The High School Placement Test (HSPT) is offered by the Scholastic Testing Service, Inc., to help high schools with admissions, scholarship selection, and curriculum placement of prospective students. The high schools administering the tests receive reports which cover cognitive skills quotients (CSQs), standard scores, national and local percentiles, and grade equivalents. The test can be administered in a single morning and covers verbal and quantitative skills, reading, Math, and language. Schools may also purchase an additional test covering the subject of Science. The HSPT may be viewed as an unusually high-stakes test, as Scholastic Testing Service recommends that the test be taken only once.

HSPT Prep Course at Growing Stars

1. Administered to 8th-grade students, to provide assessment for admissions and placement in competitive academic high schools.
2. The HSPT tutoring program offers intensive, in-depth coaching on all concepts and approaches to the questions.
3. We begin with an initial Diagnostic Test. Then, we move on to full-length supervised Practice Tests.

Prep for HSPT online – HSPT Test Preparation

Our online HSPT tutoring ensures students have a grasp of the concepts needed to score well on the test. The tutors at Growing Stars can provide explanations and assistance for both the Math and the language skills parts of HSPT. This HSPT tutoring program identifies specific weak points and works on those so that problem areas are targeted and test results are improved.

Engage an expert HSPT tutor

Taking the HSPT should not be frightening, especially when there is a tutor readily available.  Our highly-qualified HSPT test prep tutors help students improve their scores. At Growing Stars, our staff of tutors is trained to help with the pressures of high-stakes tests. An online HSPT tutor can improve both the scores and the confidence of your young scholars.

We have tutors experienced with all facets of the HSPT, and working with a private tutor can help your student get personalized attention and more efficient test preparation. The HSPT is also known as the High School Placement Test. It is a standardized test that many independent or private schools utilize as part of their admissions process. In some schools, the test results are also used to help determine what students earn scholarships or awards.

The test is generally taken by students in the eighth grade, in preparation for them going to a new school for ninth grade. In addition to reviewing potentially covered material with your student, our tutors can offer help with study skills and even work with your student to boost their confidence in their abilities. There are several versions of the test, including the Pre-HSPT issued to seventh graders, closed HSPT and open HSPT.

How Can a Tutor Help My Student with the HSPT Test?

The verbal skills section of the test involves performing tasks that utilize language based reasoning, and it relates to fields such as language and social studies. If your student struggles with this area of the test, their HSPT prep course tutor may provide them with samples of these types of tasks to give them extra practice. With more practice comes more comfort and familiarity with the test.

For the quantitative skills section, your student has to perform number and quantity based tasks. If your student has a hard time with math and quantitative logic, their HSPT prep course tutor may work with them on solving different problem types. They can then apply this style of thinking to other problems and practice using logic and problem solving skills to answer the questions. Our HSPT tutors will also work with your student in the particular learning style that suits them best.

For visual learners, HSPT tutors may include graphs or charts to illustrate information, while auditory learners may do better with a lecture styled review session, where they can take notes and ask questions. The session is tailored to your student’s needs rather than forcing them to learn like everyone else does when in the classroom setting. This promotes academic success in a variety of ways.

For the reading section of the HSPT test, your student must read different passages and answer questions about them, such as making inferences. During their HSPT tutoring sessions, a student who needs help with this section may learn active reading and note taking techniques from their tutor. Rather than having to scour the passage over again, they can reference their notes to answer questions. They may even benefit from learning to skim the questions prior to reading the passages so that they know what types of information to be looking for.

For the mathematics section of the HSPT, solve problems related to skills such as arithmetic. Your student may be like many others and struggle with math problems, especially if they have not learned the requisite skills needed to answer the questions. Our HSPT prep course tutors can work with your student on previous concepts that they have covered to review them and make sure your student has a comprehensive understanding of how to solve these types of problems. They can also work on sample problems, learning to perform calculations without the use of a calculator, as one is not allowed on the test.

For the language section, students have to apply rules of grammar and punctuation and answer questions about these conventions. If your student is struggling with this area, their HSPT tutor may work with them to develop flashcards to review the material, such as how to spell certain words or to remember different parts of speech. Each of the topics can be reviewed so that your student understands the HSPT prep course material before the big test.

The HSPT also has two optional sections, science and the Catholic religion. It is important that you check to see if your student will be tested on these areas, in which case reviewing the material may be important in the HSPT tutoring, and the tutor can incorporate this material into their study sessions. If they are not going to be tested in these areas, you do not need to worry about having a tutor review this test material.