Good student, great kid-- YIKES on HSPT

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

The Catholic high schools also get results from past standardized testing so they can see if HSPT was an anomaly compared to previous scores. Ask your principal to intercede. If you are coming from a Catholic elementary then the principal and admissions folks should have a good working relationship.

[Anonymous]

Not at a Catholic school.

[Anonymous]

How does he usually do on standardized tests? Do you think this is an aberration?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at a Catholic school.

Is it a school that often sends kids to Catholic schools? Sometimes schools have different expectations making "good grades" at one school not mean the same thing as another school. His school still should have submitted past testing scores as part of his transcript - make sure they did. These will help the high schools see his true potential. Unfortunately being just good at sports and church group won't tip the scale if his past test results are poor. How different are past results to this result?

[Anonymous]

Bump...Just got my son's scores and we could have written the same post! He did really really badly on the HSPT, well below average...and this is a kid who tested as GT in elementary school and a A/B student in public middle school. His top choice is Good Counsel, does anyone think he still has a chance of getting in??

[Anonymous]

Hugs to you both. I am a Catholic school parent. The impression that I get is that to do well on this test, you really need to study hard for it. The kids in our school were encouraged to spend several hours per week preparing for it. My DD did not study for it as we are going public next year and she's either an all A or all A one B student and her HSPT scores were much lower than her normal standardized test scores. She took the HSPT just in case that public didn't work out

[Anonymous]

Try not to worry too much. Most Catholic schools do not seek to enroll only the "best and the brightest," particularly when that is measured in terms of test scores. A child involved in a church youth group is going to be appealing to Catholic schools too. They are looking for kids who are going to contribute to all aspects of the school and its mission. Good luck! I hope you get happy news soon.

[Anonymous]

Is your child pretty well rounded otherwise? They do look at the whole picture. If they've done well other standardized tests in middle school, I would probably send in copies of the prior standardized tests from 7th and 8th grades to the admissions office, with a note saying you were concerned that the HSPT test seemed like an anomaly for your child.

I do know a few kids who got waitlisted at GC who had very low HSPT scores, and otherwise very good grades, but their other standardized tests were also very low and they were not applying for the Ryken program. They also did not have a lot of extracurriculars outside one sport. If your child DOES get waitlisted, check back, because some kids who get accepted will choose to go elsewhere and some waitlist kids may get in.

I think it might be more likely to affect their tracking placement (Honors vs. College Prep vs Ryken) than keeping them out altogether, but if you are really worried, you might want to make an appointment with the admissions director to voice your concerns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hugs to you both. I am a Catholic school parent. The impression that I get is that to do well on this test, you really need to study hard for it. The kids in our school were encouraged to spend several hours per week preparing for it. My DD did not study for it as we are going public next year and she's either an all A or all A one B student and her HSPT scores were much lower than her normal standardized test scores. She took the HSPT just in case that public didn't work out

What is on this test and how do find materials to study for it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hugs to you both. I am a Catholic school parent. The impression that I get is that to do well on this test, you really need to study hard for it. The kids in our school were encouraged to spend several hours per week preparing for it. My DD did not study for it as we are going public next year and she's either an all A or all A one B student and her HSPT scores were much lower than her normal standardized test scores. She took the HSPT just in case that public didn't work out

We had a similar experience. Older child prepped for the HSPT test by studying and taking practice tests and did extremely well on it. Younger child did not prep and her scores were a good 15 to 25% lower on the percentiles of the HSPT than on her same year other standardized tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hugs to you both. I am a Catholic school parent. The impression that I get is that to do well on this test, you really need to study hard for it. The kids in our school were encouraged to spend several hours per week preparing for it. My DD did not study for it as we are going public next year and she's either an all A or all A one B student and her HSPT scores were much lower than her normal standardized test scores. She took the HSPT just in case that public didn't work out

What is on this test and how do find materials to study for it?

You can order a test prep book from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Master-Catholic-School-Entrance-2016-2017/dp/0768938953/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485877907&sr=8-1&keywords=hspt+prep+books+2017

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of what HSPT scores are common for each school. For instance, did you DC with a 90 HSPT get into Good Counsel or any of the other popular schools?

[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.

This was us last year. I had a complete freak out. I called the admissions office of the school we were interested in and they reassured me that schools look at other things besides HSPT -- transcript, recommendations,etc. and this is why they ask for those too.

Fast forward a year and my child DID get in and is doing great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump...Just got my son's scores and we could have written the same post! He did really really badly on the HSPT, well below average...and this is a kid who tested as GT in elementary school and a A/B student in public middle school. His top choice is Good Counsel, does anyone think he still has a chance of getting in??

Did you do prep? Both my sons added 20+ points percentile with a HSPT prep tutor.