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One of the tests you may need to take before high school is the High School Placement Test, or HSPT. The test has multiple-choice questions that cover five subjects. The HSPT has reading, math, language, verbal, and quantitative sections. Anyone will tell you that the key to passing a major test is through preparation before you take the test. If you’re looking for free HSPT Reading section test practice, Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools have your back! You can choose from several different free practice options, including the Question of the Day. Every day, you can answer a free random question that pertains to the HSPT Reading section.
The Question of the Day changes on a daily basis. Each question is pulled from a massive collection of free HSPT Reading section practice tests. When you are registered with the website and you answer the question each day, you get a full assessment based on how you did, including any past questions that you may have answered. You are given key information that can provide valuable insight into your learning needs. You can see what concepts you most frequently get incorrect, and where you are at your strongest, allowing you to focus your studies on that particular area through other Learning Tools, such as Learn by Concept, flashcards, or full-length practice tests.
The Question of the Day provides further intelligence into your HSPT Reading section test preparedness, such as what percentile you would be placed by ranking you among anyone else that answered the question, and how long you took to answer the question. The information is further able to be used to help you create a specific study plan based on your individual needs, allowing you to use your study time on materials that you need to study. Through the randomization, you reap the benefits of rotating through different topics, such as ensuring the information is fresh in your mind, and preventing boredom related to sticking to the same topic.
With Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools, you have the ability to study a wide range of different HSPT Reading section concepts. The Question of the Day covers them all at random, allowing you to have a quick refresher on a daily basis. You’ll be asked questions pertaining to the following HSPT Reading section topics: contemporary life, natural science, humanities, and social science. These may focus on comparison, contrast, main ideas, passage reasoning, authorial purpose, implied characteristics, inferring, predicting, concluding, cause and effect, fact and fiction, and details. In addition, there are questions for defining vocabulary words, finding the meaning among multiple possible meanings, and using context clues to determine word choice.
Before it’s time for you to take the HSPT, take the time to review the Question of the Day and other Learning Tools. They offer a valuable combination of focused study on core concepts, as well as free practice testing to determine how ready you really are. Rather than simply memorizing different ideas and facts, you can use your study time to test yourself on your true knowledge.
Question of the Day: HSPT Reading
Adapted from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1876)
Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them out of his mind for the time—just as men's misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises. This new interest was a valued novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired, and he was suffering to practice it undisturbed. It consisted in a peculiar bird-like turn, a sort of liquid warble, produced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music—the reader probably remembers how to do it, if he has ever been a boy. Diligence and attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude. He felt much as an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet—no doubt, as far as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with the boy, not the astronomer.
The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked his whistle. A stranger was before him—a boy a shade larger than himself. A newcomer of any age or either sex was an impressive curiosity in the poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg. This boy was well-dressed, too—well-dressed on a weekday. This was simply astounding. His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on—and it was only Friday. He even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom's vitals. The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel, the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the other moved—but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time.
Based on the way in which it is used in the passage, what does the underlined word "natty" mean?
Cheap
Waterproof
Heavy
Rugged
Dapper
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