Good student, great kid-- YIKES on HSPT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not an admissions test, it is a placement test, hsPt P for Placement, meaning that it determines which classes your child will be in when he or she attends the school. This is what I was told when I expressed concerns about my DC's low score. They didn't seem at all concerned about DC gaining admission, and they have a long record of being a feeder school to DC's first HS choice.

I've found that Catholic schools in this area really don't focus as much on getting the top scoring students, otherwise why even are there "regular" "honors" "college prep" levels of English, Math, etc., which all have similar number of students per class? The schools are looking for other things, either children of alumni, or good teacher recommendations, or good athletes, and yes, good students as well, but they are not trying to just pick a class full of 99th %ile students.

Best of luck everyone!

Bump, this was my post and I just wanted to say to everyone who searches this post up in the future, DC is in at first choice school so please don't stress about HSPT scores.

I know this site has its issues but it has been really helpful in our school journey, so I hope everyone's DCs end up at a place where they can blossom and shine.

Congrats on Good Counsel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not an admissions test, it is a placement test, hsPt P for Placement, meaning that it determines which classes your child will be in when he or she attends the school. This is what I was told when I expressed concerns about my DC's low score. They didn't seem at all concerned about DC gaining admission, and they have a long record of being a feeder school to DC's first HS choice.

I've found that Catholic schools in this area really don't focus as much on getting the top scoring students, otherwise why even are there "regular" "honors" "college prep" levels of English, Math, etc., which all have similar number of students per class? The schools are looking for other things, either children of alumni, or good teacher recommendations, or good athletes, and yes, good students as well, but they are not trying to just pick a class full of 99th %ile students.

Best of luck everyone!

Bump, this was my post and I just wanted to say to everyone who searches this post up in the future, DC is in at first choice school so please don't stress about HSPT scores.

I know this site has its issues but it has been really helpful in our school journey, so I hope everyone's DCs end up at a place where they can blossom and shine.

Congrats on Good Counsel.

Or one of the Arlington Diocese schools PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone mentioned to me that HSPT is used primarily for placement as oppose to admissions, at lease that’s what they were told at St John’s.

They do use it for placement but make no mistake, they use it in admissions as well.

This makes logical sense. If it was only used for placement, they would give the test to accepted students, and not require it in the admission stage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone mentioned to me that HSPT is used primarily for placement as oppose to admissions, at lease that’s what they were told at St John’s.

They do use it for placement but make no mistake, they use it in admissions as well.

This makes logical sense. If it was only used for placement, they would give the test to accepted students, and not require it in the admission stage.

they also pre assess the kids because they need to take a rage of academic ability. I’m most certain most private schools aren’t staffed to accommodate a full freshmen class of AP Calculus and physic kids.

[Anonymous]

I know kids with a wide range of HSPT scores that just found out yesterday they got into PVI. They mean something, but definitely not everything.

[Anonymous]

Did any of the Catholic HSs do interviews this year?

[Anonymous]

We had one for Prep.

[Anonymous]

So many parents are posting their kids got in the high 90s on the HSPT. Statistically it seems impossible that many kids scored that high. Out of a maximum of 800pts what did those kids score? 750+? I’m having a hard time believing so many kids scored in the high 90s (especially during Covid) when the average score nationally is 500. Either the DC Metro area has a lot of genius kids or parents like to lie on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many parents are posting their kids got in the high 90s on the HSPT. Statistically it seems impossible that many kids scored that high. Out of a maximum of 800pts what did those kids score? 750+? I’m having a hard time believing so many kids scored in the high 90s (especially during Covid) when the average score nationally is 500. Either the DC Metro area has a lot of genius kids or parents like to lie on this forum.

It's both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sons’s score was 96-9. Straight As & strong athlete (swim / tennis). He’s never missed honor roll & was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. I hope this is enough for him to get into Gonzaga. He only applied to 2 schools; Gonzaga & BI (we’re in Alexandria & he’s @ a Catholic school).

If he isn't a legacy, it's going to be tough. Good luck!

LOL, are you sniffing glue? With those credentials he should definitely get in. Gonzaga isn’t Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sons’s score was 96-9. Straight As & strong athlete (swim / tennis). He’s never missed honor roll & was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. I hope this is enough for him to get into Gonzaga. He only applied to 2 schools; Gonzaga & BI (we’re in Alexandria & he’s @ a Catholic school).

If he isn't a legacy, it's going to be tough. Good luck!

Did he get into GZ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many parents are posting their kids got in the high 90s on the HSPT. Statistically it seems impossible that many kids scored that high. Out of a maximum of 800pts what did those kids score? 750+? I’m having a hard time believing so many kids scored in the high 90s (especially during Covid) when the average score nationally is 500. Either the DC Metro area has a lot of genius kids or parents like to lie on this forum.

There's a local score and a national score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many parents are posting their kids got in the high 90s on the HSPT. Statistically it seems impossible that many kids scored that high. Out of a maximum of 800pts what did those kids score? 750+? I’m having a hard time believing so many kids scored in the high 90s (especially during Covid) when the average score nationally is 500. Either the DC Metro area has a lot of genius kids or parents like to lie on this forum.

It's both.

The HSPT is not an IQ test, they are not using it to find "geniuses". It is testing knowledge. There are lots of accelerated kids in both the public and private schools in this DC metro area.

[Anonymous]

My DC got almost perfect scores in several prep tests (from a book on Amazon). But only scored ~90% in the real test. I guess this year's test is harder as the percentage is calculated using tests from a few years back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC got almost perfect scores in several prep tests (from a book on Amazon). But only scored ~90% in the real test. I guess this year's test is harder as the percentage is calculated using tests from a few years back?

I feel like it might have been. My son and my friend's daughter also scored quite a bit below their practice tests.
They were both accepted at their top choice schools with scores below what they thought they needed so it does seem that scores were lower this year.