High School Placement Test (HSPT) is a standardized test administered by Scholastic Testing Service (STS). It is a placement test, which is used by several schools for admission purpose. The education in United States is imparted by diverse institutions like public schools, private schools and home schools. Therefore, it becomes difficult for school administrations to judge applicants based on their past academic performance. HSPT facilitates a common selection criterion and helps evaluating candidates on national level.
Eligibility-
This test is taken by the students of grade 8. Its results are utilized by various school authorities for admission into ninth grade of high school.
Test Overview-
HSPT examines two skill areas- cognitive and basic. In the cognitive skills, verbal and quantitative reasoning are tested. In the basic skills, knowledge of mathematics, reading comprehension and language arts are assessed. The test is divided into five sections- Verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, reading, mathematics and language. The verbal section consists of questions based on logics, antonyms, synonyms and analogies. The quantitative section derives from topics like number series, geometry and numerical reasoning. The reading section is based on reading comprehension, analysis of information and interpretation. It also examines knowledge of vocabulary. The mathematics section has questions on problem solving and implementation of mathematical concepts. The content of language section includes grammar, capitalization, punctuation, usage, sentence structure and spelling.
Test Format-
There are multiple choice questions in all sections. The numbers of questions in verbal, quantitative, reading, mathematics and language sections are 60, 52, 62, 64 and 60 respectively. The time periods allotted for verbal, quantitative, reading, mathematics and language sections are 16, 30, 25, 45 and 25 minutes respectively.
Marking Scheme-
The raw score of each section is equal to number of multiple choice questions answered correctly. There is no negative marking. The raw scores of each section are converted to a scale of 200 to 800. The score report contains scores of individual sections, total cognitive skills, total basic skills, battery composite and national percentile rank.
Schedule-
HSPT can be taken by the students only once. If the test is taken more than once, lower score is considered his/her score. This test is conducted in one’s high school itself. The students may require registering at official website of STS- www.ststesting.com or just have to be present in the exam depending on their school administration.