I took the HSPT as an 8th grader applying to Bishop Hendricken. Four years later I graduated from Hendricken with the American Mathematical Society award as the school’s top math student, and today I’m a Rhode Island certified math teacher who tutors 8th graders through this same exam.
So this is the guide I wish my parents had: what the HSPT is, what’s actually on the math sections, and how to prepare without turning your kid’s fall into a misery.
What the HSPT is
The High School Placement Test (HSPT) is a widely used Catholic high school entrance exam — Bishop Hendricken uses it, and it’s the standard exam at Catholic high schools nationally. Other RI Catholic schools (La Salle Academy, The Prout School, St. Mary Academy – Bay View) each run their own admissions testing, so check which exam, and the date, on each school’s admissions page. Most testing happens in late fall to early winter of 8th grade, and applications run on the same clock — which means preparation is a September–November project, not a Christmas-break one.
Three things ride on it:
- Admission — it’s a major factor alongside 6th–8th grade report cards.
- Merit scholarships — at Hendricken, for example, merit awards are based on entrance-exam performance together with middle school grades and citizenship. A strong test morning can be worth real tuition money.
- Placement — schools use the results to place freshmen into honors or standard tracks. Testing into honors math as a freshman sets up the whole four-year sequence.
What’s on it
The HSPT is a long test for a 13-year-old — roughly 300 questions in about two and a half hours, across five sections: Verbal Skills, Quantitative Skills, Reading, Mathematics, and Language.
Two of the five sections are math:
- Quantitative Skills — number series, comparisons, and quick numerical reasoning. Speed matters; these are short questions that reward pattern recognition.
- Mathematics — the school-math section: arithmetic, fractions, decimals, percents, ratios and proportions, basic geometry, and early algebra (solving simple equations, working with variables).
Notice what that list is: it’s essentially a Pre-Algebra test. Little of it should be brand new to a solid 8th grader — the difficulty comes from breadth, speed, and the fact that it quietly reaches back to 5th–7th grade material (fraction operations, percent problems) that many 8th graders haven’t touched in a year or two.
Scores are reported as percentiles — how your child did compared to other test-takers — and to my knowledge the HSPT does not deduct points for wrong answers, so students should answer every question. (Confirm the current policy in the test-day instructions.)
How to prepare — a realistic plan
September: find the gaps. Have your child take one full practice test from an HSPT prep book, timed. Don’t obsess over the score — read the wrong answers. In my experience the misses cluster in the same few places: fraction arithmetic, percents, and translating word problems into equations.
October: fix the math, don’t just drill questions. This is where most prep goes wrong. Grinding practice tests on top of a fraction gap just produces the same wrong answers faster. Reteach the weak topics properly, then practice.
November: speed and stamina. Two more timed practice tests, a week apart. In my experience, the kid who has sat through two full-length practice runs walks into the real thing far calmer than the kid seeing question 150 for the first time under pressure.
Starting in October or later? You haven’t missed it. Squeeze the same three steps together: one timed practice test this week, the next few weeks on the two or three topics it exposes, and one more timed test before the real thing. Fixing a handful of real gaps beats skimming everything.
And keep perspective: it’s one morning, the report cards matter too, and an 8th grader who prepped steadily for eight weeks doesn’t need to cram the night before. Better sleep beats one more practice section.
Where I come in
Every fall I work with 8th graders getting ready for Catholic high school entrance exams — usually one session a week from September through the test, focused on exactly the math the practice tests expose. As a Hendricken grad, I’ll admit these students are some of my favorites to work with.
Call or text Joe: 401-489-1736, or send a note through the contact form with your child’s grade and target schools, and I’ll give you a straight answer about what prep they actually need.