The Cooperative Admissions exam, or COOP, is given each year
in October or November to eighth-graders seeking admission to
specific Catholic high schools. The COOP measures academic
achievement and academic aptitude and is used by high schools to
make decisions about admitting applicants and to group
prospective ninth-grade students into classes.
The exam changes from year to year so that no students are
more familiar than others with the test format and content. You
may see new question styles, or a different number of questions
within a section. However, the content areas that the test covers
remain basically the same.
Test Overview
The COOP lasts 2 and a half hours and contains approximately 180
multiple—choice questions divided into 7 subtests: Sequences,
Analogies, Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning—Words, Verbal
Reasoning�Context, Reading and Language Arts, and Mathematic.
Sequences
Time: 15 minutes
Format: 20 multiple-choice questions
Topics Tested: Ability to understand rules shown in patterns or
sequences
Analogies
Time: 7 minutes
Format: 20 multiple choice questions
Topics Tested: Ability to detect relationships among picture
pairs and apply to incomplete pairs.
Quantitative Reasoning
Time: 15 minutes
Format: 20 multiple choice questions
Topics Tested: Number relationships, visual problems, symbol
relationships
Verbal Reasoning—Words
Time: 15 minutes
Format: 20 multiple choice questions
Topics Tested: Deductive reasoning, category analysis,
relationship/pattern identification
Verbal Reasoning—Context
Time: 15 minutes
Format: 20 multiple choice questions
Topics Tested: Deductive reasoning
Reading and Language Arts
Time: 40 minutes
Format: 40 multiple choice questions
Topics Tested: Ability to understand central meanings and details
of reading passages, understand sentence and paragraph structure,
and grammar
Mathematics
Time: 35 minutes
Format: 40 multiple choice questions
Topics Tested: Number relations and patterns, computation and
operations, geometry and spatial sense, data analysis and
probability, functions, and measurement
Your Score
You receive one point for every question that you answer
correctly on the COOP. There is no penalty for incorrect answers,
and each question, regardless of how difficult it is, is worth
only point.
The points you earn, known as your raw score, are tallied and
then converted to a scaled score according to a formula
determined by test developers. Converting raw scores to scaled
scores allows schools to compare a student�s performance on one
part of the exam with his or her performance on other parts that
may have included a greater or lesser number of questions.
Finally, scaled scores are reported as percentile rank.
Percentile rank shows where students stand in relationship to one
another on various sections and on the test as a whole.
Learn How to Register
Most COOP exams are given in October or November but parents
should check with specific schools of interest to find out when
and where the tests are offered. Schools will provide
registration forms, a handbook of instructions, and an admission
ticket to the exam. Be sure to bring the ticket with you on the
day of the test. A registration fee is usually required although
the actually fees vary by school.
