The PreACT 9 Secure in Chicago: A Parent’s Complete Starting Guide

Chicago Public Schools has changed the test behind the High School Admissions Test label. For the 2026–27 application cycle, CPS identifies the HSAT as the PreACT 9 Secure. Families sometimes shorten that to “ACT 9,” but the official name matters because it tells you which format, score scale, and preparation resources apply.

The PreACT 9 Secure is not the same as the regular ACT taken by high-school students, and it is not the HSPT used by Chicago Catholic high schools. It is a secure, four-section assessment developed by ACT and administered by CPS to eighth graders applying to high-school programs that require the HSAT.

Who takes the CPS HSAT?

CPS says all GoCPS applicants applying to ninth grade take the HSAT in eighth grade when their selected programs require it. Current CPS and charter students are scheduled through their schools. Students attending private, parochial, suburban, or other non-CPS schools must create a GoCPS account, apply, and register for a designated testing session.

Non-CPS families should not wait until the last minute. CPS states that testing occurs only during designated windows and that registration closes ten business days before the selected test date.

What is on the PreACT 9 Secure?

The assessment includes English, math, reading, and science. ACT reports scores on a 1–32 scale, along with reporting categories that can help identify relative strengths and weaknesses.

• English: conventions of standard English, sentence structure, punctuation, organization, and rhetorical decisions.
• Math: number and quantity, algebra, functions, geometry, statistics, modeling, and problem solving.
• Reading: central ideas, details, relationships, inference, evidence, and word meaning in context.
• Science: interpretation of data, scientific investigation, and evaluation of models or conclusions.

How long is the test?

CPS describes the HSAT as taking approximately two and a half hours. ACT’s technical manual describes two hours and thirty-five minutes for the four academic sections, plus a separate non-test portion in the full administration program. Students should prepare for sustained concentration across all four sections rather than treating each one as an isolated quiz.

Can a student retake it?

No. CPS says students may take the HSAT only once. That makes realistic practice important, but it does not mean a student should complete endless full tests. Strong preparation uses full tests selectively and spends more time correcting the causes of missed questions.

How does the score affect Selective Enrollment?

CPS has confirmed that applicable points-based high-school selections will be based 50% on final seventh-grade marks and 50% on HSAT performance. At the time of this update, CPS has not yet published the detailed 2026–27 point conversion for the new PreACT 9 format. Families should therefore be cautious with calculators built for the prior exam.

What should preparation look like?

Begin with a realistic diagnostic. Classify each miss by content knowledge, reasoning, reading accuracy, pacing, careless execution, or fatigue. Then teach the specific skills before increasing time pressure.

A student with weak fraction foundations needs a different plan from a student who understands the math but spends too long on difficult questions. A student who rereads every passage needs a different plan from one who rushes and answers from memory. The test is standardized; the preparation should not be.

Why the name change matters for preparation

The shift from the old HSAT format to the PreACT 9 Secure is not cosmetic. Materials written for the previous exam use different question counts, a different score scale, and in some cases five answer choices instead of four. A student who practices on outdated books is rehearsing the wrong test — wrong pacing, wrong answer-elimination habits, and a false sense of the score ceiling. The single most useful thing a parent can verify is that any prep resource explicitly matches the current PreACT 9 Secure format, four answer choices, and a top score of 32.

A realistic preparation timeline

For most eighth graders, meaningful improvement comes from two to four months of consistent, structured work rather than a last-minute sprint. A sensible arc looks like this: an early diagnostic to establish a baseline and sort weaknesses into categories; several weeks of skill-building that fixes the underlying gaps before adding time pressure; then a shift toward timed sections and, in the final weeks, a small number of full-length, test-like simulations. Because CPS allows only one attempt, the goal of practice is not to rack up completed tests but to arrive with the right habits already automatic.

What a diagnostic should tell you

A good baseline does more than produce a number. It should classify each missed question by cause: a genuine content gap, a reading or setup error, a pacing problem, a careless slip, or fatigue late in the section. Those causes call for different responses, and a plan that treats them all as "needs more practice" wastes the limited runway before test day. A parent reviewing a diagnostic should be able to answer "what specifically are we fixing, and in what order?"

How much preparation is too much

Because this is a one-take exam with real admissions weight, families sometimes over-correct into daily drilling that leaves a thirteen-year-old exhausted and resentful. That rarely helps and often hurts. Steady, focused sessions with clear goals outperform marathon cramming, and protecting a student's sleep and confidence in the final week matters as much as any content review. The strongest test-day performances usually come from students who feel prepared and rested, not depleted.

Questions worth asking any tutor or program

Before committing to help, it is fair to ask: Does your material match the current PreACT 9 Secure format specifically? Do you start with a diagnostic, and how do you use it? How do you handle the science-data section, which is new to many students? And how do you keep preparation from becoming counterproductive stress? A provider who answers these clearly is treating the exam as it actually is in this cycle, not as it was.

PreACT, ACT, CPS, GoCPS, HSPT, and the Archdiocese of Chicago are referenced for informational purposes. Elevate Academic Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACT, Chicago Public Schools, Scholastic Testing Service, or the Archdiocese of Chicago.