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CPS HSAT Prep is an interactive Progressive Web App and requires JavaScript. Static information about the test and our methodology:

About the app and the HSAT
How our methodology compares
Test day guide
Selective Enrollment schools and cutoff scores
Strategy library

Daily Vocab Practice Mock Exam Review

Strategy library

Short, focused lessons for each question type on the HSAT. Most kids skip strategy. Don't — this is where you save time and stop falling for traps.

Reading strategies

Inference
How to attack Inference questions
What's NOT said is what they're testing.
Main Idea
How to find the Main Idea
The main idea is what the passage is doing — not just what it's about.
Vocabulary in Context
Vocabulary in context
The dictionary doesn't always win.
Author's Purpose
Author's Purpose
Why is the author bothering to write this?
Evidence
Evidence questions
If you can't point to it, it's not the answer.
Paired Passages
Paired passages
First find each passage's main idea — then compare.
Main Idea
Reading fast without missing key ideas
Skim the structure first. Slow down only on the parts that matter.

Math strategies

Word Problems
Tackling word problems
Translate first, solve second.
Geometry
Pythagorean theorem and right triangles
a² + b² = c² works on every right triangle.
Number Sense
Percent problems without panic
Percent of a number = (percent ÷ 100) × number.
Algebra
Solving linear equations
Whatever you do to one side, do to the other.
Number Sense
Fraction operations
Common denominator for + and −. Just multiply across for ×.
Word Problems
Pacing — survive the timer
About 50 seconds per question. No question is worth more than 90.
Data & Probability
Mean, median, mode, range
Different averages for different situations. Don't confuse them.
Data & Probability
Probability fundamentals
Probability = favorable / total. Independent events multiply.
Geometry
Geometry formulas you must know
These show up on every test. Memorize them.
Word Problems
Smart guessing
When stuck, pick the answer that makes sense in the question's context.