Scoring for the New PreACT 9, Explained
If your child is applying to a CPS Selective Enrollment High School this year, you've probably heard that the old admissions test is gone. In its place is the PreACT 9 Secure, and along with it comes an updated, scoring rubric for the 2027-28 admissions cycle. Here's what changed, what stayed the same, and one detail that trips up a lot of families: not every section of the test actually counts toward your score.
The Big Picture
CPS's admissions formula for Selective Enrollment programs is still built on the same principle: half of a student’s admissions points come from the PreACT 9, and half come from a student’s core 7th-grade grades in science, math, language arts, and social studies. That said, the math behind each half has been updated for the PreACT 9.
The total composite is worth 640 points, made up of two equal 320-point halves:
Test score (320 points): Your child's PreACT 9 Secure composite score (reported on a 1–32 scale) is multiplied by 10. A perfect 32 composite earns the full 320 points.
7th-grade grades (320 points): Your child's final 7th-grade GPA across the core subjects is multiplied by 80. A 4.0 GPA earns the full 320 points.
Practically, this means:
Test-day stamina still matters.
Prep time is best concentrated on English, Math, and Reading, since those are the only three sections feeding the composite.
Don't panic over a rough Science section on test day. It's informational, not a factor in the score CPS ranks students by.
How Do Tiers Impact Scoring?
Every Chicago address falls into one of four socioeconomic Tiers (1–4), based on Census data for that neighborhood. Tier assignment doesn't change anyone's odds of admission, but it does change the score needed to clear the bar.
Here's how seats are actually distributed at each program:
The top 30% of seats go to the highest-scoring applicants citywide, regardless of tier.
The remaining 70% of seats are split evenly across the four tiers (17.5% each), with seats in each tier going to that tier's highest scorers.
That structure is why cutoff scores differ by tier at the same school. A Tier 1 applicant and a Tier 4 applicant aren't competing against an identical pool for those tier-specific seats.
One important caveat: CPS has published the scoring formula, but not the cutoff scores. Those only exist once every applicant has tested and been ranked, which happens after results come out. Any specific cutoff number floating around today (especially anything referencing the old 900-point CPS HSAT scale) isn't comparable to the new 640-point system and shouldn't be treated as a target.
How Does CPS Break a Tie?
For Selective Enrollment programs specifically, ties are broken in a fixed order:
PreACT 9 Math score — the higher Math score wins the tiebreaker first.
PreACT 9 Reading score — if Math is also tied, Reading is the next tiebreaker.
Random computerized lottery — if both are identical, the remaining seats are assigned by lottery.
Worth noting: Math and Reading section scores carry extra weight beyond the composite, since they're the two sections that decide ties. Choice programs (IB, Military, Fine & Performing Arts, CTE) handle ties differently, as those go straight to a computerized lottery.
Putting it all together
For families prepping for the 2026-27 application cycle, the formula boils down to a short list:
Keep 7th-grade grades as strong as possible, as they're worth just as much as the test.
Focus test prep on English, Math, and Reading, the three sections that make up the composite.
Don't skip Science on test day, but don't lose sleep over it either. Ultimately, it won't affect admissions or composite score.
Treat any cutoff numbers you see right now as historical or speculative. Real 640-point cutoffs won't exist until after scores are released.
Test Prep Chicago has already built a full PreACT 9 Secure curriculum, so students in our courses, Palooza workshops, and individual tutoring are training on content and strategies that match the actual exam. All of our scheduled courses (sign up here), one-day Palooza workshops (sign up here), and individual tutoring sessions (sign up here) will continue to run as planned. All of these test prep offerings will feature the new PreACT 9 Secure content and test-taking strategies instead of the old CPS HSAT curriculum. Sign up while there’s still time to help your student prepare!