Selective Enrollment High School Admissions &
The PreACT 9
Test Prep Chicago is a Licensed Provider of Official ACT® Content, and our material includes Officially Licensed ACT® Content. Test Prep Chicago is a licensed participant in the NTPA ACT Affiliate Tutor Program.
If you’re a parent of a 7th or 8th grader in Chicago, you’ve likely heard about admissions testing for Selective Enrollment High Schools. The PreACT 9 is a key part of the application process for Selective Enrollment High Schools and other advanced CPS choice programs. It’s normal to feel uncertain about what the test involves and how to help your student prepare.
At Test Prep Chicago, we offer focused, effective PreACT 9 tutoring to help students build confidence and develop the skills they need for success. Click below to find essential information about the PreACT 9, Selective Enrollment High School admissions, and how Test Prep Chicago can help your child succeed:
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What is the PreACT 9?
Learn about the PreACT 9, its contents, how scoring works, and more!
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Which Schools Use the PreACT 9?
Find a list of schools that use the PreACT 9 as a factor in admissions decisions here.
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What Does Admissions Look Like?
Find out more about the Selective Enrollment High School admissions process.
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Important Dates for 2026 / 2027
Get an idea of important dates relating to admissions and PreACT 9 testing here.
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How Can Test Prep Chicago Help?
Discover how TPC can help your child be successful on the PreACT 9 exam.
What is the PreACT 9?
The PreACT 9 is the official test for 8th graders applying to Selective Enrollment High Schools, as well as some other schools that feature International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced College Prep (AP) and Double Honors programs. Find out more basic information about the exam below:
ENGLISH
44 Questions, 35 Minutes
MATH
35 Questions, 45 Minutes
READING
33 Questions, 40 Minutes
SCIENCE
32 Questions, 35 Minutes
Test Notes
Calculators Permitted (math section) | No Guessing Penalty | Administered Online | Single Take Only
The PreACT 9 is only available in English; that said, accommodations will be available for ESL students. Contact CPS for more information.
Test Dates
CPS students test during school in October. For the 2026-27 school year, CPS students to test on Wednesday, October 7.
Non-CPS students will sign up on go.cps.edu to test at a CPS testing center on a weekend in October. For the 2026-27 school year, we expect non-CPS students to test on October 17, October 18, October 24 or October 25. This is based on previous years’ test dates; we will update with the official dates when they are released by CPS.
Content
Test Prep Chicago is a Licensed Provider of Official ACT® Content, and our material includes Officially Licensed ACT® Content. Test Prep Chicago is a licensed participant in the NTPA ACT Affiliate Tutor Program. Our curriculum not only covers the content on the exam but also test-taking strategies specific to the PreACT 9.
Students with disabilities, including ADHD, dyslexia, or processing disorders, can receive testing accommodations such as extended time (i.e. time-and-a-half, or 50% extended time), extra breaks, or small group testing through CPS’s GoCPS process. To get these accommodations, you must indicate on your GoCPS application that your child has an IEP or 504 Plan, which triggers a review by CPS. This will not negatively impact your student’s application process.
Which Schools Use the PreACT 9?
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Brooks Preparatory Academy
Hancock High School
Jones College Preparatory High School
King College Preparatory High School
Lane Tech College Prep High School
Lindblom Math & Science Academy
Northside College Preparatory High School
South Shore International College Preparatory High School
Walter Payton College Preparatory High School
Westinghouse College Preparatory High School
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School
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Acero Charter - Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz (Advanced Placement)
Acero Charter - Major Garcia (Advanced Placement)
Acero Charter - Victoria Soto (Advanced Placement)
Air Force Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Amundsen High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, and Double Honors)
Austin College and Career Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Baker College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Bogan High School (International Baccalaureate)
Bowen High School (Advanced Placement)
Bronzeville Scholastic Institute (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Butler College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Farragut Career Academy High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Carver Military Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Chicago Academy High School (Advanced Placement, Double Honors)
Chicago Bulls College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Chicago Collegiate Charter School (Advanced Placement)
Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (Advanced Placement, Double Honors)
Chicago High School for the Arts (Advanced Placement)
Chicago Math & Science Academy (Advanced Placement)
Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville (Advanced Placement)
Chicago Tech Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Chicago Vocational Career Academy (Advanced Placement)
CICS — Longwood Campus (Advanced Placement)
CICS — Northtown Campus (Advanced Placement)
CICS — Ralph Ellison Campus (Advanced Placement)
Clemente Community Academy High School (International Baccalaureate. Advanced Placement)
Collins Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Corlis High School (Advanced Placement)
Crane Medical Prep High School (Advanced Placement)
Curie Metropolitan High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
DeVry University Advantage Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Disney II Magnet High School (Advanced Placement)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Preparatory High School (Advanced Placement)
DRW College Prep (Advanced Placement)
EPIC Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Farragut Career Academy (Advanced Placement)
Foreman High School (Advanced Placement)
Gage Park Academy (Advanced Placement)
Gary Comer College Prep (Advanced Placement)
George Washington High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Golder College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Goode STEM Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice (Advanced Placement)
Hansberry College Prep (International Baccalaureate)
Hirsch Metropolitan High School (Advanced Placement)
Horizon Science Academy Belmont (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Horizon Science Academy McKinley Park (Advanced Placement)
Horizon Science Academy Southwest Chicago (Advanced Placement)
Hubbard High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Hyde Park Academy (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Infinity Math, Science & Technology High School (Advanced Placement)
Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy (Advanced Placement)
Intrinsic Schools — Belmont Campus (Advanced Placement)
Intrinsic Schools — Downtown Campus (Advanced Placement)
ITW David Speer Academy (Advanced Placement)
John F. Kennedy High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
John Marshall Metropolitan High School (Advanced Placement)
Johnson College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Juarez Community Academy High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Kelvyn Park High School (Advanced Placement)
Lake View High School (Advanced Placement)
Legal Prep Charter Academy (Advanced Placement)
Lincoln Park High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, and Double Honors)
Louisa May Alcott College Preparatory High School (Advanced Placement)
Manley Career Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Mansueto High School — Noble School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Marine Leadership Academy (Advanced Placement)
Mather High School (Advanced Placement)
Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School (Advanced Placement)
Morgan Park High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Muchin College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Multicultural Academy of Scholarship High School (Advanced Placement)
Noble Academy (Advanced Placement)
Noble Street College Academy (Advanced Placement)
North-Grand High School (Advanced Placement)
North Lawndale College Prep Charter (Advanced Placement)
Ogden International School of Chicago (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Orr Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Percy L. Julian High School (Advanced Placement)
Perspectives High School of Technology (Advanced Placement)
Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy (Advanced Placement)
Perspectives Leadership Academy (Advanced Placement)
Perspectives Rodney D. Joslin Campus (Advanced Placement)
Phillips Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Phoenix Military Academy (Advanced Placement)
Pritzker College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Prosser Career Academy (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Rauner College Prep (Advanced Placement)
Rickover Naval Academy (Advanced Placement)
Rowe-Clark Math & Science Academy (Advanced Placement)
Schurz High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Senn High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Simeon Career Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
Solorio Academy High School (International Baccalaureate)
South Shore International College Prep High School (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Spry Community Links High School (Advanced Placement)
Steinmetz College Prep (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement)
Sullivan High School (Advanced Placement)
Theodore Roosevelt High School (Advanced Placement)
Thomas Kelly College Prep (International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, and Double Honors)
Tilden Career Community Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
UIC College Prep (Advanced Placement)
University of Chicago Charter School — Woodlawn (Advanced Placement)
Uplift Community High School (Advanced Placement)
Urban Prep Charter — Bronzeville (Advanced Placement)
Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men — Englewood (Advanced Placement)
Von Steuben Metro Science High School (Advanced Placement)
Walter Henri Dyett School for the Arts (Advanced Placement)
William Howard Taft High School (International Baccalaureate)
Williams Medical Prep High School (Advanced Placement)
Wells Community Academy High School (Advanced Placement)
West Chicago Community High School (Advanced Placement)
World Language High School (Advanced Placement)
How Does the Selective Enrollment Admissions Process Work?
Chicago’s Selective Enrollment High Schools use a 900-point rubric to determine admission. 450 points come from a student’s 7th-grade core subject grades (English, Math, Science, & Social Studies), and 450 points come from a student’s PreACT 9 score.
After filling out a GoCPS application and completing the PreACT 9 test, students are ranked through a two-phase process. The top 30% of seats go to the highest overall scorers (based on the 900-point rubric), regardless of location. The remaining 70% are distributed equally among the four CPS Tiers, based on your census tract’s socioeconomic data.
CPS Tiers
You can find your Tier via your GoCPS account, or by clicking this link. Soon, we will also have a calculator available to help you determine the score your student will need to achieve on the PreACT 9 in order to get into their top schools, based on their grades. Note the scores included in the calculator will be based on last year’s cutoff scores, so the scores could change for the upcoming school year.
Ranking High Schools
As part of the application process, students are required to rank up to six high schools through their GoCPS application. Here’s what you need to know:
Rank your school choices in order of true preference. Students are only considered for one Selective Enrollment offer, and CPS will match them with the highest-ranked school on their list for which they qualify.
Always rank your top-choice school first. If you don’t qualify for your first choice, CPS will automatically consider your next school in line. However, if you place a school lower on your list in the top spot because you think it’s more realistic, you risk getting matched there, even if you could’ve gotten into a higher choice.
You can update your rankings after test scores are released. CPS typically allows families to re-rank their school preferences after PreACT 9 scores come out, usually in November. This gives you a chance to make informed choices based on your student’s performance.
To submit school rankings and track your application process, use the official GoCPS platform, go.cps.edu.
Important Dates for 2026-27 Admissions
Registration: Will likely open via GoCPS in September; applications will open on Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 10am
CPS students test at their school in October. For the 2026-27 school year, CPS students will test on Wednesday, October 7.
Non-CPS students will sign up on go.cps.edu to test at a CPS testing center on a weekend in October. For the 2026-27 school year, we expect non-CPS students to test on October 17, October 18, October 24 or October 25. This is based on previous years’ test dates; we will update with the official dates when they are released by CPS.
Score Release: Mid-November, with the opportunity to re-rank school preferences until late-November. Applications will close on Friday, November 13, 2026 at 5pm
Initial Offers Released: Friday, February 12, 2027
How Can Test Prep Chicago Help?
Our PreACT 9 Test Prep programs help students arrive confidently prepared to take the exam. We offer:
Full courses, 1-day workshops and/or individual tutoring
Comprehensive packets including practice questions, detailed explanations, and test-taking strategies, targeting the material seen on the PreACT 9.
Access to our online testing platform where students complete diagnostic and final tests and homework assignments. Students and parents receive results, analytics and step-by-step solutions for all test and homework practice questions.
Supplementary material for students taking the HSPT and/or ISEE in addition to the PreACT 9.