[Little Bill]

I was sent to a Catholic Prep school back in the sixties, a test school, if you passed you were accepted. We had a lot of Jewish students, and a lone Protastant, me, it was hard.

The courses were, 4 years Latin, two of a modern language along with the Latin, 4 years math, 3 years History, 4 years English, Civics, two science electivs and religion, exempt, if you were Jewish plus the usual rat propiganda.

[buwaya]

This is not the typical curriculum of a parochial high school, even back then. More likely one would not get Latin. One probably would not get Calculus in 12th grade.
As you say, you went to something of an elite school.

Parochials are the bread and butter of Catholic schools, the ones for the masses. They usually didn't and don't use examinations for entry. Parochials typically are built using land belonging to the Archdiocese and often with capital provided by the Archdiocese. The goal is to make them affordable, this goal is often not quite achievable.

There are a minority of Catholic schools, generally run by the religious orders (such as Dominicans and Jesuits), that are financed independently of the Archdiocese. Affordability is not generally an issue, so tuition for these can be quite high, and they often rely on entrance tests. They are sometimes a cash cow for religious orders, but for the Jesuits at least they are a continuation of a long-standing policy to educate the elite in a Catholic tradition.