HSPT practice, Grade 8

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Scholar Tests · Set 2

HSPT practice test, Grade 8

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Verbal Skills

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 5 minutes.

  1. 1.

    Thermometer is to temperature as scale is to

    1. Aheavy
    2. Bweight
    3. Ckitchen
    4. Druler
  2. 2.

    AMIABLE

    Which word means the OPPOSITE of the word in capital letters?

    1. Afriendly
    2. Bunpleasant
    3. Cwealthy
    4. Dtalkative
  3. 3.

    Lena scored more points than Grace. Grace scored more points than Ben.
    Lena scored the most points of the three.

    If the first two statements are true, the third statement (in bold) is

    1. Atrue
    2. Bfalse
    3. Cuncertain
  4. 4.

    Deciduous is to leaves as molting is to

    1. Aeggs
    2. Bflight
    3. Cwings
    4. Dfeathers
  5. 5.

    Which word does NOT belong with the others?

    1. Apeer
    2. Bglance
    3. Cgaze
    4. Dlisten
  6. 6.

    AMBIGUOUS

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Adefinite
    2. Bancient
    3. Cuntrue
    4. Dunclear
  7. 7.

    Which word does NOT belong with the others?

    1. Anest
    2. Blair
    3. Cflock
    4. Dhive
  8. 8.

    The blue box weighs less than the yellow box. The red box weighs less than the blue box.
    The red box is the lightest of the three.

    If the first two statements are true, the third statement (in bold) is

    1. Atrue
    2. Bfalse
    3. Cuncertain
  9. 9.

    VIGILANT

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Acareless
    2. Bviolent
    3. Cvisible
    4. Dwatchful
  10. 10.

    Which word does NOT belong with the others?

    1. Acylinder
    2. Bcube
    3. Cpyramid
    4. Dsquare

Quantitative Skills

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 6 minutes.

  1. 1.

    (a) 50 ÷ 5
    (b) 2 × 11
    (c) 30 − 11

    Look at (a), (b) and (c). Which statement is true?

    1. A(a) is equal to (b).
    2. B(a) = (c), and both are greater than (b).
    3. C(a) is greater than (c).
    4. D(c) is greater than (a).
  2. 2.

    Look at the three figures. Each is cut into equal parts.

    Which statement is true?

    1. A(a) and (c) are equally shaded, and both are less shaded than (b).
    2. B(b) is more shaded than (a) but less shaded than (c).
    3. C(b) is more shaded than (c) but less shaded than (a).
    4. D(a) is more shaded than (b) but less shaded than (c).
  3. 3.

    Look at this series: 384, 192, ____, 48, 24, 12, 6, ...

    What number should fill the blank?

    1. A0
    2. B96
    3. C95
    4. D384
  4. 4.

    Look at this series: 10, 14, 13, 17, 16, 20, 19, ...

    What number should come next?

    1. A27
    2. B20
    3. C33
    4. D23
  5. 5.

    Look at the three figures. Each is cut into equal parts.

    Which statement is true?

    1. A(b) and (c) are equally shaded, and both are less shaded than (a).
    2. BThe shaded parts of (a) and (c) together are as large as the shaded part of (b).
    3. C(a) and (b) are equally shaded, and both are less shaded than (c).
    4. D(a) and (b) are equally shaded, and both are more shaded than (c).
  6. 6.

    What is 50% of the sum of 9 and 5?

    1. A7
    2. B8
    3. C14
    4. D12
  7. 7.

    (a) 2/3 of 48 + 25
    (b) 1/2 of 56 + 8
    (c) 0.4 × 190

    Look at (a), (b) and (c). Which statement is true?

    1. A(c) > (a) > (b)
    2. B(a) = (c), and both are greater than (b).
    3. C(a) > (b) > (c)
    4. D(b) > (a) > (c)
  8. 8.

    What number is 9 less than 2/5 of 50?

    1. A11
    2. B29
    3. C1
    4. D20
  9. 9.

    Look at this series: 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127, 255, ...

    What number should come next?

    1. A511
    2. B501
    3. C767
    4. D127
  10. 10.

    What number is 6 less than 3 times 1/3 of 12?

    1. A7
    2. B6
    3. C18
    4. D12

Reading

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 5 minutes.

  1. Why the Moon Changes Shape

    Over about a month, the moon seems to grow from a thin sliver into a bright circle and then shrink again. But the moon itself does not change shape. What changes is how much of its sunlit side we can see.

    The moon does not make its own light. Like Earth, it is a ball that is always half lit by the sun and half in darkness. As the moon travels around Earth, we see that lit half from different angles.

    When the moon is between Earth and the sun, its lit side faces away from us. We see little or nothing of it, and this is called a new moon. Over the following days, as the moon moves along its path, a thin crescent of the lit side comes into view. The visible part grows, or waxes, through first quarter, when we see half of the moon's face lit, and then through a stage called waxing gibbous.

    About two weeks after the new moon, Earth is between the sun and the moon. Now we see the entire lit side: a full moon. After that, the lit portion we can see shrinks, or wanes, back through gibbous, last quarter and crescent, until the cycle begins again with another new moon.

    The whole cycle takes about 29 and a half days. People have used it to keep track of time for thousands of years; in fact, the word "month" comes from an old word related to "moon."

    A common mistake is to think Earth's shadow causes the phases. Earth's shadow falls on the moon only during a lunar eclipse, which is much rarer.

    1.

    What is the main idea of the passage?

    1. AThe moon makes its own light at night.
    2. BLunar eclipses happen every month.
    3. CThe moon changes its shape every month.
    4. DThe moon's phases come from seeing its sunlit half from different angles.
  2. 2.

    What is happening during a new moon?

    1. AThe moon is between Earth and the sun, with its lit side facing away from us.
    2. BThe moon stops moving around Earth.
    3. CEarth is between the sun and the moon.
    4. DEarth's shadow covers the whole moon.
  3. 3.

    About how long after a full moon would the next full moon appear?

    1. AAbout two weeks
    2. BAbout one year
    3. CAbout 29 and a half days
    4. DAbout one week
  4. 4.

    In the passage, the word "wanes" most nearly means

    1. Agrows smaller
    2. Bdisappears forever
    3. Cstays the same
    4. Dgrows brighter
  5. 5.

    Why does the writer include the final paragraph?

    1. ATo introduce a new topic about Earth's orbit
    2. BTo describe the history of calendars
    3. CTo explain how to watch an eclipse safely
    4. DTo correct a common misunderstanding about the phases

  6. The Old Oak Remembers

    I was an acorn once, a small brown thought, Dropped by a squirrel who forgot the spot. The rain came kindly, and the dark soil, too, And I pushed upward, as small thoughts do. I watched the farmhouse rise, its paint grow thin; I watched the dirt road paved, the cars roll in. Children climbed my arms on summer days, Then grew, and left, and walked their separate ways. I've worn a hundred winters' heavy snow, And lost my leaves, and grown them back to show That losing is not ending. Every spring My branches open wide to everything. So if you sit beneath me, hot and still, And wonder how a seed becomes a hill Of leaves and shade, I'll answer, as trees do: By staying put, and growing, and coming through.

    6.

    Who is the speaker of the poem?

    1. AA farmer
    2. BA squirrel
    3. CAn old oak tree
    4. DA child who climbs trees
  7. 7.

    Ava wanted a telescope but could not pay for one. She mowed lawns all summer and bought it herself in the fall.

    Which saying best fits this story?

    1. ABirds of a feather flock together
    2. BHaste makes waste
    3. CTwo heads are better than one
    4. DWhere there's a will, there's a way
  8. 8.

    Which pair of words are synonyms?

    1. Asuperfluous and necessary
    2. Bbrazen and golden
    3. Cephemeral and emotional
    4. Dcovert and secret
  9. 9.

    The nurse visited the invalid every morning to bring his medicine.

    Which meaning of invalid is used in this sentence?

    1. Aa kind of chair
    2. Bnot accepted because it does not meet the requirements
    3. Cvery valuable
    4. Dsomeone who is weak and sick for a long time
  10. 10.

    What does the word pedal mean?

    1. Aa part you hold with your hand
    2. Ba part you look through
    3. Ca part you push with your foot
    4. Da part you sit on

Mathematics

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 7 minutes.

  1. 1.

    500 students said how they get to school. The circle graph shows the results. How many students walk?

    1. A450
    2. B125
    3. C10
    4. D50
  2. 2.

    How many tickets were sold at Astronomy altogether over the two months?

    1. A26
    2. B39
    3. C13
    4. D49
  3. 3.

    A pair of boots costs $500. Its price is raised by 25% and the new price is then reduced by 40%. What is the final price?

    1. A$625
    2. B$425
    3. C$375
    4. D$125
  4. 4.

    The two angles together make a straight line. One measures 104°. What is the measure of the angle marked with a question mark?

    1. A76°
    2. B104°
    3. C14°
    4. D256°
  5. 5.

    A box with no lid is a right rectangular prism open at the top. How much cardboard, in square centimeters, is needed to make the box, with no overlaps?

    1. A232 square centimeters
    2. B116 square centimeters
    3. C156 square centimeters
    4. D220 square centimeters
  6. 6.

    A sanctuary holds only parrots and deer. Altogether there are 28 animals and 92 legs. How many deer are there?

    1. A10
    2. B18
    3. C64
    4. D46
  7. 7.

    Which statement is true?

    1. A−8 > 1
    2. B−8 > −7
    3. C−7 > −8
    4. D−7 < −8
  8. 8.

    What is the area of this triangle?

    1. A55 cm²
    2. B27 cm²
    3. C220 cm²
    4. D110 cm²
  9. 9.

    Which inequality is the solution of −6x − 8 ≥ −2?

    1. Ax ≤ 1
    2. Bx ≥ −1
    3. Cx ≤ −1
    4. Dx ≤ 5/3
  10. 10.

    What is 15% of 2.88?

    1. A43.2
    2. B0.192
    3. C4.32
    4. D0.432

Language

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 5 minutes.

  1. 1.

    Which sentence has a mistake in capitalization, punctuation or usage?

    If none of them has a mistake, choose "No mistakes."

    1. ALeo asked Mom if he could take Spanish next year.
    2. BThe parade on Memorial Day went down Main Street.
    3. CMr. Patel thanked Kenji and herself for shelving the new books.
    4. DNo mistakes
  2. 2.

    Which sentence has a mistake in capitalization, punctuation or usage?

    If none of them has a mistake, choose "No mistakes."

    1. AThe supreme court meets in a white marble building in our nation's capital.
    2. BA thick, damp fog covered the harbor in the early morning.
    3. CThe museum has dinosaur bones, old coins, and a real space suit.
    4. DNo mistakes
  3. 3.

    Which sentence has a mistake in capitalization, punctuation or usage?

    If none of them has a mistake, choose "No mistakes."

    1. AThe new library has soft, comfortable chairs near the big front windows.
    2. BNo, it, did not rain at all yesterday.
    3. CShe and Ava finished the puzzle before anyone else.
    4. DNo mistakes
  4. 4.

    Which sentence has a mistake in capitalization, punctuation or usage?

    If none of them has a mistake, choose "No mistakes."

    1. AThe Garcias and we shared a campsite at Yellowstone last summer.
    2. BCactus plants store water so they can survive in the hot, dry desert.
    3. CUs seventh graders collected more than four hundred cans for the food bank.
    4. DNo mistakes
  5. 5.

    Which sentence has a mistake in capitalization, punctuation or usage?

    If none of them has a mistake, choose "No mistakes."

    1. AGrace and he, both members of the chess club, entered the state tournament in Ohio.
    2. BWe fed the fish this morning, didn't we?
    3. CWe found a smooth, shiny stone at, the edge of the lake.
    4. DNo mistakes
  6. 6.

    Which sentence has a mistake in capitalization, punctuation or usage?

    If none of them has a mistake, choose "No mistakes."

    1. AThe list of supplies for the camping trip was posted on the bulletin board.
    2. BAt the very end of the long dirt trail, we found a waterfall.
    3. CPresident Lincoln gave a famous speech at Gettysburg.
    4. DNo mistakes
  7. 7.

    Which sentence has a spelling mistake?

    If none of them has a mistake, choose "No mistakes."

    1. AWe eat lunch in the school cafetiria at noon.
    2. BWrite your hypothesis before you start the experiment.
    3. CThe library book will stay in my possession until Friday.
    4. DNo mistakes
  8. 8.

    Sea otters play a key role in keeping the kelp forests along the Pacific coast healthy. Kelp forests are underwater groves of giant seaweed that shelter fish, crabs, and many other sea creatures. Sea otters eat large numbers of sea urchins, which are spiny animals that feed on kelp. Therefore, where otters are plentiful, urchins cannot multiply enough to destroy the kelp. ______

    Which sentence would be the best concluding sentence for this paragraph?

    1. AThe marching band practiced on the football field until the sun went down.
    2. BBy keeping urchins in check, sea otters help an entire underwater ecosystem stay healthy.
    3. CAccording to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, sea otters are a keystone species, which means that many other living things depend on them.
    4. DMy uncle runs a small hardware store that has been in our family for three generations.
  9. 9.

    The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was a disaster caused by drought and poor farming, and it changed how Americans care for their soil. In the years before the disaster, farmers had plowed up millions of acres of prairie grass whose deep roots held the soil in place. When a severe drought struck the Great Plains in the early 1930s, crops died and the bare soil dried out. ______, strong winds lifted the loose dirt into enormous dust storms that darkened the sky for hours. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the government created the Soil Conservation Service in 1935 to teach farmers how to protect their land. The hard lessons of the Dust Bowl taught the nation that protecting its soil is essential to protecting its farms.

    Which word or phrase best fills the blank?

    1. AAs a result
    2. BFinally
    3. CIn contrast
    4. DHowever
  10. 10.

    Noor read this sentence by space historian Irene Walsh in an article about the Hubble Space Telescope:
    "In 1990, the space shuttle Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, where it has studied stars and galaxies for more than thirty years."

    Which sentence uses the source correctly in a report?

    1. ASpace historian Irene Walsh says that in 1990, the space shuttle Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, where it has studied stars and galaxies for more than thirty years.
    2. BThe Hubble Space Telescope "has studied stars and galaxies for more than thirty years."
    3. CSpace historian Irene Walsh writes that the Hubble Space Telescope "has studied every star in the galaxy for more than thirty years."
    4. DSpace historian Irene Walsh writes that the Hubble Space Telescope "has studied stars and galaxies for more than thirty years."

Science (optional test)

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 6 minutes.

  1. 1.

    The tiny pores on the surface of a leaf through which gases pass in and out are called

    1. Astomata
    2. Bveins
    3. Croot hairs
    4. Dpetioles
  2. 2.

    The SI unit of force is the

    1. Awatt
    2. Bpascal
    3. Cnewton
    4. Djoule
  3. 3.

    Which gas, given out by incomplete burning of fuel, lowers the blood's ability to carry oxygen?

    1. ACarbon dioxide
    2. BOxygen
    3. CCarbon monoxide
    4. DNitrogen
  4. 4.

    Sodium metal is kept in kerosene because it

    1. Adissolves easily in kerosene
    2. Breacts strongly with air and water
    3. Cis too hard to store in air
    4. Dis a non-metal that melts easily
  5. 5.

    The first vaccine, against smallpox, was developed by

    1. AAlexander Fleming
    2. BLouis Pasteur
    3. CRobert Koch
    4. DEdward Jenner
  6. 6.

    Why do sprinters wear shoes with spikes?

    1. ATo increase friction for a better grip
    2. BTo keep the soles cool on hot ground
    3. CTo make the shoes much lighter
    4. DTo reduce friction and slide forward
  7. 7.

    Separating petroleum into gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other parts is called

    1. Arefining
    2. Bgalvanization
    3. Ccarbonization
    4. Dfermentation
  8. 8.

    A lichen is an alga and a fungus living together. What does the alga give the fungus?

    1. ANitrogen taken from the air
    2. BFood made by photosynthesis
    3. CWater and minerals
    4. DShelter from strong sunlight
  9. 9.

    Handles of cooking pans are made of plastic that does not soften on heating. Such plastics are called

    1. Athermoplastics
    2. Bthermosetting plastics
    3. Csynthetic fibers
    4. Dbiodegradable plastics
  10. 10.

    Two bulbs are joined one after the other in a single loop with a cell. If one bulb fuses, what happens to the other?

    1. AIt goes off, as the circuit is broken
    2. BIt glows more brightly than before
    3. CIt keeps glowing just as before
    4. DIt glows more dimly than before

Written by Scholar Tests in the style of the published HSPT question types. Not a real HSPT test, and a practice score is not a real score.