What You Need to Know About Whitney Young's Academic Center

With the Academic Center Entrance Exam coming up this month and next, Test Prep Chicago is featuring some of the top Academic Center options in Chicago for 7th and 8th graders. This week, we’re spotlighting Whitney Young’s Academic Center, a program that has thus far helped over 4,000 students achieve their goals through accelerated learning and early access to high school level classes.

Whitney Young High School is situated in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, IL. Admittance to Whitney Young’s Academic Center is highly coveted, as it also grants admittance to Whitney Young High School. This can certainly relieve a lot of stress from students, as they will not have to participate in Chicago’s highly competitive high school admissions process. Whitney Young advertises a “six-year plan” for enrolled 7th grade students, and the high school courses offered to middle school students can allow them increased flexibility to pursue their interests in their junior and senior years at Whitney Young.

Whitney Young 7th graders receive high school credit for their math and science classes. Additionally, these students have the opportunity to take high school level electives. 8th grade students will also receive high school credit for their Social Studies and English classes. Electives offered to Academic Center students at Whitney Young include Robotics, Computer Science, Piano, Orchestra, Dance, Drama, Film and Video, Graphic Design, various foreign language classes, and more!

Admission scores for Selective Enrollment Academic Centers are calculated on a 600-point scale. 300 points are determined by the Academic Center Entrance Exam, and 300 points are determined by 5th grade scores in math, reading, science, and social studies. While we cannot know the scores required for admittance into Whitney Young for the 2026-27 school year, last year’s cutoff scores for Whitney Young are listed below:

Rank                    Min. Point Total

Tier 4                                   565.5

Tier 3                                   542.5

Tier 2                                   547.5

Tier 1                                   507.5

Admission to Whitney Young is highly competitive, and the Academic Center Entrance Exam is a key component in the admissions process. Currently, Test Prep Chicago is offering individualized tutoring (click here), a self-paced online course (click here), and one-day workshops (click here) to ensure our students are as prepared as possible for the exam. Our extensive curriculum covers Number Series, Verbal and Figural Analogies, Paper Folding, Number Puzzles (Algebra), Figural Matrices, and more. We prepare students for every possible section that can appear on the ACEE. It is not too late to begin your student’s prep!

To find out more about Whitney Young Academic Center’s courses or extracurriculars, visit their website: here. To see the cutoff scores for all Selective Enrollment Academic Centers, click here.

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School: A Leader Among Chicago’s Selective Enrollment High Schools

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School stands as one of Chicago’s most esteemed and consistently top-ranked selective enrollment high schools. Named after civil rights leader Whitney Young, it opened in the 1970s and was Chicago’s first public magnet high school. Since then, it has remained one of the city’s most competitive schools for admissions.

Academically, Whitney Young offers a rigorous, college-preparatory oriented curriculum that includes a broad selection of Advanced Placement courses (approximately 31 to 33 options). Students achieve both a high SAT average (around 1350) and a solid average ACT score (about 31). These metrics reflect strong college readiness among its student body. Student performance in-class is equally impressive. The school achieves a graduation rate near 99%, and its students score in the top percentile on state proficiency exams. In math, about 91% of students reach proficiency, and in reading, about 89%.

Whitney Young also offers a wide range of extracurricular opportunities. The school boasts a large number of student clubs, strong performing arts programs, and a competitive athletics department that regularly achieves success in district and regional competitions, specifically in boys' basketball. Most notably, Whitney Young has a nationally recognized debate team and STEM-related/academic programs, meaning it is the perfect place for a student gravitating toward a career in politics or law. They also have a decorated speech program and theatre program, making it a magnet for artistic students!

Admissions to Whitney Young remain highly competitive. Students must perform strongly on the CPS selective enrollment test, and acceptance is considered difficult to attain. If you have a student hoping to attend Whitney Young, Test Prep Chicago can help. Through group courses (click here), 1-day workshops (click here), or personalized one-on-one tutoring (click here), our programs help to prepare students for the CPS HSAT through full-length practice exams, targeted homework assignments, and expert test-taking strategies. We continually update our materials based on student feedback and evolving exam trends.

Stay tuned — over the next few weeks, we’ll be spotlighting more of Chicago’s top selective enrollment schools to help families make informed choices about CPS high school options.

Selective Enrollment High School Cut Off Scores Rise

High School Entrance Exam scores are on the rise for 8th-grade students applying to Selective Enrollment High Schools. CPS recently released their Selective Enrollment cut-off scores for the 2023-2024 school year which details an increase in average point totals and minimum scores required for eligibility. This increase will affect applicants of all Tiers across the board.

According to the information provided by CPS, Tier 4 students must achieve a perfect 900 points to place into Walter Payton College Prep or Northside College Prep. This cut-off score remains stagnant for Payton while it has increased by 4 points at Northside in the last year. Similarly, Whitney Young has seen an increase across the board from Tier 1 to Tier 4 students. Tier 1 students must score a minimum of 834 points to be eligible which is up dramatically from 816.5 the year prior. Tier 4 students must score a minimum of 893, up 9 points from last year’s cut-off of 884. Other Selective Enrollment high schools such as Jones College Prep and Lane Tech College Prep have also seen surges in cutoff scores, though their Tier 4 eligibility requirement leaves a small margin for error.

Tier 4 cut-off scores have soared the most rapidly at King Jr. College Prep, Lindblom Math and Science Academy, South Shore International College Prep, and Brooks College Prep with some schools seeing as much as a 21% increase. Previously requiring 529 points for eligibility at Lindblom, the school now demands a score of 643, a 114-point difference. King’s requirement was raised from 501.5 to 600, followed by Southshore which now requires 613 points as opposed to last year’s 529. Lastly, Brooks’ Tier 4 cutoff has increased 46 points this testing season with a new standard of 718 points required. Because of the increasing demand for applicants to achieve higher scores, students who score under 600 points on the High School Admissions Test will not be permitted on the waitlist, making it more difficult than ever for students to test into the school of their choice.

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

An Overview of Kenwood Academy Academic Center

Kenwood Academy Academic Center (also known as Kenwood) is one of seven Academic Centers in Chicago. Kenwood calls Chicago’s Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood its home and has been providing rigorous academics to the south side neighborhood for years. Priding itself as one of the first Academic Centers opened in Chicago Public Schools; Kenwood Academy Academic Center begins in the 7th grade and continues into 8th, promising a “nurturing, small school setting” coupled with an intensive curriculum to prepare its future scholars.

Kenwood Academic Center’s curriculum involves a core set of classes that are only taught by Academic Center educators, with each student taking Academic Center Math, Science, Social Science, and Language Arts. Since each subject is taught only by other Academic Center instructors, students are exposed to a more personalized education than in a regular classroom. These instructors also use web-based instructional tools to provide their students with up to date and accessible course information online. Students are not the only ones who benefit from Kenwood Academic Center’s personalized approach; Kenwood also prioritizes parents by including them in frequent feedback and and student updates by phone, email, and parent meetings with the educators and administrators of the Academic Center. 

Kenwood Academic Center is dedicated to making sure that their students reach their fullest potential by not only providing them with a curriculum that challenges them, but by also providing an abundance of outlets for support for the duration of their program. This includes utilizing teachers, mentors, tutors, and school counselors to achieve the most effective organizational skills for the student and providing consultations from past Kenwood Academic Center alumni in order to ease the transition into the Academic Center. Kenwood Academic Center also offers a variety of extracurricular activities for students to choose from. These include clubs and activities such as Debate, Ivy League club, Poetry club, Anime club, and the traditional offerings of art, band, and sports. 

While Kenwood Academic Center does not have its own website, visit Kenwood Academy’s website to find more information for the Academic Center underneath the Academic Center tab: https://www.kenwoodacademy.org/

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

An Overview of Whitney Young Academic Center

Whitney M. Young (also known as Whitney Young) Academic Center is one of seven Academic Centers in Chicago. Maintaining roots on Chicago’s west side, Whitney Young’s Academic Center has provided its students the same level of preparedness as their high school counterparts for over three decades. Their Academic Center begins in the 7th grade and continues into 8th with a guaranteed spot into Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (one of Chicago’s eleven selective enrollment high schools) upon completion.

Whitney Young’s Academic Center prides itself on engaging students in their maximum academic potential while also providing them with a skill set that encourages lifelong learning. It begins this process by arming its students in the 7th grade with an accelerated curriculum that correlates with the Academic Center’s Six Year Plan. All students in the 7th grade are enrolled into core courses such as Language Arts, Honors Environmental Science, Social Science, Math, and Physical Education with the ability to choose up to two Honors-level electives. 8th graders continue this core curriculum with Honors English I, Honors Biology, Honors World History, and Math as well as two Honors-level electives. By the end of the two years at Whitney Young’s Academic Center, students have the potential to accumulate as many as twelve high school credits before beginning their 9th-grade year. 

Whitney Young Academic Center’s elective schedule offers its students the opportunity to flex their academic independence with its diversity in courses.These classes can include computer science, robotics, dance, orchestra, guitar, piano, chorus, drama, graphic design, and mixed media to name a few. Language courses offered at the Academic Center include Mandarin Chinese, French, Latin, Japanese, and Spanish. Additionally, if students are interested in sports or extracurriculars, Whitney Young offers many programs including but not limited to basketball, cross country, track, and math team.

While Whitney M. Young Academic Center does not have its own website, visit Whitney Young’s website to find more information for the Academic Center under the Admissions tab at: wyoung.org.

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

Academic Center Entrance Exam (ACEE)

The Academic Center Entrance Exam (ACEE) was designed by the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Access and Enrollment specifically for Chicago’s 6th grade students applying to Academic Centers. Unlike other standardized tests such as the NWEA MAP, the ACEE measures critical thinking skills, reasoning, and problem solving, much like an IQ test. At 90 minutes in length, the exam boasts 9 sections, each being 10 minutes long. It includes both verbal and non-verbal sections such as verbal analogies, vocabulary and sentence completion, word classification, geometric sequences, geometric analogies, number series, and paper folding, respectively.  

 Like the Selective Enrollment High School Exam (SEHS), the exact format of the exam is kept a secret, and there are no practice or past tests available from CPS. However, Test Prep Chicago’s material is exceedingly close to the actual test, which we know based on exit interviews we have conducted with past students who have taken it. To learn more about our curriculum and how to take an ACEE practice test, visit testprepchicago.com.

Lastly, for Chicago Public School, private, and parochial school students alike, the Academic Center Entrance Exam is administered in the winter of students’ 6th grade year, usually in early February. To sign up for a test date and to apply for an Academic Center, visit the CPS website. Stop by our website to check out the dates for our Academic Center prep courses. 

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator
lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

An Overview of Academic Centers

Do you want to avoid the complexities of the high school selective enrollment process, but still want your student to attend a competitive school? An Academic Center may be for you!

Academic Centers, which are similar to middle schools, are housed in high schools and provide a college preparatory program for seventh and eighth-grade students. If a student is admitted into an Academic Center, he or she is automatically granted admission to that Academic Center’s affiliated high school. A few highly sought-after Academic Centers in Chicago include Brooks, Kenwood, Lane Tech, Lindblom, Morgan Park, Taft, and Whitney Young.

The application process for Academic Centers is almost indistinguishable from the Selective Enrollment process; however, instead of the process beginning in 7th grade, students must begin testing in 5th grade. Much like Selective Enrollment, the Academic Center admission process works on a 900-point scale.

The first third of points available come from a student’s 5th-grade grades in math, English, science, and social studies. Each A grade is the equivalent of 75 points, totaling at 300 points, or 1/3 of the 900 points obtainable. Each B grade results in 50 points, each C grade results in 25 points and no points are awarded for grades of D or F.

The second third of the 900 points come from a student’s NWEA MAP scores. For CPS students, the official score will be taken from their spring NWEA MAP in 5th grade, while non-CPS students will get their official score from their fall NWEA MAP in 6th grade. This test is divided into two sections: math and reading. Each section is worth 150 points, totaling at 300.

The final third of students’ points are taken from their Academic Center Entrance Exam (AC Exam). The AC Exam includes 9 sections, each at 10 minutes long. Unlike other standardized tests like the NWEA MAP, the AC Exam measures critical thinking skills, reasoning, and problem-solving, much like an IQ test. This test is administered in the winter of their 6th-grade year, usually in early February. 

In addition to the 900 points, students will also need to fill out an Academic Center application using the CPS website. On the application, parents will have to declare in which tiered neighborhood the student lives (to find out in what tier your neighborhood is, visit the CPS website). The final score a student needs out of 900 for each school (for example, 850/900 for Lane Tech or 880/900 for Taft) will be determined by their socio-economic tier. These applications are usually open in October and are due in mid-December, but you can find official dates on the CPS website.

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator
lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266