TACHS preparation in New York City and online.
For 8th graders testing in November.

TACHS Prep in New York City: Catholic High School Entrance Exam Preparation

What the TACHS is.

he Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools is the entrance exam for Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Eighth graders take it once, in November, and scores go to the three high schools the student selects at registration. There is no retake.
Four sections: Reading, Written Expression, Mathematics, and Ability. The first three cover familiar academic ground. Ability is different, a reasoning section built around patterns and figures rather than material taught in school, and it is the one most students have never seen before.

How it is scored.

Reading, Written Expression and Mathematics each produce a National Percentile Rank and a Local Percentile Rank, and the three combine into a Total Achievement Score. The Ability Score is reported separately and does not factor into that composite.
The local rank is the one worth understanding. It compares your child against other TACHS takers in the same region rather than a national sample, which is a stronger pool. There is no passing score. Each Catholic high school sets its own expectations, so the useful question is not “what score is good” but “where does this child sit against the three schools on the list.”

It is taken at home.

Since 2020 the TACHS has been administered remotely on the student’s own device, with Proctorio monitoring. Sessions are assigned at 8:30 or 10:00 in the morning. That means test day happens in a bedroom or at a kitchen table, on a familiar screen, under unfamiliar observation, and it is a very different experience from sitting an exam in a school gym.
We prepare students for that specifically.

How Our TACHS Tutoring Works

Start with a mock. Your student sits a full-length TACHS practice exam before any instruction, proctored at home on their own device, in the morning, the way the real one runs. We score it and break it down by section.

Then a consultation. We go through the results with you section by section, compare them against the three schools on your list, and tell you honestly how much work is ahead. If the gap is small, we will say so.

Then a plan.One-on-one sessions scheduled around your child’s calendar, in person at 230 Park Avenue or live online. Frequency depends on the gap and how much time is left, not on a package we are trying to sell.

Start early, because there is no second chance.The TACHS is given once a year, in November, and it cannot be retaken. Every other admissions exam your child might sit allows a retry. This one does not, which is why we work backward from the November date rather than filling whatever weeks are left.
Every hour includes instruction, materials, and counseling from a Kent counselor on which three schools to select and how the TACHS fits alongside the rest of your child’s applications. Tutoring is $250 per hour.

Interested? Fill out the form below.

Kent Pre-High School Prep: Admissions Test Preparation for 7th Graders

FALL 2026 – SPRING 2027 · SHSAT, ISEE, SSAT, TACHS, HSPT

For 7th graders a year out from high school admissions testing. New York runs four separate admissions systems with five exams between them, and most families we meet have no idea yet which one their child will end up taking. That’s normal. This course prepares for all of them.

Interested? Fill out the form at the bottom of the page.

SHSAT, ISEE, SSAT and TACHS Content in One Curriculum

Each week covers a single topic, and every question that week comes from a real admissions exam. A week on fractions runs the same concept as the SHSAT asks it, then the ISEE, then the TACHS, then the HSPT.
Students start noticing the pattern fairly quickly. The math doesn’t change. The reading skill doesn’t change. What changes is the wrapping, and once a student has seen the same idea dressed four different ways, none of the four is unfamiliar anymore.
By spring they know the content cold and recognize the shape of every exam on the list.
Preparing for a specific exam? See our SHSAT, SSAT, ISEE, and HSPT preparation.

Two Formats, Same Four Hours

Choose one. Both tracks cover the same curriculum in the same weekly sequence, and both run four hours a week. The only difference is when and where.

Live Online

  • Tuesdays and Thursday, 6:00 to 8:00 pm

In Person

  • Saturdays, 10:00 am to 2:15 pm
  • 230 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor

Fall 2026: 12 weeks, September 29 to December 19
Spring 2027: 14 weeks, January 26 to May 15

Same tuition either way.

How to begin

1. Complete the interest form below.
2. Hear from a Kent counselor. We will reach out to schedule a call, and if it would help, a diagnostic exam to see where your student currently stands.
3. Meet for a consultation. We review the results together and recommend the right path, whether that is one of our classes or private tutoring.