What is a good TACHS score? Percentile ranks explained
Short answer
There is no passing TACHS score and no official TACHS cutoff: Riverside reports only percentile ranks, and it says a percentile of 50 is still a good result, meaning half the students scored higher and half scored lower. Each Catholic high school then sets its own admission and scholarship standards.
No one passes or fails the TACHS. Riverside Insights, which runs the test for the Archdiocese of New York and the Dioceses of Brooklyn/Queens and Rockville Centre, reports percentile ranks and nothing else. Its Home Report guide says a percentile of 50 is still a good result. It means half the students scored higher and half scored lower.
A percentile is not a percent correct
This is the part that trips families up. A 50th percentile does not mean your child answered half the questions right. The TACHS does not release raw scores, percent correct, or SAT-style scaled scores — not to families, and not to the high schools.
A percentile is a position in a group. If 1,000 students sit a test and your child’s percentile is 80, then 800 of those students scored at or below your child. The number says where your child landed, not how many questions were right.
What the Home Report shows
Families get a Home Report with the same ranked scores the chosen high schools receive. It has five lines:
| Line on the report | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Reading | The reading subtest |
| Written Expression | The written expression subtest |
| Mathematics | The math subtest |
| Total Achievement | A weighted average of Reading, Written Expression and Mathematics. The weights are not published. |
| Ability | Reasoning with figures |
Each line comes with two numbers: a national percentile rank (NPR) and a local percentile rank (LPR). For what each subtest covers, see what’s on the TACHS.
National vs local percentile
These two numbers answer different questions, and they often look very different.
| National percentile rank (NPR) | Local percentile rank (LPR) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compared with | A national sample of eighth graders who took a similar test | Only the students who took the TACHS in their diocese(s) on the same day(s) |
| Riverside’s example | An NPR of 73 means 73% of that national sample scored at or below the student | An LPR of 51 means 51% of TACHS takers scored at or below the student |
| How they relate | Can be higher than the LPR. | Often well below the NPR, because the local group is more competitive |
So one report can show an NPR of 73 and an LPR of 51 for the same subject. Neither number is a mistake. The local group is made up of other families applying to NY-area Catholic high schools, which is a tougher comparison than a national sample.
Each school sets its own standards
Admission and scholarship decisions are the responsibility of the individual high schools. Riverside does not set a bar, and no official TACHS page lists one. Ask each school’s admissions office how it uses TACHS percentile ranks.
Check each school’s admissions page too. Expectations differ from school to school, and a score that is competitive at one may not be at another.
How to read the report
- Find the five lines above.
- Read the NPR for each one. That is your child against a national sample.
- Read the LPR for each one. That is your child against the other TACHS takers in the diocese.
- Look at Total Achievement for the overall academic picture, and read Ability separately — it is not part of that weighted average.
- Take the numbers to the schools on your list and ask how they use them.
Results are final. There is no rescoring and no retesting.
Practice-test percentiles are not predictions
Riverside and the three dioceses do not encourage or endorse TACHS coaching or tutoring programs. They warn that programs claiming to have copies of the test are likely invalid, and that doing well on a tutoring program’s practice tests does not mean a student will get the same result on the TACHS. Treat a practice percentile as practice.
One thing that does help on the day: the TACHS takes no points off for wrong answers, so there is no reason to leave a question blank. See which admissions tests penalize guessing.
One test, one score
Only current eighth graders may take the TACHS, and only once — more on that in who can take the TACHS. There is no second score to compare against.
When you see the numbers
Scores reach the three chosen high schools by December 7, 2026. Families can view the Home Report online after 3:00 PM ET on January 22, 2027. Admission notices can start going out before that — January 13, 2027 in Brooklyn/Queens and Rockville Centre, January 20, 2027 in the Archdiocese of New York — so some families hear from schools before they see a single percentile. The full sequence is in when TACHS results come out.
If your schools use a different entrance test, check TACHS vs HSPT, and for HSPT reporting see HSPT scores explained.