the expectation is that ~545 of those will go to Tier 4 580+ scorers.

This leaves the remaining ~240 Tier 4 580+ scorers to be placed among ~230 seats in the top 4 SEHS.

Lane then has ~200 additional seats allocated for Tier 4. If we assume 100% of Tier 4 580+ applicants outside of ranked pool pick the top 4 SEHS as their first choice (which is a bad assumption of course), then it’s ~10 Tier 4 580+ scorers that will get offers to Lane, and Lane will still have another 190 Tier 4 seats available those that scored for BELOW 580.

The conclusion here generally is that any Tier 4 with a score of 580+ will fit comfortably within the top 5 SEHS’ combined rank pool and Tier 4 available seats.

Obviously there are a lot of variables at play here, the most pertinent being that if greater than 60% of the 1333 26+ scorers are Tier 4, then a 580 score moves more towards the cut-off, individual score tie-breaker scenarios etc.

The cut-offs for each individual SEHS also will be dependent on the school ranking for each of these 1333 scorers.

Feel free to poke holes in my analysis.

[Student]

Do you think a 26 with tier 3 could get into Whitney young?

[James]

Applying my same analysis/assumptions for 26, Tier 3, assuming 4.0 GPA, after Rank pool for the top 4 schools, there are ~150 Tier 3 580+ scorers, for ~230 Tier 3 seats.

That means if you have Payton, Whitney Young, Northside, and Jones College Prep on your application, you should have a really good shot for an offer from one of them without waitlist. Whether you get the offer for Whitney Young depends on how the top 1333 scorers ranked their preferred schools. You have a solid chance and I wish you good luck!!

[Alan]

Is it still possible I can get accepted into Whitney Young with an ACT score of 21 and 4.0 GPA in tier 2?? I go to a neighborhood school and I’ve only seen two kids get a 22 and a 19. No one else is finding the ACT ID email or bothering to check. Since I keep hearing a bunch of people talk about going to Whitney, I feel like I might make it so I put in Payton as my second option and Jones as my third.

[Student]

I’d say you have a shot at Whitney but I would make sure to put lane as a backup

[Parent]

Test Prep Chicago posted their cutoff predictions:

https://www.testprepchicago.com/tpc-blog/what-the-2026-preact-9-scores-mean-for-cps-selective-enrollment-high-school-cutoff-scores-amp-admissions

[Alan]

I ranked my schools as
1. Whitney young
2. Payton ( worth a shot )
3. Jones
4. Lane tech
5. Northside
6. Hancock
I feel a lot more confident now but I want to see more info about the scores. Like what was the data for every separate tier? Glad to see I’m in the cutoffs but still. 👍🏼

[Alan]

I ranked my schools as
1. Whitney young
2. Payton ( worth a shot )
3. Jones
4. Lane tech
5. Northside
6. Hancock
I feel a lot more confident now but I want to see more info about the scores. Like what was the data for every separate tier? Glad to see I’m in the cutoffs but still. 👍🏼

[Author]

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