Study plan · 7 min read
An 8-week HSPT study plan that actually works
You don't need a $600 prep course to raise your HSPT score. You need a plan, three full-length practice tests, and the discipline to review your mistakes. Here's the plan — about 30–45 minutes a day, five days a week, for eight weeks.
Weeks 1: get your baseline
Take one full-length practice test, timed, in one sitting. Saturday morning is ideal — the real test happens in the morning too. Don't study first; the point is an honest baseline.
Then spend two shorter sessions reviewing every miss. Don't just check the right answer — read the explanation and ask why your answer was wrong. Note your weakest section; that's your priority for the next three weeks.
Weeks 2–4: drill your weakest sections
Each weekday session is one focused drill:
- 3 days a week: a section drill in your weakest area (on Scora, use "Quick 10" for short days and full section practice when you have 30+ minutes).
- 1 day a week: a drill in your second-weakest section.
- 1 day a week: review day — reread the explanations of everything you missed that week and keep a running "mistake list" of rules and formulas.
The mistake list is the whole secret. A miss you understand becomes a point; a miss you skip becomes the same miss on test day.
Week 5: second full-length test
Take your second full-length test under real conditions. Compare per-section accuracy with your baseline — you should see clear movement in the sections you drilled. Recalibrate: whatever is weakest now becomes the focus of weeks 6–7.
Weeks 6–7: sharpen pacing
Keep the weekday drill rhythm, but now practice with the clock in mind:
- Verbal: train to ~15 seconds a question. Answer or guess — never stall.
- Quantitative: name the pattern type (series? comparison?) before computing.
- Reading: skim questions before the passage.
- Math: slow down slightly — most math misses are careless, not conceptual.
- Language: review your mistake list by rule (commas, agreement, apostrophes…).
Week 8: final test and taper
Take your third full-length test early in the week. Spend the next days reviewing only your mistake list — no new material. The last two days before the exam, do one light "Quick 10" a day and stop. Sleep matters more than one more drill.
Test-day checklist
- Two sharpened #2 pencils (and check whether calculators are allowed — usually they are not).
- Eat a real breakfast; the test runs about three hours with instructions.
- Answer every question. No blanks, ever.
- If a question stalls you, flag it, guess, and move on.
All three full-length tests and every drill in this plan can be done free on Scora — with instant scoring and explanations for every question.