Spotlighting Walter Payton College Prep: What Makes the Selective Enrollment School so Coveted

Walter Payton College Prep is widely regarded as the most competitive of Chicago’s selective enrollment high schools, and for good reason. Consistently ranked among the top public high schools in the country, Payton offers a rigorous academic environment, exceptional faculty, and incredible preparation for a student's college application process, and later college experience.

Students benefit from a wide range of AP courses, high college placement rates, and unique global learning programs that include study abroad and language immersion. The school fosters a culture of intellectual curiosity and leadership, supported by modern facilities including science labs, a black box theater, and a competition gym. This means that Walter Payton is an ideal school for students who are high achievers academically, while also harboring a lot of extracurriculars and additional interests.

Payton attracts a diverse group of students, including high-achieving scholars, aspiring scientists and engineers, world-language enthusiasts, artists, musicians, and more. While there is a strong sports program, it’s especially well-suited for students who are academically driven and excited by a high-energy, achievement-focused culture.

Admission is highly competitive and based on seventh-grade core grades and the CPS High School Admissions Test (HSAT).

Test Prep Chicago offers expert guidance and test preparation to help students succeed on the CPS HSAT and gain admission to top schools like Payton. In the coming weeks, we’ll be profiling other selective enrollment high schools to help families understand their options.

Interested in learning more about how we can support your student through their CPS HSAT prep? Our group courses (click here), 1-day workshops (click here) and individual tutoring sessions (click here) include full-length practice tests, targeted homework, and supplemental materials designed to strengthen skills and build confidence over time. Our tutors teach proven test-taking strategies, time-management techniques, and pacing skills to help students stay sharp and focused on test day. By conducting exit interviews with students after they take the real exam, we are able to ensure our practice materials are constantly updated to reflect the latest test trends and content. 

Questions? Contact zoe@testprepchicago.com.

How Selective Enrollment Schools Use the CPS HSAT: Why It Matters & What It Tests

For students applying to Chicago's selective enrollment high schools, the CPS High School Admissions Test (CPS HSAT) is a major factor that is worth 50% of the total admission score. CPS uses a 900-point system to evaluate applicants: 450 points from 7th grade grades in core classes (reading, math, science, and social studies), and 450 from the CPS HSAT. That means doing well on the test can significantly impact whether a student receives an offer from a top selective enrollment high school.

The CPS HSAT is taken in the fall of a student's 8th grade year and includes two main sections: math and reading comprehension. It is a timed, multiple-choice test, 1-hour in length, that is administered digitally at the student's school (if they are a CPS student) or at a CPS-designated test center (if they are a non-CPS student). The math section includes algebra, data analysis, number operations, geometry, and problem-solving, while the reading section focuses on comprehension, vocabulary in context, and inference-based questions. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so students should be prepared to strategically guess if necessary.

Because students come from so many different schools and grading systems, the CPS HSAT serves as a standardized way for selective enrollment high schools to compare applicants across the city. It's not just about content knowledge, but also about how well students manage time and pressure. That's why preparation matters.

At Test Prep Chicago, we prepare students for every topic covered on the CPS HSAT. Our group courses (click here), 1-day workshops (click here) and individual tutoring sessions (click here) include full-length practice tests, targeted homework, and supplemental materials designed to strengthen skills and build confidence over time. Our tutors teach proven test-taking strategies, time-management techniques, and pacing skills to help students stay sharp and focused on test day. By conducting exit interviews with students after they take the real exam, we are able to ensure our practice materials are constantly updated to reflect the latest test trends and content. 

If you're looking for supporting and strategic preparation for the CPS HSAT, TPC Is the place to start.

Questions? Contact zoe@testprepchicago.com.

ACT Enhancements

The ACT has made major structural changes to the exam that will be implemented in the coming months. The ACT will now have 44 fewer questions and students will receive more time to answer each question. The length of the test in total will be reduced to 125 minutes rather than 195 minutes as in previous years. Students will also have the option to opt out of the science section unlike previous years.

Math and English portions of the exam will be adjusted slightly. For math questions, the ACT will be eliminating a response option from each question. Options that are rarely chosen or of poor quality will be removed from the exam, leaving four potential answers rather than five. Additionally, when questions contain a graphic, answer options that can be easily eliminated by looking at the image will be removed from the test. This is designed to match the format of other assessments and improve the test-taking experience for students.

During the English section, students will be provided with clear instructions for each question. Previously, portions of text would be underlined or numbered to denote which phrases pertain to each grammar and language question. However, no instructions were given for each individual question, so students needed to reference the instructions at the beginning of the section. This will no longer be the case, as the ACT will provide instructions for each question such as “which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable?” followed by the answer choices. Additionally, the “No Change” options will be bolded so they are easier to see. These changes are being introduced to promote clarity for all students.

ACT enhancements will begin going into effect starting in April of 2025 for students taking the exam online. By September of 2025, all students taking the exam on paper or online will receive these benefits as well. The adjustments will be reflected in all schools and districts by spring of 2026.

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

HSPT Information for Chicago Students

8th grade students looking to apply to Catholic high schools are required to take the High School Parochial Test (HSPT). This year, the exam will take place on Saturday, December 7th at 8:00 AM. Students will take the exam at their 1st choice Catholic high school (Loyola, St. Ignatius, Depaul, or Fenwick). Students can only apply to one of these schools. If a student is not admitted to one of these, they should have a second choice (unmentioned school) prepared. Any student pursuing a scholarship opportunity is required to sit for the exam at the corresponding school.

The HSPT covers both math and verbal topics including verbal analogies, logic, verbal classifications, quantitative skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language. The exam is composed of 298 questions and will be in multiple-choice format. The exam will take approximately two and a half hours to complete. Students should be prepared to solve all problems without the use of a calculator. However, they may use scratch paper for calculations.

Chicago Catholic schools that require HSPT scores include the following: Brother Rice High School, Carmel Catholic High School, Christ the King Jesuit High School Preparatory School, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep, De La Salle Institute, Depaul College Prep, Fenwich High School, St. Francis de Sales High School, Holy Trinity High School, St. Ignatius College Prep, Josephinum Academy, St. Laurence High School, Leo High School, Loyola Academy, Marian Catholic High School, Marist High School, Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, Mount Carmel High School, Nazareth Academy, Notre Dame College Prep, Our Lady or Tepeyac High School, Saint Patrick High School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, St. Rita of Cascia High School, Trinity High School, Saint Viator High School, and Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart.

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

Changes announced for the ACT

This week, ACT announced some significant changes to their test.

One of the major changes is that the science section will now be optional, giving students the choice to include on their test, similar to the optional writing test. Additionally, the new ACT will be significantly shorter. The core test, consisting of English, reading, and math, will be just 2 hours long and will have 44 fewer questions than the current version. The English and reading sections will feature shorter passages, making the test more streamlined, and students will have more time to answer each question.

Some aspects of the ACT will remain the same. The ACT will continue to be scored on a scale of 1–36, and students will receive a composite score (the average of the English, reading, and math scores) in addition to section scores. The test will still be available in both paper and online formats, and the optional writing section will still be offered.

The new version of the ACT will be introduced in Spring 2025 for students taking the online ACT on standard national test dates. Students taking the ACT during school-day testing will experience the new version in Spring 2026.

TPC will be updating our ACT practice materials to reflect these changes and ensure student's are well-prepared for the new test.

CPS High School Admissions Test Paused Due to Technical Difficulties

Due to technical difficulties, CPS has delayed High School Admissions Testing for many public schools across the city. In an email today to principals and network leadership, CPS assessment officials stated that many schools were experiencing technical issues with the testing platform.

Some schools were able to access the test with no issues. In email communications, it was indicated that students who finish the test today will be able to use their scores in their GoCPS applications. Any school that experienced difficulties was instructed to stop testing and wait for a rescheduled date, which will be shared “as soon as possible”.

Anna Jordan, Tutoring Coordinator
anna@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

Proposed CPS Budget Adds Teaching Positions, Reduces Budget for 20% of Schools

According to a budget recently proposed by the school district, while the overall CPS budget will not substantially change, additional funds will be allocated to providing instructors in high-need schools.Teaching positions will be added especially to support English language learners and special education classrooms.

The proposal, which was released by the CPS administration, comes as the district continues to grapple with declining enrollment and a persistent budget deficit. School budgets will grow per student; however, due to declining enrollment rates, approximately 20% of CPS schools can expect to see a reduction in their budgets this fall.

With the expiration date for federal pandemic relief funding coming up in 2024, the long-term financial trends of CPS schools are unclear, but the new school year’s budget represents a shift away from enrollment-based funding. Although enrollment is still a factor, other needs are being weighted more heavily, such as student demographics and special programming requirements.

Anna Jordan, Tutoring Coordinator
anna@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

Overview of the Digital SAT

In the near future, students will only be able to take the SAT via a digital format. Last November, a select portion of SAT students were offered the chance to test out this format by taking the digital SAT. Among this group, 80% of students found the new test taking process to be less stressful than the paper version which was previously the standard. The College Board began offering the digital SAT to international students in March of 2023 and plans to fully implement it in March of 2024 for class of 2025 juniors (current sophomores).

The digital SAT boasts a number of benefits. Among these, the digital interface allows the test to adapt to each student. With an adaptive test model, each section independently adapts to the student’s level of ability, making the resulting score more reliable. Additional benefits include shortening the test-taking time period from 3 hours to 2 hours and making scores available to students just days after they take the exam. The digital SAT will also offer a range of online tools students may use at their disposal. These tools include an on-screen timer, elimination tools which allow students to cross out incorrect answers, and the ability to flag questions for review so that students can go back to check them.

The content of the test will remain essentially the same with minor format changes. For the math section, students will have 44 questions to complete in 70 minutes. Students will have access to a graphic calculator on the screen during this portion of the test. During the reading and writing section, students will have 64 minutes to answer 54 questions regarding reading comprehension and grammar. The digital SAT will make reading questions shorter and reinstitute sentence completion questions. Each section of the test will still be worth 800 points and students will continue to have access to a reference sheet for formulas. Altogether, the digital SAT looks to streamline the test taking process while adapting to the changing landscape of technology based assessments.

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

Homelessness in the Chicago Public School System

A growing number of students in Chicago are currently struggling with having a permanent and stable home. As of December 2022, 13,000 CPS students identified as homeless, according to CPS’s “Students in Temporary Living Situations” program. However, according to the Chicago Coalition of Homelessness, due to some students not wanting to identify themselves and others being homeless but living in other students’ homes, this number is actually closer to 16,000. Notably, many students in these types of situations don’t qualify for public aid.

There have been many attempts to curtail this rise, to varying degrees of success. Tonti Elementary set up a “Care Closet” to have a place to keep donations from the community and charity organizations for students in need, and provides incoming students with free uniforms and a backpack stuffed with school supplies. 

The American Rescue Plan of 2021 raised the child tax credit to $3600 per child from $2000. Governor Pritzker also made a proposal in February of 2023 to raise the budget for homelessness prevention, increasing the funding that goes into Illinois’s Evidence-Based Funding program that awards funds to schools based on priority of need. The Chicago Teacher’s Union stated that the increases were insufficient, and stated that at least double the proposed amount would be necessary to make the changes necessary. The state budget should be finalized by May of 2023 when the spring legislative session closes.

Nate Hall, Director of Technology & Tutoring Coordinator
nate@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

Low Reading and Math Proficiency in CPS Schools

While CPS reported a record-breaking graduation rate in 2022, reading and math proficiency rates for students are a cause for concern, with only one fifth of high schoolers completing the subjects to a grade-level standard. These low proficiency rates have significant implications for students' future success, as they may struggle to keep up with coursework in higher grades or pursue advanced education or career opportunities.

According to 2022 data from the Illinois Department of Education, 55 schools reported zero students that were proficient in either math or reading. The causes of low proficiency rates in the Chicago Public School system are complex, but many attribute the decline to negative effects of the pandemic, including school closures and remote learning. However, proficiency numbers are only slightly lower than they were in 2019, so pandemic consequences only represent part of the picture. Other factors, such as growing levels of homelessness among CPS students, are also important to understand.

Efforts to improve proficiency rates in the Chicago Public School system are ongoing, with educators and administrators working to implement targeted interventions and programs aimed at supporting struggling students and improving academic outcomes. However, addressing the root causes of low proficiency rates will require a sustained and coordinated effort from stakeholders across the district and the broader community, including policymakers, community organizations, and families.

Anna Jordan, Tutoring Coordinator
anna@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266