HSPT Reading: 62 questions in 25 minutes
Reading is the third HSPT section: 62 questions in 25 minutes, including the time to read the passages. On STS's sample form, 40 questions are comprehension (30 on informational texts, 10 on literary texts) and 22 are vocabulary.
Updated October 23, 2026 · by AdmitTest
STS describes the section as main ideas and details, central thought or purpose, inferences, literary elements and techniques, and vocabulary in context (HSPT manual; 25 minutes per diocese pages). The samples are practice questions written by us, with passages written by us.
| Kind of question | On the sample form |
|---|---|
| Comprehension: informational text | 30 |
| Comprehension: literary text | 10 |
| Vocabulary | 22 |
Comprehension
Read the passage once, at a steady pace, noting in a word or two what each paragraph is about. Then, for each question, find the sentence in the passage that answers it before choosing. Questions about the main idea or the best title want the choice that covers the whole passage, not one paragraph. "Inference" questions want what the passage makes clear without saying outright.
Sample · Reading comprehension · written by AdmitTest
Passage: The Spoke Shop
In the fall of 2022, eighth graders at Alder Creek Middle School noticed that dozens of bicycles sat broken in garages around town while their owners walked to school. Two students, Priya Nair and Tomás Reyes, brought an idea to their principal: a small repair shop in an unused storage room behind the gym, run entirely by students. They wanted that room because it had the school's only outdoor water tap, which mechanics use to find leaks in inner tubes.
The principal agreed on two conditions. Every student mechanic had to complete a six-week course taught by Walt Brennan, a retired bicycle mechanic who volunteered his time, and the shop had to pay back its startup money within one year. Nair and Reyes borrowed $600 from the school's parent association to buy a work stand, tire levers, wrenches, and a supply of inner tubes, and they named the business the Spoke Shop.
The shop opened in January 2023 with nine mechanics. Brennan added a rule of his own: after finishing his course, no student could work on a paying customer's bike until he or she had completed 12 practice safety checks. To find enough bikes to practice on, the students began offering free safety checks every Friday afternoon. They had not expected the checks to bring in business, but about half of the families who came in later returned for paid repairs.
The shop charged $5 to fix a flat tire, $8 to adjust brakes, and $15 for a full tune-up. Reyes kept the books in a spiral notebook. To everyone's surprise, brake adjustments, not tune-ups, earned the most money. Many students rode down steep Hill Street every day, and the long ride wore out brake pads quickly. By October 2023, the shop had repaid the full loan. Instead of buying a second work stand, as many had expected, the mechanics voted to spend their profits on a bulk order of 200 brake pads, which cut the cost of each pad in half.
Today the shop has 21 mechanics, and Brennan's course has a waiting list. Nair says the hardest lesson was not mechanical. "Fixing a chain takes ten minutes," she said. "Telling a neighbor that her favorite old bike isn't worth fixing took us a whole year to learn."
Who kept the Spoke Shop's records of sales and purchases?
- Priya Nair
- Tomás Reyes
- Walt Brennan
- the principal
Answer: B. Paragraph 4 says "Reyes kept the books in a spiral notebook."
Vocabulary
Pick the meaning that fits the sentence the word is in, not the most common meaning of the word. Put each choice in place of the word and read the sentence again: the right one keeps its sense.
Sample · Vocabulary in context · written by AdmitTest
an obstinate mule Obstinate most nearly means
- gentle
- stubborn
- hungry
- untrained
Answer: B. In "an obstinate mule," obstinate means stubborn, refusing to change or give in. Example: The obstinate child would not put on his coat.
Pacing: 25 minutes, passages included
About 24 seconds a question, and the reading time comes out of the same 25 minutes. Do not reread whole passages; go back to the one sentence a question points to. If a question stays unclear after you have found its sentence, mark your best answer and move on: there is no penalty for a wrong answer. The best long-term preparation is simply reading widely, every day.
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What is on the HSPT Reading section?
Passages followed by comprehension questions (main idea, details, inference, cause and effect, the author's purpose, character, plot and theme, figurative language) and vocabulary questions. On the sample form in STS's manual: 40 comprehension and 22 vocabulary.
How do you finish HSPT Reading on time?
Twenty-five minutes for 62 questions leaves little time to reread. Read the passage once at a steady pace, then answer each question by finding the sentence that supports it. Answer the vocabulary questions quickly, and never leave a blank: there is no penalty for guessing.
Does outside knowledge help on HSPT Reading?
Rarely. The right answer is what the passage says or clearly implies, not what is true in general. A choice that is true but not in the passage is a common trap.