Orange County Catholic High Schools That Require the HSPT

Five of the 116 Orange County private schools in our database require the HSPT. All five admit at grade 9, and all five work from the same test date, which makes this the most rigid calendar of any private school path in the county.

One test, one date

The HSPT is the entrance and placement test used by Catholic high schools. It is administered once each January, with no retake. That single fact sets the whole timeline: the real preparation window is the fall of eighth grade, not the spring.

Compared with the ISEE, the HSPT is broader, adding a scored ability section to the verbal and quantitative material. It rewards familiarity with the question types more than quick thinking on the day, and students meeting those formats for the first time usually need several weeks to settle into a rhythm.

Scores often influence placement as well as admission. Worth asking on a visit day: how this test affects ninth grade math and English course placement.

What this group of schools looks like

These five make up the county’s Catholic high school tier, spread across San Juan Capistrano, Rancho Santa Margarita, Santa Ana, Fullerton and Anaheim. From Irvine the drives run in different directions and vary widely, so map the commute before building the list.

Mater Dei High School is the largest and oldest of them, founded in 1950 and now enrolling 1,851 students — a very different daily experience from a small campus, and worth seeing in person. Rosary Academy in Fullerton is all-girls and Servite High School in Anaheim is all-boys; the two are paired sister and brother schools and share many activities.

Published tuition for the current year runs from $20,710 to $26,200. Those are published rates, not final costs: registration, athletics and activity fees sit outside them, as does each school’s own aid program.

The parish feeder path

The most common route into these schools is from a parish K-8 Catholic school, where the relationships and timelines are already established. Applying from outside that path is normal too, but the questions in the FAQ below should go to the admissions office early in eighth grade rather than after the January test.

What has to happen in the fall of grade 8

Working backward from January: settle the school list by the end of summer, with open house and application dates in hand; sit a full practice test in the fall to expose the ability section early; concentrate practice through November and December while gathering the grade 7 transcript and teacher recommendations; test in January, then move into interviews and placement.

Tell your child early that there is no retake, but without dramatising it. At this age, nerves about a one-shot test affect performance more than the material does.

EDUBUS does entrance test preparation and interview coaching in Irvine and builds each family’s calendar backward from the school’s own deadline. The wider application work is described under private school planning.