Scores, ranks and what counts as good
What is a good TACHS score?
Nobody publishes one. Riverside Assessments reports two percentile ranks and defines neither; no diocese and no high school prints the rank it admits on.
So any figure you have been given for a “good” or an “average” TACHS score was made up by the page that gave it to you. What is published is below — what the report contains, what a percentile means, who decides — every line of it from the publisher’s own handbook, and then the one thing a parent can actually do about a score before it exists.
What the score report actually holds
“You will be provided with the student’s Local and National percentile ranks as reported to your High School choices.”
Riverside Assessments — TACHS Student Handbook — Parent/Guardian Reports
Two numbers, both percentiles. Not a mark out of a hundred, not a count of right answers, not a score for Reading or Mathematics or Ability on its own. The same two numbers go to the three high schools the family chose, and the handbook says nothing else about what any of them is compared against. When it arrives, and how, is its own page.
A percentile is a position, which is why there is no pass mark
A rank of forty means the child scored higher than four in ten of the children they were compared with. It does not mean four questions in ten were right; those are different numbers and nothing published converts one into the other. A position cannot be passed or failed. It can only be higher or lower than somebody else’s, and which “somebody else” the Local and the National rank each measure against is a thing the handbook names and never defines.
- Two ranks, Local and National, on the Home Report
- Both reported to the three schools you chose
- The result is final: no review, no rescore, no retest
- One sitting per student
- No penalty for a wrong answer
- A percentile that counts as “good”
- An average score, or any raw or scaled score
- The rank any high school admits on
- What group the Local rank compares against
- What the National rank compares against
The schools decide, and they do not say how
The handbook lists the participating high schools with their freshman class sizes, and states that the ranks are reported to the three a family chose. That is where the published trail ends. No school prints a cut-off, and the application is more than the rank — which is exactly why a threshold quoted on a prep site is not a fact about any school. If a number matters to you, the school’s admissions office is the only place it can come from.
“All TACHS test results are final. No reviewing, rescoring, or retesting will be done.”
Riverside Assessments — TACHS Student Handbook — Parent/Guardian Reports
The only time a score can move is before the sitting
One sitting, no retest, no review. What is still open is the practice: 1,556 free original TACHS questions across all 4 subtests, each marked the moment it is answered, with every wrong choice explained — and a full mock paper that shows, topic by topic, where the marks went, which is the nearest thing to a score report that exists before the real one.
Registration closes October 28, 2026, and there is no late registration.
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Related questions
What is the average TACHS score?
Not published either, and there is nothing to average: the report carries no raw score and no scaled score, only percentile ranks. A percentile is a position in a group, so by definition the middle of the group sits at the fiftieth — but that is a property of percentiles, not a fact about this exam, and it says nothing about what any school wants to see.
How is the TACHS scored?
As two percentile ranks. The handbook’s sentence is: “You will be provided with the student’s Local and National percentile ranks as reported to your High School choices.” A rank of forty means the child scored higher than that share of the group they were compared with; it is not the share of questions answered correctly, and there is no published way to convert one into the other. Which group “Local” and “National” each refer to is not defined anywhere Riverside Assessments publishes.
What TACHS score do you need to get into a Catholic high school?
No school publishes one. The handbook lists the participating high schools and their freshman class sizes, and states that the ranks are reported to the three schools a family chose — the decision is each school’s, made with the application as a whole, and no admissions percentile appears in any document Riverside Assessments or the dioceses print. Ask the school directly; a number from a prep site is not theirs.
Is there a passing score on the TACHS?
No. A percentile rank cannot be passed or failed; it can only be higher or lower than somebody else’s. The handbook describes no pass mark, and the result is final in the publisher’s own words: “All TACHS test results are final. No reviewing, rescoring, or retesting will be done.”
Can a TACHS score be improved by retaking the test?
No. The handbook states that “A student may take the TACHS examination only once.” and that no rescoring or retesting is done. The only time a score can be changed is before the sitting, which is what practice is for — and the handbook itself says a wrong answer costs nothing, so a blank is strictly worse than a guess.
When do TACHS scores come out?
The Home Report opens after 3:00 PM EST on Friday, January 22, 2027, and Riverside Assessments states that it cannot provide results earlier. Instructions for reaching it are published in early January on www.tachsinfo.com.
Every quotation on this page is from the TACHS Student Handbook, which Riverside Assessments publishes. It is named here, with what it settles.