A Spotlight on the Brooks Academic Center

As we lead up to the Academic Center Entrance Exam, Test Prep Chicago is featuring some of the top Academic Center options in Chicago for 7th and 8th graders. This week, we are spotlighting the Brooks Academic Center at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, an excellent opportunity for motivated students who are ready for an advanced program at a young age.

The Brooks Academic Center is part of Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, a highly regarded selective enrollment public high school located on Chicago’s South Side. The school is known for its strong academic focus and commitment to preparing students for college and high school, potentially at Brooks. 

Students at the Brooks Academic Center take courses that go beyond standard middle school material. The program is designed to prepare students for the rigorous high school curriculum offered at Brooks, which includes honors and Advanced Placement classes. One major benefit of attending the Academic Center is that students who successfully complete the program are guaranteed a seat in the Brooks high school, giving them a smooth transition into ninth grade. Teachers encourage curiosity, problem-solving, and strong study habits that help students succeed both in and out of the classroom.

Student life at Brooks emphasizes both learning and personal growth. While specific club offerings can vary from year to year and depend on student interest and teacher sponsorship, Brooks supports a range of student organizations that allow kids to build leadership and teamwork skills. Organizations such as Student Ambassadors are open to Academic Center students, and allow students to represent Brooks at events, help with tours, and develop leadership skills. Furthermore, the school offers many sports, including cross country, football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, bowling, baseball, softball, tennis, track and field, and swimming for both boys and girls, as well as cheerleading and wrestling. Brooks also supports teams like chess for their Academic Center, a distinctive activity that has drawn attention as one of the few of its kind in the CPS system.

Admission to the Brooks Academic Center is competitive and based on academic performance and entrance exam results. For families interested in Brooks or other Academic Centers, strong test preparation can be very helpful. Test Prep Chicago supports students preparing for the ACEE and more by offering one-day workshops (click here), ACEE prep courses (click here), and individual tutoring (click here), providing clear test-taking strategies, practice exams, homework, and a deep dive on material to help students feel confident and ready for test day.

Academic Center Entrance Exam General Information

Applications for Academic Centers are currently open for registration through gocps.edu. Registration applies to current 6th graders seeking enrollment to Academic Centers for the 2025-2026 school year. Students will have the option to choose between several test dates from mid-January to early February.

Academic Centers are selective enrollment middle schools. Upon admittance, students are guaranteed enrollment into each affiliated high school. Academic Centers include the following seven schools: Kenwood, Morgan Park, Lane Tech, Taft, Lindblom, Brooks, and Whitney Young. The most competitive among these are Whitney Young and Lane Tech.

As the application process is highly competitive, students will be scored on a total of 600 points. 300 potential points will be based on a student’s fifth grade final grades in math, science, English, and social studies. An A in any given subject equates to 75 points, a B equates to 50 points, a C equates to 25 points, and a D/F equates to 0 points. The remaining 300 points will be based on their performance on the Academic Center Entrance Exam.

The Academic Center Entrance Exam is a 90-minute test composed of nine sections. The content on the exam is logic-based and requires the use of abstract thought. Each year nine out of ten potential sections are chosen which include the following: verbal classifications, sentence completion, verbal analogies, sentence arrangement, number series, figural series, figural analogies, number puzzles, matrices, and paper folding. Students will have ten minutes to complete each section.

Kayley Horton, Tutoring Coordinator
kayley@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

An Overview of Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy Academic Center

Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy (also known as Brooks or Brooks AC) Academic Center is one of seven Academic Centers in Chicago. Located in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, Brooks Academic Center resides in the city’s south side. Brooks seeks out high performing middle school students who are ready to take on a more intensive curriculum in preparation for high school. These students typically begin at Brooks as 7th graders and finish the AC program at the end of their 8th grade year.

Brooks AC takes a more personalized approach to their students learning; students are encouraged to utilize Brooks’ extensive academic resources in order to provide more than just an intensive Academic Center experience. By incorporating these resources into the students’ every day curriculum, students get a chance to learn at their own pace by receiving varying support and coaching dependent on the students’ learning abilities and needs. This goes beyond the conventional confines of a classroom by teaching the students to master content instead of focusing on completion and traditional participation. This reinforces the rigorous curriculum that Brooks is most well known for, but also allows for the students’ learning to be the first priority at Brooks AC.

Students are also invited to participate in select extracurriculars at Brooks Academic Center. These can range from selected sports, Math Team, ComEd STEM Club, and more. Students are also offered a variety of tutoring and support services to ensure that their transition into high school curriculum is as smooth as possible. These include resources such as an After School and Lunchtime Tutoring program, a mentoring program, and an in-class Learning Assistant program. These programs and more are all to ensure the academic success of all the students in the AC program. 

To find more information about Gwendolyn Brooks Preparatory Academy Academic Center, visit Brooks’s website: http://brookscollegeprep.org/academic-center.

Written by former Tutoring Coordinator, Ramisha Ejaz

For more information about Test Prep Chicago contact:

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator

lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266