The HSPT (High School Placement Test), administered by Scholastic Testing Service, is a comprehensive placement test taken by 8th graders seeking admission to Catholic high schools.
The HSPT is a test of cognitive and basic skills: verbal and quantitative skills, reading, mathematics, and language. Optional tests in science, mechanical aptitude, and Catholic religion may also be included. The HSPT should only be taken once; if a student takes it more than once, the lower score is considered the official score.
The standard HSPT lasts just over 2½ hours and contains 298 multiple-choice questions divided into five sections:
| Section |
Time &
# Questions |
Content |
| Verbal |
16 minutes
60 questions |
Synonyms, antonyms, analogies, logic, verbal classifications |
| Quantitative |
30 minutes
52 questions |
Series, geometric & non-geometric comparisons, number manipulations |
| Reading |
25 minutes
62 questions |
Ability to understand central meanings and details of reading passages |
| Mathematics |
45 minutes
64 questions |
Mathematical concepts & problem- solving, arithmetic, elementary algebra, basic geometry |
| Language Skills |
25 minutes
60 questions |
Capitalization & punctuation, spelling, usage, composition |
Scoring
Each correct answer on the HSPT is worth one point. There is no penalty for wrong answers. The raw score (total number of points earned) is converted to a scaled score ranging from 200 to 800 (similar to the SAT) and a corresponding percentile rank.
