TACHS study guide
TACHS · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
TACHS stands for the Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools, an entrance examination used by many Catholic secondary schools, primarily in and around New York City, as one part of their admissions decisions. It is taken by students in their final year of elementary or middle school who plan to enter ninth grade at a participating Catholic high school. The test is not a credential you earn; it is a screening instrument that schools combine with records, recommendations, and sometimes interviews. The exam is multiple choice and samples four areas: Reading, Written Expression, Mathematics, and Ability, which covers verbal and quantitative reasoning. Topics on this exam: Reading, Written Expression, Mathematics, and Ability (Reasoning). The TACHS study guide has 4 sections and about 1,362 words.
01Reading
The TACHS Reading section presents passages followed by multiple-choice questions. It measures literal comprehension (stated details, sequence), inferential comprehension (what a passage suggests but never states outright), vocabulary in context, and analysis of purpose, tone, and structure.
379 words, about 2 min02Written Expression
TACHS Written Expression tests standard edited English: grammar, usage, punctuation, sentence structure, and the organization and clarity of short paragraphs. Items typically ask you to choose the best version of an underlined portion or to pick the sentence that best improves a paragraph.
326 words, about 2 min03Mathematics
TACHS Mathematics covers arithmetic with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents; ratios and proportions; introductory algebra (expressions and one-variable equations); geometry (perimeter, area, volume, angle relationships); measurement and unit conversion; and data (mean, median, mode, reading tables). Calculators are not permitted, so estimation and clean arithmetic matter.
333 words, about 2 min04Ability (Reasoning)
The TACHS Ability section measures reasoning rather than school content. It mixes verbal and nonverbal items: analogies, odd-one-out classification, letter and number series, and pattern logic in sequences or grids.
324 words, about 2 min