HSPT Practice Test
This is a free 15-question sampler in the style of the High School Placement Test, written by the StudyPDF team. It follows the five parts of the HSPT: verbal skills, quantitative skills, reading, mathematics and language, and mixes multiple choice, select all that apply and fill in the blank. Every question is an original practice item, not a real HSPT question. Answer all 15, then check your score and read the explanation for every one.
Which word means the same as "frugal"?
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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. Which word means the same as "frugal"?
- A. Wasteful
- B. Thrifty
- C. Cheerful
- D. Clumsy
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Thrifty
Frugal describes someone who spends carefully and avoids waste, which is what thrifty means. Wasteful is the opposite. On a synonym item, test each choice by dropping it into a sentence: a frugal shopper and a thrifty shopper behave the same way.
2. Which word means the opposite of "timid"?
- A. Shy
- B. Quiet
- C. Bold
- D. Afraid
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Bold
Timid means lacking courage, so its opposite is bold. Shy and afraid are close to timid in meaning, which makes them the usual trap on an opposites item: always re-read the question for the word opposite before you choose.
3. Sock is to foot as glove is to ___.
- A. Winter
- B. Wool
- C. Finger
- D. Hand
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Hand
A sock is worn on a foot, and a glove is worn on a hand. Say the relationship out loud before you look at the choices: an item and the body part it covers. Wool describes what a sock or glove may be made of, and a finger is only part of the hand.
4. Maya is older than Leo. Leo is older than Priya. Dev is older than Maya. Which statement must be true?
- A. Dev is the oldest of the four
- B. Leo is the youngest of the four
- C. Maya is the oldest of the four
- D. Priya is older than Dev
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Dev is the oldest of the four
Chain the statements into one line from oldest to youngest: Dev, then Maya, then Leo, then Priya. That makes Dev the oldest and Priya the youngest. The other three choices each contradict that order.
5. Which words belong in the same group as oak, maple and birch? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. Granite
- B. Willow
- C. Fern
- D. Cedar
- E. Pine
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Willow, D. Cedar, E. Pine
Oak, maple and birch are trees, and so are willow, cedar and pine. Granite is a rock. A fern is a plant, but it is not a tree, so it sits just outside the group. Name the category first and then test each word against it.
6. Complete the number series.
3, 6, 12, 24, _____
Options for blank 1: 30, 36, 48, 54
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 48
Each number is double the one before it: 3 doubled is 6, 6 doubled is 12, 12 doubled is 24, so 24 doubled is 48. Check the first two or three gaps before you trust a rule. Adding 3 would fit the first step but fail the second.
7. Quantity A is three fourths of 40. Quantity B is 0.7 times 40. Quantity C is 25 percent of 120. Which statement is true?
- A. A is greater than both B and C
- B. B is the greatest of the three
- C. A and C are equal, and both are greater than B
- D. All three quantities are equal
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. A and C are equal, and both are greater than B
Work out each one: three fourths of 40 is 30, 0.7 times 40 is 28, and 25 percent of 120 is 30. So A and C are both 30 and B is 28. When the values sit this close, estimating is not enough and you have to calculate each one.
8. If you double a number and then subtract 5, the result is 17. What is the number?
- A. 6
- B. 11
- C. 12
- D. 22
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. 11
Work backward: undo the subtraction by adding 5 to get 22, then undo the doubling by halving to get 11. Check it: 11 doubled is 22, and 22 minus 5 is 17. The choice 22 is the trap for anyone who stops after the first step.
9. Which expressions have a value of 12? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. 3 times 4
- B. 20 minus 9
- C. 2 times 6
- D. 5 plus 6
- E. 36 divided by 3
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. 3 times 4, C. 2 times 6, E. 36 divided by 3
Three times four is 12, two times six is 12, and 36 divided by 3 is 12. Twenty minus nine is 11 and five plus six is 11, so both fall one short. When several answers can be right, check every choice and do not stop at the first match.
10. Read the passage: "The town library used to close at five o'clock, so students who stayed late for sports could never use it. This fall it began staying open until eight on weekdays. Since the change, the number of teenagers borrowing books has doubled, and the librarian says the quiet evening hours have become the busiest of the day." Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?
- A. Later hours made the library easier for students to use
- B. Students no longer play sports
- C. The library now closes earlier on weekends
- D. Teenagers read more than adults
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Later hours made the library easier for students to use
The passage links the longer weekday hours to a doubling in teenage borrowing, so the best-supported conclusion is that the later closing time helped students reach the library. The other choices bring in facts the passage never mentions, such as weekends or adults.
11. Read the sentence: "When the coach saw the mistake, her reply was terse: 'Again.'" What does "terse" most nearly mean?
- A. Loud and angry
- B. Long and detailed
- C. Gentle and kind
- D. Brief and to the point
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Brief and to the point
The coach answers with a single word, and the sentence itself shows the meaning: terse speech is short and direct. Nothing in the quote suggests shouting, a long explanation or a soft tone.
12. A shirt costs $18 and a pair of socks costs $4.50. What is the total cost of 2 shirts and 3 pairs of socks?
- A. $40.50
- B. $45.00
- C. $49.50
- D. $54.00
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. $49.50
Two shirts cost 2 times 18, which is $36, and three pairs of socks cost 3 times 4.50, which is $13.50. Together that is $49.50. The choice $45.00 comes from buying only two pairs of socks, so re-read the quantities before you multiply.
13. Solve the equation.
If 3x + 7 = 28, then x = _____.
Options for blank 1: 5, 7, 9, 21
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 7
Subtract 7 from both sides to get 3x = 21, then divide both sides by 3 to get x = 7. Plug it back in to check: 3 times 7 is 21, and 21 plus 7 is 28.
14. Which of the following sentences are punctuated correctly? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. Before the game, we stretched for ten minutes.
- B. My brother who lives in Denver, called last night.
- C. She packed a sweater, a water bottle, and a map.
- D. The team won; they celebrated all night.
- E. Its time to go home.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Before the game, we stretched for ten minutes., C. She packed a sweater, a water bottle, and a map., D. The team won; they celebrated all night.
A comma follows the introductory phrase in the first sentence, commas separate the items in the list in the third, and a semicolon joins two complete thoughts in the fourth. The second has a stray comma between the subject and its verb, and the last needs the contraction it's, meaning it is.
15. Complete the sentence.
The students handed in _____ projects before the deadline.
Options for blank 1: they're, their, there, theirs
Show answer and explanation
Answer: their
The word you need shows that the projects belong to the students, which is the possessive their. They're means they are, there points to a place, and theirs would have to stand alone, as in the projects are theirs.
What's on the HSPT
The High School Placement Test, or HSPT, is published by Scholastic Testing Service (STS) and is taken by eighth graders who apply to many Catholic and other private high schools. It is a school-administered test: the high school sets the date, gives the test and decides what it does with the results, so registration usually runs through the school and not through STS.
The core test has five parts. Verbal Skills and Quantitative Skills measure reasoning, and Reading, Mathematics and Language measure what you have learned in class. Prep providers and diocesan school pages report 298 questions in all: Verbal 60 questions in 16 minutes, Quantitative 52 in 30 minutes, Reading 62 in 25 minutes, Mathematics 64 in 45 minutes and Language 60 in 25 minutes, which adds up to about 2 hours and 21 minutes of testing without breaks. Verbal is the part that surprises people, because 60 questions in 16 minutes leaves 16 seconds for each one.
Some things vary, so treat the numbers above as the usual pattern and check your school's own letter. Schools can add optional parts such as science and Catholic religion, and those are not counted in the composite score. STS reports results as standard scores, national and local percentiles and grade equivalents, and every school decides for itself what it needs for admission, placement or scholarships. There is no single cutoff that applies everywhere. STS also says points are not taken off for wrong answers, so on the real test you answer every question.
How to use this sampler
The 15 questions touch all five parts: five verbal items (synonyms, opposites, analogies, logic and word groups), four quantitative items (a number series, comparing quantities and number puzzles), two reading items, two math items and two language items. The real test has far more math, reading and language than this page, so use it to find which kind of question feels slow, not to predict a score.
Take it once without a clock and read every explanation, including the ones you got right. Then, if you want to feel the pace, give yourself 80 seconds for the five verbal questions, which is the real test's time per question scaled to five items. If you run out of time on questions you could answer, speed is your problem. If you run out of ideas, content is.
When you finish, look at which part cost you the most and ask your school what it weighs. Some high schools care most about the composite, others look hard at math and reading, and a few use the results mainly to place you in a class level.
How StudyPDF builds full practice tests from your own materials
Fifteen questions can show you which parts are shaky. They cannot get you ready on their own, and a generic question set does not know what your middle school covered or which mistakes you keep repeating.
StudyPDF works from your material instead. You upload your prep book, the practice packet your school handed out or your own class notes, press New material, and StudyPDF builds practice tests from those exact pages. Every question is grounded in your material, and every explanation cites where the answer comes from. You do not have to upload anything to start: you can also just name a topic, like fractions and ratios or analogies, and Bo sets it up with its key concepts, so you can build materials on it. Starting is free.
Written by the StudyPDF team. Last updated 2026-08-19.