Although the HSPT is an opportunity for students to demonstrate the foundations and skills they truly know, test takers are recommended to study. It’s important for test takers to be familiar with their test in order to perform their best. And depending on when the test is, these essential skills might be hidden at the back of their mind, untapped. Many students, and even adults, have a hard time remembering all the information they have ever learned. However, when given a refresher of specific material, the information comes flooding back and the skills reusable.
If a student doesn’t study for the test, it isn’t the end of their academic career. There is still opportunity to do well, and place well for their classes. The placement is just a method to pace students appropriately for their curriculum. However, it’s recommended for students to study because it’s better to be prepared and ensure their performance. It would be a shame to perform sub-par and have them placed into classes too easy for their academics. Instead, students should aspire to exemplify everything they are capable of, be placed at a higher level, and be truly challenged within their coursework to take full advantage of academic opportunities afforded to them.
Taking advantage of the opportunity is a key fundamental in the high school process. The Scholastic Testing Service, or STS, is the administrative service responsible for the HSPT- and is quite rigorous on this concept. STS recommends that a student takes the HSPT merely one time. However, in order to take the test again, a student must present an extreme circumstance to the school(s) affiliated with the testing administration and score recipients. Even so, while it is not a well-known concept, STS has been said to only report the lowest score received on behalf of the student taking the HSPT. If a student is looking to retake a test, it is to improve their score. But in this case, the score improvements would not benefit the student.
