HSPT reading comprehension

What the question looks like

Reading is the third section of the HSPT: 62 questions in 25 minutes, in two parts that share one clock. The comprehension part comes first and is the bulk of the section. On the typical form it is four passages with about ten questions each, roughly 40 items. The vocabulary part is a block of about 22 short items with no passage at the very end, right before the word STOP. The vocabulary in context page covers that block; this page covers the passages.

A passage is three to five paragraphs, usually 200 to 350 words, fiction or nonfiction. Its questions are about that passage only, and every question has four choices. Expect one or two words in each passage to be underlined, because a question will ask what each means as it is used there.

Passage questions come in two families, and it helps to know which one you are looking at.

General questions need the whole passage:

• Main idea or best title. The passage is mainly about, or the best title would be.
• Tone, mood, or purpose. The author's attitude toward, or the author wrote this in order to.
• Author or source. Who most likely wrote this, or where the passage would most likely be found.
• Conclusion or prediction. It can be concluded that, the author would probably agree that, or what would most likely happen next.

Specific questions point at one sentence or one paragraph:

• Supporting detail. According to the passage, or the author states that.
• Inference from a sentence. The passage implies that, or it is probably true that.
• Word in context. As used in the passage, the underlined word most nearly means.
• Structure. How the second paragraph differs from the first, or from what point of view the passage is told.

STS does not publish how many of each shape appear. A reasonable planning guess is that general and specific questions split the passage items about evenly, with two word-in-context items per passage.

How to solve it

1. Note the time. Each passage and its questions get about five minutes. Write the time you started in the margin so the check takes one glance, and when the five minutes are up, guess on what is left and move to the next passage. Coming back later is better than never reaching the last passage or the vocabulary block.
2. Glance at the stems first. Spend about ten seconds on the question stems, not the choices, so you know whether you are hunting for a date, a reason, or a word's meaning. Circle any name, number, or underlined word a stem mentions, so it jumps out when you read.
3. Read the whole passage once, steadily. Do not skim and do not reread sentences you understood. As you finish each paragraph, write two or three words in the margin that say what it was about. Those labels are your map for the specific questions. As you finish the passage, say in one plain sentence what it was about. That is your main idea.
4. Answer in order, and take the general questions from the whole passage. The right answer to a main idea, purpose, or conclusion question covers the beginning, middle, and end. If two choices survive, reread the first and last sentences of the passage; the main idea usually lives in one of them.
5. Use your labels for detail and word questions. Find the paragraph, then the exact sentence. For a word-in-context item, cover the word, reread the sentence, decide what word would fit, then match it to a choice.
6. Treat inference as one small step from the text. The passage will not state the answer, but it gives you enough to reach it. Reject any choice that needs information the passage never gave you, even if it sounds reasonable in real life.
7. Eliminate before you choose. Cross out any choice that is too broad for the passage, that uses an absolute word such as always, never, or only, that is true in the world but not in the passage, or that comes from the passage but does not answer the question asked. What is left is usually the answer.

Worked examples

Question shapes you may not expect

A few shapes appear on most forms of the test but rarely in school reading assignments. None is hard once you know what it is asking.

• Who most likely wrote this, or where would it be found? Decide first whether the passage is fiction or nonfiction, then whether it is expert, general, or personal in tone. A calm, factual passage about a park is a park guide or an encyclopedia, not a novelist or a scientist writing for other scientists. Cross out the choices that make no sense before you weigh the ones that might.
• Point of view. Look at the pronouns. I and we mean first person. You means second person. He, she, and they mean third person. If the narrator tells you what more than one character is thinking, it is third person omniscient.
• What would probably happen next, or what would the author agree with? This is inference across the whole passage. Ask what the passage has been building toward, rule out extreme choices, and if two remain, check which one the last paragraph supports.
• How does the second paragraph differ from the first? The question is really about one paragraph. Reread that paragraph, not the whole passage, and use your label for it.
• Which word best describes a character? Find the sentences where that character acts or speaks. The trait is shown, not stated, so look for what the actions have in common.
• Literary devices. Expect one or two questions that ask you to name a device or find an example of one. A simile compares two things with like or as: her voice was like a creaking gate. A metaphor makes the comparison directly: her voice was a creaking gate. Hyperbole exaggerates on purpose: the bag weighed a ton. Personification gives a thing human traits: the wind argued with the shutters. Alliteration repeats a starting sound: the sudden silver storm. Onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like its noise: the buzz of the fence. Repetition uses the same word or phrase again for effect. Symbolism lets an object stand for an idea, like a cracked bell standing for a town's memory.

Traps to watch for

• The too-narrow main idea. A choice that describes one paragraph accurately is still wrong if it ignores the rest of the passage.
• The true-but-not-in-the-passage detail. Some wrong choices are true in the real world. The question asks what the passage says, not what you know.
• The inference that goes too far. If a choice needs a fact, motive, or event the passage never mentions, it is not supported, however believable it sounds.
• The everyday meaning of a word. Word-in-context items choose words whose common meaning does not fit the sentence. Always test the choice back in the sentence.

Pacing

Twenty-five minutes for 62 questions is about 24 seconds per question, and that budget must cover reading the passages too. The plan that fits: about five minutes per passage including its questions, which is roughly two minutes to read and 20 seconds per question, and about five minutes for the vocabulary block at the end. Write your start time in the margin of each passage and hold yourself to it.

If you are behind after two passages, change the order: turn to the last page, answer the vocabulary block, then come back. Those items take ten to fifteen seconds each and are worth the same point as a passage question. Nothing is worse than running out of time with twenty quick questions still blank.

If a question stalls you, pick the best remaining choice, circle the number, and move on; there is no guessing penalty, and a blank is a guaranteed zero. Reading speed itself is trainable. Reading for fifteen minutes a day, keeping your eyes moving with a pencil tip slightly ahead of where you are, and not mouthing the words all raise your pace within a few weeks.

Practice

Try a timed passage with real pacing feedback in the free diagnostic.