For those students in 4th through 7th grade looking to find out if Covington Latin School would be a good fit for your child, testing can be the first step in the process. Covington Latin School hosts several group tests throughout the year. To register, please click the link below:
The examination takes roughly 3 hours, including breaks in which refreshments are provided. Guests should bring an examination fee of $50 (check payable to CLS or exact cash). Additional details are provided in the registration confirmation email each guest receives.
Students in 8th grade looking for a challenging high-school education, focusing on honors and AP classes, Covington Latin requires the High School Placement Test (HSPT). This test can be taken at any Diocesan high school in the area, but only students taking it at Covington Latin can qualify for scholarships. The HSPT is $50 and takes roughly 3 hours.
Entrance Exam Overview and Scoring
Latin School administers the Scholastic Testing Service (STS) Educational Development Series for 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th-grade students. Score performances are calculated as national percentiles in which individual student scores are compared to national score performances. Please note that percentiles are not the same as percentages - if a student tests into the 66th percentile, it doesn't mean they answered 66% of the questions correctly, but rather, that they tested in the top 1/3 of students taking this exam nationally.
The Battery Average score (a composite of all three subject percentile scores) is the strongest single indicator of a student's suitability for the Latin School curriculum. Once the Admissions Committee has received and analyzed the exam results, prospective students are notified of their score and admissions decision.
The examination assesses three foundational areas — mathematics, reading and language arts — and each is further divided into two categories:
Math
Computation measures a student's ability to compute problems of varying degrees of difficulty without the use of a calculator.
Reasoning measures the student's ability to solve math concepts and problems.
Reading
Vocabulary measures a student's knowledge of words, largely through synonyms and antonyms within sentence structures and pairs of words that best relate in a sentence.
Comprehension measures a student's understanding of short passages; some questions are purely factual, some require a judgment.
Language Arts
Writing List (grammar rules) measures a student's grasp of the mechanics of grammar by asking them to identify words that are misspelled or incorrectly capitalized, and phrases or clauses that are incorrectly punctuated.
Language (grammar usage) measures a student's understanding of sentence construction and language expression by asking them to select clear and precise constructions, complete sentences with correct grammar structures, identify types of sentences, and distinguish parts of speech.
Admissibility
The minimum Battery Average percentile to earn admission varies based upon the size and academic strength of the applicant pool each year. If parents feel that an initial score does not accurately reflect their child's ability, students are encouraged to retake the examination a second time — the Admissions Office is available for parental consultation on retake strategies.
Please contact our Admissions Office, with any additional questions about testing or results.