Catholic High School Entrance Test Guide

By Giles Howard, Tests.com

Students interested in attending a Catholic high school are rigorously tested in order to determine their academic and intellectual readiness for the accelerated pace of Catholic schools. On average, Catholic schools are six months ahead of public schools and students accepted into Catholic high schools are expected to be able to adjust to and keep up with this pace.

For these reasons, prospective students are often required to take one of two high school placement exams: the Cooperative Admissions Exam (COOP) or the High School Placement Test (HSPT). These exams vary in their focus and format but each is designed to test both a student's acquired knowledge and his or her ability to process information.

COOP

The COOP is a multiple-choice exam that assesses student ability in language, reading and mathematics. These three subjects are broken down into seven test sections: Sequences, Analogies, Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning (Words), Verbal Reasoning (Context), Reading and Language Arts and Mathematics Computation.

These seven sections take around 2½ hours to complete and the entire test is administered over a 4-hour period. The exam tests a mix of prior knowledge and ability to process new information with Sequences, Analogies and Quantitative Reasoning all testing the student's ability to process information and the Reading and Language Arts section testing the student's learned grammar and reading skills.

The COOP is offered once per year in either October or November and its testing location is arranged through a local Catholic high school. There is a $30 registration fee.

COOP Test Sections

Sequences

* Each question is a list of letters, figures or numbers wherein the student has to identify the pattern and provide the next letter, figure or number in the sequence.

* The section takes 15 minutes and is comprised of 20 questions.

Analogies

* Each question tests the student's ability to locate patterns in pictures.

* The section takes 7 minutes and is composed of 20 questions.

Quantitative Reasoning

* This section is also based on pattern recognition and asks students to locate the pattern within a list of numbers or a series of figures.

* The section takes 5 minutes and is composed of 20 questions.

Verbal Reasoning (Words)

* This section requires students to draw conclusions from facts, identify logical relationships between words and identify the essential features of objects.

* The section takes 15 minutes and is comprised of 20 questions.

Verbal Reasoning (Context)

* This section requires the same as Verbal Reasoning (Words).

* The section takes 7 minutes and is composed of 10 questions.

Reading and Language Arts

* This section tests both reading comprehension and ability to apply grammatical rules to correct flawed sentences.

* The section takes 40 minutes and is comprised of 40 questions.

Mathematics Computation

* This is a basic math section completed without the use of a calculator that requires students to compute answers to problems involving decimals, integers, fractions, mixed numbers and percents.

* The section takes 35 minutes and is comprised of 40 questions.    

HSPT

Like the COOP, the HSPT is a multiple-choice test that measures a student's learned knowledge and ability to process new information. It also tests students in language, mathematics and reading but breaks these three subjects into five test sections: Verbal Skills, Quantitative Skills, Reading Skills, Mathematics Skills and Language Expression Skills.

These five sections take about 2½ hours to complete and the entire test is administered over a 3½-hour period. The exam is offered multiple times a year and specific testing dates are arranged at the discretion of individual schools. Unlike the COOP that can only be taken once, the HSPT can be taken once in the fall and once in the spring.

HSPT Test Sections

Verbal Skills

* This section tests students on synonyms, antonyms, analogies, logic and verbal classification.

* The section takes 16 minutes and is comprised of 60 questions.

Quantitative Skills

* This section tests students on number series, geometric comparison, nongeometric comparison and number manipulation.

* The section takes 30 minutes and is comprised of 52 questions.

Reading Skills

* This section tests both reading comprehension and vocabulary.

* The section takes 25 minutes and is comprised of 62 questions.

Mathematics Skills

* This section tests students' problem-solving skills as well as their knowledge of mathematical concepts.

* The section takes 45 minutes and is composed of 64 questions.

Language Expression Skills

* This section tests students' knowledge of and ability to apply grammatical rules. This includes questions on capitalization, punctuation and word usage.

* The section takes 25 minutes and is comprised of 60 questions.

Interested in test prep for the COOP and HSPT? Check out our test directories for COOP and HSPT.