Prep for Catholic school entrance test

[Anonymous]

Is this necesary? How challenging.is it?

[Anonymous]

It’s not the hardest test but be aware the Catholic k-8s prep and offer essay help as well. If you are in such a school, then you probably don’t need to worry about it.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on where your DC wants to go to school, whether they want to take honors classes, and how they do on an initial test. DS is going to Gonzaga this fall and he scored in the 90s on his HSPTs, as did the other boys he knows who were accepted. He also knows boys who scored just a little lower than that who were waitlisted or declined. His scores went up a lot with prep, so I’m glad he did it. You generally don’t need as high of a score to be accepted at a Diocesan school, but some it for honors placement. I would have your child at least take a practice test this summer to see where they are. Some schools offer them this month or over the summer or they could do it at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on where your DC wants to go to school, whether they want to take honors classes, and how they do on an initial test. DS is going to Gonzaga this fall and he scored in the 90s on his HSPTs, as did the other boys he knows who were accepted. He also knows boys who scored just a little lower than that who were waitlisted or declined. His scores went up a lot with prep, so I’m glad he did it. You generally don’t need as high of a score to be accepted at a Diocesan school, but some it for honors placement. I would have your child at least take a practice test this summer to see where they are. Some schools offer them this month or over the summer or they could do it at home.

I meant to say some *use* it for honors placement.

[Anonymous]

It's not necessary but it helps. Especially with strategies for taking the test.

We're not in the DC area and most kids do take a prep class. DS took it and it helped him with test strategies and what to expect. He has dyslexia among other disabilities and we knew he would not test well. The prep class definitely helped him and he got a lot better score than had he done nothing.

For kids with no issues who are going to get a 90 anyway, they can probably do without the class.

Our HS doesn't use it for honors placement. They have separate tests for that.

[Anonymous]

High scores (like 95th to 99th percentile) qualify for scholarships at some of the diocesan schools.

Most of the high schools offer a practice test over the summer or in the fall. My ds found it useful to get an understanding of what it’s like to take the test. You can also get practice books on Amazon or elsewhere which are helpful. I think the benefits of doing more than those things would be minimal.

[Anonymous]

Is there a practice test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a practice test?

Yes. My DS did 2 practice tests in his review course.

[Anonymous]

It’s worth at least doing a practice test or two so your kid can get a feel for the format and pacing.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my DD's scores went up about 15 percentage points after doing a prep class and she got awarded quite a few academic scholarships.

[Anonymous]

My oldest got a 95 without studying, but had really strong grades (all A’s). My youngest has some B’s thrown in the mix, so we are going to do some test prep to strengthen his application.

[Anonymous]

Don't waste your money. Get a book and study on your own if you want to but no need to stress your child out or waste the money.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't pay for a prep course. We had DD sit for the pre-HSPT in 7th grade to experience the entire test.

Fall of 8th grade year for about three weeks before the real test we got two review books and had her do one or two timed sections per day. We wanted her to start to get the rhythm of how to use the time effectively, understand how they phrase things, strategies for skipping questions and circling back. All the basic standardized test tricks that you typically don't learn until you're prepping for the SAT.