Analogies: build a bridge sentence
Learn the bridge-sentence method for HSPT analogies, the links the test uses most, and the two traps that catch most students.
Start sample lessonFree HSPT Lessons
Free HSPT lessons for every question type. Each is a shortened chapter of the full course, with a worked example and a practice question.
Updated October 2, 2026
Verbal Skills
synonyms · antonyms · analogies · classification · logical reasoning
Synonyms: define the word before you look
Learn to pin down a word's meaning in your own words, use word parts and a quick sentence when it's hazy, and skip the four kinds of near-miss wrong answer.
Start sample lessonAntonyms: define the word, then flip it
Learn to build an exact opposite from a word's meaning, use prefixes and charge to find it, and avoid the synonym trap that catches students on antonym questions.
Start sample lessonFunction analogies: what the thing is for
Learn the main function links (tool and action, instrument and what it measures, protector and what it guards against) and how to reject choices about material, place or user.
Start sample lessonPart-to-whole analogies: which piece of what
Learn the four kinds of part-to-whole links, how to tell them apart, and how to reject reversed pairs, two-parts pairs and location pairs.
Start sample lessonDegree analogies: same idea, stronger form
Learn to spot pairs where the second word is a stronger or larger form of the first, and to reject opposites, equal-strength synonyms and reversed pairs.
Start sample lessonCause-and-result analogies: what leads to what
Learn to spot pairs where the first word can bring about the second, keep the order straight, and reject pairs that prevent, reverse or merely go together.
Start sample lessonClassifications: name the narrowest group
Find the word that doesn't belong by naming the specific group three of the words share, even when all four come from the same topic.
Start sample lessonClassifications: sort by meaning or by word type
Spot the odd word out when three words share a meaning or a part of speech and the fourth breaks the pattern.
Start sample lessonLogic: what all, no and some guarantee
Decide which conclusion must follow from statements that use all, no or some, and avoid reversed and overreaching choices.
Start sample lessonLogic: line up comparisons in one direction
Solve order questions by turning every comparison the same way, placing the items on one line, and choosing only what the line proves.
Start sample lessonLogic: what an if-then rule guarantees
Use an if-then rule and one fact to find what must be true, and reject choices that run the rule backward or add a reason.
Start sample lessonQuantitative Skills
patterns · comparison · number reasoning
Number series: find the constant difference
Learn to spot a series that rises or falls by the same amount each step, and to continue it or fill a gap in it.
Start sample lessonNumber series: find the multiplier
Learn to recognize a series that multiplies or divides by the same number each step, and continue it.
Start sample lessonNumber series: split an alternating pattern
Learn to recognize two patterns sharing one series, solve each one, and continue the right one.
Start sample lessonNumber series: when the gaps grow
Learn to continue a series whose gaps change by a steady amount, by finding the next gap first.
Start sample lessonNumber series: add the previous two terms
Learn to continue a series where each term is the sum of the two before it, and to fill a gap by working backward.
Start sample lessonNumber puzzles: work backward from the result
Learn to find a starting number by undoing each step of a number story in reverse order.
Start sample lessonMissing numbers: solve from the outside in
Learn to find a missing number inside parentheses by first finding what the whole group must equal.
Start sample lessonMade-up symbols: follow the rule exactly
Learn to evaluate a defined operation by putting each number into the right letter of the rule.
Start sample lessonComparisons: decide which fraction is greater
Learn to compare two fractions quickly and accurately by cross-multiplying or using a common denominator.
Start sample lessonComparisons: negatives and exponents
Learn to evaluate expressions that mix negative signs and exponents, and to order negative numbers correctly.
Start sample lessonComparisons: area of rectangles and squares
Learn to compare the area of a rectangle with the area of a square by computing both, not by eyeballing side lengths.
Start sample lessonComparisons: perimeter of rectangles and squares
Learn to compare the perimeters of a rectangle and a square without mixing perimeter up with area.
Start sample lessonComparisons: test the whole range
Learn to compare a variable with a number when you only know its range, by testing the allowed values at both ends.
Start sample lessonReading
main idea · inference · vocabulary in context · vocabulary (word meaning)
Inference: read what an action reveals
Learn to treat a character's action as a clue, explain it in your own words, and pick the choice that a detail in the scene actually supports.
Start sample lessonCharacter development: compare the before and after
Learn to track how a character's goal or attitude shifts from the start of a story to the end, and to choose the answer that names both ends of that change.
Start sample lessonExplicit detail: find the line that answers
Learn to turn a detail question into a search key, find the exact sentence that answers it, and match that sentence to a choice without falling for passage words used in the wrong place.
Start sample lessonInference: connect clues and stop where they stop
Learn to combine two or more details to find a reason, apply a rule to a new case, or spot a conclusion that claims more than the passage supports.
Start sample lessonTheme: from what happens to what it means
Learn to turn the conflict and ending of a story or poem into one general sentence about life, and to cross off themes that are too absolute or rest on a single detail.
Start sample lessonVocabulary in context: let the sentence define the word
Learn to work out what a word means in one particular sentence by using nearby clues, and to avoid the common meaning that doesn't fit.
Start sample lessonMain idea: the sentence that covers the whole passage
Learn to find the central point of a passage by checking that a choice covers every paragraph, without shrinking to one detail or stretching past what the writer says.
Start sample lessonEvidence: match the claim to the detail that tests it
Learn to read a claim exactly, then find the detail that supports it, the detail that challenges it, or the information that would help test it.
Start sample lessonAuthor's purpose: name the job and the target
Learn to identify why a writer wrote a whole passage or included one detail, by choosing an action word that matches the writing's tone and a target that matches its content.
Start sample lessonArgument: claim, reasons and the other side
Learn to break an argument into its claim, its reasons, its response to objections and its limits, so you can answer questions about what a writer recommends and how the writer handles disagreement.
Start sample lessonSequence: find the anchor and read the order
Learn to answer questions about what happens first, next or before by finding the anchor event, reading the signal words around it, and keeping time order separate from the order of the sentences.
Start sample lessonPrediction: extend what the passage sets up
Learn to predict what a character will most likely do by following a stated plan, a pattern of behavior and the latest change in the character's attitude.
Start sample lessonText structure: name what each part does
Learn to describe the job a paragraph, example or comparison does in a passage, such as giving an example, answering an objection or showing a limit, and to tell that job apart from what the part is about.
Start sample lessonSummary: keep the turn and the outcome
Learn to choose the summary that keeps a passage's most important parts in the right order: the situation, the key change and the outcome for a story, or the essential steps for a set of directions.
Start sample lessonFigurative language: what the comparison shows
Learn to work out what a simile, metaphor or other figure of speech emphasizes, and why an author might discuss a figurative phrase so readers don't take it literally.
Start sample lessonViewpoint: keep the voices straight
Learn to tell the writer's own view from the views the writer reports, read the attitude words that show how the writer treats each side, and find where two speakers agree or disagree.
Start sample lessonReading vocabulary: define the word before you look
Learn a quick method for HSPT Reading vocabulary questions: define the word yourself, then pick the choice with the same meaning, using word parts when you only half know it.
Start sample lessonMathematics
arithmetic · number properties · algebra · measurement · geometry · statistics
Ratios: name the whole before you divide
Learn to tell a fraction of a group from a part-to-part ratio, so you always choose the right bottom number.
Start sample lessonFractions: add with a common denominator
Learn to add fractions with different denominators by rewriting them over a common denominator, and to spot the wrong answers that skip that step.
Start sample lessonFractions: divide by multiplying by the reciprocal
Learn to divide fractions with keep, change, flip, and to check your answer with a quick size test.
Start sample lessonDecimals: multiply and place the point
Learn to multiply decimals by working with whole numbers first and then placing the decimal point by counting.
Start sample lessonPercents: find a price after a discount
Learn to find a sale price quickly by building percents from 10% and 5%, and to avoid stopping at the discount amount.
Start sample lessonPercents: find the whole from a part
Learn to find a whole amount when you know a part of it and what percent that part is.
Start sample lessonRatios: split a total into parts
Learn to share a total by a ratio using equal parts, and to answer for the group the question asks about.
Start sample lessonRates: find the cost of one
Learn to solve same-price and same-rate questions by finding the unit rate first, then scaling up.
Start sample lessonEquations: solve in two steps
Learn to solve equations like ax + b = c by undoing each step on both sides, and to check your answer by substituting it back.
Start sample lessonExpressions: distribute and combine
Learn to evaluate and simplify expressions with parentheses, by substituting or by distributing and combining like terms.
Start sample lessonGeometry: find a missing triangle angle
Learn to find a missing angle in any triangle, including right and isosceles triangles, using the 180° total.
Start sample lessonArea: subtract the part that is cut out
Learn to find the area left over when one rectangle sits inside another, including frames and paths.
Start sample lessonVolume: from cubic centimeters to liters
Learn to find the volume of a box-shaped container and convert it from cubic centimeters to liters.
Start sample lessonAverages: find a missing value
Learn to find a missing value from a mean by working with totals, and to find the score needed to reach a new average.
Start sample lessonData: find the median of an unordered list
Learn to find the median of a data set by ordering it first, for both odd and even numbers of values.
Start sample lessonProbability: when the event does not happen
Learn to find the probability that an event does not happen, by counting directly or using the complement.
Start sample lessonTime: add minutes to a clock time
Learn to find an end time or a length of time on a 12-hour clock, carrying 60 minutes into an hour and keeping a.m. and p.m. straight.
Start sample lessonLanguage
grammar and usage · punctuation · capitalization · spelling · composition
Subject-verb agreement: find the true subject
Learn to find the real subject of a sentence, even when a phrase, a there-is opening or an either/or pair hides it, and match the verb to it.
Start sample lessonPronoun case: cover up the other name
Learn when to use subject pronouns like he and she and object pronouns like him and her, especially in pairs, after prepositions and in phrases that rename a noun.
Start sample lessonVerb forms: match the time and the form
Learn to choose verb forms that fit the time of a sentence: had for the earlier of two past actions, correct irregular forms, matching verbs in a series, and will in if-then results.
Start sample lessonModifiers: put the description next to its target
Learn to spot dangling and misplaced modifiers, including opening -ing phrases, with-phrases, which-clauses and the word only, and pick the sentence that says what it means.
Start sample lessonParallel structure: make every item match
Learn to keep the items in a list or a paired construction in the same grammatical form: -ing words, to-verbs, plain verbs or adjectives.
Start sample lessonSentence boundaries: count the complete thoughts, then check the joint
Learn to tell a complete sentence from a fragment or a run-on, and to pick the punctuation that correctly joins two complete thoughts.
Start sample lessonPossessives: spell the owner first, then add the apostrophe
Learn to write possessives for one owner, for several owners and for irregular plurals, and to keep its and it’s straight.
Start sample lessonCommas: give every comma a job
Learn the comma jobs HSPT Language questions test, and how to spot a comma that has no job and doesn't belong.
Start sample lessonCapitalization: capitals mark specific names
Learn which words take capital letters, including the tricky cases: school subjects, titles, compass directions and place names.
Start sample lessonSpelling: use the patterns, then check the hard spots
Learn the spelling patterns behind many commonly missed words, and a quick way to check the letters that usually go wrong.
Start sample lessonWord usage: let the sentence choose the word
Learn to pick the right word from look-alike and sound-alike choices by checking the job the blank does, then the meaning the sentence needs.
Start sample lessonTransitions: name the link between two sentences
Learn to read two sentences, name how they connect, and choose the transition that signals that exact connection.
Start sample lessonSupporting details: keep the paragraph on its job
Learn to name a paragraph's purpose and pick the detail that serves it, or spot the sentence that doesn't belong.
Start sample lessonCombining sentences: keep every fact, add nothing
Learn to choose the combined sentence that keeps every fact, keeps the link between them and says it without extra words.
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