Good student, great kid-- YIKES on HSPT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what happened. He completely bombed it. Only applying to Catholic schools- basically all in the area. Anyone know how much the HSPT actually counts in the admissions process? He has good grades. Active in sports and church youth group. Good recommendations. But now I am a bit freaked out he won't get in Due to this one damn test.

Catholic ES's do A LOT more grammar than public schools. The HSPT is written off of the Catholic ES curriculum, so if you are public school, that may explain it.

[Anonymous]

Curious, what is considered a "good" score on HSPT?

[Anonymous]

Depends on the school really...I would say 90 percent or above Composite is a really good score.

[Anonymous]

I will tell you I think it was the deciding factor for my DC not getting into SJC last year. Scores were not quite in the 90's with a 4.0 public school GPA. It is becoming very competitive for admission to these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will tell you I think it was the deciding factor for my DC not getting into SJC last year. Scores were not quite in the 90's with a 4.0 public school GPA. It is becoming very competitive for admission to these schools.

Did SJC tell you that was the deciding factor?

My oldest, who went to public school thought 8th grade, but is now in an independent HS, had great scores, except for verbal. When I asked a friend with knowledge of admissions what committees would think about his low verbal score, she said "public school kid".

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks very much for the supportive messages and helpful advice. My son's CMP was 28 and he tested at the 7th grade equivalency for all categories, so we are talking way lower than a "good" score. It is helpful information to understand that the HSPT is geared toward the Catholic school curriculum, and he did score about 20 points better in math and QT than in reading/language, although even with this in mind I'm still shocked at how low he scored.

I appreciate hearing from the other posters that they contacted the admission counselor to discuss scores, I am going to do this as well. And kicking myself now because he did not take a class or have a tutor for test prep, he did sample questions from a book I ordered from Amazon -- and did very well on them, so I felt we were OK without a tutor -- but for his siblings I definitely will hire a tutor. Best of luck to all of you re admissions decisions! I guess we'll see what happens when we get the letter...

[Anonymous]

We will be going through this next year.

My kid is in a Catholic Middle School now and we have been told that if we apply to a school without our diocese, we have a better shot at getting in.

If we try to apply to a school that is not in our diocese, it will be more competitive.

However, we don't live in a world where everyone is in 90th percentile. You child may get in and not be taking honors classes. Wouldn't that be OK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will tell you I think it was the deciding factor for my DC not getting into SJC last year. Scores were not quite in the 90's with a 4.0 public school GPA. It is becoming very competitive for admission to these schools.

Did SJC tell you that was the deciding factor?

My oldest, who went to public school thought 8th grade, but is now in an independent HS, had great scores, except for verbal. When I asked a friend with knowledge of admissions what committees would think about his low verbal score, she said "public school kid".

They didn't but with the number of applications they are receiving for the number of spots in the Freshman class, I can't help but think that this was otherwise the only not strong aspect of the application. Speculation, but I think well founded speculation.

[Anonymous]

SJC gives preference to kids coming out of Catholic elementary. All things being equal a Catholic elementary school kid is going to get in before someone coming from a public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SJC gives preference to kids coming out of Catholic elementary. All things being equal a Catholic elementary school kid is going to get in before someone coming from a public school.

There are plenty of kids at SJC that are from Deal MS. They value a diverse community.

[Anonymous]

I'm not saying that there aren't kids from Deal at SJC. I'm saying the Catholic kids do get preference. The question was asked publicly at a recent open house.

[Anonymous]

Second OP here (who bumped this thread) -- my son did get into Good Counsel, much to my relief. thanks to everyone who offered support, and I definitely will do a tutor for test prep with our other 3 kids! It is helpful to know that your kid is not the only one who bombed this test. I appreciate all of the helpful advice.

[Anonymous]

Similar experience here. He DID get in where we wanted him to, but it was kind of jarring and now I know that he WILL be prepping for the SAT ... he's not a natural test-taker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Second OP here (who bumped this thread) -- my son did get into Good Counsel, much to my relief. thanks to everyone who offered support, and I definitely will do a tutor for test prep with our other 3 kids! It is helpful to know that your kid is not the only one who bombed this test. I appreciate all of the helpful advice.

Happy for you (all).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Similar experience here. He DID get in where we wanted him to, but it was kind of jarring and now I know that he WILL be prepping for the SAT ... he's not a natural test-taker.

Glad his prayers were answered.

Good luck!