Catholic High School Placement Testing Details

The test you will take is the HSPT, the High School Placement Test. Visit the high school websites to see if you need to register for the tests.

The reason for the test is to verify that you have a solid eighth grade education, and if not, they may ask that you take summer school. A high score on the placement test does not guarantee your admission, neither does a low score guarantee you won?t be accepted for admission to a Catholic high school.

The best preparation for the test includes the following:

• Be well rested and fed on the day of the test.
• Arrive 10 minutes before the exam begins (each school is different, check their websites)
• Bring at least two #2 pencils.
• Bring a sweater, the rooms are cold at first, and being nervous might make you a little cold.
• Have the test fee ready

There are a number of study guides available at the library or bookstores if you choose to use them. The tests are timed. If you are going to take the practice tests, do at least one of them timed. You need to know when to skip a question so that you don?t run out of time. Questions not answered at the end of a section will hurt you more than one or two that you spent extra time on at the beginning.

Here are the time allocations for each section:

In order to have the test show your knowledge, you will want to be familiar with the types of questions that will be on the test. This is where practice tests and test preparation guides are useful. Read carefully how the questions are structured.

Devise a strategy so that you bubble your answers correctly, especially when you skip a question. Check often that you are on the right line.

Know how to guess. If you can quickly eliminate one or more of the answers, you increase the odds of making an accurate guess. Wrong answers do not help your score, but you are not penalized extra for guessing.