HSPT® Test
Many private high schools in this country, especially Catholic ones, use the High School Placement Test (HSPT) as a means of screening and classifying incoming students. Since many of these schools accept students from a wide variety of backgrounds, and from many different schools with widely differing academic standards, it's necessary to use some sort of standardized test to find out how far along their prospective students are in various subjects. The HSPT test has a good track record of being very reliable when it comes to measuring these things. It's a multiple choice test, and will usually be taken at the private high school that requires it, and normally is given only once a year. You'll want to inquire of the school for the exact date and time. The HSPT lasts about two and a half hours.
There are five sections on the HSPT: Verbal Skills consists of 60 questions, and lasts 16 minutes. Quantitative Skills consists of 52 questions and lasts 30 minutes. There are 62 questions in the Reading portion, and it lasts 25 minutes. Mathematics lasts for 45 minutes and is comprised of 64 questions. Language consists of 60 questions and lasts 25 minutes.
It's important to know that test takers aren't penalized for wrong answers, so it's much better to guess than to leave a question blank. Scores on the HSPT range from 200 to 800. The minimum acceptable score is determined by the school itself. It's possible to have scores sent to more than one school if you're considering several. Because of the desirability of a private school education and the competitive nature of the admissions process, in many cities there are far more applicants for private high schools than there are available slots.
StudyGuideZone.com offers an exclusive free, downloadable study guide to the Internet community for the HSPT test. The guide is in PDF format, so you'll need Adobe's free Reader (already installed on most computers) to view it. Anyone is free to link to this page or the study guide on our server to let students know about this resource.
Click here to download StudyGuideZone.com's free HSPT® Study Guide
For additional information, we recommend you check out these free HSPT resources:
HSPT® Study Guide
HSPT Test Information
HSPT Practice Questions
Commercial Resources for HSPT Test Preparation (provided for information only, no endorsement implied)
HSPT Test Study Guide from Morrison Media
HSPT Test Flashcards from Morrison Media
