Good student, great kid-- YIKES on HSPT

[Anonymous]

BI and Gonzaga are big boys. They can handle it. A little competition never hurt.

[Anonymous]

I'm encouraged to find that many other parents, like myself, have some anxiety about whether their child can get admitted to a Catholic high school with poor HSPT test scores. We are in the same boat but we are staying hopeful. We received scores yesterday and were devastated that our child scored below average overall. I hope what folks say about the 'complete package' is true. Our child, currently attending public middle school, has straight A's in all Honors classes, great teacher recommendations and has been on the honor roll for the past 2 years. He's also a strong athlete, although I'm not sure how much of that shines in the application process. Here's hoping for the best.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if scores are lower this year. When they calculate "percentages" a kid's scores are compared to scores from a prior year's cohort (and not the kids actually taking the test this year).
Perhaps there are tons of kids on DCUM with scores in the high 90s across the board this year but I haven't met many or any in real life. My kid's friends (who are all bright kids) have a mish-mash of scores. Some have a
a 99% ELA but lower math, some the opposite, some have low all around. Many have random scores in the 40s and 50s. I wonder if this is a pandemic effect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm encouraged to find that many other parents, like myself, have some anxiety about whether their child can get admitted to a Catholic high school with poor HSPT test scores. We are in the same boat but we are staying hopeful. We received scores yesterday and were devastated that our child scored below average overall. I hope what folks say about the 'complete package' is true. Our child, currently attending public middle school, has straight A's in all Honors classes, great teacher recommendations and has been on the honor roll for the past 2 years. He's also a strong athlete, although I'm not sure how much of that shines in the application process. Here's hoping for the best.

If you think that the HSPT was an aberration from how your child normally scores on these type of standardized tests, I would recommend asking your current school to send a copy of his/her prior standardized test scores (e.g. SOL, Iowa tests, whatever he/she took) for the past couple of years over to the high schools to which you are applying. It can't hurt, and it might provide a more accurate picture of where your child stands.

[Anonymous]

My son also bombed his HSPT. Beyond bad. And he didn't actually have great grades either. But he had a lot of extracurricular interests and his essays/answers to the questions were quite good. And he's a sophomore at a good area Catholic school. Of course, now I'm worried a lot about the SAT's!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm encouraged to find that many other parents, like myself, have some anxiety about whether their child can get admitted to a Catholic high school with poor HSPT test scores. We are in the same boat but we are staying hopeful. We received scores yesterday and were devastated that our child scored below average overall. I hope what folks say about the 'complete package' is true. Our child, currently attending public middle school, has straight A's in all Honors classes, great teacher recommendations and has been on the honor roll for the past 2 years. He's also a strong athlete, although I'm not sure how much of that shines in the application process. Here's hoping for the best.

How many kids are on the honor roll at his public MS? As are pretty easy to get in public school. Not trying to be a PITA but just understand that it won't be like that in Catholic school. Many of them deflate grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son also bombed his HSPT. Beyond bad. And he didn't actually have great grades either. But he had a lot of extracurricular interests and his essays/answers to the questions were quite good. And he's a sophomore at a good area Catholic school. Of course, now I'm worried a lot about the SAT's![/quote]

Me too. The worry never ends!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gonzaga also has to take a certain number from each school. Some schools have more legacy families which may put a kid on the waitlist who would get in coming from another school.

This is absolutely not true. The number of kids who go to Gonzaga and the other area high schools fluctuate up and down each year. This is an urban myth.

Kids coming from Catholic elementary have an advantage but kids with all ranges of abilities get in. I know many kids in the 80s/70s for HSPT and kids with Bs on report cards who went to Gonzaga.

[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!

This is not true. While, yes, there are a lot of legacies at Gonzaga, there are many (2/3) who are not. Coming from a Catholic school I’m sure your principal has a good relationship with the admissions officer. Generally sibling/parent legacies are given the greatest weight (especially those with current siblings) but next is Catholic schools. That is why every Catholic elementary school principal has a relationship with the Admissions officers. They are required to discuss by the ADW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

This is not true. While, yes, there are a lot of legacies at Gonzaga, there are many (2/3) who are not. Coming from a Catholic school I’m sure your principal has a good relationship with the admissions officer. Generally sibling/parent legacies are given the greatest weight (especially those with current siblings) but next is Catholic schools. That is why every Catholic elementary school principal has a relationship with the Admissions officers. They are required to discuss by the ADW.

Wow. A third of the school is legacy? That’s a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

This is not true. While, yes, there are a lot of legacies at Gonzaga, there are many (2/3) who are not. Coming from a Catholic school I’m sure your principal has a good relationship with the admissions officer. Generally sibling/parent legacies are given the greatest weight (especially those with current siblings) but next is Catholic schools. That is why every Catholic elementary school principal has a relationship with the Admissions officers. They are required to discuss by the ADW.

Wow. A third of the school is legacy? That’s a lot.

My sons class they gave us stats and I combined parent and sibling numbers. Some could have both so it’s probably less but there are a lot of legacies there for sure. Maybe closer to 1/4?

[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!

That is true of every school that has a non-honors track. People on here just don't want to believe it for some reason.

+1. These are not top prep schools. Their mission is to educate everyone.

[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!

That is true of every school that has a non-honors track. People on here just don't want to believe it for some reason.

+1. These are not top prep schools. Their mission is to educate everyone.

Yes. My son said there are really smart kids at his school and some average kids at his school. They believe strongly in the community aspect far more than getting high stat kids

[Anonymous]

So the percentile is created versus students in the previous testing year? This doesn’t seem correct, as those students had a different test. My understanding is that it compares students who took the same test in the same calendar year.

Out of curiosity, was it the January or December testing date that had many students bomb who normally fare much better? Curious, as my January test-taker didn’t score as well as he normally would, particularly in math, and we chalked it up to the slide from virtual learning. We are considering having him repeat Algebra in high school as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the percentile is created versus students in the previous testing year? This doesn’t seem correct, as those students had a different test. My understanding is that it compares students who took the same test in the same calendar year.

Out of curiosity, was it the January or December testing date that had many students bomb who normally fare much better? Curious, as my January test-taker didn’t score as well as he normally would, particularly in math, and we chalked it up to the slide from virtual learning. We are considering having him repeat Algebra in high school as a result.

I would prepare yourself that the school may make him repeat algebra. Don't expect to have a choice.