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 Lindblom Academic Center

Lindblom Academic Center (also known as Lindblom) is one of seven Academic Centers in Chicago. Lindblom is located in the south side of Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Although it is one of the newer Academic Centers in Chicago, Lindblom remains competitive in its rigor, course offerings, and after school programs. Students who attend Lindblom Academic Center are offered acceptance into Lindblom Math & Science High School (a Selective Enrollment High School) as long as they remain academically on-track.

Lindblom Academic Center prepares its students by offering Honors courses for its core curriculum to begin readying their students for college level classes. The curriculum is dedicated to providing its students a solid foundation before they enter their higher level classes by enrolling students in advanced mathematics courses that integrate Algebra I into either one or two-year courses. Students also become exposed to laboratory-based science and have the ability to choose between studying two unique languages: Mandarin Chinese or Arabic. Students are offered the potential to take other unique classes through Lindblom’s Colloquium courses which is a program that “engages students in project-based learning centered in Community Outreach, Arts, Creation, STEM, and Athletics.” With the variety of classes offered and the commitment to expose their students to higher level learning, Lindblom Academic Center maintains its promise of providing their students a competitive curriculum intended for their segue into Lindblom Math & Science High School. 

Lindblom Academic Center enjoys being able to offer its students a variety of conveniences. Students are accommodated with a busing service that has designated pick-up and drop-off locations in order to make commuting to Lindblom easier on their students and parents. Lindblom also prides itself on allowing extensive accessibility to its teachers for the benefit of their students. Additionally, students are offered participation in select clubs and sports programs to supplement their academics. 

While Lindblom Academic Center does not have its own website, visit Lindblom Math & Science High School’s website to find more information for the Academic Center underneath the Academic Center tab: https://lindblomeagles.org/index.jsp

Ramisha Ejaz, Tutoring Coordinator
ramisha@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266