HiSET Practice Test
This is a free 15-question sampler that covers all five HiSET subtests: Language Arts Reading, Language Arts Writing, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. The StudyPDF team wrote every question to the subject areas the HiSET publishes, at the high school equivalency level. It mixes multiple choice, select all that apply and fill in the blank. Answer all 15, then check your score and read the explanation for every question.
Read the passage, then answer the question. For years the Eastside branch library lent only books and movies. Last spring it began lending power drills, ladders and sewing machines, each checked out with a library card like any novel. The librarian expected a handful of curious borrowers. By June, forty people were on the waiting list for the pressure washer alone, and the branch has since doubled the size of its tool shelf. Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?
All High School & Admission quizzes
- Practice test · 15 questions
GED Practice Test
- Practice test · 15 questions
GED Math Practice Test
- Practice test · 15 questions
ASVAB Practice Test
Now make your own
Upload your prep book, slides or notes, or just tell Bo what you want to learn. You do not need a document to start.
All 15 questions at a glance
Prefer to read before you play? Every question in the sampler is listed below. Answers and explanations stay collapsed until you open them.
1. Read the passage, then answer the question. For years the Eastside branch library lent only books and movies. Last spring it began lending power drills, ladders and sewing machines, each checked out with a library card like any novel. The librarian expected a handful of curious borrowers. By June, forty people were on the waiting list for the pressure washer alone, and the branch has since doubled the size of its tool shelf. Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?
- A. Most residents have stopped borrowing books
- B. Demand for borrowing tools was higher than the library expected
- C. The library plans to stop lending movies
- D. The pressure washer is the most expensive tool the library owns
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Demand for borrowing tools was higher than the library expected
The librarian expected only a few borrowers, then a forty-person waiting list appeared and the shelf doubled, so demand clearly beat the expectation. Nothing in the passage says anything about fewer book loans, ending movie loans or what the tools cost.
2. The new supervisor's feedback was candid: she told the crew plainly that the last two jobs had run over budget and exactly why. As used in the sentence, candid most nearly means:
- A. Frank
- B. Hidden
- C. Gentle
- D. Delayed
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Frank
The sentence defines the word for you: she spoke plainly and said exactly why. That is frank, honest speech. Gentle is the tempting wrong answer, but nothing in the sentence says she softened the message.
3. Read the excerpt, then answer the question. Dana checked the address on her phone for the third time, smoothed her jacket and checked it again. The receptionist smiled and asked her to take a seat. Dana sat on the very edge of the chair, her folder pressed flat against her knees, and counted the ceiling tiles while she waited for her name. Which details show that Dana is nervous?
Select all that apply.
- A. She checks the address again and again
- B. The receptionist smiles at her
- C. She sits on the very edge of the chair
- D. She counts the ceiling tiles while she waits
- E. She is wearing a jacket
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. She checks the address again and again, C. She sits on the very edge of the chair, D. She counts the ceiling tiles while she waits
Rechecking something she already knows, perching on the edge of the seat and counting tiles to fill the wait are all actions that show tension without naming it. The receptionist's smile describes someone else, and the jacket is a plain detail that says nothing about how Dana feels.
4. Walking to the bus stop, the rain soaked my backpack. Which revision fixes the error in this sentence?
- A. Walking to the bus stop, my backpack was soaked by the rain.
- B. Walking to the bus stop the rain soaked, my backpack.
- C. While I was walking to the bus stop, the rain soaked my backpack.
- D. The rain soaked my backpack, walking to the bus stop.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. While I was walking to the bus stop, the rain soaked my backpack.
The opening phrase describes someone walking, but the word right after the comma is rain, so the sentence says the rain was walking. Naming the walker in a full clause fixes it. Making the backpack the subject leaves the same problem, because a backpack cannot walk either.
5. Choose the word or phrase that best connects the two sentences.
The clinic added evening hours on weekdays. _____, patients who work during the day can now get an appointment without missing a shift.
Options for blank 1: However, As a result, For example, Nevertheless
Show answer and explanation
Answer: As a result
The second sentence describes what happened because of the first, so the link is cause and effect. However and nevertheless signal a contrast, and for example would introduce an instance of the first idea, which the second sentence is not.
6. Which of these sentences use apostrophes correctly?
Select all that apply.
- A. The children's coats hung by the door.
- B. Its been raining since noon.
- C. Both teams' buses arrived late.
- D. The company changed it's logo last year.
- E. My sister's car needs new tires.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The children's coats hung by the door., C. Both teams' buses arrived late., E. My sister's car needs new tires.
Children's, teams' and sister's all show possession, and a plural ending in s takes the apostrophe after the s. The two errors are the classic its and it's swap: it's always means it is or it has, so the rain sentence needs It's and the logo sentence needs its.
7. A phone plan costs a flat $25 per month plus $0.10 for each text message. Which expression gives the monthly cost, in dollars, for t text messages?
- A. 25t + 0.10
- B. (25 + 0.10)t
- C. 0.10 - 25t
- D. 25 + 0.10t
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. 25 + 0.10t
The flat fee is paid once no matter how many texts you send, so it stands alone, and only the per-text charge is multiplied by t. Writing 25t would charge the monthly fee once for every text.
8. Complete the sentence.
The mean of four test scores is 82. Three of the scores are 78, 85 and 80, so the fourth score is _____.
Options for blank 1: 82, 84, 85, 87
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 85
A mean of 82 across four scores means they add up to 4 times 82, which is 328. The three known scores add up to 243, and 328 minus 243 is 85. Picking 82 is the usual trap, since it assumes the missing score must equal the average.
9. A cup holds 6 black pens, 4 blue pens and 2 red pens. You pick one pen without looking. What is the probability that it is not black?
- A. 1/6
- B. 1/3
- C. 1/2
- D. 2/3
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. 1/2
There are 12 pens, and 6 of them are not black, so the probability is 6 out of 12, which simplifies to 1/2. The 1/3 answer counts only the blue pens and forgets the red ones.
10. A student wants to test whether the amount of sunlight affects how tall bean plants grow. She will give different plants different hours of light. Which of these should she keep the same for every plant?
Select all that apply.
- A. The type of bean
- B. The amount of water each plant gets
- C. The hours of sunlight each plant gets
- D. The size of the pot
- E. The height each plant reaches
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The type of bean, B. The amount of water each plant gets, D. The size of the pot
In a fair test only one thing is changed on purpose, here the hours of light. Everything else that could affect growth, such as the variety, the water and the pot, has to stay the same so the result can be traced to the light. The final height is what she measures, so it is the outcome, not something she controls.
11. In the food chain grass, then grasshopper, then frog, then hawk, which organism is the primary consumer?
- A. Grasshopper
- B. Grass
- C. Frog
- D. Hawk
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Grasshopper
A primary consumer is the first animal in the chain, the one that eats the producer directly. Grass is the producer because it makes its own food from sunlight, the frog is a secondary consumer and the hawk sits at the top.
12. Complete the sentence.
When an ice cube melts into liquid water, it _____ heat energy from its surroundings.
Options for blank 1: absorbs, releases, destroys, creates
Show answer and explanation
Answer: absorbs
Melting needs energy to loosen the bonds that hold water molecules in a solid, and that energy is pulled in as heat from the air or the drink around the ice. That is why ice cools a glass. Energy is never created or destroyed, only moved, which rules out the last two choices.
13. Under the US Constitution, which power is shared by the federal government and the state governments?
- A. Printing money
- B. Issuing driver's licenses
- C. Making treaties with other countries
- D. Collecting taxes
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Collecting taxes
Taxing is a concurrent power, which is why most people pay both federal and state taxes. Printing money and making treaties belong to the federal government alone, and licensing drivers is a power the states keep for themselves.
14. The table shows the population of a small town. 1990: 12,000 2000: 15,000 2010: 18,000 2020: 19,500 Which statement is supported by the table?
- A. The town grew in every decade, but growth slowed after 2010
- B. The town's population doubled between 1990 and 2020
- C. The town grew by the same amount in every decade
- D. The town lost people between 2010 and 2020
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The town grew in every decade, but growth slowed after 2010
The town added 3,000 people in each of the first two decades and only 1,500 in the last one, so it kept growing but more slowly. Doubling from 12,000 would mean 24,000, and the population never fell at any point in the table.
15. When a government spends more money than it collects in taxes during one year, the shortfall is called:
- A. A surplus
- B. A deficit
- C. A tariff
- D. A dividend
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. A deficit
A deficit is the gap in a single year when spending is higher than revenue, and the debt is what builds up when deficits pile up over many years. A surplus is the opposite case, and a tariff is a tax on imported goods.
What's on the HiSET
The HiSET is a high school equivalency test made of five separate subtests, and you can take them in any order. According to hiset.org, Language Arts Reading takes 65 minutes (80 minutes in Spanish), Language Arts Writing takes 120 minutes and includes one essay, Mathematics takes 90 minutes and allows a calculator, Science takes 80 minutes and Social Studies takes 70 minutes. Apart from the essay, almost every question is multiple choice. The test is offered in English and Spanish, on paper or on a computer, and depending on your state at a test center or at home with an online proctor.
Each subtest is scored out of 20. The official site describes the standard passing rule as at least 8 out of 20 on every subtest, at least 2 out of 6 on the essay and a combined score of at least 45 across all five. It also says plainly that the state you test in decides the minimum requirements for the credential, and some states add more, such as a higher score or a civics test. Read your own state's rules on hiset.org before you plan around any number, including the ones on this page.
Your state also decides which high school equivalency test you can take in the first place. Some states offer the HiSET, some offer the GED, and some offer both. Check that before you buy a prep book, because the two tests are built differently.
HiSET or GED, and how to use this sampler
The HiSET and the GED cover the same ground, but the shape is different. The HiSET splits language arts into a separate reading subtest and a separate writing subtest, so it has five parts where the GED has four, and it scores each part out of 20 where the GED uses a scale from 100 to 200. Neither one is simply the harder test. If both are offered where you live, pick the one whose format suits you, and if you have already started one, finishing it usually beats switching.
These 15 questions put all five subtests into one sitting, which the real test never does. That makes this a spread check, not a practice exam. It is good for finding your weakest subject and the one you could probably schedule first. It is far too short to predict a score on any single subtest.
Take it without notes. Try the math without a calculator even though the real math subtest allows one, because that separates a setup problem from an arithmetic slip, and they need different fixes. Then read every explanation, including the ones for questions you got right, since a lucky guess hides a gap. If your misses cluster in the reading and chart questions, that is one skill showing up across several subtests, and it is worth working on first.
How to build more practice tests from your own materials
Fifteen questions can show you which subtest needs work. They cannot get you ready on their own, and a generic question bank does not know what your adult education class covered or which subtests you have already passed.
StudyPDF works from your material instead. Upload your HiSET prep book, the handouts from your class, your notes or a chapter you keep rereading. Then press New material, pick a practice test, choose those files as the sources and set how long it should be. You get a test written from those exact pages, and every explanation cites where the answer comes from. Make a fresh one whenever you want, or narrow it to one subtest or one topic you keep missing.
Bo is the tutor for the rest. Ask him why an answer is right and he explains it from your own pages, with a hint first if you want one.
You do not have to upload anything to start. Name a topic instead, for example linear equations, comma rules or the water cycle, and you get a practice test on that with the same explanations. Starting is free.
Written by the StudyPDF team. Last updated 2026-08-19.