Scoring · 6 min read
How is the HSPT scored? Raw scores, percentiles, and what counts as "good"
HSPT score reports are full of numbers — scaled scores, national percentiles, local percentiles, stanines. Here's how to read them, and which ones matter.
Step 1: the raw score
Your raw score is simply the number of questions you answered correctly. Wrong answers and blanks count the same: zero. There is no deduction for wrong answers, which leads to the most important rule on the entire exam:
Never leave a question blank. A guess has a 25% chance of helping you and a 0% chance of hurting you.
Step 2: scaled scores
Raw scores are converted to scaled scores ranging from roughly 200 to 800 for each section and for the composite. Scaling adjusts for small difficulty differences between test forms, so a scaled score means the same thing regardless of which version of the test you took.
Step 3: percentile ranks
The numbers schools care about most are your percentile ranks — what percentage of a comparison group you scored above:
- National percentile: compared with 8th graders nationwide.
- Local percentile: compared with students in your diocese or testing group — often the number schools weight most, since it ranks you against the actual applicant pool.
Reports also include stanines (a 1–9 scale, where 4–6 is average) and sometimes a Cognitive Skills Quotient, a general learning-ability index derived from the verbal and quantitative sections.
What's a good score?
It depends entirely on the schools you're applying to, but as a rough guide to national percentiles:
| Percentile | What it generally means |
|---|---|
| 90th+ | Competitive everywhere; in range for merit scholarships at many schools |
| 75th–89th | Strong — comfortably above average for most applicant pools |
| 50th–74th | Solid; meets admissions expectations at most schools |
| Below 50th | Worth targeted practice — scores here respond quickly to preparation |
Can you improve it?
Yes — substantially. The HSPT rewards familiarity and pacing more than raw ability, which is why practice tests move scores so quickly. Students who take two or three full-length timed tests and genuinely review their misses routinely jump 10–20 percentile points. Take a free full-length test on Scora to get your baseline, then track your trend as you practice.