For many eighth-grade students applying to Catholic or independent high schools, the High School Placement Test can feel like an important—and sometimes intimidating—part of the admissions process. Thoughtful preparation can help students understand what to expect, strengthen important skills, and approach test day with greater confidence.

What Is the HSPT?
The HSPT is a standardized test designed for eighth-grade students entering high school. Schools may use the results for admissions, course placement, scholarship decisions, and identifying areas in which a student may need additional support.
The test includes five multiple-choice sections:

• Verbal Skills: Synonyms, antonyms, analogies, classifications, and logical reasoning
• Quantitative Skills: Number patterns, comparisons, and mathematical reasoning
• Reading: Main ideas, details, inferences, literary elements, and vocabulary
• Mathematics: Computation, geometry, algebra, statistics, and problem-solving
• Language: Grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and composition

Some schools may also administer an optional Science or Catholic Religion section. Families should confirm their school’s testing requirements, dates, and accommodation procedures.

When Should Students Begin Preparing?
Ideally, students should begin preparing approximately eight to twelve weeks before the test. This provides time to identify areas of weakness, review important concepts, and practice without feeling rushed.

Consistency is more effective than cramming. Several focused study sessions each week are generally more helpful than one long session.

Begin With a Diagnostic Assessment
A diagnostic or practice test can help determine which areas need the most attention. One student may understand the academic material but struggle with pacing, while another may need targeted review in math, grammar, or reading comprehension.

Students should carefully review missed questions and consider why each mistake occurred:

• Was the concept unfamiliar?
• Did the student misread the question?
• Was there a calculation error?
• Did the student run out of time?
• Was the student unsure how to eliminate incorrect choices?

Understanding the reason for a mistake is often more valuable than simply learning the correct answer.

Strengthen Core Academic Skills
Because calculators are not used under standard HSPT testing conditions, students should practice completing math problems by hand. Important topics may include fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, algebra, geometry, measurement, statistics, and multi-step word problems.

For the Verbal Skills and Language sections, students should practice analogies, word relationships, logical reasoning, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Learning common prefixes, suffixes, and roots can also help students determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.

To prepare for the Reading section, students should practice identifying main ideas, supporting details, inferences, an author’s purpose, and vocabulary in context. Answers should always be supported by information in the passage rather than by outside knowledge.

Practice Effective Test-Taking Strategies
Students need both academic knowledge and a plan for working efficiently. Helpful strategies include:

• Read each question carefully and identify exactly what it is asking.
• Eliminate answer choices that are clearly incorrect.
• Avoid spending too much time on one difficult question.
• Use estimation to evaluate mathematical answers.
• Watch for words such as not, except, best, and most likely.
• Return to challenging questions if time permits.

There is no penalty for incorrect answers on the HSPT, so students should answer every question rather than leave an answer blank.

Include Timed Practice
Students should first practice skills without worrying too much about speed. Once they understand the material, timed practice can help them improve their pacing.

Closer to the test date, completing a full-length practice test in a quiet environment can help build concentration and stamina. The results should then be used to guide the student’s final review.

Prepare for Test Day
During the week before the test, students should maintain a consistent sleep schedule, review familiar strategies, and avoid trying to learn large amounts of new material.

The night before, confirm the testing location and arrival time and prepare any required materials. On test morning, students should eat breakfast and arrive early enough to settle in without feeling rushed.

Most importantly, remind students that one test does not define their intelligence or future success. The goal is to demonstrate what they know as confidently and accurately as possible.

Individualized HSPT Preparation With Total Tutoring Services
Every student enters HSPT preparation with different strengths, needs, and confidence levels. Total Tutoring Services provides individualized HSPT preparation designed around each student.
Our tutors can help students:

• Identify areas that need additional attention
• Review important math, reading, verbal, and language concepts
• Learn strategies for unfamiliar question types
• Improve pacing and time management
• Practice under realistic testing conditions
• Build confidence before test day

We offer both in-person and virtual test-preparation options. If your child will be taking the HSPT, complete our student intake form, and we will help connect your family with a tutor who can provide the individualized support your child needs.

By late July, back-to-school displays are appearing in stores, supply lists are being shared, and fall calendars are beginning to fill. Although summer is not over yet, the first day of school is starting to feel much closer.

Buying notebooks, backpacks, and pencils is part of getting ready—but true back-to-school preparation also means helping children rebuild routines, refresh important skills, and approach the new year with confidence.

Talk About the Year Ahead
Children may feel both excited and nervous about returning to school. Younger students might worry about a new teacher or making friends, while older students may be concerned about challenging classes, heavier workloads, or staying organized.

Try asking specific questions such as:

• What are you most excited about?
• Is there anything you are worried about?
• Which subject might require more effort?
• What would help you feel prepared?

Listen and reassure your child that it is normal to have mixed feelings—and that support will be available when needed.

Begin Rebuilding Routines
Late July is a good time to gradually move toward more consistent bedtimes and wake-up times. Older students can also start using a calendar or planner to track summer commitments. This provides a low-pressure way to practice organization and time management before assignments and tests are added to the schedule.

Refresh Important Skills
Students do not need to review an entire year of curriculum. Instead, focus on a few foundational skills:

• Read regularly and discuss what was read.
• Review math facts or operations with fractions and decimals.
• Practice writing complete sentences or an organized paragraph.
• Work on planning, note-taking, or study strategies.

Short, consistent practice is more effective than a long session filled with frustration.

Address Lingering Learning Gaps
Think back to the end of last school year. Was homework taking much longer than expected? Did your child struggle consistently in a certain subject? Did the teacher identify skills that needed more practice?

The final weeks of summer offer an excellent opportunity to strengthen difficult skills before the pressure of homework, quizzes, and projects returns.

Confidence Is Part of Being Prepared
Children do not need to begin the school year knowing everything they will be taught. They do need to believe they are capable of learning, that mistakes are part of the process, and that help is available.

At Total Tutoring Services, we provide individualized support based on each student’s academic needs, personality, learning style, schedule, and goals. Our tutors can help students refresh skills, address learning gaps, prepare for challenging courses, strengthen executive functioning, and begin the year feeling more confident.

If you are considering tutoring for the fall, late July is a great time to begin. Starting now allows time to identify the right tutor and create a plan before school schedules become crowded.
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To get started, complete our tutoring intake form. We would love the opportunity to support your family.

By the middle of summer, even the most exciting vacation plans can begin to lose a little of their novelty. Children may start saying, “I’m bored,” while parents are also beginning to think about the school year ahead.

The good news is that summer learning does not have to mean sitting at a table with a stack of worksheets. Some of the best opportunities to practice reading, writing, math, problem-solving, and communication skills are already built into everyday summer activities.

Here are seven simple ways to keep children learning while still allowing summer to feel like summer.

1. Let Your Child Help Plan a Day Trip
Whether you are visiting a museum, hiking trail, beach, park, or local attraction, involve your child in the planning.
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Ask younger children to help choose what to pack or identify the day’s weather. Older students can compare admission prices, calculate travel time, read reviews, estimate the total cost, or create an itinerary.

This one activity can incorporate reading, math, time management, decision-making, and organization—all without feeling like an assignment.

2. Turn Cooking Into a Math Lesson
Cooking and baking offer wonderful opportunities to practice practical math skills. Children can measure ingredients, read fractions, count items, follow a sequence, adjust serving sizes, or calculate how much of each ingredient is needed to double a recipe.

Older students can compare the cost of homemade food with a store-bought version or calculate the price per serving. As an added bonus, they are also building independence and learning an important life skill.

3. Start a Family Reading Challenge
Create a simple family goal, such as reading a certain number of books or minutes before the end of summer. Let each person choose what counts—novels, graphic novels, magazines, audiobooks, biographies, or nonfiction books about a favorite topic.

Keep the challenge positive and low-pressure. You might celebrate your progress with a family movie night, ice cream outing, trip to the library, or another activity your children enjoy.

When children see adults making time to read, they are more likely to view reading as something enjoyable rather than something they are required to do for school.

4. Encourage Children to Create Something
Creative projects naturally strengthen planning, persistence, and problem-solving. A child might design a board game, build something from recycled materials, create a comic book, write and perform a play, make a short video, or plan a backyard obstacle course.

Try to resist the urge to take over when the project becomes difficult. Asking questions such as “What could you try next?” or “How might you solve that problem?” helps children develop independence and flexible thinking.

5. Use Games to Practice Academic Skills
Board games and card games are excellent tools for summer learning. Depending on the game, children may practice counting, mental math, spelling, vocabulary, strategy, logic, reading comprehension, or communication.

Games also help children practice taking turns, following directions, managing frustration, and learning from mistakes. These skills are just as important in the classroom as academic knowledge.

6. Give Writing a Real Purpose
Children are often more willing to write when their words have a purpose and an audience. Instead of assigning a paragraph, invite your child to:

• Write a postcard to a friend or relative
• Create a menu for a pretend restaurant
• Make a list for an upcoming trip
• Review a movie, restaurant, or summer activity
• Write directions for a favorite game
• Keep a journal about summer adventures

Even short writing activities help maintain spelling, sentence structure, handwriting, and organization skills.

7. Let Curiosity Lead the Way
Summer is the perfect time for children to explore topics that genuinely interest them. A child who loves baseball can study player statistics. An animal lover can research a favorite species. A child interested in fashion can learn about design, budgeting, or the history of clothing. Someone who enjoys video games might try coding or create a story for an original game.

When children are interested in a topic, they are more willing to read challenging information, ask questions, solve problems, and persist when learning becomes difficult.

A Little Learning Goes a Long Way
Parents do not need to plan elaborate lessons or fill every summer day with structured activities. Choose one or two ideas that fit naturally into your family’s routine. The goal is simply to keep children reading, thinking, creating, and practicing skills in enjoyable ways.

If your child needs more focused support before the new school year, summer is also an ideal time to strengthen specific skills without the added pressure of homework and tests.

Total Tutoring Services provides individualized instruction in reading, writing, math, executive functioning, study skills, test preparation, and many other subjects. We carefully match each student with a tutor based on the student’s academic needs, personality, learning style, schedule, and goals.

To learn more or begin the tutor-matching process, complete our tutoring intake form. We would love to help your child begin the new school year feeling prepared and confident.

Summer always seems to begin with plenty of time. There are long days ahead, fewer demands on the calendar, and lots of opportunities to relax. Then, almost overnight, we reach the middle of summer—and the first day of school no longer feels quite so far away.

Mid-summer is the perfect time for families to pause and check in. Is your child continuing to read? Do math skills still feel familiar? Are there subjects from last year that never quite clicked? Most importantly, how does your child feel about returning to school?

This does not mean it is time to turn summer vacation into a full school day. Children need time to rest, play, explore, and enjoy a slower pace. However, a small amount of consistent academic practice now can help prevent last-minute stress and make the transition back to school much smoother.

Why a Mid-Summer Check-In Matters
Without regular practice, students can lose some of the skills and confidence they developed during the school year. Reading fluency may become a little less automatic. Math facts may take longer to recall. Writing can feel harder after weeks without practice.

These changes are normal, but they can make the beginning of the school year feel more overwhelming—especially for students who ended the year with learning gaps or who already struggle with confidence, focus, or organization.

The good news is that students do not need hours of daily work to stay on track. Short, focused practice several times a week can make a meaningful difference.

Five Simple Ways to Keep Learning Going
1. Build reading into the summer routine
Encourage your child to read for 20 to 30 minutes most days. The reading material does not have to be a traditional novel. Graphic novels, magazines, biographies, cookbooks, sports articles, and audiobooks paired with a printed copy all count. Choice matters—the best summer book is one your child will actually enjoy.

2. Use math in everyday life
Math practice can happen naturally. Ask your child to compare prices at the store, calculate a restaurant tip, double a recipe, measure for a home project, keep score during a game, or estimate how long a trip will take. These activities reinforce important skills while showing children how useful math is outside the classroom.

3. Add small opportunities to write
Writing does not need to mean completing an essay. Children can keep a vacation journal, write postcards, create a comic, make a packing list, review a movie, or email a family member. Even a few sentences at a time help students maintain spelling, grammar, handwriting, and organization skills.

4. Review the areas that caused frustration last year
Think back to the final months of school. Were multiplication facts still difficult? Did reading assignments take much longer than expected? Was writing a constant source of frustration? Did your child struggle to keep track of assignments or prepare for tests?

Summer provides a valuable opportunity to address these concerns without the pressure of daily homework, projects, and upcoming tests. Focused support now can help your child begin the new year feeling prepared rather than already behind.

5. Begin rebuilding school-year routines
As August approaches, gradually return to more consistent bedtimes, wake-up times, and morning routines. For older students, this is also a good time to practice using a planner, organizing materials, and breaking larger tasks into manageable steps.

Keep It Positive and Manageable
Summer learning should build confidence—not create daily battles. Set realistic goals, offer choices whenever possible, and keep practice sessions short. Ten focused minutes can be more productive than an hour filled with frustration.

Celebrate effort and consistency rather than perfection. A child who reads four days this week, practices math facts twice, or writes a paragraph about a family outing is still making meaningful progress.

When Additional Support May Help
Some students benefit from more structure than families can easily provide at home. Individual tutoring can help a student strengthen unfinished skills, prepare for a challenging class, build better study habits, or simply return to school with greater confidence.

At Total Tutoring Services, we match each student with a tutor based on academic needs, personality, learning style, scheduling preferences, and goals. Our tutors provide individualized support in reading, writing, math, executive functioning, test preparation, and a wide variety of elementary through college-level subjects.

There is still plenty of summer left to relax, make memories, and prepare for a successful school year. A little support now can make a big difference when the first day arrives.

If you would like help creating a personalized plan for your child, complete our tutoring intake form. We would love the opportunity to support your family!